Chapter 3—"Outside Voices"
As they pulled in front of the clinic, Brian and Colleen barreled off the backend of the wagon and rushed to the schoolhouse. Michaela stayed on the wagon and looked to her right, where Matthew pulled up on his reins and grinned cheekily. "I'm off to Miss Olive's." He hesitated slightly, looking past Michaela to her left. "Have fun with your patient, Dr. Mike."
"Matthew!" Michaela said indignantly. But he was gone, and the only one left to blame was the man next to her, appearing far too please with himself. She glared at him. "You and the children are conspiring against me, aren't you?"
"I'll never tell." Sully jumped off the wagon before she had a chance to retort. He spun around and held out his arms for her. Michaela shook her head before she begrudgingly slid down in his arms. "Alright. I'll see ya later," he said quickly before he kissed her cheek and jetted off towards the meadow.
Michaela grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "Where do you think you're going?"
Sully stared at her blankly. "I told ya. I'm goin' huntin'."
Michaela shook her head and dragged him into the clinic behind her. "Not until you let me examine you properly."
Sully pushed the clinic door shut and watched as she instantly transformed into a doctor. As she picked up her stethoscope on her desk, Sully propped himself against the door, not going near the examination table. When she turned around, he was pouting like a little boy. "Ya really have to examine me?"
"Yes. I need to check for congestion and fluid in your lungs. Come here." He pushed off the door and sauntered in front of her.
"Be gentle." Proficiently, Michaela unbutton his shirt, unaware of his softening face or quickening pulse as she placed the cold metal on his chest.
"Take a deep breath," she ordered as she began to move the chestpiece around his torso. After a few moments, Michaela lifted her eyes, frowning at him. "You're not breathing."
"I'm tryin'." Sully pushed a loose hair back behind her ear. "But you're distractin' me."
Suddenly, he exhaled and stepped closer, closing the space between them. Unprepared for his proximity, Michaela's hand slipped down his torso, and she could hear nothing but his heartbeat. "Sully…." She pushed back, wavering nervously. "N-no one's here!"
Sully paused for a moment, contemplating her words, and then gingerly removed her earphones before circling her face with his palms. "Sometimes ya don't make a lick of sense to me."
He leaned down, pressing his lips to the side of hers. She inhaled and whispered, still hesitating, "What if you're contagious?"
Sully seized the stethoscope from her faltering hands and dropped it to the floor. "Ya don't need that. I'm fine." Michaela's hands pressed against his chest completely, without the protection of her medication degree. She swallowed, not knowing what to do, but knowing he was too close to push away, even if he was still sick. "Besides," he grinned, catching her eyes, "it's you're fault anyway I'm feverish."
"I'm sorry," Michaela apologized, half-meaning it, half-not, but when his lips descended upon hers, she stopping fighting it. He pulled her in, and she felt the complete warmth of his body against hers. She pulled on his open shirt, and for a moment, they were together.
But they couldn't stop the outside voices that constantly threw them off the same plain. She heard the ringing at first, but the sensations of his kiss were too commanding. However, when her name was called, she pushed away from him, shocking them both into reality they weren't ready for. "Michaela!" It was Dorothy. "Are ya there, Michaela?"
"Just one minute!" Michaela called, far too shrilly. She covered her mouth, feeling her swollen lips against her palm. She couldn't think, but she knew that she couldn't let Dorothy see Sully in the middle of her clinic with his shirt wide open. That would be… That would be… Well, she didn't know exactly. She spun him around and pushed him towards the staircase. "Quick! Hide!"
"What!" Sully shuffled his feet as she dragged him to the door. "Michaela, this is—it's only Dorothy!"
"She doesn't need to see you so… so indisposed!" And with one final heave and a good slam, he was behind the closed door.
"Michaela!" Dorothy called again, "Is everything alright in there?"
"Yes, yes! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Michaela threw open the door, plastering a smile on her face as her loosened hair fell down in front of her eyes.
Dorothy's eyes widened as she took in Michaela's appearance. "Why Michaela, are ya feelin' alright this mornin'?"
Michaela smoothed her hair back, trying not to roll her eyes at Dorothy. She was certain Sully was laughing at her somewhere—hopefully somewhere far, far away by now.
