Chapter 5
Grace weaved her way through the tables of her café. The café was slow, the lunch rush having just left. Although Grace loved serving her customers, she also loved the quiet times in between where she could just concentrate on cooking and not have to concentrate so much on serving.
She poured one of her remaining customers another cup of coffee. He was a man she had seen from time to time around town but had never spoken to. Grace swore that every time she turned around, there was another family or young man moving into town, trying to start a new life. She figured that with the railroad's arrival, the amount of people who visited and decided to live in their town would only increase. As she started thinking about maybe Robert E building her a few more tables to accommodate the increase in customers, she saw him walking swiftly towards her out of the corner of her eye.
"You just get back, Robert E?" Grace asked.
Robert E approached his wife and gave her a peck on the cheek. "We gotta talk, Grace."
They walked together over to her stove, away from her customer's listening ears.
"What's goin' on? Did you find Dr. Mike and Sully?"
"We found Sully," he said quietly.
"Well, where's Dr. Mike?"
"She was kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" Grace exclaimed. Robert E shushed her, causing some heads to turn. He doubted that anyone actually heard her but he wanted to keep the information as quiet as possible, especially after what Sully had said.
"Sully and Dr. Mike sought shelter just like we thought but when we found 'em, Sully had been given some kind of poison and…"
"Poison?" She cried, more quietly.
"It didn't hurt him none but it made him real tired," Robert E explained, realizing how crazy it all sounded. "Dr. Mike was kidnapped in the middle of the night. Least, that's what we can figure. We're not exactly sure what happened but Sully thinks that the man's takin' her to Kansas City."
"Have ya told Jake or Loren or anybody?"
"No. And we ain't tellin' no one."
"But if Dr. Mike's missin' we…"
"We ain't gonna do nothin'. Matthew and Sully are goin' after her and they don't want no one to know. But they need our help."
"What kind of help?"
"We gotta watch over Colleen and Brian but we can't let 'em know what happened to Dr. Mike."
"What are we gonna tell 'em?"
"You leave that to me. We got it all worked out. But we can't let 'em go back to the homestead for a while, either."
"Why not?"
"'Cause Matthew and Sully are getting' supplies for their journey and we don't want Brian or Colleen seein' 'em. They're gonna stay in the clinic in town for a while so we can keep an eye on 'em."
"They'll be getting' outta school any moment now. I 'spect they're gonna wanna know what happened to their ma."
"You just keep 'em in the café for a while. I gotta get some things from the store and meet up with Sully and Matthew at the homestead. I'll be back soon, though. Just keep 'em here for the next hour."
Robert E began to walk away, heading towards Loren's store.
"Robert E…" He turned back towards Grace. "Is Dr. Mike gonna be alright?"
"I hope so, Grace. Lord, I hope so."
He turned once more and Grace watched him until he disappeared into Loren's store. Grace couldn't help but think that they were making a big mistake not telling anyone in town but she knew that Sully would never do anything to put Michaela in danger so he must be doing the right thing. She clasped her hands together and said a silent prayer, praying for Dr. Mike's safe return.
"Hey Grace!"
Grace jumped slightly and saw Brian standing behind her. She immediately brought her hand to the cross around her neck, a nervous habit that she had always had.
"Hello Brian. How was school?"
"Fine. Robert E been back yet?"
"No, not yet," Grace lied. She hated lying to the small boy, especially seeing how his young face fell when she told him the news. She only hoped that he wouldn't spot Robert E coming out of Loren's store.
"I hoped they'd found ma and Sully by now."
"I'm sure that Matthew and Robert E found 'em and they're on their way back right now."
"I hope so."
"Where's your sister?"
"She's still at the school helpin' someone with some homework. Now that Rose ain't here, some of the kids need some extra help."
"Well, that's nice of her." Grace began wringing her hands.
"Ya all right, Grace?"
She nodded and forced him a smile. "How 'bout you help me make a pie, Brian?"
"A pie?"
"Sure. I know how much you liked makin' the one for the day of the race. I figure it's 'bout time you try your hand at makin' another one. 'Sides, it'll help the time pass 'fore your ma gets back," Grace said.
Brian smiled, thinking that by the time the pie was finished, his ma would probably be walking into town, telling them that she and Sully just had lost the horses after hiding from the storm and had to go find them and that's why they were late. As he and Grace started getting the right ingredients to make their pie, Brian couldn't help but smile, knowing that everything was going to be alright.
Sully rolled over for what seemed like the millionth time. Although he was used to sleeping on the ground, he could not fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Michaela and he missed her.
He opened his eyes, expecting to see Matthew sleeping on his bed roll just a few feet away but he was not lying there. Sully sat up, adjusting his eyes to the small amount of moonlight that aided his vision. Wolf, who was lying beside him, lifted his head as Sully sat up. Sully scanned the surrounding area and finally saw Matthew sitting on a rock only a few yards away. Sully got up, motioning to Wolf to stay put, and walked over to Matthew.
"Couldn't sleep?" Sully asked as he approached Matthew. Matthew did not turn to look at him but he just kept staring straight ahead, as if there were something keeping his interest, although there was nothing in front of him. Matthew quickly ran the back of his hand across his eyes and Sully knew that it was to wipe away his tears.
"Not tired," Matthew answered.
"I feel the same way," Sully replied.
Sully knew that it would be morning in a few hours and, more than anything, he wanted to push on to get to Kansas City as soon as possible, but he also knew that it was important to rest and to not push the horses. He and Matthew had been traveling until near midnight when he made them stop, set up camp, and rest. They had been traveling since they left the homestead at 4 in the afternoon. Sully knew that common sense would have told them to spend the night at the homestead and then go out first thing in the morning but Sully could not waste the few precious hours that they had left in the day. As he looked up at the moon, he figured it was probably around two in the morning.
