Chapter 21

The rain had lessened during the night and when dawn approached, it even ceased. Sam sat up carefully so as not to wake the woman lying next to her. For a moment, she looked at her thoughtfully. After teaching for forty-five years, she had learned to judge people, all the more so when she had had the opportunity for a long talk with them. Amanda had told a lot about herself but barely asked a question to get to know the new acquaintance. About her family though, she had spoken with a smile on her face and the light impatience you feel if your beloved ones don't behave the way you want them to. The fiancé had been an issue as well, and Sam hoped for the young woman, that this man and his love for her were strong enough for the challenges that a selfish character might bring into the life of the couple.

Silently getting on her feet, the old teacher looked over at Sully who slept at the entrance of the cave next to the fire. She had liked the young man right from the start and could tell that he was deeply worried about something. When she had asked Amanda about it yesterday, the young woman had dismissed it as unimportant. Well, she, Sam Lindsay, would never know about whether the young woman's opinion was justified because she was determined to leave the young people right now. Stepping to the edge of the cave, she saw that she would have to change her plan though. A thick fog that made it impossible to see anything outside had replaced the rain. Sighing, she sat down next to the fire and fed it with some dry wood they had found in the back of the cave yesterday.

As the flames went higher and crackled, Sully stirred. Disoriented at first, he looked around until his eyes fell on Sam who greeted him with a smile and raised eyebrows. His memory instantly came back; it was already Sunday and they still had quite a way to climb up to reach the peak. Noticing the fog outside he knew he would miss his daughter's birthday. They would have to wait a few hours until it was safe enough to resume their journey, and it was impossible to reach the summit and then climb down all the way back to the base of the mountain within one and a half days. Sully sat up and running his hands though his hair, he exhaled loudly.

Sam watched him with compassion and in an effort to ease his sorrows she said, "Sometimes it helps to talk about it, Cowboy."

Sensing not curiosity but friendly intention, Sully glanced at her and quietly replied, "It won't." There was no conversation that could help him spare his daughter the pain of the fact that her father would miss her party. Absent-mindedly, his hand went to the pocket of his fringed leather jacket and felt for the small items in it. Grasping them, Sully pulled them out and seeing Sam's questioning look, he hesitated only a moment before he showed her three wooden wolf pups.

Sam marveled at the small figures, "You made them?"

Sighing, Sully nodded, "For my daughter, it's her birthday tomorrow."

Some things fell into place for Sam and she softly asked, "What are you doing here then? I can tell that you are not happy about being at this place."

Sully glanced at her and seeing only genuine interest on the friendly face, he decided to give her some information. "Her," he pointed with his head at the still sleeping Amanda, "Fiancé saved Hannah's life and got hurt doing so, that's why he can't make the trip himself so I offered my help…"

"And your wife isn't happy about that, right?" Sam's blue eyes showed her sympathy, this young man obviously had his principles and she liked that.

Sully shook his head, "It ain't that… and Michaela isn't my wife. Abigail died giving birth to Hannah." As Sully spoke he realized that this wasn't an explanation that could make sense to the older woman and he began again, "My wife Abigail died when Hannah was born. Afterwards I was so caught up in my grief that I ran away. The Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing found me and helped me get back into life… the Cheyenne are my family now…" He trailed off. Could he have two families? Was that his problem? That he couldn't decide between the two of them? What if he had to decide?

Sam had sensed the hurt of the memories and the uncertainty that had followed the last statement. Gently she asked, "What about your daughter, it looks as if you cared for her, too?"

The answer came promptly and almost harsh, "Course I do! I love her!"

Tenderly laying her hand on his knee, Sam assured, "No need to get angry. I didn't want to poke my nose into your affairs." After a reassuring pat on his knee, she bent back again.

Suddenly realizing that his daughter's birthday was also his late wife's day of death, the old woman looked at Sully with even more sympathy. "So tomorrow will be difficult for you, I understand."

Sully, however, was now determined to explain his dilemma; he had the impression that this old lady might be able to give him the advice he needed, "It ain't about me, it's about my daughter. I left her alone for one and a half years and when I came back, I think I made things worse for her. She started to trust me but I left her to go with the Cheyenne to their winter camp. When I returned, I got shot, I think though that that was the best time we ever had with each other because we spent our all days together until I was healthy enough to go on trips again. And I did it, going away I mean. I did it so often that she asked a stranger if he wanted to be her pa…"

The memory made his voice choke; his little girl wanted to give up on him. "When I'm not back tomorrow, she'll never trust me again." His voice was barely audible as he spoke the last words, and for himself he mutely added, "And Michaela won't either."

