Chapter 17
Colorado Springs
May 1st 1870
"Hahaha…catch me, Mama! Catch me!" Rose's eyes filled with laughter, as she rounded the tree in front of her home. "You can't get me!"
"Rose Katherine Sully, I cannot chase after you right now. I'm trying to feed your sister. And she's being very stubborn." Michaela looked down to her child sitting in the highchair under the large oak tree. "That's right, you're being stubborn today, little Miss McKenna."
McKenna smiled wide, revealing her shinny white baby teeth. "More?" She pointed to the fork Michaela held in her hand.
Michaela eyed her daughter. "What am I going to do with you? You're two years old, and I still have to feed you like a baby." Michaela tried hard not to compare McKenna to Rose, but it was hard. Rose seemed to do everything much sooner than McKenna.
Michaela turned at the sound of the front door opening and closing and saw Hannah running down the steps of the homestead.
"Catch me, Hannah. Catch me!" Rose took off from behind the tree, her long brown locks trailing behind her. "Get me, get me!" she screamed, as she rounded the house. "Get meeeee…" Her voice trailed off, as she flailed her arms above her head and she made it to the back yard.
Hannah rolled her eyes, as she saw Rose dramatically take off behind the homestead. "Will you try and keep an eye on your sister while I finish feeding McKenna? I'll be back there as soon as I can."
Hannah sighed at lowered her head. "Yes, Mama." Hannah slowly turned around and began to walk toward the back yard.
"Hannah?" Michaela called to her. "Come back here, please."
Reluctantly, Hannah turned around and faced her mother, but she didn't look her in the eyes. She just kicked the dirt in front of her. "Hannah, sweetheart, is there something wrong?"
"No…" she whispered.
Michaela sighed and looked back to McKenna. She took the fork and speared some green beans then gave her the fork. "Eat." Turning her attention back to Hannah, Michaela held her arms out to her. And Hannah quickly sat in her lap and laid her head against her chest, and with her right hand, twirled Michaela's hair around her finger…a movement she'd done since she was a baby. "What's wrong darling? You can tell me."
With the tender words of her mother, Hannah's dam burst. "I miss ya, Mama!" Hannah cried.
"Miss me?" Michaela struggled to understand. She knew she had been working long hours at the clinic recently, but she had also been home a lot with the girls.
"Ya work at the clinic all the time, Mama! And when ya are home, you're always with McKenna and Rose. Do you love them more than me, because you're their real mama?"
Michaela's heart broke in two at her daughter's declaration. "Oh Hannah." Michaela's eyes welled with tears. "Of course not. I love you! You're my first baby girl." She hugged her even tighter. "You're just as much my daughter as Rose and McKenna. I don't ever want you to think I love you any less."
Hannah continued to sniffle. "Jeffery Cuddle from school said that parents love their real kids more than the ones they adopted and that you were going to send me away. You're not gonna send me away, are ya Mama?" she feared. "I wanna stay with you and Papa."
Michaela couldn't believe all the feelings that Hannah had kept in. She felt so guilty at the fear her six-year-old daughter had been bottling up. "Hannah, your father and I would never send you away. We're a family, and families stay together. Don't you pay any mind to what Jeffery says. I think someone should talk to his mother." She made a mental note. "And I'm sorry that I've been spending so many hours at the clinic. I'm going to cut down and spend more time with you and your sisters."
Hannah lifted her arms and hugged Michaela tightly around the neck. "I love you, Mama. And I know McKenna and Rose are still small, and they need ya more right now."
Michaela smiled at her daughter's perceptiveness. "I need all my daughters equally the same. But, how would you like to do something special, just you and me?"
"Just you and me?" Her face lit up.
"Yes. How about I pick you up for lunch tomorrow, and we'll have a picnic in the meadow?"
"That sounds like a good idea, Mama!"
Michaela hugged her daughter, then turned around to look at McKenna. She was asleep. "I think I need to put your sister in her bed so she can sleep."
