“Miss Gallagher?” Billy Travis asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Is Mrs. Patterson awful sick?” he asked. All the children stopped what they were doing to wait for her answer. Some of them had heard that the lady who worked at the saloon and would occasionally sneak them penny-candy was very sick.

“What do you know of that, Billy?” Molly asked back. He sheepishly looked at the floor like maybe he’d spoken out of turn. Molly took in a breath. She could only begin to imagine the rumors and gossip flying through the town about what may or may not be wrong with Lily.

“Li. . . Mrs. Patterson is sick, that’s true. But she’s going to be better very soon and it’s nothing for any of you to worry about, alright?” she answered. At the reassuring words of their teacher the children all seemed relieved and began to file outside into the late afternoon. Molly waited until the last child left before walking through the pews to be sure nothing had been left behind. Once that task was done she warily sat in the front pew and stared at the stain glass window in the front of the church. She could simply fall asleep right here, she thought. She shook the thought from her mind.

“Stuff and nonsense,” she muttered to herself. She needed to get to Lily. She gathered her things and walked out the door. Standing at the bottom of the stairs leaning against the railing was Vin Tanner. She bit her lower lip and wondered if he’d been waiting there for her. ‘What else do you think he’d be doing here, silly goose,’ she thought to herself. ‘Of course he could be waiting for Mr. Sanchez,’ she answered herself. Before she could think about his reasons for being there anymore he turned around and tipped his hat to her with a crooked smile.

“Thought you’d want to go over and see Lily,” Vin said to her as she made her way down the stairs. Molly nodded. “Well I just thought I’d walk you there,” he said.

“I was just going to go home and drop my books off before going over there,” she said to him. He reached out and took her books from her like he had that morning. And just like that morning their hands met causing something to flow through him. “You certainly didn’t need to trouble yourself twice in one day to walk with me,” Molly stammered.

“Ain’t no trouble,” Vin said to her as they walked to her house. At the door she took her books back from him and went inside while he waited outside. Buck had told them that morning about two men who had been watching the young woman as they’d walked to the saloon. Ezra had noticed them again when he walked her to school, this time they were watching the church joined by two others with more than what seemed like casual interest. Ezra thought he’d recognized one of them as having worked for Guy Royal. Royal and his men were known for causing trouble and their sudden interest in the schoolteacher and the school didn’t seem right. With her father and uncle gone it was agreed among the men to all be with Molly as much as they could. Josiah said that he would mention it to Cheyenne so she too could be on the look out. Vin didn’t notice anyone now but that didn’t cause him to let his guard down. After a few moments Molly reemerged. She now carried only her sweater and a book. “That Great Expectations,” Vin asked her. Molly blushed remembering when she’d read to him.

“Yes, it is,” Molly replied. “I thought maybe I’d read some to Lily.”

“I sure would like to know what happens to Pip,” Vin said to her.

“You’ll have to borrow it someday,” Molly said to him. They began to walk up the street toward the saloon.

“I think I’d like it much better if you’d keep readin’ it to me,” he said to her.

“I think I’d like that too,” Molly shyly said. She was about to say something else when the site of Buck Wilmington caught her eye. He mounted his horse and began to ride out of town. “Where is Mr. Wilmington going?” Molly asked Vin.

“He’s goin’ after Chris,” Vin answered her.

“She got worse didn’t she?” Molly asked him. Vin didn’t answer right away. He wasn’t sure how. He didn’t know if he could stand to see any more pain in her eyes. “Tell me,” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. Vin allowed the back of his hand to brush lightly across her cheek.

“Nathan’s been with her,” Vin said to her. Molly nodded.

“I need to go to her,” she said. Vin’s hand opened and he cupped her cheek with it, his thumb still stroking it as it had done to her hand that morning. It was the only comfort he could bring himself to publicly offer to her. She turned from him and walked inside the saloon and immediately up the stairs. She lightly tapped on the door to Lily’s room. It was opened by Nathan.

“Fever hasn’t broken,” he said to her in greeting. Molly took in a breath and walked inside. The site on the bed made her want to cry. Lily lay there, her nightgown once again soaked through her hair damp and sticking to her forehead.

“Oh Lily,” she spoke softly. Nathan could tell by the way Molly was breathing that she was trying to keep from crying. She set her sweater and book down on the chair and walked to the basin on the table by the bed. She picked it up and walked back to Nathan. “Why don’t you go down and get something to eat,” she said to him. “I’ll stay with her for a while.”

“You don’t gotta do that,” Nathan said to her. She offered him a weak smile.

“Yes, I do,” she said.

“I’ll be just downstairs,” he said to her before hesitantly leaving. Molly shut the door behind him and walked with the basin up to Lily. She sat on the bed next to her and began to wipe at her face with the cool water. Molly could feel the heat of the fever through the damp cloth. Molly talked to her, telling her about school that day, what she’d taught the children. She talked nonsense as she tried to cool her friend. Lily began to mummer then toss. Soon her mummers became soft words that Molly again thought to be French. Molly hushed her but that seemed to agitate the woman.