Feeling the young man's need for someone who could help him to sort his thoughts, Sam kept her voice low as she replied, "Then I have to ask you again: what are you doing here?"

When she saw that Sully was growing impatient or even angry, she softly added, "Is there something more important on that peak than the love and the trust… than the happiness of your child?"

Sully instantly calmed down again and looked at the old lady in astonishment. When he responded, "I got a promise to keep," they both knew that he had recognized that this time, it might have been wrong to insist on a principle, even one he could usually be proud of. His relief was palpable and with a small smile Sully said, "If we start down as soon as the fog is gone, we can make it in time for the party."

Amanda had woken up a few minutes ago and had held her breath as she listened to Sully's and Sam's conversation, hoping to learn something new about the mountain man. His last statement though made her jump up, and she startled the two others as she exclaimed, "We can't go back now, we are almost there and it would be perfect because it is even Sunday and things are exactly the way they should be!"

Sully felt his temper rising as he replied, "Why's it so important anyway?" Putting the carved toys back into his pocket he rose to face the young woman. "You can watch the landscape…"

Amanda cut him off, "I told you that it's a tradition!"

"A tradition you created yourself," Sully shot back, "If you only wanted…"

"I don't!" She was screaming now, "Don't you understand? That's finally something only for me and I have every right…"

"What about the right of that little girl who is waiting for her father?" Sam's gentle but firm voice made Amanda stop for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and continued, directing her speech at the older woman now, "That child will be only two tomorrow and next year she will have forgotten that Sully wasn't there but I would always know that my tradition was shattered today. And by the way, don't believe him when he says that he is only concerned for his daughter, if you ask me, he is just afraid of the doctor's reaction…"

"No one is asking you and I've already told you to leave Michaela out of this!" Sully was losing control and Sam knew she had to do something. Although she of course knew that this wasn't the case, she asked the young man, "Are you sick, Mr. Sully?"

This question instantly took his steam away and after casting another glare at Amanda, Sully turned towards the old lady again. "No, I'm not sick. Michaela, Dr. Quinn, is Hannah's mother now…"

Sam's eyes flashed in surprise, "A woman physician? What a pity that I never met her."

Smiling now, Sully suggested, "But you still could, when you visit us, after your climb."

He didn't understand why the old face was clouding over now, but he didn't want to press either.

Amanda's still somewhat shrill voice brought them back to the topic, "Whatever you will say or do, I will start climbing up, not down after the fog is gone and you can explain to Chris then why you returned without me if you really want to go back to town." With that she sat down and searched in her bag for some dried meat for breakfast.

Sully and Sam glanced at each other; they knew that it would be useless to continue the conversation right now, and so they took their places next to the fire again, caught up in their own thoughts.

Two hours later, the sun had developed enough power to lighten the fog and the surroundings were visible again. Sully was more determined to return into town than ever so he could be there in time for Hanna's party; Sam would only wait until the young couple was gone and then resume her own climb and Amanda was prepared to go to any length to have her way. So, they all packed their things in silence and eventually stood in front of the cave together. Amanda was the first who couldn't take it any longer and glared at Sully. "I hope you didn't forget that Chris saved your daughter's life and that is why he can't be there for me right now, you are here because you promised to take me up…"

Sully didn't let her finish. "I've made a mistake when I promised to do that and I apologize but we ain't climbing further up, we're gonna go back into town."

Thinking, he had made himself clear enough, he turned towards Sam to suggest that she should come with them, but Amanda was far away from complying. She had made up her mind, she would rather go with the old lady or even alone than retreat from her plan. "You can't order me, Sully; I'm climbing further, just watch me."

With that, she turned and almost ran towards the small path that would lead her up to the summit.

Sully threw his hands up in frustration and shouted after her, "Come back here, you can't…Watch your step!"

But it was too late. In the rush to make Sully follow her because she knew he would never leave her alone, she had missed that there was an area with loosely lying stones and when she stepped onto it, she lost her balance and fell. Since she wasn't prepared for that, she hit the ground in an unfortunate way and the snapping of a breaking bone was heard. Instantly the others were on her side and Sam gently asked, "Where does it hurt, dear?"

Tears of pain and frustration made it difficult to speak for Amanda. "My arm…"

Silently thanking the spirits that it wasn't one of her legs, because then he would have had to carry her all the way down, Sully quietly asked, "Can you sit up?"

