Chapter II - Gone

"Do you really think that there's hope he can find her? Perhaps he should just quit. There's no sense in trying to find her, when she's left on her own will!"

Hank winked to Loren with a cigar in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.

"And if she's kidnapped. We owe it her to search for her. Dr. Mike has done much good for this town."

Loren didn't want to accept that Dr. Mike had left her family and friends behind. He had learned to love her like a daughter and though she was away for nearly three month now he still hoped she would come back, enter his mercantile with her typical smile that always used to lighten his day, even if he would never say that.

"But she has also caused trouble. Hank is right, Sully should give up. It's been three months now. Even if there had been a chance to find her, Loren, be realistic, just this once…three months…and there was no train wreck, no big storm and if you asked me, she was really smitten with that doc, who's also lost since three months…"

Jake didn't really know what to think, but when it came to such matters he often tended to believe Hank. Yeah, sure, he liked Dr. Mike, but it wasn't his fault that she wasn't here, was it?

"Shh…there's Dorothy, when she hears what we're talking about, she'll surely kill us!" Loren warned.

„Hey Dorothy, a coffee for you? " Grace asked as soon as she spotted her friend sitting down at the nearest table.

"Yes, coffee would be nice, thanks Grace." Dorothy replied absentminded.

Grace disappeared and reappeared just a short time later with a cup of hot steaming coffee. She put the cup down and set next to her friend.

"Dorothy? Is something wrong?" she noticed her friend's odd demeanour.

"No, it's just that I can't seem to stop wondering where Michaela is right now and if she's safe…" Dorothy's voice trailed off when she had to voice her inner thoughts.

"I know what you mean. I think 'bout her too. If you could have listened to those men…", Grace shook her head sadly, "They were just discussing that Sully should stop searching for her. Moreover, they even suggested that she might have just left with that doc. I could not believe my ears."

Dorothy glanced over to where the men were sitting and when Loren felt her staring at him, he turned his head but avoided her eyes quickly as if ashamed for what they had said about their lovely town doctor. He had mourned over her despite the fact that she might come back, but somehow he knew that Dr. Mike wouldn't just leave her family. He knew that Dorothy was disappointed at him for talking in this way about her friend, but he hadn't said those things, had he? He would talk with Dorothy later.

Date: Friday, June 03 ff, 1872 Location: Portland/ Oregon

"Dr. Lloyd, I know you want to take your wife home, but she's still having those hallucinations. They're coming fewer at day, but still every night. She's crying herself to sleep and screaming that name, Sully, over and over. I don't think it would be wise to discharge her." Sam had visited his wife in the mental home, where she had been staying for the past three month. He thought he couldn't wait much longer to get her back home. It's been so long since she had left him. He just wanted it all to be over.

"You said earlier that she hadn't had them as often or, I should say, as permanent, as she used to. I mean, isn't that a sign, that she's accepting our daughter's death and everything is going back to normal? I would think that familiar surroundings are the best cure now." Sam was beginning to grow impatient with that blown up, conceited quack. He was a doctor himself and he was taking his wife home, now.

"I'm taking her home." He said absolutely, leaving for her room.

"Mr Lloyd, you yourself told us what happened the last time! Be reasonable!"

"Shut up, you stupid quack! You don't know how it's been the last time, you don't know me, and you don't know my wife. I couldn't care less for your opinion…" he yelled back at the doctor, leaving him stunned and some people staring at him.

„Sweetheart, I'm coming to take you home." He smiled his hugest smile at his wife when he entered her room a few seconds later. He had to stop in front of her room for gaining his courage. The last thing he wanted to do was frightening her when it was her last day in the mental home, when she would be home in a few more hours.

She sat on the bad, staring out of the window without moving. Neither did she react to the opening door, nor to his voice. She only stared. Sam rounded the bed and sat down next to her laying his right hand on her left knee. She jumped a little bit but relaxed quickly when she recognized him. For a few moments her gaze lingered on his face but then she continued to stare out of the window.

"You heard what I just said, sweetheart? We're going home now."

"Home…" she seemed to ponder the word for a few minutes before turning to him and smiling.

"Home"

She stood up and quickly moved to her wardrobe, pulling a bag out of it. It was just a small bag, because she had no clothes except for her only dress and her clinic dresses she had been given at the mental home. With the bag in her hand she turned to the door and exclaimed loudly, "I'm going home now."

Sam was a bit confused at her behaviour but knew she would soon be her old self once she was at home, in familiar surroundings, if you could call her home familiar after almost three years of absence. He followed her outside and helped her up in their carriage. Their carriage, he thought, it was time that they were finally reunited…