A few days had passed, and it was the afternoon of Colleen's sixth birthday party. All of the invited folks were getting ready to go out to the homestead, and the Bray and Martin families were already there with the children, and Sully was coming to pick up Michaela as he had promised.
Michaela was working on a few charts when Sully arrived, and she smiled when she heard his footsteps on the porch of the clinic. She'd been so grateful to him for sticking by her. Horace was adamant about following through with a malpractice suit, but a judge hadn't come yet, and Michaela wasn't quite sure one ever would, but the citizens of Colorado Springs were starting to unite in order to keep the doctor who did so much good.
"Michaela?" He opened the door to find her still sitting at her desk. "Ready to go?" Michaela glanced at the clock.
"You're five minutes early."
"I am?" Sully asked. He shut the door and walked over toward the desk. Michaela smiled up at him as his hands touched the strong oak of the desk, and he leaned forward to meet her lips with a loving kiss. Michaela mumbled something against his lips, and Sully pulled back a bit. "What?"
"Nothing," Michaela replied with a grin.
"C'mon, what?"
"Nothing!" Michaela exclaimed, laughter showing in her eyes. "I was just trying to say that you probably knew you were early."
"Oh?"
"Mmhm," she replied as he kissed her again. "For this reason."
"Maybe you're right." Their kiss deepened, and Michaela felt as if she was going to fall out of her chair. A knock came to the door, and Grace came running in.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, embarrassed once she saw what Michaela and Sully were in the middle of doing. Michaela pulled away from Sully, stood quickly and wiped her mouth off as her cheeks turned red.
"It's alright, Grace. We were just . . ." She didn't know how to fill in the blank. Grace grinned.
"Uh-huh," she laughed. Sully grinned a bit and placed his hand on Michaela's back as she stood nervous and stiff as a board. But, she relaxed just a little.
"What is it?" Sully asked, eyeing Grace curiously.
"Oh!" Grace exclaimed. Her face fell. "Well, there ain't no good way to go 'bout sayin' this, so I better say it now. That judge that Horace's been fixin' on havin' out here just came into town."
"What!" Michaela asked with surprise.
"Jeb Turner was comin' home from Denver, and overheard that Judge Edwards needed a way to Colorado Springs. Since the stage wasn't runnin' at the time, he offered to bring 'im. He just got here, and he ain't the most pleasant man in the world." She cleared her throat. "I thought I'd come by and tell ya. Everybody's fixin' on goin' out to your place, Sully. Want me to tell 'em not to?"
"No," Michaela interrupted. "I don't want Colleen's birthday ruined on account of me. I'll speak with the judge." Grace nodded and wished Michaela luck before leaving to join her family. Michaela turned to Sully with worry in her eyes. "Oh, Sully, what if . . ."
"Shh," Sully whispered, kissing her softly. "Everything is gonna be alright. Ya gotta believe that." Michaela nodded and Sully helped her with her coat.
They started out onto the porch of the clinic, and Michaela noticed the old gentleman, Judge Isaac Edwards. He looked rather tired and worn down from his trip, so Michaela hoped this would give her an opportunity to be hospitable.
"Judge Edwards?"
"Yes?" the man asked, puffing on a cigar. Sully's hand stayed placed on Michaela's back for support. "Who might you be, Miss?"
"I'm Dr. Michaela Quinn." The man nearly choked on the tip of his cigar.
"You're who I'm here to see."
"Yes, I understand," Michaela replied. "I see that you've just arrived, and I'm assuming that you would like to have a nice place to rest?"
"Well, that would be nice, but I would rather get down to business."
"With all due respect, Judge Edwards," Sully intervened, "most of the folks in town are goin' out to my place for my little girl's sixth birthday party. There ain't gonna be no audience, and even the mother of the baby who died is on her way out to my place. Can't this hold 'til tomorrow?" The judge looked from Sully to Michaela.
"Is this man your husband?"