Hannah nodded. "I think I'll go find-"
"I'm waitin!" Rose shouted from the side of the house. "I not gettin' younger, heh!"
Hannah turned back to Michaela, and they both rolled their eyes. "I'm gonna get you!" Hannah screamed, as she took off for Rose.
Rose saw her big sister start running toward her and took off in fright. "You not get meeeeee!"
February 15th 1867
She pulled the covers over her and snuggled deep into her bed. Her smile grew even bigger, as she looked at her left hand. The diamond sparkled in the moonlight, as she moved her hand back and forth. She knew at that instant that today was the best birthday she had ever had. It was the day Sully asked her to marry him. "Sully…" She sighed. Never had she been happier in her entire life. Never did she think in her wildest dreams that her and Sully would be where they are at now. She had known him for over 3 years, and they had overcome so much.
Michaela rolled over onto her side and looked out the window. Her mind wandered back to a few hours before, when she was sitting at Graces just after the crowd from her party had dispersed, and it was just her, Sully, and Hannah.
Hannah was sitting on Michaela's lap, finishing her last bites of cake when Sully came back to the table and sat down in front of them. "There you are. I wondered where you went." Michaela looked to Sully. "I was afraid you got tired and went home."
"Nope. Just had to go get something." Sully sat a small wrapped box on the table next to Michaela. "One final birthday present for ya."
"Sully," she smiled. "You already got me something." She eyed the package, wondering what it could be.
"Yeah, but I'm hoping ya like this one a little bit better." Sully moved around to sit next to Michaela.
"I'm sure I will." She picked up the package and tore off the paper. "Pretty paper." She handed it to Hannah.
"Ummm… Pwetty!" Hannah nodded, as she shoved another piece of cake into her already stuffed mouth.
After giving Hannah the wrapping paper, Michaela eyed the box, completely oblivious to the fact that it was indeed a ring box. She was so in the moment of everything that when she opened the box, it didn't even register in her mind what it was. The longer she stared at it, the more nervous Sully became. "Ohhhh, pwetty wing!" Hannah broke the silence.
"Mi…Michaela?" Sully moved again, so he was down on his knee looking up at her as she stared at the ring.
Michaela looked at Sully, then again at the ring when it finally clicked in her head. "Oh my!" Her hand covered her mouth.
Glad that he finally got some response out of her, he pulled the ring from the box and held it before her. "Michaela, will ya marry me?" Michaela stared at the ring Sully was holding between his thumb and pointer finger. Her heart leapt out of her chest. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Suddenly a huge smile broke on her face, and she nodded her head, as her eyes became glassy.
"Yes," she whispered. "Yes…Yes, I'll marry you…" Sully took her hand and slowly slid the ring on her finger and then gave it a kiss. Michaela quickly got up, causing Hannah to plop on the dirt, as Sully twirled Michaela around. They laughed giddily, and when Sully stopped, he still held on to her tightly. They looked into one another's eyes before their lips met in a fevered kiss, not caring that half the town was still on the outskirts of the café watching them. Their tongues danced in unison; they both felt that they couldn't get enough of one another.
When their lips parted, and Sully set her to her feet, she pulled his lapels toward her, causing him to kiss her once again. He smiled at her eagerness and fell deeply into her kiss, which only ended when they heard the tiny giggles at their feet. "I fell in da dirt!" Hannah lifted her hands up laughing. "And ya kissin' again!"
"Oh dear!" Michaela scooped Hannah up in her arms. "I'm so sorry." She hugged her. "I forgot you were sitting on my lap." Michaela's face turned red. Hannah didn't seem to mind one bit and just threw her arms around Michaela's neck. "I said, ya kissin!" Hannah repeated.
"Hannah." Sully turned her around and took her from Michaela and sat down. "Dr. Mike and I have something we want to tell you."
"Happy Birfday!" Hannah nodded.
They both laughed at her innocence. "Hannah," Michaela began. "Your papa and I are going to get married," Michaela blurted out, just wanting to hear the sound of it and not realizing she was talking to a three year old.