Suddenly her eyes flew open and she grabbed Molly’s arms causing the basin to tip and topple on to the floor but not breaking. She began shouting and crying at the same time words Molly couldn’t understand. Molly pulled from Lily’s grasp. She needed to get Nathan. Tears in her own eyes, Molly rushed down the hallway, the sound of Lily still shouting behind her. Before she reached the stairs Nathan appeared. Molly said nothing to him but grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway to the room. Both rushed inside. Nathan sat next to Lily and pulled her arms down trying to restrain her he felt her forehead. He didn’t think it was possible but the fever seemed to have gotten worse. Finally she seemed to ware herself out and she allowed Nathan to lay her back down. Ezra and Josiah appeared in the doorway.

“I think we need to wire Stillwater,” he said to the men. Molly caught the look on both their faces.

“What’s in Stillwater?” she asked them. She recognized the name of a town not far from here. It was the town Lily had gone to not long ago.

“A doctor,” Ezra answered her softly. Lily again began to speak from the bed. Molly could stand it no longer. She had to know what Lily was saying. She ran out the door pushing past a confused Josiah and Ezra and ran down the stairs.

“Molly,” she heard Josiah’s voice call after her. She ignored him as she made her way down the stairs. She caught site of Cheyenne sitting at a table with Vin and JD. Both men stood upon seeing Molly and it was clear she was very upset.

“Cheyenne, I need you to come with me please,” Molly said to her.

“What has happened,” the woman asked her.

“Please,” Molly begged her. “I need you to come with me. I don’t know what she’s saying,” she sobbed out. Cheyenne didn’t understand what it was the young woman wanted her to do. She assumed the ‘she’ that she spoke of was Lily. Cheyenne had heard from Josiah that she had lost the baby she secretly carried. Cheyenne stood and Molly all but dragged her through the saloon and up the stairs. Josiah and Ezra stood outside the door in the hallway, grim looks on their faces. Molly opened the door to Nathan sitting next to Lily trying frantically to cool the woman down. Lily was crying her words unintelligible to anyone in the room but Cheyenne. “What’s she saying?” Molly asked Cheyenne. “Cheyenne please,” Molly begged her. Cheyenne took a couple of slow steps toward the woman.

“She says it is her fault. She says that he doesn’t care for her, she’s not the same as her.” Cheyenne stopped to listen to Lily more. “She says God is punishing her. This is her punishment for how she lived her life. She says he’ll never come back and it’s her fault, everything is her fault.” Molly tried to hide her tears no more. She couldn’t. She walked past Cheyenne to the other side of the bed and took Lily’s hands in hers. She looked at the woman on the bed as she spoke.

“Tell her, tell her no one blames her. Tell her that we all love her,” Molly said. She looked up at Cheyenne. “Please, tell her,” she begged. Cheyenne opened her mouth and the sounds of French filled the room in a voice that Josiah hadn’t heard from the woman since she was a girl. It was quiet and soft. He looked at the bed where Lily seemed to respond. “Tell her he’ll be home soon. He’ll come home to her soon.” Cheyenne’s voice spoke the words. Lily finally quieted and turned her head to Molly as though it were she that spoke to her. Molly squeezed her hands. “I promise you,” she whispered to her friend. “He’ll come back to you I swear it,” she whispered, kissing her forehead. After a moment Cheyenne turned and walked out of the room with Josiah and Ezra.

“I’ll be damned,” Nathan whispered as he noticed Lily quiet down. Molly stood up and went into the hallway.

“Cheyenne,” she called out to the retreating figure. Cheyenne turned to her. “Thank you,” she said simply, not knowing what else would be adequate. Cheyenne simply nodded and turned to walk back downstairs. Molly turned her eyes heaven ward. “Please don’t take her from me,” she begged in prayer before turning to walk down the back staircase. She went into the kitchen wanting to make tea not only for Lily but herself. She tried to remember what she’d last eaten and couldn’t. Her hands shook as she pulled down the pot and tea from the cupboard.

Her mind struggled to remember the words to the Lord’s Prayer in gallic that she’d heard so many times before. She reached up to bring a cup down but her shaking hands wouldn’t keep hold of the cup. It slipped out of her hand and shattered on the floor. Molly looked at the pieces that lay scattered about the kitchen floor. In that moment everything she’d felt from the time her father and uncle left for parts unknown to Lily and the baby flooded Molly’s mind. Her legs wouldn’t support her and she fell to the floor sobbing, trying to pick up the pieces of the shattered teacup. She didn’t notice the door to the kitchen from the saloon opening or the person that came in until the figure knelt down beside her.

