Chapter 16

Since Sully hadn't had breakfast yet and Amanda said that she was starving, the three adults decided to go to Grace's Café together after Chris had made sure that Robert E. took care of Amanda's luggage. On their way, the young woman walked between the men, taking both their arms. Hannah, who was still being carried by her father, regarded the new lady carefully because she didn't like it when there was another woman besides her ma so close to her pa. Sensing the little girl's attention, Amanda turned her head and looked back at her. Again noticing the striking resemblance to Sully, she was intrigued by the obvious secret that the mountain man's life held.

After they had seated themselves at the table under the oak tree at the café, her and Chris sitting next to each other, facing Sully and his daughter, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. Holding her fiancé's hand tightly clasped in hers, the young woman intently studied the other man's face as she asked him with a hint of disappointment in her tone, "So you are married, huh?"

Sully frowned at her, he didn't want to talk about his life with a stranger and so he kept his reply short. "My wife died giving birth to our daughter."

Instantly, Amanda's expression changed. Although the relief in her voice couldn't be denied, she sounded sincere when she said, "I'm really sorry to hear that. My own mother died when I was born as well. I've also been raised only by my father."

Sully looked down on his daughter at his side and grinned at Hannah as he responded, "Well, we've been lucky; we've already found a new ma, right, sweet girl?"

When Hannah eagerly nodded, Amanda was astonished; the child was still very young, obviously this man wasn't one for wasting time. "So you're married again?"

"Nope." Sully didn't see any reason to discuss the issue.

"Engaged?" Amanda kept at it.

"Nope." Sully started to get slightly annoyed and as the woman seemed to be happy about his answers and even said, "Good!" he turned his questioning gaze at the teacher.

Chris didn't understand his fiancée's behaviour either. He had expected that she would be happy to finally be with him and although she didn't let go of his hand and lovingly squeezed it from time to time, it irritated him that her interest was focused on Sully, and her last remark made him ask a little frustrated, "What's that all about? Don't you want him to be happy? "

"Don't be silly, Chris, of course I do; but in my opinion a mountain man has to be untamed, that's what makes him so interesting."

Chris just shook his head as Sully dryly set her straight, "Sorry to disappoint ya, but I assure ya that I'm happily tamed."

Since it was obvious that he didn't want to discuss the subject further, Amanda decided to pick it up again later. She straightened in her chair and took in her surroundings. Inhaling a deep breath of the fresh air, she closed her eyes momentarily before she told her fiancé, "This is a nice piece of land, Chris. I'm sure I will like living here."

The teacher smiled back at his love and was relieved that Mandy seemed to be ready to direct her attention at him now. "I'm glad to hear that."

After they had placed their orders, Chris answered his fiancée's questions about the other people in the café while Sully and Hannah looked on in silence. Both their thoughts were with Michaela; Sully was wondering if she would manage to buy the boarding house and their little girl tried to wish hard enough to make her ma appear. Father and daughter had to wait until their meals were eaten though before the woman they longed for walked around the corner with Mr. Goldt at her side.

The moment Amanda took notice of Michaela she couldn't contain a short groan. When Chris looked at her in puzzlement and asked, "What's wrong?" she glanced at Sully and shortly replied, "Nothing."

She didn't want to annoy the mountain man because it became obvious to her, upon seeing how his face lit up when she appeared, that the lady doctor seemed to mean a lot to him. So she thought only for herself what she rather wanted to speak out loud, "Just look at her! Dressed in those fancy clothes, I bet she always takes care to never get dirty and she carries that bag just to show everyone: here comes a doctor!"

Michaela's brow was still creased in sorrow; she and the lawyer had solved her financial problem but she hated the fact that she had had to break her own promise to never use David's money for herself. Mr. Goldt, however, had convinced her that this was the only way to get the building for sure. Her original plan had been to take out a loan, after all she certainly was creditworthy; however, time was of the essence and so she would officially buy the boarding house from its current owner Charlotte Cooper right away and therefore prevent the bank from foreclosing on it. If it came to an auction, she couldn't be sure that she would place the highest bid because Hank had announced his interest in the building to extend his business as well. Michaela would now so to speak borrow the needed money from herself and take it from her bank account in Denver, but as soon as she had received her money from Boston, she would fill up the Denver account again. Adding to the discomfort she felt about this transaction was the fact that she had agreed to a letter the lawyer had prepared for her mother; she had to know that she had no right to keep the money from her daughter. However, Michaela knew that this meant trouble and that her mother would never just take that lying down; but she was determined to carry her plans through even if her family disapproved of her choice of life. Mr. Goldt had assured her that all transactions were strictly confidential and no one would know about them. This didn't make her feel better though, because she knew what she had done.