Hannah thought for a moment, not sure of the word. "What dat?"
"Well, it means that…ahhh…" Michaela tried to explain but came up short, so she looked to Sully for help.
"It means that we're all gonna live together in the same house and be a happy family." Sully smiled and put his arms around his future wife and daughter, hugging them.
Hannah's face lit up, and she clapped her hands together. "You stay wif me! In my house!"
"Forever and ever, sweetheart." Michaela touched the little girls chin. "We'll be a real family. What do you think about that?"
"I think I like dat!" Hannah nodded her head. "K, lets go home! You sleep wif me!" Hannah tugged Michaela's hand.
"Oh, sweetheart, not yet. You're papa and I aren't married yet. I still have to live at the clinic."
Hannah's lower lip turned over in a pout. "You no stay wif me?"
"Hannah," Sully tried to explain. "Dr. Mike and I aren't married yet, and if two people aren't married yet, they can't live in the same house. So, Dr. Mike will stay at the clinic until she and I are married. Then she'll come live with us in our new house."
"New house?" Michaela turned to look at him. So many questions danced in her eyes.
"Yeah, I was thinkin' about building a new house, actually." He turned to look at Michaela's expression. "I'd like to build a bigger house for ya. With lots of rooms. Would ya like that?"
"Oh, Sully, you don't have to build me a big house. I'd be fine living with you at the homestead or even at the clinic."
Sully held his hand up. "I've been thinkin' about this, and it's somethin' I wanna do for you and our family. I wanna give ya a nice house."
"Sully…" she smiled, leaning in for another kiss. "I love you."
Hannah was sandwiched between the two, looking back and forth. "Kissin' again!" She rolled her eyes.
3 weeks later in Boston's Train Station
David's eyes scanned the letter. He couldn't believe it. Michaela was getting married! Married! Anger and jealously bubbled within him. He didn't know why his feelings were resurfacing. He didn't love her. He loved Madeline, but he did find it oddly exiting to have a beautiful woman so completely devoted to him. And when he made the decision to run off with Madeline, he couldn't help but feel that he still owned her. What a silly, innocent woman she had been to him. She bought everything he said to her. And little did she know she was actually helping him in his relationship with Madeline. He shouldn't have sent the letter that he had been killed. "She'd still be waiting for me in Boston," he said aloud. "She'd be miserable like I was when I couldn't be with Madeline."
"Andrew, we're going to miss the train." Madeline came from behind him and pushed his wheelchair up the ramp. "We're in compartment three."
"Tell me why we're going to New York again?" David shoved Michaela's letter in his pocket and tried to make himself comfortable. "I'm sick of seeing doctors that think they know more than I."
Madeline exhaled, "Because this is a new hospital and has the best facilities to take care of you. You heard Dr. Innis. All you have to do is recover from your surgery, and you'll be as good as new. The Hospital for Special Surgery is the best in the country. You'll be out before you know it," she smiled.
"That's what he said last time and look what happened."
"It's not his fault you relapsed," she frowned. "You got all worked up since you've found out about Michaela. All that sneaking around you've been doing. I just don't understand it. Why does it intrigue you so?"
"You know I feel bad Madeline, using Michaela the way I did," he lied. "I just want to see how she's doing…make sure she's going on with her life."
"And what does the latest letter say?" she wondered.
Madeline was furious with him when she found out he had been intercepting the Quinn's mail to and from Colorado Springs. She said that it was too risky. and he could get caught. But he didn't seem to care. She was just glad this would be the last letter, because they were now going to be in New York for a while.
"Seems as though Michaela is getting married to this Sully fellow."
"Really?" Madeline seemed intrigued.
"And it seems as thought she wants Elizabeth to come to the wedding." David had been trying to piece together the situation for months. He couldn't understand why Mrs. Quinn detested this Sully. What had been going on between her and Sully, and had she had feelings for him while she was seeing this Jackson fellow? He had been trying to put this puzzle together, and he vowed to get better as quickly as he could and get to Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs
"Charlotte?" Michaela knocked on her door. "Charlotte, are you home?"
