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Kate x

Heartlines 11

New York City, New York

7th February 1881

Michaela dismounted from the train and was immediately engulfed in the bustle of the New York station. The noise was overwhelming, people, trains, sweat and soot, pressed together in a building too small for it to be contained. She allowed herself to be buffeted along the platform towards the small concourse. She had left early this morning, as she needed to collect her ticket which her mother had purchased for her and she had wanted to leave before the girls had woken.

They had had a wonderful few days together, her mother's ultimatum and presence forcing her to just be a mother had done her and the children a world of good, but it had made the leaving so much harder. Last night there had been tears and tantrums, none of the girls accepting that they would be left at their grandmother's house; all of them wanting to come to England with her to find Sully. It had been Elizabeth who had calmed things down and one by one Michaela had taken the girls to their new beds and had a whispered conversation with them, reaffirming their love for each other, plunging it deeper, so that the mere thought of them not being with her stung. She had tried to leave without too much drama, waking early so that she could catch the first train to New York, and she had been able to say goodbye to her children as she had hoped, at least at first, a sweet and sleepy kiss and hug. Her plan had not been fruitful though as by the time she had said goodbye to her Mother the girls had fully awoken and the tears had begun again, this time from all corners, Elizabeth and Harrison included, as the children had had to be dragged from her. She had cried for the first two hours of her journey to New York, the scenery slipping past her unseeing eyes for the rest.

Finally the crush thinned and Michaela found herself stood alone in the concourse, people moving round her like water flowed round rock. She blinked, trying to focus on what she needed to do, on where she needed to go. She was on a deadline now, she had six months to pull her family together once more, she had to use the pain of being on her own to spur her on. To send her forward, if she failed she would lose everything and she could not let that happen, she would not let that happen. She tightened her grip on her suitcase as she strengthened her resolve and turned 90°, towards the rank of waiting taxi cabs.

Sully paused for a moment as he stepped onto the firm surface of the dockside. He loved water, and he enjoyed and marvelled at the power of the ocean, the endless ebb and flow of the tide, but he had discovered he was not made to travel across it. He had spent most of his passage sat on the deck, trying to keep hold of the contents of his stomach, that or flat on his back on the reed thin mattress of his steerage cabin. But that was over; he was back in his home country.

Stretching he inhaled slowly, his senses taking in the noise and the smell of the city he had last been in a year ago and before that as a boy. The docks were still noisy and busy, a lightly organised chaos, the more unsavoury side of the dock life out in the open now that the first class passengers had departed.

Slowly he began to follow the rest of the steerage passengers up the quayside towards the final check point. He joined the queue watching as the guards checked each of the papers that they were handed, his nervousness rising as he got closer and closer to the front until it was his turn. He handed over his documentation, the immigration officer giving it a quick glance before shoving it back at him and waving him through.

Sully released a breath he had not known he had been holding as he stepped through into New York proper. Blinking he took stock, trying to remember which way he needed to go to find a telegraph office. He needed to find where she was, during his journey across the Atlantic he had realised that Michaela could have easily not returned to Colorado Springs after he had gone missing, she could have stayed in Chicago to try and find him, she could have gone to Boston to be with her mother, she could have gone anywhere. So the easiest way to track her down was send a telegraph to Colorado Springs, Elizabeth in Boston, Matthew in Cincinnati, and Colleen in Philadelphia. He needed to find where she was before he found her. Needed to find where he needed to buy his ticket for.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder Sully began to walk, walking in the general direction of the station, knowing that most telegraph offices were near to stations. If he wanted to find his way home it was the best place to start.

Michaela stared listlessly out of the cab, the scenery of the bustling city was of no interest to her, despite her love for history and architecture, her mind was too preoccupied with what would now happen with her children. The moment she had sat in the cab the knowledge that she was moving further away from her had hit her harder. That and the realisation that she had perhaps made a mistake in asking Matthew to take Reuben and Bethan to Boston. Both the children had only met him once, and Beth had only been a few months old at the family reunion. She sighed; it had seemed a good idea at the time. Matthew had the capital in which to make the journey without the need for Mother to make a money transfer which she disliked to do and he would have the time to do so when his latest case came to an end in the next few days. She could not change the arrangements now but she just hoped that it did not cause more problems for her already upset children.

She wriggled in her seat, the bouncing of the carriage making her uncomfortable and she fixed her eyes on the street, trying to make her mind off of her discomfort.

With a jolt she sat forward, her eyes processing the walking figure of a man, thinner, paler, with shorter hair but the walk, the elegant lolloping gait unmistakable, the two blue marbles that were his eyes still vibrant even without the sun kissed skin. Her body followed her eyes and she dropped to her knees on the floor, craning her neck to follow the man as the taxi moved past.

Finally her brain caught up and she grasped for the bell pull to indicate to the driver that she needed to him to stop. She was opening the door before the carriage came to a halt, the ground moving as she started to dismount. She staggered, stumbling to the ground as the driver called to her that she was mad. Michaela stared down the street, the man nearly at the corner, about to turn the corner, about to move from view.

She screamed his name; her voice coming out of her with so much force that she nearly fell over.

He turned his head, whipping round with surprise. Michaela started to run, her feet stumbling over the dirt of a working street, her skirt getting in the way as she closed the distance between them. He running to her, the distance closing each second. They hit each other with force, ploughing into one and other with so much force it was as if they had been in an explosion. Michaela's feet left the ground as her arms wrapped around his neck and in moments she was on the floor, his legs giving way as they basked in each other's nearness, in each other's scent and smell and love.

"Sully," she whimpered into the curve of his neck as he blessed her cheek with feathery kisses. "I found you," she cried as the tears began to roll down her cheeks, "I found you."