Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS and to Beth Sullivan.

Teaser

A late winter sun was lazily shining upon the frost-covered meadow. Faint echoes from the bustling town nearby barely disturbed the peacefulness of the place, where an old two-story house stood among hundred-year-old oaks. The weatherworn wood of the building was dully gleaming in the weak sun; a few rotten posts and planks lay scattered where must have been the barn and corral. Had not it been for the thin wisps of smoke that came from the chimneys the place would have had looked deserted.

This was the cherished home of a very old lady. Despite the adjurations of her children to come and live with one of them, she had stubbornly refused to leave the house after the tragedies she had gone through the year before: the death of her husband and, a few months later, of two of her grandsons, both victims of that horrendous war in Europe… How could she leave? This was where her family had started and grown, where she had known her most profound joys and where she had found solace during times of hardship. Where she had lived forty-seven years... with him.

Seated in her customary wingback chair, she was waiting for her granddaughter to come back from town. Young Rose had moved in when her grandmother's health had started to decline, shortly after those fateful events. They had always been quite close ever since the girl's early childhood. Her cheerful nature had chased away the glum that threatened the homestead and its inhabitant.

The front door burst open, revealing a bundled form whose arms were laden with groceries. A high-pitched, female voice emerged from behind a pile of packages:

"Hey Grandma, sorry I'm late..."

"It's all right Sweetheart. I suppose you've met some friend of yours in town."

"Well, no... I went to Dad's office to ask for your pills - you're running low, and I don't want you to get sick on me!"

"I would never do that..."

"You'd better not, if you know what's good for you!"

The two women smiled knowingly, with wide and identical crooked grins.

"So, what took you so long? Was the mercantile that much busy?"

"No more than usual. But I had to wait in Dad's office for at least half an hour..."

"He had an emergency?"

"Sort of", edged the girl. "You know that Amelia Lodge's had a baby and that the poor thing wasn't quite, er... normal. You must have heard about the scene the whole Lodge family made, statin' that such a monster could NOT be a Lodge, and that Amelia was nothin' less than a whore..."

"Rose! Mind your language, please..."

"Ooops, sorry."

"Your father told me he had encountered another case of the Down syndrome, last month. But I ignored it had happened to the Lodges. As much as I despise them, I can't help feeling sorry for that poor woman... What happened this morning?"

"Amelia turned up at the Clinic with her kid, saying her husband wanted to get rid of it... Grandma? You all right? You look pale, is your heart bothering you?"

"No, Rosie, I'm fine. You worry too much, just like your grandfather. I was actually remembering being confronted to a similar situation when I was expecting your father, and as you can imagine, back then we knew even less about this syndrome."

"How did you handle it?"

"Not as well as I should have. Being pregnant colored my judgement and made it impossible for me to maintain my professional distance. I met other children with this problems, before and after that, but what happened to little Thomas Tanner is something I'll never forget."

"Can you tell me more about it?"

"Hmm, well..."

"It's all right if you don't want to, I understand..."

"I will tell you, but right now I'm starving, so let's eat, then we'll drink a nice tea and we'll talk, how's that?"

"Fine with me, Doc!"

* * *

The old lady and her granddaughter were settled in the parlor, the former stirring distractedly her tea while the latter was waiting patiently. Rose treasured those moments when her grandmother would share her past experiences with her, and lately a yearning had started simmering deep within her, something she could not yet put into words, but which was steadily getting stronger each time she listened to one of these tales from the past.

The grandmother was taking her time remembering those troubled days. Even after forty years, some of those memories were still vivid as though it had happened only a few days before. Her hand was longing to reach out and clasp another hand, the one which had provided so much comfort when she was too confused and disheartened. But all she had to squeeze was the thick woolen plaid that covered her legs.

She sighed, silently wondering if she should tell the girl everything that transpired during that winter so long ago, or merely talk about what happened to that family, keeping the turmoil she had gone through to herself. Yet she had to be honest with Rose. Her granddaughter was old enough to understand. She took a deep breath and, her eyes staring vacantly at the fire, she began her tale in a hushed tone:

"It all started when your grandfather and I came back from a short trip to Denver..."