The storm had subsided, and the town was functioning normally again. The only problem was that Horace had closed down the telegraph office, and a line was stretching from its doors to the clinic. Myra hadn't seen Hank since he went back to the saloon during the storm. Maybe he had seen Horace.
She walked over to the swinging doors of the saloon and peered inside. She didn't see Hank, but she heard his voice from behind.
"What's goin' on?" Myra turned to see Hank walking up to the porch.
"Have you seen Horace?"
"Yeah. He came in earlier and had some drinks."
"What? Horace doesn't drink! Why did you serve him?"
"He was a payin' customer, and I figured that if a man wants to drink away his problems, who am I to stop him?"
"Hank!" Myra exclaimed. "You know the only reason he was drinkin' was 'cause of me!"
"He wanted somethin' to drink, so I let him have it."
"I can't believe you!" Myra yelled. She stormed off and Hank ran after her on impulse.
"Myra wait!"
"Hank, now's not the time! I've gotta find Horace!"
"What? So you can go back to him?" Myra swallowed hard and shook her head.
"No. I want to find him because I still consider him to be my friend. I want to help him."
"Myra, the best thing to do is to let him sleep it off."
"I ain't so sure about that. How much did he drink?"
"Five dollars worth," Hank replied casually.
"That's an awful lot for someone who doesn't drink! Hank, what if he's passed out? Somebody ought to help him!" Myra started off for the back of the telegraph office. Hank sighed and followed after her. The young woman peered into the window of the back of the office where Horace slept. Sure enough, she saw him passed out on the floor. "Hank! We gotta get in there!"
"Hang on," Hank replied. He ran to the front of the office and kicked the door in. Myra ran around the front and waited for Hank. The bartender finally made his way out with Horace in his arms. Several of the townsfolk gasped at the sight of him. Horace's skin was pale and nearly gray. His skin looked clammy, and he appeared to be taking in short, shallow breaths.
"Get him to the clinic," Myra ordered with tears in her eyes. Hank nodded. He swallowed hard, feeling guilty for one of the first times in his life. He always brushed things like this off, but when he saw the pain in Myra's eyes, he knew that he shouldn't have let Horace drink at all.
Myra opened the door to the clinic, and Hank put Horace down on the table. He rolled him on his side, something he'd had to do for several fellas before.
"What are ya doin'?"
"In case he gets sick, he won't drown in it," Hank replied. Myra shuddered at the though.
"I'll go get Dr. Mike," Myra offered.
"Somebody's gotta stay with him," Hank replied. Myra nodded slowly. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I shouldn't be blamin' you. It ain't your fault he did this."
"It ain't yours either, Myra," Hank pointed out. "He was just handlin' everything in the wrong way." Horace began to tremble and Myra gasped.
"You better hurry." Hank nodded and rushed to get his horse and head out to get Dr. Mike.
Michaela had taken a nap for about an hour, and she was a little less tired than before. When she came downstairs, lunch was on the table. The children and Sully was just sitting down.
"I wasn't sure if you'd be hungry."
"I'm famished," Michaela replied with a yawn. She sat down and sucked in a deep breath. One whiff of the stew got to her, and she put her hand over her mouth and rushed for closest place to dispose of what was about to come out of her stomach.
"Is she gonna be like this till the baby's born?" Brian asked with a groan.
"Some women ladies are sick the whole time," Colleen pointed out, "but others aren't sick after the first couple months." Nobody was quite ready for Brian's next question.
"If she keeps getting sick, the baby won't come out too, will it?" Sully bit the inside of his cheek so hard that blood nearly came out. Matthew and Colleen had to stifle their laughs.
"Brian . . ."
"But the baby's in her stomach. Every time she eats, she gets sick. The baby could come out!"
"Brian, it don't exactly work that way," Sully replied.
"How does it work?"
"I'll explain it to ya when you're a little older."
"Alright," Brian replied with a shrug. Michaela finally re-joined her family.
"Sorry," she mumbled. She poured herself a glass of water and drank it down quickly. Sully took her hand and squeezed it gently.
"You ain't got nothin' to apologize for. You're carryin' our baby, so you bein' sick right now is a good thing." Michaela glared at him.
"You think that my vomiting all day is a good thing? Well, think again, because I can guarantee that you would think differently if you were in my shoes." Sully swallowed hard and tried to think of a way to get himself out of hot water. Michaela was having another mood swing, and since that was happening, he had to think fast.
"I'm sorry you ain't feelin' well. This is all gonna be for a good cause in the end." He could see that Michaela was starting to calm down. The children, on the other hand, were quite worried about what their ma might do next. "You are so beautiful." Michaela's eyes softened and she began to cry.
"Thank you! That's the sweetest thing . . ." She began to sob and Sully looked at the kids. They all shrugged and he offered her a handkerchief to wipe the tears away. She sniffled and looked at the children. "Sorry."
"It's alright, ma," Brian replied. "You're just cryin' 'cause you're havin' a baby." Michaela smiled at her youngest and took a deep breath. She was going to speak again, but the sound of a horse approaching quickly made Matthew jump out of his chair and rush to the window.
"Who is it?"
"It's Hank," he replied slowly. "Looks like an emergency." Michaela stood and grabbed her medical bag. She and Sully rushed out onto the porch with the children following behind.
"Dr. Mike! Ya gotta get into town quick!"
"What's happened?"