"I'm out back!" Charlotte's voice echoed from the yard. "Is that you, Dr. Mike?
Michaela stepped off the porch and started to walk out back, where she found Charlotte and Colleen hanging clothes on the line and little Brian sitting in the basket.
"Hi, Dr. Mike!" Colleen's face lit up.
"Hello Colleen," Michaela smiled. "How are you?"
"I'm good, just taking a break from studying. I have test in history tomorrow."
"Oh history. Iloved history when I was in school. Good luck with your test tomorrow."
"Thanks, Dr. Mike!"
"Colleen why don't you take your brother in the house and get him ready for his nap." Charlotte picked her son up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before handing him over to Colleen. "Be good for your sister now."
Michaela watched in admiration as Colleen entered the homestead with her brother. "I don't know how you do it Charlotte," Michaela remarked. "All on your own with three children. I don't think I could do it."
"You do with what God gives ya. I'm not doin anything special or different. Any mother would do the same." Charlotte turned to look back at Michaela. "Now I'm sure ya didn't come all the way out here in the middle of the day t' praise me on my parentin' skills."
Michaela giggled, "No I didn't. I came here to ask you something."
Charlotte folded her last blouse and placed it in the basket, turning her full attention to Michaela. "So out with it. What is it?"
"Well…" Michaela shifted back and forth. "I was wondering…well I was hoping you would do me the honor of being my matron of honor."
"Isn't that honor supposed t' go t' one of your sisters?"
Michaela looked down, "I don't think they'll be coming. I want you to be my matron of honor, Charlotte. You've been there for me. Since the beginning, you've been such a friend to me. I want you to be there for me, sharing in mine and Sully's special day. Will you?"
Charlotte came around and gave Michaela a big hug. "Course I'll be there for ya. I'm so happy for you and Sully. There are no two people that deserve to be happy more than you two."
"Thank you, Charlotte." Michaela hugged her back. "Thank you for being such a good friend to me. I don't know what I would have done without you for the past three years!"
"I'm sure you would have survived!" Charlotte laughed. "So where is that handsome fiancée of yours?"
"Well he's out at the reservation asking Cloud Dancing to be his best man."
"I see." Charlotte grabbed Michaela by the arm and let her into the house. "So, Doc, tell me all about this wedding of yours. When is it? Where's it gonna be…"
March 1867
Hospital for Special Surgery
New York
David lay in his hospital bed with Madeline wrapped in his arms. The hour was late and they both watched the clouds roll past the bright crescent moon. "I really should be going, David. Dr. McIntire will be making his rounds soon. I can't be caught here."
"You're such a worry wart, Maddie." David squeezed her even tighter. "Why don't you spend the night here with me?"
"David!" She pushed away from him and tried to make out his features in the darkened room. "How would it look when the doctors came in to check on you and found your traveling nurse in bed with you."
"I think they'd be jealous." He pulled her back down. "I miss you Maddie." David ran his hand up and down Madeline's thigh, slowly bringing up the hem of her nurses gown.
"David, we can't do this. You're still recuperating. I'm not going to have you relapse again." She pulled his hand down.
David began to kiss her neck. "It's been so long. I've forgotten what you feel like." He began to fondle her.
Madeline took in a sharp breath, enjoying the feelings that had been dormant for so long. "David, we shouldn't be doing this." She began to snake her arms around his back. "The doctors…"
"To hell with the doctors." He moved to lay on top of her. "I'd much rather be with my nurse."
Colorado Springs
Michaela walked into Sully's homestead after watching the sunset with him. Sully paid Colleen for watching Hannah, and the girl was soon on her way. "How about some coffee?" Sully asked, not wanting the night to end just yet.
"That would be lovely, but then I really should be going. I have three appointments early tomorrow morning."
Sully came up from behind Michaela and wrapped his arms around her. "I think that you work too much."
Michaela connected her hands through his and leaned back into his embrace. "I think that I could say the same thing to you, Mr. Sully."