Spotting Sully and Hannah at the table, Michaela put her unpleasant thoughts aside and directed her attention to her two favourite people. She closed the space between herself and them with a few last steps, gave her daughter a peck on the cheek and ruffled her hair a bit before she said, "I hope you don't mind me bringing Mr. Goldt, he needs a cup of coffee after having to put up with me."

Shaking hands with all the adults at the table, the lawyer replied, "You are exaggerating, Dr. Quinn, I wish all my clients were as reasonable as you are." With that, he sat down.

While Sully rose to pull out a chair for her, he asked Michaela with his eyes if her plan had worked and although he could tell that she wasn't happy over all, he was relieved when he saw her nodding. Hannah for her part barely waited until her mother sat before she climbed in her lap. Sighing contently, she leaned against her ma's chest and instantly felt better; now she was ready to listen to and observe those around her again.

For a moment, an awkward silence fell over the group. Though Sully wanted to know about the results of Michaela's meeting with the lawyer, he didn't want to ask her in front of the others. Mr. Goldt was busy drinking his coffee and Chris was wondering why Amanda was acting so strangely. He had known her for more than a year now and she had always been kind and caring and eager to meet other people. Although, when he thought about it carefully, it had always been men who were the new acquaintances. Maybe she wasn't used to meeting other women, so it would do her some good to be friends with Dr. Mike. He just had to make his fiancée see that.

Amanda stared openly at Michaela, who eventually noticed the gaze as she put her coffee cup down. Since she was used to odd reactions when people met her for the first time, the doctor wasn't intimidated one bit and looked back at the young woman. "Is there something you want to ask me, Miss Miller?"

Amanda was caught by surprise, she hadn't expected a direct confrontation right away and so she blurted the first thing out that came to her mind. "Yeah, why do you have to carry that bag with you when you are going to drink a cup of coffee?"

"Mandy!" Chris exclaimed and let go of her hand; he couldn't believe what he had heard, but Michaela assured him, "That's alright, Chris, really. I'm used to such kind of questions." Turning towards Amanda again, her tone was calm as she said, "First, it is a habit; the bag is like a part of me. Second, I have an appointment with Mrs. Berg who lives at the end of the street and I will go there after I'm done here. And third," Michaela raised an eyebrow and continued almost playfully, "One never knows what could happen and it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Amanda began to feel embarrassed; maybe she had misjudged the doctor. She had expected that the fine lady would be at least a little offended, but it was obvious that a lot more was needed to discomfit her. Feeling the astonished blue eyes of the mountain man on her face, Amanda grew even more uneasy and she let her gaze drop on her clasped hands in her lap.

Sully was worried; he could very well imagine what Amanda was thinking, and he didn't like it. He had to climb a mountain with this woman and because of that it was essential that they got along and even more important, that they trusted each other. This, however, would be difficult for him if he knew that Amanda and Michaela couldn't stand each other.

The only one at the table who was satisfied with the situation was Hannah. The little girl could finally make up her mind; she didn't like the new lady.

There wasn't enough time for the situation to grow more uncomfortable because a commotion at the other end of the café captured everyone's attention. The voices from around it grew louder until a frantic scream was heard. "Dr. Mike!"

Hannah instantly slid from her ma's lap as Michaela grasped her bag and rose to hurry to the place where she was needed. Before she even reached the crowd that had already formed, an impatient male voice shouted, "Let the doc through, we need the doc!" while a woman continued to scream her son's name, "Tom, Tommy!"

People moved aside to make place for the doctor until she at last saw Thomas Deaver lying on the ground. "What happened?" was all she asked while she crouched down next to the boy's body. The frightened mother hastily explained, "We'd sat just there… Tom had some apple pie… suddenly he choked, you gotta help him, Dr. Mike!"

Michaela quickly examined the boy and upon noticing his blue face and stopped breathing, the doctor knew she had to act very fast and so she gave her commands while she lifted the child from the ground, "Clear the table, quickly! And take the children away!" Looking over her shoulder in Sully's direction, she shouted, "Sully, I need you here!"

When Sully reached her side, Michaela already had put the necessary things out of her bag and placed them next to the boy's head. She hurriedly splashed carbolic acid on her hands, the scalpel and Thomas Deaver's neck. As she poised her knife to cut straight across the boy's throat, a gasp from the crowd was heard and Dorothy, who was of course there as well, exclaimed, "You can't let her do that, she will kill him!" but an unnerved Mr. Deaver huffed at her, "Shut up and let her work!"

Murmuring, "It's called a tracheotomy." Michaela proceeded, seemingly cutting the boy's throat but in actuality, freeing his windpipe. The people around the place watched in awe while Michaela turned around to look for Sully. He was right behind her, so she didn't say a word but cut the feather off the string he wore around his neck, removed the top of the quill, blew through it and then put it into the hole of the windpipe she had just created. Her eyes never left the child's face as she then listened with her stethoscope to the boy's heartbeat. After a few moments that seemed to last an eternity, the blue in Thomas' cheeks faded and some seconds later, even his eyelids flattered open.