"No sir," Michaela replied with a hint of blushing on her face. She briefly glanced at Sully, and he gave her a knowing look, not wanting her to feel embarrassed. "I'm not married."
"Well, I suppose this will give me a bit of time to speak with some of the other citizens of your quaint little town," Judge Edwards suggested. "I will see you in court tomorrow. Be there promptly at noon." Michaela nodded, and after Judge Edwards walked off, she turned to Sully.
"You did just fine," he promised. He tenderly caressed her cheek. "Now let's get outta here and stop worryin' bout what might happen. It's all gonna work out, so ya just need to rest easy." Michaela decided to follow Sully's advice, and a few minutes later, they were well on their way out to the old homestead.
"Abby?" Martin walked over to sit next to Abagail on the porch of the homestead. Maude and Loren were in the barn setting up the games for Colleen's party, and the other guests had yet to start arriving. Abagail had been lost in her thoughts when Martin had spotted her. "Honey, somethin' wrong?" Abagail shook her head.
"I'm fine. Why?"
"Ya look sad." Abagail stared into her husband's eyes, realizing for the first time that she wasn't sad. She wasn't feeling much of anything toward the subject of her love for Sully. Love? Was it really?
"I'm not," she replied. Martin took his wife's hands in his.
"If ya ain't happy with me, Abagail, tell me. I want ya to be happy." She thought back to all of the times she had imagined Sully saying those words to her. She thought about how wonderful she always imagined it would be to hear him say 'I love you' to her for the first time. But, as her memories brought her back to reality, she looked into her husband's eyes. She saw so much love staring back at her at that very moment. It was love she hadn't seen until just now. He'd always looked at her like that, she supposed, but something had changed. Some invisible veil had lifted from in front of her eyes, and her heart filled with such love for her husband. Some gateway had opened, letting out the old puppy love and instilling a sense of happiness and comfortableness in her heart. Martin noticed a change in his wife somehow, and he cocked his head to the side, a grin coming over his face. "What?"
"Nothing," Abagail replied, smiling, truly smiling with pure love and happiness for the first time. It was official. Abagail Martin was finally falling head over heels in love with the man she knew she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. Her husband.
Everyone was having fun at Colleen's sixth birthday party. All of the children were playing games, and little Brian and Anthony were sitting on a blanket with a few other babies on the porch of the homestead. Myra was talking with a few of the ladies, and everyone felt happy to see that she had decided to come to the party. She needed to be with friends in this difficult time in her life. Needless to say, Horace was nowhere around.
Sully was helping Colleen find the place to pin the tail on the donkey when he looked up to see Michaela staring off into space, the smile faded from her lips; her eyes filled with worry and fear. He snapped out of his trance when Colleen accidentally pinned the tail on him. He felt the pin poke him and jumped back. A few of the people laughed when they saw that he wasn't seriously hurt.
"Sorry Pa!" Colleen exclaimed. She found the donkey a moment later, and Sully removed the bandanna from around her eyes. "Someone else go! I want cake!" Another child stepped in as Colleen rushed over to Grace's refreshment table. Sully walked over toward Michaela, and she didn't even notice when he sat down beside her.
"Thinkin' bout tomorrow?" Michaela jumped a little, and she immediately smiled when she saw Sully.
"What?"
"Tomorrow. Looks like you're thinkin' 'bout the trial."
"Oh," she replied, the smile fading from her face. "Yes. I'm sorry, Sully."
"Hey, it's alright. Guess the important thing is that Colleen's havin' fun." Michaela smiled.
"She must be! This is the first time she's let Ella out of her sight since she got her." Michaela smiled as Sully's hand took hers.
"Wanna go somewhere?"
"What? We can't leave the party, Sully."
"I know," he replied. "After the party. Just you and me?" Michaela's eyes brightened, but her heart began to pound. Her stomach tied up in knots, and it felt like three hundred butterflies had begun flapping their wings inside of her. "Whaddya say?"
