Reno

Ethan was getting so frustrated. He had walked every square foot of Reno and still no trace of Amelia. No one had seen her later than four days ago and it was like she'd just disappeared. He didn't know why she'd wired for him to come to town, whether she'd been in trouble which hadn't been the first possibility considered or whether it was to tell him she wanted to be his woman again.

His woman. That's what he'd wanted it to be because he'd missed her so damn much. Her running out on him had hurt him to the core for about the first month where he didn't think he'd take her back if she returned out of pride. Then as the pain ebbed away and the shock and indignation, he finally understood with some counseling from John Taylor why she had left.

It'd been his own damn fault like just about everything else. He'd have given anything to find her and tell her that but he didn't know where to start looking knowing she could be anywhere across this vast country. She could have even decided to head back to Australia for all he knew…he hadn't gotten one word, one letter or one wire from her about where she'd gone and what she'd been doing.

Until those wires from Reno. He'd shifted his work to Dakota and Charlie, gotten Claire to look after the other children and the ranch with John Taylor and Clancy who owned the neighboring ranch to help out. He'd ridden his horse, pushing it as hard and fast as it would go to get to Reno but rather than finding her at the hotel, he found nothing…not even a note.

She'd vanished.

Now he had to find her because he was getting worried that something happened to her. He'd realized heading back to the hotel that there was one place he hadn't checked out except at a glance.

The Cactus Flower saloon and bordello. Now of course she'd never set foot in either place nor would she have anything to do with it but he'd have to at least talk to whoever owned it on the off chance that they might have spotted her even if seeing her walk down the street one day. So he walked inside the establishment and saw a tall man pulling out chairs and sweeping and another cleaning the top of the bar. They both looked up at him, neither overly friendly.

"Who are you? We're closed for business until later tonight…"

"Your sign said…"

The man, an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a scar over his brow just shook his head. The younger, wiry looking dark haired man kept cleaning the bar not saying anything.

"We close up for two hours in the late afternoon," he said, "I'm Stony…I oversee the floor for the bosses."

"I'm Ethan Cord…I'm looking for a woman I know."

Stony's eyes narrowed.

"I haven't seen you before…you're not from these parts are you?"

Ethan shook his head.

"I'm looking for a woman who was staying at a nearby hotel."

"She got a name?"

"Amelia…Amelia Lawson…"

The man paused then shook his head.

"Never heard of her," he said, "What'd she look like…in case she called herself another name?"

Ethan considered that…then answered.

"She's got dark black curly hair," he said, "She's about this tall…"

He gestured her height with his hand against his own frame. Stony shrugged.

"A common type…we get a lot of them," he said, "but sounds like you're in the wrong place."

Ethan figured as much but he had to try everywhere. He started to head to the door after thanking them…then he paused.

"What time do you open again? I might come in for a drink…a good time…"

Stony rested on his broom.

"In a couple of hours," he said, "Saloon will be open then."

Ethan nodded and then headed outside. He didn't know why he asked that, his instinct drove him to speak up and he never ignored his instincts.

He knew in a couple of hours, he'd be back.


Amelia opened her eyes and the first thing that registered, was that her head hurt. She winced and noticed her vision seemed blurry. She made out two figures standing away from her that looked like women.

Where was she? She felt weak and knew she was lying on a bed that seemed comfortable enough and that her muscles ached when she tried to shift position. She tried to focus her eyes on her surroundings and slowly…the details became clearer, more distinct.

The two women heard her and the taller one walked over to her and put a hand on her forehead. Amelia moved beneath her touch.

"You woke up. We were hoping that you would soon."

Amelia took in her kindly face, the soft brown long hair and that she looked pretty.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

Amelia's voice sounded soft and weak to her own ears. The woman smiled

"I'm Dr. Michaela Quinn. You're in my clinic in Colorado Springs and you've been out for a couple days."

Amelia felt even more confused.

"Colorado Springs…two days? But I remember riding on a horse…I wasn't alone…and now I'm here."

Michaela rested her hand on her shoulder.

"You were hurt badly in some type of accident…we didn't find any horses," she said, "A young woman was with you…she's staying at my place."

"Who?"

"She calls herself Pearl…she said that you were ambushed by some men who tried to kill you. But somehow you got away."

Amelia struggled to remember but she drew a blank. Nothing made sense to her and her attempts to remembering anything at all bore no fruit.

"I don't….I don't remember anything," she said, "but riding and some bits and pieces…I don't…I don't even know…"

She stopped talking, struggling to search her memories for anything that might help her.

"You know who you are don't you?"

Amelia thought yes…yes she did until she tried to search for her identity and found nothing…not even a name.

"No I don't…I don't know who I am."

Michaela looked over at Colleen. Amelia looked at the both of them.

"Do you know who I am?"

Michaela nodded slightly.

"We know you call yourself Amelia but not more than that. Pearl told us that when we first met her."

Amelia furrowed her brow.

"Pearl…Pearl…I heard that name…but…"

Michaela patted her on the shoulder and gave her another smile.

"Just rest Amelia…don't force it. I'm sure it'll all come back to you soon enough."

"What if it doesn't?"

But Michaela couldn't answer that question.


Paradise

Joseph turned to his sister.

"You can't be serious about going to Colorado Springs," he said, "You know how they feel about people from this town."

She shook her head.

"I don't know if that's really true Joseph. Axelrod and the others might be exaggerating."

"What if they're not?"

"Millie will go with me," she said, "I'll wait to see if Uncle Ethan comes back soon from Reno but we haven't heard from him."

Joseph sighed.

"He's off on business but someone said that he's hoping to meet up with Amelia there."

She nodded.

"I heard that too. I hope it's true though I don't know why he didn't tell us."

"He's probably not sure she'll come back with him," Joseph said, "So he'll wait to say something when he knows what'll happen."

"She'll come back with him. I know she will. She still loves him."

Joseph scoffed.

"She dumped him. She'll tell him that she wants to stay there and he'll come back alone."

Claire didn't believe that. She believed in true love and all that and was so sure that Uncle Ethan and Amelia still loved each other.

They'd come back together, get married and that would be that.