Soothingly stroking his brow, Michaela bent over the boy and smiled at him as he was able to focus again. "Welcome back, Thomas. I had to do a little operation and you can't speak right now. Please keep quiet, I promise that you will be all right soon." The boy nodded with a still frightened look on his face and so the doctor illustrated the situation for him. "It seems that a wasp wanted to eat your apple pie as well and got angry when you didn't want to share, that's why it stung you on your tongue."

Seeing the hint of a smile in Thomas' eyes, Michaela straightened and explained it further for the anxious parents. "The swelling of the tongue blocked the air passage and so I had to make the tracheotomy to help him breathe."

Mrs. Deaver had tears in her eyes when she asked, "And he really will be alright again, Dr. Mike?"

Packing her things back in her bag, Michaela replied, "He will be, I promise. We'll bring him into the clinic now and I'll watch him. If things improve the way they should, I can take out the feather tonight or at latest tomorrow morning and after a couple of days he should be his old self again."

Mr. Deaver's voice cracked as he took his son carefully into his arms, "Thank you, Dr. Mike, I'll never forget that you saved my boy's life."

"You are welcome, but I just did my job. We should go now…"

Turning to look for her family, Michaela's gaze fell first on Sully. "I'm sorry but I can't…"

Sully cut her off and assured, "That's alright, don't ya worry about us, we'll bring you some lunch later."

And Hannah, all a doctor's daughter, added with a nod, "We be fine. You go."

Michaela couldn't help but smile. Bending down to her little girl to give her a peck on the cheek, she whispered, "What would I do without you, sweetheart!"

Giggling, Hannah replied, "You be lost."

The crowd was slowly dissipating but people were still discussing what had just happened.

Amanda was deep in thoughts. She had been curious enough to follow the lady doctor when she had jumped up from the table and so she had witnessed Dr. Mike's actions. It seemed as if she actually had to change her opinion about that woman. She didn't like to admit it, but she hadn't expected her to act so quickly and sincerely. Alright, she seemed to be a good doctor, but as for learning what kind of woman she was, Amanda decided to just wait and see and of course test her a little.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Saturday and Sunday went by quickly. Michaela was at the clinic, watching the Deaver boy, and Sully had taken his daughter fishing as he had promised. The family took all their meals together though, partly at the café, partly in the examination room. Charlotte would move out on Tuesday because she wanted to have her things in the right order again before the upcoming Easter weekend. It turned out that her new home was right next to the wooden cabin that Chris had rented for his fiancée. Settling in had only taken of a few hours for Amanda since she didn't have very many clothes and dishes to put away. On Sunday afternoon, she began to feel bored. She was used to being busy all the time, running a household with seven adult men had been a challenge but she had managed just fine. Now there was nothing for her to do and she was looking for a change. Chris' foot wasn't well enough yet for accompanying her all the time she felt the need to walk, and so Amanda was standing alone on the bridge that led to the meadow when she saw Sully and his daughter appear. Her face lit up; she would convince the mountain man to help her to find her bearings. Since she knew how to handle men, she was sure she would succeed. And she actually did, although she had to make a compromise, Sully had insisted on taking Hannah with them.

On Monday morning, Michaela returned to her regular hours at the clinic and Chris began to prepare the school for the classes that would start after the Easter holidays. Although he had hoped that Amanda would help him, he understood her need to get to know the surroundings and to practise for climbing Pike's Peak.

Sully and Hannah had met Amanda at her cabin and were on their way to the creek now. They exchanged barely a word until they reached the small river. After they had found a log to sit on, Amanda couldn't be quiet any longer. "Are you always so taciturn?"

Sully considered what to answer. They would spend a lot of time together, so it was better to set her straight about his principles right away. "I don't wanna talk when it ain't necessary and until now, there ain't really been a reason to say anything."

Amanda regarded the man next to her, she could tell that he was one with a strong will but she had always loved challenges and she badly wanted to get to know him. "Maybe you are right, but we have to prepare our expedition. I thought we should learn about our climbing speeds so we can set a timetable because we have to be on the peak exactly on Easter Sunday."

Sully instantly replied, "We gotta be there earlier; Hannah's birthday is on Monday and I have to be back in time for her party."

Amanda wasn't pleased to hear that. "But the tradition is to be on top on Easter Sunday and spend the night there."

Sully, however, was adamant. "Then you'll have to change the tradition a little, I'm gonna take you to the peak on Saturday so we can be back in town on Monday morning."

The young woman was clever enough to not argue about that right now, but she was determined to get what she wanted. She just had to think of a plan.