"I lied to ya, Sully," Matthew admitted.
"What'd ya lie about?"
"When I told ya that I wanted to come with ya to help find Dr. Mike. I didn't come with ya 'cause I thought that I would be good at talkin' to Warren or findin' out information 'bout him."
"I know."
"You know?"
"I knew there was somethin' else. Just couldn't figure out what it was."
"Ya know that I would do anythin' to help Dr. Mike."
"I know that."
"But it ain't just that." Matthew paused, wondering if he would be able to form what he was thinking into words. "When Dr. Mike took Colleen, me, and Brian in, she didn't have to. Even though she promised my real ma that she would, she still didn't have to. She coulda left us with some other folk or she coulda sent us to an orphanage or she coulda split us up but she didn't. And…and I was so mean to her, Sully."
Matthew wiped his tears once again from his eyes.
"When my real ma died, I didn't want another ma. I didn't want Brian and Colleen to have another ma, neither. And I certainly didn't want to live up at the homestead with her. I wanted ta stay in the boardin' house even if the bank was takin' it away. I would have run away if not for Colleen and Brian. I couldn't have left them there all alone. But Dr. Mike she…she did everything she could to be the best ma she could. At first I was angry that Brian and Colleen was gettin' so attached to her. I thought they were betrayin' our real ma in some way but I know now that they weren't. Our real ma woulda wanted it that way. But, even now…even after all that's happened. Even though I consider Dr. Mike to be as much a ma as my real ma… I never told her."
"Told her what?"
This time Matthew faced Sully with the tears glistening on his cheeks. He knew that, as a man, he shouldn't cry but he also knew that, of anyone in the world, Sully understood him. Sully had become the father that Matthew never had even though he had barely begun to recognize him as such.
"I ain't never apologized for treatin' her the way I did when she took us in. I ain't never thanked her for what she did for us." He paused. "I ain't never told her that I loved her."
"Dr. Mike knows that ya love her, Matthew," Sully told him.
"How, Sully? How does she know?"
"She knows through your actions. Your always helpin' her 'round the house and the clinic. Ya help out with Brian and Colleen. And most of all, you're always there for her when she needs ya. "
"Still ain't the same."
"Matthew, we never tell the people that we love that we love 'em enough. We could tell 'em every minute of every day but it still ain't enough. But we just gotta know that they love us and that they know that we love them."
"Think she knows how much I appreciate her for everything she's done for Colleen and Brian…and me?"
"I think she knows," Sully agreed. "Ya gotta remember that Dr. Mike's a smart lady."
"Dr. Mike's the best ma that we all could have gotten." Matthew sighed. "Sometimes I wonder…well…what if Dr. Mike wasn't our ma."
"What do ya mean?"
"I mean, if, when my real ma died, she had left us to someone else…even Miss Olive…what woulda happened to us all? I mean, I loved Miss Olive and all but, if we went to live with her, we wouldn't be friends with the Cheyenne and maybe I wouldn't be engaged to Ingrid and maybe we'd never have gotten a school built if Brian hadn't fallen outta that tree. We might not even still be livin' in Colorado Springs since Miss Olive was always goin' on those cattle drives. And Dr. Mike'd be up in the homestead all alone, tryin' to figure out how ta cook her own dinner."
Sully smiled. "Dr. Mike sure can do a lot of things but cookin' ain't one of 'em." This time it was Matthew who smiled, remembering so many meals that Dr. Mike had tried to make but that Colleen had to somehow fix later.
"I think your real ma thought hard about who to leave y'all to, Matthew," Sully continued. "She didn't just say Dr. Mike's name 'cause she was standin' there with her when she died. Your real ma didn't know Dr. Mike as long as she new Miss Olive when she left y'all to her but she saw somethin' special in Dr. Mike. She knew that y'all would have the best life with her that you could possibly have."
"Don't think even ma coulda seen that you and Dr. Mike'd adopt Colleen and Brian."
"Maybe she did. Maybe she saw somethin' between Dr. Mike and I that we hadn't seen yet. Matthew, I think your real ma's lookin' down at us right now and I don't think she could have been happier."
Matthew didn't say anything in response.
"Somethin' wrong?" Sully questioned.
"When you and Dr. Mike talked about adoptin' Brian and Colleen, I almost wished…I wished I was young enough to be adopted with 'em so that I could really be Dr. Mike's son."
Sully placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder. "Don't need no legal papers to say that you're Dr. Mike's son…our son."
Matthew smiled. "Ya think Dr. Mike's really alright, Sully?"
"I think your ma's the strongest person I know."
A comfortable silence befell them. "I guess we should get some sleep, then, 'fore the sun comes up."
"Guess so," Sully replied. Matthew stood and began walking towards his bed roll. "And Matthew…" Matthew turned to face him. "Don't forget to tell Dr. Mike how much you love and appreciate her when we find her. Remember, you can never say it too many times."
Matthew smiled. "I won't, Sully, I promise."
"Goodnight, Matthew."
"'Night, Sully."
As Sully watched Matthew walk away, he couldn't help but think about when the last time was that he told Michaela that he loved her. It had been that day, hadn't it? They had been having such a good time on their romantic picnic, he almost wondered if he could have forgotten to tell her something as important as that. He knew that she knew that he loved her but he also knew that she had her doubts about their relationship from time to time. He wasn't sure if he would ever get it into her head that he loved her more than life itself and that he would be with her until the day they were parted by death. As Sully thought about it, he shook the thought from his mind, praying once more than he would find Michaela alive and that their love would not be parted anytime in the near future.