They had not known what to do when they had fallen in love. They were so different, so opposite, but it had been a destiny not even tradition could deny. Her father Walks Last had loved her as his own, but he had always known she was different, that she must be kept separate. He had kept his stand until Chasing Hawk had challenged him for her hand. With that, Walks Last knew his fight was over, and Shivering Deer's life began.
Now, as she looked into his eyes, she did not know what to do again. Her hands shook as she covered the wound, but it was so red and dark, too dark to stop, and it pooled in his stomach like a deep well with no ending or source to be found.
"Aenôhenehovohe!" She called his named desperately, as his eyes began to swim away from her. "Nephvóhpone-vai he'nétoo'o ni hováneehestôtse!"
"Esáanêhesóhane—ho'nóhe'nétoo'o ho'xó'ó'ta-vii," he whispered, his breath shallow as his chest rose and met her falling blond hair.
"Ho'nónoo'hová'tov-vta!" She begged as his eyes shook in convulsions. "Hová'âháne! Hová'âháne!"
The falling camp heard her strangled cries, and two armed soldiers rushed to her voice. They pointed their barrels ahead as they moved deeper into the woods towards the tortured wailing.
"Aenôhenehovohe!" The second lieutenant eyed his superior as he heard her words.
"It's one of them squaws, sir. Want me to take care of her like the others?" But the first lieutenant's eyes were caught on the knotted blonde locks of the keeling woman, hovering over a dying brave. He quickly pushed down his subordinate's rifle and shook his head.
"Wait… wait… Look at her…look!" They stared at her back, confused by her contradicting dress and hair.
Suddenly, with all the strength he could muster, Chasing Hawk lifted his arms and surrounded Shivering Deer, embracing her, calming her, comforting her, even as his body fought against the pain.
"He's hurtin' her!" The first lieutenant yelled, running forward and pulling the woman off of the brave.
She felt the distance immediately, and she screamed out again, reaching for Chasing Hawk. "Hová'âháne!"
"Don't worry, m'am, we won't let him hurt ya!" But she kicked and screamed as they began to drag her away, and as she stared into their white faces, the white words wouldn't come to beg them to stop, and the second lieutenant lifted his barrel, aiming at Chasing Hawk's wounded body.
Chasing Hawk's dark eyes turned to her blue eyes, and as he lifted his hand, the soldier dropped his finger.
Blue rolled to white, and Shivering Deer collapsed.
Translation: SD: Chasing Hawk! I must close the door of death!
CH: It cannot be that way—it is not our door to close.
SD: Don't leave me behind!
SD: No! No!
As Sully road through the woods, he couldn't get her voice out of his mind. Last night, that morning… everything she did and said made his head spin. He stopped, pushing against an evergreen in frustration. Frost covered the ground, but as he closed his eyes, he swore he could smell the grass underneath the rime.
It had been something in her kiss that was new, different, something he had yet to discover about her. They were so close, so close to… to something, but as always, she had pulled away. Perhaps if Dorothy hadn't shown up, the kiss would have ended differently, without her shoulders tensing, her body retreating and her eyes wide with embarrassment and fear.
Wolf pawed Sully's leg, giving him the last nudge he needed to make his decision. He had to see her again.
Dorothy walked backed to the door, after asking Michaela every question under the sun except the one she was dying to ask most.
"Well Michaela, I suppose I should be gettin' back to the store before Loren sends out a search party for me."
"Alright," Michaela said absentmindedly, her eyes gliding towards the back door again. "See you later."
"Michaela, have I been keepin' you from a patient?"
"What?" Michaela turned quickly towards Dorothy, gathering herself. "Of course not!"
"Then why has everythin' I've said gone in one ear and out the other?"
Michaela shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Dorothy. I didn't realize I was so… distracted."
Dorothy stepped closer, a mischievous spark lighting her eyes. "This wouldn't be about Sully, would it?"
Just as she was about to confide in Dorothy, Horace burst through the front door of the clinic. "Dr. Mike! That shipment ya wanted just got here on the stage coach!"
Michaela exhaled and moved past Dorothy, following Horace outside. Dorothy quietly stepped out the door, knowing that Michaela was completely closed off now. Perhaps she could find a moment later to figure out exactly what was going on with her friend. Off the record, of course.
Midday arrived and the children returned just in time to help her unload the stagecoach, and Michaela put Matthew in charge of the heavy crates. She smiled as she dug through the crates, lifting a new box of phosphoproteins, fundamental to neurological health, a recommendation by Dr. Charcot. She sighed, medicine being the only thing that could distract her from her outside distraction. "I'm so glad this shipment came in on time."