"I . . ." Before Michaela had the chance to answer, a scream came from the barn. She jumped up, grabbing the medical bag she'd instinctively brought with her. Who knew what could happen at a child's birthday party? Her instincts had been correct. She rushed off toward the barn to see Matthew lying awkwardly in a pile of hay. A crowd began to gather, and Michaela and Sully pushed their way through. RJ and Thomas climbed down from the loft to see if their friend was alright.
"Matthew!" Sully called out as Matthew groaned in pain. "What happened?"
"We were playin'," RJ answered. "Matthew lost his footin', and he fell over."
"Oh dear," Michaela whispered, a lump forming in her throat for fear that the boy might have internal injuries. "Where does it hurt?"
"My arm," Matthew replied. Michaela looked at Sully.
"I need to examine him for internal injuries."
"Go on in the homestead." Sully picked the boy up carefully and took him into the homestead. Michaela followed quickly, and Grace did too after reprimanding her boys for playing in the loft.
"Alright, let me see," Michaela said soothingly, examining Matthew's arm. Sully moved to give the doctor some room, and Grace went about finding cloths and a basin of water to wash the few tiny cuts that Matthew had received on his arm.
"What were ya thinkin', son?" Sully asked in a worried tone. Matthew was relieved that his father didn't sound angry, because the last thing he figured he needed was his father lecturing him at a time like this.
"I didn't mean to fall, Pa," Matthew explained.
"I know that, but I mean, what were ya thinkin' bein' up in that loft with RJ and Thomas? They coulda been hurt too."
"I'm sorry, Pa," Matthew whispered, looking thoroughly guilty and in pain.
"Good news," Michaela interjected. "You'll live." She grinned at the boy, making him grin as well. Sully glanced at the lady doctor.
"Ya sure he's alright?"
"He'll need to wear a sling for a couple of weeks, but nothing is broken," she pointed out. He won't need stitches, but he will need a bit of cleaning up."
"I'll take care of that," Grace offered.
"No, Grace, thank you," Michaela replied. "Why don't you go outside and tell everyone that he's alright.
"Yeah. Colleen's been real excited 'bout this party. Don't let that get ruined on account of me," Matthew said in a grown-up manner. Grace looked at the boy and finally decided that it wouldn't be right to let Colleen's only sixth birthday party come to an abrupt halt. So, she moved outside as Michaela began to cleanse the cuts on the boy's arm.
"Does that hurt?" she asked as she dabbed the damp cloth onto his sore skin.
"Nope," Matthew replied. He looked up at his father. "She's good! I don't feel a thing!" Sully smiled gratefully at his lady love, and before too long, Matthew was running outside to show all of his friends the sling that he had to wear for the next two weeks.
Michaela was cleaning up after caring for Brian, and Sully was standing by the window, watching as Martin and Abagail played with Colleen and Brian.
"Martin sure is good with kids," he pointed out.
"Yes," Michaela said with a smile. "I'm sure he'll be wonderful with children of his own." Sully slowly walked over to Michaela and put his hand over hers as she began to rummage through her medical bag. She stopped and looked up into Sully's eyes.
"Can't ya do this later?"
"Yes, but . . ."
"C'mon. I want ya to have fun. Let's go on outside. Ya need to relax." Michaela smiled, loving how Sully was thinking about her needs when she wasn't doing the same for herself. She put her bad down and started for the door. Sully pulled her hand a bit, bringing her back toward him, and she nearly fell into his arms. She laughed as he scooped her up as if he was going to carry her over the threshold.
"What are you doing!" she laughed.
"This," he replied with a soft whisper, bringing his lips down upon hers in an inviting, loving kiss. Michaela didn't protest, and she let Sully kiss her in this way, loving how wonderful he made her feel. But, their romantic moment was interrupted when the laughter of children caused them to come back down from the clouds and into reality. He put her down, and she wrapped him in an embrace. A moment later, they walked out of the homestead hand-in-hand.