"Horace! He drank too much and he passed out. He ain't lookin' real good."
"Sully? Will you hitch up the wagon?" Sully nodded and hurried off to the barn. Matthew went with him to help. A few minutes later, the entire family was following Hank back into town to tend to Horace.
"Can you save him, Dr. Mike?" Myra asked as Michaela examined Horace. Michaela frowned and sucked in a deep breath.
"The best I can do for him is give him charcoal to swallow. That'll help him vomit some of the alcohol out of his system. He has a severe case of alcohol poisoning, and after giving him something to induce vomiting, the most we can do is wait." Myra nodded. She stepped outside where everyone was waiting.
"Dr. Mike's gotta give him charcoal to make him get the alcohol outta his system."
"Charcoal?" Jake asked incredulously.
"She says it's supposed to make him throw up."
"I've seen it before," Sully said quietly. "At the minin' camp I used to work out, some of the fellas would drink all weekend and a few of 'em nearly died." Loren's face grew white.
"He ain't gonna die, is he?" Hank saw the look in Myra's eyes as the men spoke about it, and he knew she needed someone to comfort her.
"Myra, let's go for a walk," Hank suggested.
"I ain't leavin'."
"Come on. It ain't gonna do nobody any good with you frettin'." He held out a hand and she finally took it. They walked off and the rest of the townsfolk watched them.
"Are they courtin' now?" Dorothy asked Grace. Grace shrugged her shoulders.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's a long story."
As they walked, Myra sniffled, thinking about how Horace could possibly be dying.
"Maybe we should go back. I blame myself enough already. If I wasn't there when he . . . What if I had talked to him more about it? Maybe he wouldn't have gone drinkin'."
"Don't think like that," Hank whispered, turning to face her. He put his hand on her cheek. "Ya can't wonder 'bout the 'what if's.'"
"I just feel so bad, Hank. He's heart broken."
"Any man would be heartbroken if he lost you." Myra looked up into Hank's eyes and she knew he was sincere. She smiled at him and she knew he wasn't familiar with saying such kind words to people. But something about her brought it out in him.
"You really mean that, don't you?"
"'Course I do." Myra decided it was time to find out if Hank really wanted to be with her, or if he was just stringing her along. She didn't want to pursue a relationship that was going to get her nowhere.
"How do I know you're tellin' me the truth?"
"What?"
"If we decide to court, I want you to know that I ain't like one of your girls. You'll have to wait for me. I ain't gonna give into you, and if you think I will, we ain't got a chance."
"Myra, calm down!"
"Calm down? Hank, you run a saloon and hire prostitutes for a livin'! How am I supposed to know that this ain't some way of convincin' me to work for ya?"
"You want me to prove that I ain't the scum you think I am?" Hank asked after a moment.
"How could ya do that?" Myra asked, looking away. Before she knew it, Hank was pulling her into her arms and kissing her passionately. She felt her heart begin to pound, and when she felt his gentle lips on hers, she knew without a doubt that he did care. Myra pulled away and looked up into Hank's eyes.
"You . . . you . . ."
"Before ya say another word, Myra, I want ya to know that it ain't easy for me to have a heart. But you brought that out in me. Somehow you make me smile and I never smile for no reason. I never said this to anyone except for Zach's ma."
"Said what?" Hank swallowed hard and balled his hands into fists. He was scared, not knowing how Myra was going to react.
"I love you." Myra didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected Hank to ever say those words to her. She did love him, but she was afraid to say it and for him to hear it. Once she let him know how she felt, she knew that she would be his.
"Hank . . . I . . ."
"You don't gotta say it if you ain't ready to." Myra was about to say something else, but Brian came running around.
"Ma just said Horace is wakin' up!" Myra glanced up at Hank. He nodded reluctantly.
"Go on. We'll talk about it later." Myra hurried off after Brian and Hank retreated toward the saloon.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as the old clock on the wall ticked away the minutes. Grace's café had reopened for the year, and Sully had given the children money to go have dinner together. Myra was upstairs sitting with Horace, who had fallen unconscious again before she had arrived. Sully was waiting for Michaela downstairs in the clinic.
He heard her gentle footsteps on the stairs, and a moment later, she walked through the door. Sully stood and walked over to her.
"How's Horace doin'?"
"No change. I've given him all of the charcoal that his body can take, and he's vomited up a lot of excess in his stomach, but he's still unconscious."
"You've done all you can?" Michaela nodded. "That's what matters. If Horace pulls through, he'll have you to thank."
"He'll also have Hank and Myra to thank. They brought him here. Myra's so upset. She blames herself. It wasn't her fault that Horace drank so much."
"Horace just didn't know how to handle losin' the woman he loved. I don't know what I'd have done if you decided you didn't want me anymore."
"That'll never happen," Michaela promised. "I've known from the start that we're supposed to be together. I wouldn't want it any other way." She put her hand on her stomach. "One day, we'll tell our little one how we met, and we'll tell him or her how we fell in love with each other from the start."
"You think our baby will believe it?"
"I hardly believed it myself," Michaela admitted with a melodious laugh. Sully grinned and kissed her gently. "But I know love at first sight is possible, because it happened the moment I saw you." Sully's heart melted at that moment, and he placed his hand over Michaela's as it rested on her tummy, and he gave her a loving, gentle kiss.
"I never thought I could be this happy again," Sully confessed.
"I never thought I could be this happy period. I guess that makes us even more perfect for each other."