Colleen turned slightly as she arranged the shelves, noticing how focused her ma seemed to be. "We were runnin' awful low on some of it, Dr. Mike."
As Sully came back into town, he saw Matthew carrying a crate into the clinic. He could hear them talking inside, and he wondered how Michaela had handled Dorothy after he had climbed out of the window. He stepped into the clinic, and Brian was the first one to catch his eye.
"Hey Sully!" he greeted him brightly.
However, her eyes were hazed over with bottles and boxes, and she only looked at him a moment before going back to work. "Well, I thought you were going hunting?"
Sully shrugged, grinning to himself as he watched her retreat into her pills and prescriptions. "Changed my mind. The sun's out. Grass smells sweet." She couldn't help but smile as he leaned slightly on the examination table, his eye heavy and heated. "Besides, I wanted to see you again."
Like a firefly, he watched her flicker away as he reminded her of that morning. "Well, we just saw each other an hour ago. Hmph."
She tried to go back to work, but she could feel him sneaking up on her, not letting her hide behind her work. He eased into her neck and kissed the flesh behind her ear. "I missed you."
"Sully! The children!" She started, her serenity gone completely with his touch as her eyes flew to the laughing children and her heart stayed still and stubborn.
His hand slipped down to her arm. She knew he wanted to talk. She understood that look in his eyes, so she looked away, reaching for anything in the crate. "Let's go someplace. Grace's. For some pie."
Michaela stopped, gripping a bottle of Ipecac for dear life. "Now?"
"Right now." Sully tugged her a little bit, trying his best to loosen that hold.
"That sounds lovely… But it's impossible." She quickly turned back to the crate and without thinking, put the bottle of Ipecac back inside. Suddenly her hands were free. She needed morphine now.
Sully leaned forward, watching her disjointed movements as she avoided him. "Why?"
"I wish you'd ask me in advance. Make plans." She huffed, frustration taking over.
"Well change 'em!" Sully said, finding himself to be perfectly reasonable.
"I can't just drop everything!" She turned back to the crate, as he captured one of her hands and Quinine cradled the other.
"Sure ya can." Sully looked to the kids for help.
"Come on ma!" Brian jumped in right away.
"Ya don't have patients 'til later," Colleen helped, smiling slightly at Sully.
"We'll finish up here." Matthew grinned triumphantly, knowing that the three of them were a convincing lot.
"Sully, I'm sorry—" But Michaela didn't get to finished her thought as he groaned and swooped her up in his arms, dashing her out of the clinic. And despite herself, she laughed, "Sully what are you doing? Sully!"
He laughed too, finally seeing that glow back in her face and her eyes as he caught her off guard. She wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders, and they smiled broadly for a moment as she dared to dream that he would carry her far, far away.
But he couldn't carry her away as the army wagon rolled into town, and the first lieutenant pulled on his reins and began to boast of the army's exploits, "Ya folks will be happy to know we eliminated another Indian threat from your peaceful town. Just the other side of Oak Creek we encountered a band of dog soldiers. My men engaged in some of the bravest fightin' I've ever seen!"
Michaela could feel Sully's body change next to hers, the easy nature he had suddenly vanished and his jaw set hard.
"How many'd ya get?" Loren asked eagerly.
"Let's just say that not a one of them was left standin'." They stared at each other, and she saw the ice form in his eyes, not knowing what the truth was as more people died in the unnamed war.
"A round of whiskey's on the house!" Hank piped up, thrilled for the massacre.
"Thank ya." The lieutenant accepted. Then he remembered the strange woman they found in the camp. "First there's a woman in the back of the wagon. Let's leave her here with the good doctor."
Michaela rushed from the edge of the porch. Sully followed her.
"What'd ya bring here back here for?" Jake asked, assuming the worst.
"We rescued her from the savages," the lieutenant answered, assuming the best.
"An Injun woman?" Jake speculated.
Then Michaela saw her. Blonde hair down. Indian dress. She lifted her face. She had a sweet face. She looked in Sully's eyes and said, "She's not an Indian. She's a white woman."
The woman moaned, and Michaela reacted immediately, examining her face and head. Words were coming, words she couldn't understand, and the woman screamed, jumping out of the wagon, as if she were being shot, "Aenôhenehovohe!"
Before she could fall to the ground, she fell in Sully's arms.