CHAPTER 4

Brian, Colleen, and Matthew rode into the homestead, and their fears for Dr. Mike and Sully grew as they realized the cabin windows were dark and no smoke came from the chimney. Pup barked happily as the children jumped from the wagon. Matthew quickly unhooked the horse's traces as Colleen ran to feed her prized chickens.

Matthew in his best grownup, authoritative voice instructed, "Brian! Milk the cow and feed Pup. I'm going to feed the horses and saddle Scout. Colleen? Will you pack my saddlebags with some food, medicines, and bandages? Also, get me some blankets. I'll ride out to the reservation and see if they're there. You two stay here and get your homework done so Dr. Mike won't be mad when she gets home."

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the two did not argue. As Matthew led a saddled Scout from the barn, he donned his heavy canvas coat and pulled his hat down over his face to ward off the cold rain and sleet. Colleen threw the packed saddlebags over Scout's rump and rushed to close the barn door behind him.

Brian called out to his brother, "Matthew. Tell Ma I miss 'er an' I'll sure be glad when she gets back home."

Matthew turned to his two siblings to tell them to get back in the house and out of the cold, when the sound of a horse's hooves could be heard trotting up the dirt road.

"That's gotta be Ma." Brian shouted.

The children watched in hope and then in fear as Bear trotted riderless toward the warmth of the barn. Matthew reached and grabbed the dangling reins. It was then that he saw and felt the stickiness of the blood on the saddle and the dark stain of blood on Dr. Mike's coat. Trying to keep Brian from seeing the horror of all the blood, he turned the horse away from his little brother and motioned for his sister to follow him inside the barn. Colleen, upon entering the barn, saw the look on her brother's face, and as his eyes cut toward the saddle, she gasped at the sight.

"Don't say anything to Brian. It'll just scare him." he encouraged her. "I'll find 'em. Just keep Brian from seeing this."

"What do you think happened, Matthew?"

"I don't know, but Sully knows how to take care of himself in the woods, and he would never let anything happen to Dr. Mike. Just keep this to yourself so Brian don't get in a panic. Okay?"

As Brian tried to enter the barn, she grabbed Dr. Mike's medical bag to take it into the cabin, and then she took Brian by the shoulders. "Let's go feed that growly stomach of yours." Her last look over her shoulder at Matthew spoke of her worry for Ma and Sully.

He quickly unsaddled and fed Bear, wiped the blood off the saddle, and hid the bloody coat under a stack of hay before galloping out into the night to search for his family. As he rode off, he could hear Colleen trying to answer Brian's many questions and allay his fears.

It was going to be a long night for everyone…

As darkness settled around the Indian encampment, Sully and Catherine sat cross-legged by the fire in the teepee. She was starting to remember more and more small incidents from her childhood in Baltimore and kept up a steady stream of quiet chatter. Sully, never one to be talkative, seemed to be even withdrawn than usual. The only sounds, other than the young woman's voice, were the crackling of the fire, the occasional snuffling snore of Wolf as he slept by his beloved human companion, and the steady pattering of rain and occasional sleet on the sides of the teepee.

He appeared preoccupied, and Catherine could see furrows developing in the space between his sky-blue eyes. Leaning over toward him, she placed her hand on his heart and reached up to cup his face with her palm.

"What troubles you?" she asked in a soft voice. Not getting a response, she leaned as if to kiss him softly on the lips like she had done several days ago.

"No!" he shouted and pushed her hand away. Then in a kinder voice he said, "Catherine, we need to talk about me and Dr. Mike."

"You and Dr. Mike?" Catherine asked in a puzzled voice. "She is just your friend, no?"

"No, Catherine. She is so much more than my friend. She's the woman I love, my heartsong. The only woman I love, and I fear now I may have hurt her."

"But why, how, Sully?"

"I should never have let you kiss me, and even though she don't know about it… it was wrong. Also, I know you needed a friend, but I should never have stayed out here with ya. It ain't right. I need to get back to Dr. Mike first thing in the mornin'."

He looked at Catherine and realized his words had hurt her also, and for that he was sorry. However, he had also hurt Dr. Mike with his attentions to another woman.

"Catherine, listen, ya need to decide if you want to go to the Northern Cheyenne camp or if you want to go back to Baltimore. Whatever you decide, let me know in the mornin' 'cause I'm leavin' at first light to go back to Colorado Springs. Okay?"

She hesitated and then seemed to draw back into her own body before finally responding. "There is nothing left for me here. My family is gone, your heart belongs to Dr. Mike who is a good woman, and I must try to make a new life." She hesitated once again and then whispered, "Sully, I will go to Baltimore and live with my grandmother."

He looked at her across the small campfire and nodded. "You can stay here until I book ya a ticket on the next stage to St. Louis. It'll probably be a couple of days. I'll come back and get ya when it's time."

She dropped her chin downward so that her long blonde hair could hide her tears, sighed softly, and then stretched out by the warmth of the fire. No further words were exchanged.

Sully, realizing that she would be cold as the night progressed, draped his red poncho over the sleeping young woman. Only then did he realize that he had done the same for Dr. Mike when she had first come to the Cheyenne camp. Somehow, the memory of that time seemed to fill him with a longing for something he couldn't let go of. Now, his thoughts were focused on getting back to his heartsong and making everything right again. As he lay watching the campfire flames flickering on the walls of the teepee, he could feel anxiety and a sense of foreboding welling up inside him. There was an overwhelming feeling of some elusive thought or action he had forgotten. She needed him. It was as if he could hear her calling his name, her cries for him seemed to fill his head and his heart.

Finally, the warmth of the fire soothed him, and his troubled mind finally calmed as sleep claimed him…his last thoughts before drifting away were of his heartsong and how he would see her tomorrow.

He would be with her tomorrow. She needed him and he always kept his promises...

Dr. Mike came to again as she felt frigid water dripping down on her face from the bank above her head. Even though it was too dark to see, she could hear the roar of the creek as the water level continued to rise. The cold, however, had slowed the bleeding at her hip. Now, there was just a throbbing pain anytime she moved or when the shivering from the cold overtook her. Her lungs and throat burned with pain, and her breathing was becoming raspy and uneven. She knew she had to move or she would die of exposure and blood loss. Trying to drag herself with her injured hip up the steep bank would be impossible. All she could do was wrap her damp skirt more closely around her small frame, tuck her hands inside her blouse against her skin in an effort to ward off frostbite, and pray that Sully would find her.

She knew he was the only one who could save her and he always kept his promises…