He swayed her back and forth and kissed her in the crook of her neck. "I just wanna get our house done before we get married. I want ya t' have something t' come home to."
"Sully," she turned around in his arms. "Were you serious when you said that you wanted to take me to Boston to see my mother?"
"Of course," he smiled. "Ya wanna go, don't ya?"
"I do, but I'm scared. We haven't talked in so long. She hasn't returned any of my letters. I don't know what she would do if we just showed up at her doorstep. She might not even let us in!"
"Michaela, she's your mother. She wouldn't do that t' ya."
"You don't know my mother, Sully."
Taking the kettle off of the stove, Sully poured Michaela a cup of coffee and sat next to her at the table. "Do ya really think your own mother would turn ya away?"
Michaela looked at the coffee and watched the steam roll off the top. "That's what I'm afraid of. I'm not sure what she would do. I don' t know if I could bear her doing that to me. I couldn't go all the way to Boston and have her turn me away." Michaela got up and looked out the widow next to Sully's bed. "I'm not that strong, Sully."
Sully moved next to Michaela and turned her into his arms and sat her on the bed next to him. "I don't think that your mother would turn ya away. And if she did, I would be there for you. I'll always be there for ya Michaela, no matter what." He turned and kissed her on the cheek. "We're family now."
"Yes we are." She kissed him back softly on the lips. "I would like to go to Boston, but only if you want to go. Don't do this just for me. Do it because you want to go too."
"Michaela, if it's important to you, it's important to me. I love you, and I hate to see you hurting so much. I would do anything to make you feel more secure about your relationship with your mother. And if taking ya t' Boston and having the weddin' there would do it, then it's a small price t' pay to see ya happy."
"Oh Sully." She kissed him again. "No one has ever cared about my feelings as much as you do."
Smiling, Sully leaned in for another kiss…a kiss which Michaela readily accepted. She could feel Sully's arms wrapping around her, and she felt herself slipping against the head board. The feelings that were beginning to waken inside of her were powerful, and it was something that she never felt before. She felt her body began to warm, as he touched her skin. Sully could feel Michaela began to respond to his touches and kisses, and it aroused him even further. Never had she reciprocated so much. "Michaela…" he whispered in her hair before he started to kiss her neck.
Michaela looked away and into Sully's eyes, before she lowered her mouth to kiss him again. She felt that she couldn't get enough of him; she wanted to feel him. She wanted to feel his lips on hers, his breath beating on her face, and his hands on her body. She blushed at the thought of his hands running up her nude skin. So lost in his embrace, she didn't feel herself being lowered on the bed and her head hitting the pillows.
Sully continued to run his hands up and down Michaela's side, and soon he felt himself on top of her and her breasts heaved up and down, touching his chest. It drove him wild, but he knew he needed to stop, not only for his sake but hers. But he could feel her lips on his neck, and he didn't know if he had the strength. "Michaela…" he mumbled.
"Umm…" She continued to kiss him, making her way back to his lips. He could feel her tongue dart in his mouth, and it spurred him ever further. All earlier thoughts left his mind, as he pulled her even closer. They rolled around on the bed giggling and becoming even closer. Slowly, Sully's hand reached the top of her blouse, and he undid the first button. He kissed her collarbone and then undid another button, and his kisses began to descend even lower.
Michaela could feel his breath beating against her skin and his hair just under her chin. Slowly, her leg moved upward and framed his hip. Her skirt moved up with her and fell to the top of her thigh. And suddenly, she felt Sully's hand work from her ankle all the way up to her hip. Her skin goose bumped through her stocking leg, just as she felt Sully's hand reach between the fabric. And soon she felt him pulling down her stocking, freeing her silky leg and letting it gently wrap around him. She had no idea what she was doing, but it felt so good, and for the first time ever, so right.
Shakily, Sully undid another button on Michaela's blouse, revealing her lacy white camisole. He could see her chest rise up and down, and her arousal was eminent. He placed soft kisses at the top of her chest, as her hands roamed through her hair. Just as he was about to undo the laces that constrained her, he heard his name.
