Chapter 2 – The Preparations
Sully left the clinic and headed straight over to see Horace. Horace agreed to research the fastest way for them to reach Rebecca and let him know that afternoon.
Just as he was leaving, Sully spied a very put-out looking Martha Smith marching a very muddy Katie towards the clinic. Martha was 15 now, and one of the older girls in the schoolhouse and she did not looking happy to be escorting a very muddy 8 year old.
Sully hurried over to intercept them, knowing Michaela had a lot of get done before they left.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"She fell," Martha stated. "Down by the creek." She dropped Katie's hand, clearly anxious to get away and wash the mud off of her own. "Mrs. Slicker asked me to bring her up to her ma. She said Katie isn't allowed back into the classroom all muddy."
"I see," Sully said, trying very hard to look stern. It was difficult to keep from smiling through, considering his daughter looked exactly like a miniature version of her mother the very first time he had seen her, face down in a muddy field, especially when she looked up at him, slightly embarrassed, but still with that familiar and very stubborn look in her eye, as if daring anyone to make fun of her. "Well, I'll take care of her. Her ma's pretty busy with patients today."
Martha nodded and gratefully headed back to the schoolhouse. Sully lead his daughter over to the bench behind the clinic. She really was absolutely covered in mud from head to toe. He untucked his shirt and used it to wipe some of the brown muck away from her face.
"Now, it's only the first week of school, Kates," he said. "You know you're not supposed to be playin' down by the creek during school hours. I'm not sure if this dress is ever gonna come clean. Plus, now you're gonna miss the whole afternoon."
Katie stood in front of him, toeing at the ground.
"Well?" he asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I had to go, Papa," she said in a quite, but firm voice.
"I can't think 'o any reason why you had to go down to the creek during recess," Sully replied.
She was quiet for a moment. "I had to prove to Jimmy Foster that I can fish just as good as him," she spewed in a rush. "I told him how Brian was going to take me fishin' after school and he said that would be a waste of time 'cause girls can't catch fish, but that's not true! You and Brian take me fishin' all the time and sometimes Mama even comes and sometimes I even catch the biggest one. Mama always says that girls can do anything they put their minds to and I told him so, but then he told me that he catches fish with his bare hands and told me that a silly little girl could never do that, so I had to go down and show him that I could!"
Sully had to turn around for a moment to get his grin under control. The stubborn look on her face was pure Michaela.
"Kates," he took a deep breathe, pulling her onto his lap, heedless of the mud. "First of all, Mrs. Slicker says ya ain't allowed down to the creek during recess. You broke the rule, and for that you're gonna have to be punished." He struggled though, to think of a suitable punishment, considering they were planning to leave town tomorrow. "Uh...so...I'm gonna tell Brian ya aren't allowed to go fishin' with him this afternoon." Katie didn't need to know that he had been intending to cancel the trip anyway so they could pack.
"Aw, Pa!" she pouted.
"Well, maybe you'll think of that the next time you wanna break one of the rules at school," Sully answered.
"Second of all, why is this Jimmy Foster so important that you feel you gotta prove yourself to him?"
"It's not him, Pa," Katie explained. "It's what he said. So many ladies don't seem ta do nothin' all day, but Ma and Colleen are smart and pretty and they've done all sorts of stuff and Ma said not to let anyone tell me I can't do somethin' cause I'm girl. I wanna be like Ma and Colleen when I grow up, and do excitin' things so I just had to show him that I can fish as well as any boy. Otherwise, I might turn into those prissy ladies who never do anythin' fun." Katie sounded more like her father when she started talking too fast.
"Kates," Sully tried again, thinking Michaela had perhaps instilled some things a bit too well in their daughter. "When your Ma tells you that, she ain't tellin' ya to go running off to do everything anyone tells ya you can't do, just to prove them wrong. She's tellin' ya not to stop doin' something you already like doin' just because someone says you shouldn't or can't. She's tellin' ya that you can be whatever you wanna be when you grown up, even if some folks think you shouldn't do certain things because you're a girl. It don't mean that you gotta go around provin' yourself to everyone."
Katie nodded, trying to take this in.
"And one thing your Ma and Colleen are, is smart. So if you wanna be like them when you grow up, you need to be smart, too. Now it sounds to me like this boy mighta outsmarted you here."
Katie looked up at him, horrified.
Sully thought for a minute, "What would you think if some fella told your Ma that ladies weren't strong enough to wrestle grizzly bears, and then she decided run off and try it just to prove him wrong?"
"That's silly, Papa," Katie smiled a little. "Ain't no one could wrestle a grizzly, not even you."