Through her tears Molly saw the silk of a dress much like those Lily wore and for one brief moment thought this was simply all a horrible dream and Lily was here with her in the kitchen until she looked to the face of the person and saw the exotic features of Bo Jun. Silently she began to help Molly pick up the pieces of the teacup. The girl’s sobs next to her seemed to have increased. Bo Jun set the pieces of porcelain aside that she’d picked up and reached with a hand to stroke the girl’s hair. She turned toward Bo Jun and the look on her face touched Bo Jun’s heart. She wrapped her arms around her and pulled the sobbing girl to her. She spoke softly to her mixing English words of comfort with Chinese one’s she didn’t know the English for. After a few moments the girl quieted and pulled out of Bo Jun’s embrace. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“There is nothing for you to be sorry for,” Bo Jun told her. She helped Molly to stand. “I will do this, you go rest yourself,” she told her. Molly wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’ll be fine,” she told Bo Jun. It was clear the woman didn’t believe her. “You must be missed out there,” Molly said to her.

“Master Standish is capable for a few moments to handle things,” Bo Jun said to her. She moved to where the water for the tea was heating on the stove. “Sit, I will do this,” she said to Molly.

“No, really, I’m perfectly fine, I can manage,” Molly tried assuring the woman to no avail. Bo Jun’s reply caught Molly off guard.

“I think many of the tears are from old sorrow long hidden,” she said turning to Molly. “Sit and tell me.”

“There is just so much to think of right now, I’m afraid I let it get the better of me, that’s all,” Molly stammered, knowing the woman didn’t quite believe her. Bo Jun finished brewing the tea before turning to Molly.

“If you should ever have need, I will listen and repeat to no one what I hear,” she told her deciding not to push, just yet. Molly gave her a tired smile.

“Thank you for making the tea, Miss Bo Jun,” she said to her. Bo Jun nodded to her then turned to leave the kitchen knowing there was something more to this girl.

It had been a couple of hours later. Nathan had put some herbs in the tea Molly had brought up and they had managed to get Lily to sip some of it. The herbs were to help with the fever and it was hard to tell if it worked. The doctor in Stillwater had been wired and replied that he would leave the following day for Four Corners. Nathan hoped it wouldn’t be too late. He asked Buck if he knew any other place Chris might have gone. Buck knew for Nathan to ask that question and then have the doctor in Stillwater wired meant things weren’t good for Lily. He remembered the time Chris spent in Purgatory, a town south of Four Corners that was a haven for the worst of mankind. He said he’d ride out there in the morning. Nathan hated feeling this inadequate. If he knew more, if he’d had a proper education Lily wouldn’t be lying in that bed in the state she was in. He looked up at the staircase as he nursed a cup of coffee. The saloon was mostly emptied for the night now. Only Josiah and Buck sat with him watching Bo Jun and Ezra clean up the bar. Ezra cleaning anything was surly a sign something was bad.

“Molly come down yet?” Nathan asked them. He had gone back to his clinic for an hour to gather more supplies he might need in the night. He was hoping that in that time she had emerged from Lily’s room and had gone home to get some much needed rest.

“Nope,” Josiah answered him. Nathan stood up.

“She’s going to wear herself out if she don’t get proper rest,” he said.

“She ain’t the only one,” Josiah answered him. Nathan ignored his friend’s comment and walked upstairs to Lily’s room. He lightly tapped before opening the door. Molly sat in the chair next to Lily’s bed, a book open in her lap. Her eyes were closed and her head was tipped back and to the side. Nathan could tell she was asleep. His heart went out to the girl. She was so young, too young to be dealing with anything like this.

His mind went back to that morning when she immediately took control over the situation with Lily as if she’d done it a thousand times before. He had heard that her mother died a few years before and that it had been Molly mostly that had cared for her during a long illness. She should be at home in her own bed, resting, not here in a chair doing what should be his job. He walked up to her and gently took the book from her hands. He knelt next to her.

“Molly,” he said softly to her. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Molly.” Her eyes flew open.

“What is it?” she said, panicked. He put a finger to his lips to shush her.

“Nothin’ it’s okay. You’d just fallen asleep here. It’s late, honey, you should be in bed.” Molly shook herself awake.

“I shouldn’t have fallen asleep,” she said.

“You’re gonna be just as sick if you don’t rest yourself,” Nathan said to her. “Come on, you can go into one of the spare bedrooms,” he said moving to help her stand. She looked up at him.

“What if she needs me?” she asked. He held his hand out to her.

“She ain’t gonna need ya because I’m going to be right her with her all night. Come on now,” he said to her. Wearily, Molly took Nathan’s hand and stood up. They walked hand in hand down the hallway to the room Bryn used to stay in. Nathan opened the door and ushered her inside. “You get some sleep now, you hear?” he said to her. She nodded to him. Lord, she looked so tired. He turned to walk away.