"Papa…"
Michaela and Sully both shot up and looked toward the alcove to see Hannah standing up, clutching her elephant and staring at the couple. "What ya doin?"
"We ahh…" Sully started.
Michaela's cheeks blushed red at the thought of being caught by Hannah. "We were umm…"
"Kissin' lots!" Hannah giggled.
"Hannah…" Sully got off the bed. "What are ya doin' up? I thought you were sleepin'."
"I not tired." She rubbed her eyes. "I wanna play with Dr. Mike."
Michaela quickly buttoned up her blouse and straightened back her hair. She couldn't believe how far she let things get between her and Sully.
"Not tonight, little lady. It's late, and you need to get back to bed." Sully scooped her up and walked her back to her bed. "Here, get back under the covers."
"I nots sweepy!" she yawned. "I awake."
"You have to go to sleep, Hannah. It's past your bed time."
"I say night to Dr. Mike?" she requested.
"Sure," he smiled. "Michaela?" he called.
"Yes?"
"There's a little girl in here who would like to say goodnight," he called to her.
"Is there?" she came from behind the curtain. Her face still flushed from the earlier excitement. "The little girl wouldn't be Hannah Sully would it?"
"Dat me!" Hannah pointed to herself.
"So it is," Michaela knelt down next to her bed. "Good night sweetheart. Have pleasant dreams." She kissed her on the forehead.
"Night, Dr. Mike." Hannah wrapped her arms around Michaela's neck, giving her a big squeeze. "Luv."
"I love you too," she whispered in her ear.
Sully watched the exchange between his daughter and Michaela, and it made his heart swell with love for both of them. It made him so happy that they got along so well. He could tell that they both loved one another very much. He too leaned down and placed a kiss on his daughters' forehead. "Goodnight Hannah."
"Night, Papa."
Michaela and Sully walked back into the living room in silence, both not having a clue as to what to say to the other.
"Sully, I ah-"
Sully put his hand up. "You don't have to say anything. We just got a little carried away." He moved in a little closer. "I should have stopped."
Michaela's cheeks flushed an even darker shade of crimson. "I've never felt that way before." Michaela began to reveal her innermost thoughts to Sully. A quest that was never easy for her. "I've…I've never felt that way before."
"Me either," Sully confessed.
"But…you've been married before."
Sully took Michaela's hand in his. "It's different this time. What I feel for you right now at this moment is so much stronger than what I've ever felt before."
"Sully," she smiled brightly. "I've never felt this way either. It's like you awoke something in me." She struggled to go on but then she felt Sully's hand squeeze hers, and she felt the need to go on. "I couldn't stop myself. I almost didn't want to…" she whispered.
Sully pulled her into his embrace, and he knew at that moment she felt exactly the way he did, and his heart swelled. "It will make our weddin' night that much more special," he whispered to her.
"Sully," she pulled away. "I've…I've never-"
"I know," he smiled. "And we'll take it ever so easy."
The blush on Michaela's cheeks rose again, and she looked down. "I…I should be going before it gets too dark out."
"You're right," Sully picked up her cape and buttoned it for her. "Be careful ridin' home. I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Tomorrow…" she smiled. "I love you Sully." She leaned on her tip toes to kiss his cheek.
"I love you, Michaela."
"Luv you, Dr. Mike!" Hannah yelled from her room, causing both adults to turn around and softly giggle in laugher.
Sully pulled the hood on Michaela's cape over her hair and gave her one final kiss. "Stay warm," he smiled.
"You too." She turned around and walked off the porch. She mounted Flash, and before riding off in the distance, she turned and waved.
Sully watched Michaela until he couldn't see her any longer. Quickly, he retreated back into the house. He checked to make sure Hannah was finally asleep, washed the coffee cups, and slipped into bed. He stared at the ceiling and hoped Michaela made it safely back to town. Rolling on his side, his hand touched something oddly familiar. He brought it to his face, realizing what it was and let out a laugh. It was Michaela's stocking.