Sully smiled, "Well, how do you know that Jimmy Foster can catch a fish with his bare hands?"
"Uh..." Katie looked up at him, understanding dawning on her.
"Seems to me that Jimmy Foster mighta been tellin' a tall tale himself. Yet, you were the one who decided ya had somethin' ta prove. So now you're sittin' here with me covered in mud and missin' out on your fishin' trip this afternoon and he's warm and dry, and finishing out his school day."
Katie looked distressed now and Sully saw tears begin to form in her eyes.
"Aw, Kates," he said, wrapping his arms around her.
"I feel so stupid," she cried.
"Hey now," he whispered, wiping her tears. "Everyone does somethin' stupid now and then. Even your 'Ma." He rubbed her back until the tears subsided and then proceeded to carry her over to his horse and help her up in front of him. He knew that riding horseback instead of in the wagon was a bit of a treat for her, which she probably shouldn't be getting, but he wanted to leave the wagon in case Michaela needed it.
2 hours later, both father and daughter were cleaned up and in fresh clothes. While getting her changed, Sully had told her that she would not have to worry about Jimmy Foster for the next couple of months, because she would be taking a trip with her parents instead. He got Michaela's traveling trunks out of the barn and then headed out with Katie riding in front of him to go see Matthew, with Katie begging to take the reins.
By late afternoon, that had arrived back in town, just as school was letting out. Sully sent Katie to go wait at the clinic while he headed over to speak with Horace.
"Well, any news?" he asked the telegraph operator.
"Yep," Horace said. "There's a steamship, the S.S. Lady Elizabeth, leaving for the islands next Monday, right outta Boston. She mostly takes cargo, but she does have several passenger cabins as well . Only got first class left though, and that's $195. The other thing is that the train don't get in to Boston until late Sunday night. That don't leave ya much time. Next ship I found that'll take passengers is a sailing ship outta Philadelphia. That don't leave until the 20th and it'll only cost ya $120."
Sully knew that Dr. Mike wanted to reach her sister as soon as possible, "I guess we'd better take that steamship then. I'll go over to the bank and get ya the money."
"Are ya sure?" Horace asked, as that was a rather enormous sum.
"Yeah," Sully said. "It'll be OK. Her Ma left us some money we been saving for emergencies, and I know Dr. Mike wants to be there for her sister." He left and headed over to the bank to retrieve the funds.
Later that night, the homestead was in a whirlwind, and Sully was grateful when Matthew arrived so Sully could make sure he and Brian knew where everything they needed would be to tend to the animals while they were gone. He left Michaela to her piles of everything from medicines to dresses and underthings, having already laid out a few clean shirts and a spare pair of buckskins.
He cautiously returned to the house near midnight, hoping she would have sorted everything out, but found the trunks still half packed, and her medical bag and surgical kit laid out on the bed, with his wife standing in the middle of the room, holding a ballgown in front of her.
He looked at the assorted medical supplies sitting on their bed, "I don't fancy sleepin' next to that bone saw," he said, trying to bring a bit of levity to the situation.
Michaela sighed, dropping the dress on the bed and running her fingers through her hair, "I'm just not sure what to bring. Rebecca said it was extremely hot there, and parts of it sound much like Colorado Springs, but we will be spending the night in Boston with Claudette and her family, and possibly a visit on our way back. Plus, it's September and it will probably be cold out on the water. I don't want Katie coming down with something because I didn't pack enough warm clothes..."
Sully walked up behind her, gently massaging her shoulders. He remembered how she'd been when she'd had to rush off to Boston when her mother became ill. She seemed to focus her stress on packing to distract her from what was really upsetting her.
"Here, sit down." he lead her gently over to the bed, gently picking up the ballgown. "Let me help. He walked over to the trunk and pulled another ballgown and her leather duster off of the top. The bottom of the trunk was mostly filled with underthings. "Ya got enough underthings in her?" he asked.
"Yes, I think so," she said, calmer now.
Sully gingerly plucked a corset from the top of the pile, "You really need to bring a corset along?" he asked, knowing she couldn't move properly in one of those things.
"Well, as I said, we may spend a few days in Boston when we all return."
He sighed, and pushed the contraption back into the trunk. "Well, what about clothes for this island then? I think your normal stuff you wear here should be just fine. A few of your Summer shirts?"
She nodded and helped him to gather a few of her lighter weight blouses and skirts into the trunk. Eventually, they added warm shawls for her and Katie, two of her nicer dresses, along with one fancy that Katie had not yet grown out of, her large brimmed hat for the sun, and added his few items to the top of one of the trunks. They sorted out her medical supplies, and finally collapsed into bed just before 2AM.