Reno

Ethan remained determined to find Pearl as he had a feeling that it tied into why Amelia hadn't been waiting for him when he arrived here. Maybe that's why she had wired him in the first place. Calling for his help rather than to reunite with him. Any disappointment he might have felt by that realization was tempered by his concern for whether or not she'd gone missing as well.

It didn't make sense that she'd contact him after all this time to come out to see her and then disappear. Unless she was the woman who'd helped Pearl escape. That just sounded so crazy though and why would Amelia do such a thing? Did she know Pearl at all let alone enough to risk her own life helping her?

He walked outside after leaving Carmen when another woman of the night, Selena approached him.

"Hello handsome…"

He sighed.

"I'm not interested…I just spent time with Carmen."

Selena made a face.

"I'm way prettier than her and I'm a much better time for your money."

Ethan shook his head.

"I'm looking for a woman who doesn't work for Mac. Unless you've seen her…"

The woman folded her arms.

"Okay who is she? She your wife or something?"

He shook his head.

"She's a friend. I was planning to meet her here in town but can't locate her."

"What's her name?"

"Amelia Lawson…She's got dark curly hair and is about your height…"

The woman paused and then nodded slowly.

"Might have seen her…she hung around her for a while talking to some of the girls. She seemed to spend some time with one named Pearl."

"Pearl…the one who took off?"

Selena snorted.

"More like was taken…she didn't leave by herself. Someone showed up on horseback and got her to leave."

"She wasn't kidnapped was she?"

Selena shook her head.

"Almost…but she didn't struggle or anything. She wasn't real happy here."

Ethan stared directly at her.

"Are you?"

She appeared to consider that, fidgeting with her skimpy dress.

"I don't know if happiness matters much anymore," she said, "I'd rather eat and have a roof over my head you know?"

He nodded.

"So you saw Amelia here?"

"Yeah…Mac asked her if she needed a job but she told him…where to put it."

Ethan had to smile at the woman he remembered who'd taken no guff from anyone. He just didn't know what had happened to her but if it had to do with Pearl…then he'd look for the both of them.

He woudn't stop until he found them. But the country was large and vast…so where would he start looking for the two women?


Colorado Springs

Amelia felt stronger and Michaela remained impressed with her progress. She still hadn't regained her memory even to remember her name or anything about herself…like where she came from and how she'd wound up ambushed by men outside of town. She had that accent…definitely foreign and Pearl didn't seem to be able to answer many questions about her.

Sully embraced her from behind as they watched Amelia and Pearl eat a meal outside of the clinic at some tables.

"She still has no memory."

Michaela sighed, even as she enjoyed her husband's touch.

"None…and there's hardly any clues. I've got Horace wiring different towns nearby. I might have to go further out to Carson City and Reno perhaps…maybe even San Francisco."

Sully nodded.

"I know you'll get some answers. Colleen has taken Pearl under her wing in the meantime."

Michaela smiled.

"Yes she has…and Matthew's been keeping an eye on her as well. I don't like the idea that they were ambushed by some gang we know nothing about…what if they come looking for them?"

"I talked with Matthew. He thinks they've moved on further east."

"I hope so…anyone who'd attack two women like that," she said, "I wouldn't want to see them show up here."

Amelia sat with Pearl eating some delicious food cooked by a woman named Grace. She'd been hungry more recently and had been eating more meals. She seemed to like roasted chicken especially well and thought maybe it'd been one of her favorite foods before…but she drew a blank whenever she tried to think past waking up in this strange town.

"They seem nice."

Pearl looked up at her.

"Colleen and Matthew are real nice."

Amelia had spent time with both of Michaela's children. Matthew more in the past day or so because he'd been the town marshal. He'd seemed awfully young to wear the badge and gun but she didn't know where that idea came from…maybe in her past…no, maybe he was a suitable age to be a marshal.

"Yes they are…I just wish I remembered who I was…besides my first name."

"I wish I could help you," Pearl said, 'but you only told me that name. You did say you'd been traveling before you came to Reno."

Amelia had no memory of any of that but she trusted the earnest young girl in front of her. The way Michaela had explained it, Pearl had gotten her found by some men on horseback and thus gotten her to a doctor quicker.

"You weren't one of us…"

Meaning a saloon girl, Amelia knew. She didn't know why that even mattered. She didn't know what she would have been instead. Probably not a doctor. If she'd been traveling…had it been on business of some type? Had she been with any family or left it behind? It seemed to be that she sensed in the midst of all her muddled confusion a man somewhere. A sense of him and that he existed somewhere rather than an image of what he looked like.

A husband? A friend? Something in between? No name, no face just an idea in her head that made sense in its reality when so little did.

"I don't know who I am or where I fit in Pearl."

"But you'll remember, you just have to…it can't all be gone forever. Maybe the doc can help you."

Amelia smiled.

"She's been trying and sending out wires to see if I'm missing from somewhere. We'll see what comes back if anything."

Had someone, somewhere out there reported her missing? Were they out looking for her right now?

She had no answers to any of her questions.


Matthew stopped by Horace to send him more towns to wire about the woman who showed up without a memory. He'd been at it earlier that morning, hitting about a dozen cities and towns. It might take a day or two to hear back on any of them. Hopefully the news would be good.

Horace did read one wire he did receive.

"The stage is going to be late. Lost a wheel but got it back on again."

Matthew nodded…that happened from time to time. Hopefully it would arrive by morning. Hopefully some answers about the woman would arrive as well. As soon as he was done, he'd head on home and cook some food for him to eat. Sometimes he ate with Sully, Ma and the rest of them but on other nights…he welcomed some solitude. He'd been engaged once to a woman he loved, Ingrid but she'd died of the hydrophobia. Since then, he'd focused on other things. Maybe someday, he'd find another woman to love but for now, he just focused on his marshaling.