"Dr. Mike is going to have a baby!" Sister Ruth shrieked with joy at the news in her friend's latest letter.

Kid Cole smiled wistfully while he gazed out the window of their New York hotel room. He was delighted for her, of course, and he couldn't imagine a couple more suited for each other than her and Sully. But he couldn't shake something gnawing at him on the inside.

"Well how about that! It was inevitable though, hun. Good for them. We should pay them a visit soon," he said enthusiastically, trying to mask the mix of rising cough and psychological lump in his throat. He still didn't turn away from the window.

Sister Ruth got up from the bed and walked over to him. Although she'd only known the man for a year and a half, something in his cold reception of this joyful news alerted her.

She came up behind him and stroked her arm along his back, and eased him out of his jacket. The slightest touch sent pricks of his spine and made him fall into a coughing spell. Why did his consumption always have to ruin intimate moments? Ruth gave him some laudanum and asked God to take this burden away from them like she always did, "but Your will be done" she always ended.

Sickness could get a man thinking about his own mortality quite often, and Dr. Mike's letter hadn't helped matters.

"Ruth, are you unhappy that I could never give you a child?"

She gaped, taken aback, and took his hand. "Now what are you talkin' about? You know I'm way past my childbearing years. We both knew children were out of the question. 'Sides, you're my kid, Kid. You done act like one too, most of the time."

He didn't like the frightening truth behind that statement. Soon he might become as helpless as a child, even less, if the consumption kept at it.

"I know, but you love them so. And I always wonder what kind of father I would have been, if I could have made up for my own father's neglect." There was no sense in sparing any detail. Right now something was making him spill his guts to Ruth. He walked over to the bed, put his gun on the nightstand, and sat down with a creak of the knees.

Ruth silently wonder to God where this all was coming from, and she asked for the strength to get through the emotional struggle.

"What's got you thinkin' so much about children? Is it Dr. Mike." she finally asked, levelheadedly while looking him in the eyes, eyes of the darkest brown, pensive, and…hopeful?

He shook his head. "Honey, you know how much I love Dr. Mike and Sully. It's not that, its –" Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper and handed it to her.

HELP WANTED
CHAPERONE
ORPHAN TRAIN

NEW YORK to SAN FRANCISCO

INQUIRE FOR MORE

DEPARTS FROM GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

Sister Ruth's heart melted as she marveled the utter change he husband had undergone. Maybe it was the illness, but she knew the Good Lord had something to do with it. This rough and tumble gunslinger had turned soft, in the best way. Though she never outright said it – because she thought it might trigger a conversation like this – Ruth saw how good Kid Cole was with Brian, when they visited Colorado Springs, and all children they encountered on the road during their ministry. Children flocked to him practically, and he would happily compliment them or sing them a song, making them feel special.

"Well, if this is a question, and this is somethin' that you want to do, than the answer is yes. The Lord will direct our steps. Maybe this is what He's calling us to do next. It ain't a coincidence that's for sure."

In that moment, Kid Cole forgot about the consumption, his past, the sewage of New York City seeping through the window, everything. He sprung off the bed with more vigor than he'd known in years. There was an inexplicable fire for this project burning in him.

"I am going to Grand Central Terminal right now to ask for the job," he said, walking out the door.

Sister Ruth grinned and laughed, ever glad to see her husband's spirits so high.

"It's eleven o' clock, for Pete's sake, and you're forgetting something."

He came back and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Your coat," she said amusedly. "It's near thirty degrees outside. Come right back too, y'hear, we don't want the consumption acting up!" she yelled down the hall.

But he was already gone.