Nodding, Amanda did so. Sam carefully examined the young woman's arm and noticed the awkward angle in the right forearm. She had seen some broken bones in her years as a teacher and told Sully, "We'll need a splint." Sully went to find one while Sam noticed that Amanda's shoulder too wasn't in the right position. "Oh dear, we have to take you to a doctor as soon as possible; it looks as if your shoulder is dislocated as well…"

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

On Sunday morning, Michaela and Chris had brought the two climbers' horses back to the place where they had said their goodbyes three days earlier. Michaela knew that it was far too early to hope they might be back already, however, she couldn't deny that she was disappointed that there was no trace of them yet; of course not for herself but for Hannah. When there wasn't any sign of Sully and Amanda in the evening either, she grew concerned. Knowing that Sully would try anything to be back as soon as possible for his daughter's sake, the doctor began to fear that something had gone wrong. Thinking of Hannah, she decided to keep on doing the daily routine. Chris would arrive at the homestead after breakfast and then they would go out to the reservation, and when they returned, hopefully the climbers would be back.

They weren't back when Michaela, Chris and Hannah returned from their visit with Cloud Dancing on Monday morning, and Michaela contemplated what to do. Should she postpone the party for a few hours? Hannah knew that her ma was concerned although her mother tried to hide it. She, however, wasn't worried in the least; she felt that her pa was on his way home to her. This feeling had grown stronger since yesterday and when they arrived at the homestead again and nobody was there yet, she shook her head as Michaela reached for her to come down onto the ground.

"Sweetheart," Michaela made a new attempt but Hannah still shook her head. "Pease, ma, meet pa."

Searching for his help, Michaela looked at Chris, but he was eager himself to look if the mountaineers were finally back and so he suggested, "We could go out there and read a little, this way we will be occupied and the time till the birthday party will go by faster." Raising his eyebrows, he looked at the doctor and she knew that he was referring to the time until the return of his fiancée as well.

Knowing that she was outnumbered, Michaela sighed, "All right, but we'll take our lunch…" She couldn't finish her sentence because two small arms almost choked her and when she at last was able to breathe again, she couldn't help but laugh. Stroking the blond locks back from Hannah's forehead she enjoyed the happy face of her little girl. Hannah beamed at her mother with her father's blue eyes and Michaela silently prayed that Sully wouldn't disappoint his daughter once again.

By early afternoon, it seemed that he would do so. To Michaela's astonishment, Hannah was still relaxed while the adults around her grew more and more anxious. The moment Michaela decided to give up waiting, Wolf woke from his slumber, lifted his head from his paws, stood and wagged his tail heavily. Instantly, all eyes searched the tree line for any sign of the climbers. Michaela was the first one to see them, and although she didn't want it, her heart first skipped a beat and then started to race at the sight of Sully. Wolf was already running towards his master and Hannah was scampering as fast as she could, all the way to her father shouting, "Pa, pa!" until she reached him.

While wondering who the third person in the group was and only nodding at the older woman's direction, the doctor simultaneously noticed the injured state Amanda was in. So did Chris and together they hurried towards the young woman. While Sully lifted his daughter with both hands above his head and made the little girl squeal with delight, Amanda let herself fall onto the grass. She was exhausted, in great pain since the accident and still extremely frustrated that her expedition had failed. She couldn't think straight but she hadn't forgotten who was, in her opinion, the source of everything that had gone wrong, and so she hissed through clenched teeth at Michaela, "It's been all your fault!" With that the last energy seemed to leave her body and she sank onto her back, only cushioned by the tender hands of her fiancé.

The doctor didn't react to that statement but started to examine her new patient. Joining the group, with Hannah still in his arms, Sully explained quietly, "It happened yesterday morning; she fell…"

Avoiding Sully's gaze, the doctor acknowledged this information with a nod and straightening again she gave her orders, "Bring her to the wagon, quickly. I'll have to set the bone and the shoulder, I can't do that here though, I'll need to give her some chloroform for the pain."

Sully carefully put Hannah down and led her towards Sam. "This is my daughter Hannah Sully. Hannah, this is Sam, you stay with her for a moment, I'm gonna help your ma."

Hannah complied and eyed the old lady curiously. Her pa was back, and she had known he would be the whole time, so everything was all right with the world and she was ready for new adventures.

She didn't notice that her pa, on his way to the driver's seat, met her ma, who was about going to the back of the wagon to climb up there and sit with her patient. Sully longed to hold Michaela in his arms at least for a moment and since the others couldn't see them right now, he pulled her in an embrace. He met resistance though and bending back, he looked at her face. "Michaela?"

Hearing his gentle voice and noticing the concerned tone, her heart started to race again. What should she do? When he had been away it had seemed to be so easy to go back to just being friends but now she wasn't so sure if she actually could do that. Pressing her forehead against his chest for a moment and thus avoiding his questioning gaze, she hastily murmured, "Let's talk later, Sully, we have to hurry."