“Mr. Jackson?” she softly called to him. He turned around to see her walk back up to him. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Good night,” she said to him before walking away. He watched her shut the door before touching his cheek where she’d kissed him. No white woman would ever dare kiss a black man. Molly didn’t see that. She simply saw a man who was as tired and lost as she was and it was her way of trying to comfort him.

“Good night, honey,” he said softly to the shut door before walking in to sit with Lily for the rest of the night.

Molly woke up the next day with a start. She had forgotten where she was and then she remembered the night before and Mr. Jackson walking her to this room so she could sleep. She was still in her dress from the day before. Her watch-pin was on the dresser in the room and Molly looked at it and her heart nearly stopped. School should have started an hour ago. Molly flew the door open to the surprised look of Ezra Standish.

“Well, good morning,” he said to her.

“He shouldn’t have let me sleep like that,” she said breathless moving to pass him in the hallway. Ezra took hold of her shoulders.

“Calm yourself, my dear, your pupils are being adequately tended to,” he said to her. “Mr. Jackson arranged for Mrs. Travis to begin classes this morning on your behalf and had her bring back a fresh dress for you,” he explained to her. Molly shut her eyes to catch her breath.

“How is Lily?” she asked him.

“She is improved from last evening but not by much I’m afraid. The physician from Stillwater should be arriving soon.” Molly nodded at him.

“Thank you, Mr. Standish,” she said to him. She walked into Lily’s room where Nathan was still keeping his vigil. He gave her a tired smile and walked up to her.

“Sleep well,” he asked her.

“A little too well I’m afraid,” she said sheepishly. “Mr. Standish just told me what you did for me this morning. Thank you for that,” she said to him. “You shouldn’t have gone through the trouble.” He went to the closet in the room and took out the dress Mary had brought over that morning.

“You go freshen up. JD’s been wait’n to walk you to school,” he said to her. She took the dress and walked over to the bed where Lily lay almost peacefully. She could tell by looking at her that while the fever may have gone down she was still very ill.

“Good morning, Lily,” she whispered to her. “I have to go but I’ll be back at dinnertime again,” she said to her, smoothing her hair back from her head. “Maybe I’ll brush your hair, would you like that?” she asked her. She kissed her cheek before walking out the door back to the room she slept in to change.

Molly made her way down the stairs to the saloon. She promised herself a hot bath that night. JD was waiting at a table for her. He stood up and walked up to her. “Hi,” he said to her.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting long,” she said to him. He shrugged and Molly knew he had.

“Just wanted to see you,” he said to her. Molly smiled at him. It was nice to know. She took his arm and they made their way slowly up the street toward the church. “She any better?” JD asked her. Molly shook her head.

“It’s as though she doesn’t want to be. She blames herself for what happened and she couldn’t possibly have done anything to cause it. It just happened,” she said to him.

“But she never told Chris about it,” JD said to her. Molly didn’t quite know how to respond. She had wondered about that herself since this happened. Should she ever find herself with child, pregnant by someone she loved wild horses couldn’t keep her from telling that person. She never understood the relationship Lily had with Chris. It was obvious now that they shared a bed but Molly couldn’t understand how they could do that and then act in public as though they hardly knew each other. The ways of men and women here were completely different than anything she saw or had been taught on the Island.

“I can’t imagine what she must feel, to have had a child inside you and then lose it,” Molly wondered out loud, knowing it wasn’t proper to be having this sort of conversation with JD.

“You want children?” he asked her. Molly looked at him.

“Some day I’d hope to,” she answered him.

“So do I,” he answered her. “And I’d want someone like you to be their mother.” Molly blushed at his words.

“Well, you’d make a fine father someday,” she stammered to him. They reached the church and JD watched Molly walk up the stairs and inside. He meant what he said to her and wondered if someday it would be reality. He wondered if she cared for him as much as he found himself caring for her. He waited another moment before turning and walking back to the saloon.

She was going to bathe. He hadn’t meant to come this close to her. He knew he shouldn’t be here but he couldn’t help it. Royal had told him he was a fool to come into the town before it was time to but he couldn’t help it. The drawing wasn’t doing anything for him anymore. He had to see her. They had brought up the tub and filled it with hot water and before he could leave his hiding place she emerged into the room. He watched as she undressed, oblivious to him only feet from her. He watched as she removed her clothes and then pinned up her hair on top of her head and ease herself into the water. She was a vision, a true angel. He could smell the oil that she had scented the water with. It smelled like the gardens back home. Soon he would have her walking with him in the gardens in Europe. They may even wed in one. After a time she stepped out of the tub and redressed and left the room. Cautiously he emerged from his hiding spot and quietly opened the door to the hallway. No one was there; he quickly made his way down the back staircase and out the back door. Soon, he kept telling himself as he mounted his horse and rode out of town. So very soon.