Chapter 108

May 21, 1871 – Colorado Springs

Michaela sighed, as she lay on top of the covers in her room above the clinic. She was back, and so far, she hadn't had any visitors. She and Sully had been lucky to arrive back in town during the busiest lunch hour, so they could still steal a few minutes alone together.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked, propping a pillow behind her back.

"Yes," she assured him. "I'm just a little tired, but that's normal." Sully nodded.

"No aches or pains?"

"No," she laughed.

"I still wanna get Andrew up here to take a look at ya."

"That's fine, Sully, but you don't have to worry. I feel wonderful thanks to our stay in our home. I can't wait to be moved in permanently." She smiled, leaning back against the pillow, as Sully sat on the side of the bed, put her feet in his lap, and started to unlace her shoes. She sighed in contentment when Sully began to rub her feet. Her eyes shut, and she was completely relaxed. For a moment anyway. The door burst open, and Johnny rushed in with three curious pups behind him.

"Johnny!" Michaela exclaimed, grateful that she and Sully hadn't been doing anything potentially embarrassing.

"What'd we tell ya about knockin', son?" Sully scolded, his voice firm but not abrasive.

"Sorry," he said, his cheeks reddening. "I just saw the wagon was out front, and I figured you were home. I just…wanted to see if Ma was ok." Michaela felt terrible for having jumped on him for bursting in the door, but now that the move to the new homestead was growing nearer, privacy would be especially necessary since she and Sully would be sharing a bed together.

"I'm sorry, Johnny. It's just that your father and I need privacy now."

"'Cause you're married," Johnny said with a nod. "Just like before, but this time, you're allowed the sleep in the same room." Johnny shifted nervously. "You ok, Ma?"

"I'm alright," she replied, her tone softer now, as she reached out for him. "I'd feel even better if I could have a hug." Johnny smiled and obliged his mother, hugging her around the neck and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, thank you."

"This means you and Pa'll be sleepin' in here together now?"

"That's right," Sully spoke up.

"Two people in that bed?" Johnny asked, his eyes wide with curiosity, as Michaela tried not to laugh.

"Well, I'm gonna pull a cot in here so I can sleep nearby."

"Oh," Johnny said with a shrug. "Alright." He bent down to pat Pup's head.

"The pus behaved for ya?"

"Yup," Johnny replied. "I think they've been wantin' to go to the meadow. Can me and Mary take 'em out?"

"May we," Michaela corrected. Johnny sighed and corrected himself.

"Go on," Sully said with a laugh. "Just don't be gone too long. I was wantin' to go out to the reservation and talk to Cloud Dancin'. You wanna come along?"

"Yeah!" Johnny exclaimed. "I'll go get Brian. He ain't been out there in ages!" Johnny rushed out of the room with the pups, and Sully turned back to Michaela.

"I don't wanna leave ya, but I need to check on 'em. I feel bad for not sayin' anything to Cloud Dancin' after the wedding."

"I don't mind, Sully. I'd feel better if you checked on Snow Bird anyway. I actually have a few charts I'd like to go over with Andrew before he goes out on my…his rounds." She still felt guilty that she couldn't look after her patients properly. Now Andrew was doing her job, and maybe a part of her was starting to fear that he was doing too good of a job. But, she couldn't worry about that right now.

"Workin'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll stay right here. I promise," she grinned. Sully leaned forward for a kiss, and as soon as Michaela felt those familiar urges rising, she pushed back on his chest until he broke their kiss. "Sully! What if someone comes in?"

"They ought to know how to knock." He moved over, shutting the open door that Johnny had left behind him. Michaela laughed and she bit her bottom lip.

"I thought you had to go to the reservation," she laughed.

"I still got a while 'fore I gotta be there." Michaela bit her lower lip, thinking for a moment, but her body told her exactly what she wanted, so she gave him a nod and that smile that drove him wild.

"Lock the door," she whispered.

"But…"

"It locks from the inside if you have the key." She nodded to her bedside table, and Sully opened the drawer, pulling out the skeleton key. He rushed over to the door and locked it, sealing them inside for a few more minutes of privacy.

On his lunch break, Kid Cole made his rounds around town looking for his wife. He didn't expect her to be at home, but when he couldn't find her, he slipped through the back door and was surprised to find her chopping vegetables in the kitchen.

"I didn't expect ya to be home." Ruth shrugged, as he came up behind her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her cheek.

"I got tired of tryin' to run away from Jim. He isn't gonna give up." She turned in his arms to face him. "I don't want to leave Colorado Springs."

"We don't have to leave, darlin'. We're gonna stay here."

"You know how he gets, Kid Cole. You know how bad he can make it for us."

"Things ain't gonna get that bad. I won't let that happen."

"What if he tries to—"

"Ruth, Jimmy ain't gonna do a thing to you. I'd kill him 'fore I let him do anything to you or our family." He kissed her cheek. "I've got my eye on him. He makes one wrong move and I'll ship him off to jail faster than you could blink." He squeezed her hand. "Trust me, Ruth. I ain't gonna let him get to us. He ain't gonna stop up from bein' together." Ruth sighed, hoping her husband was right, but she knew Jim's bad side, and it hadn't even started to peek through yet. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to go away without a fight, and that's what scared her the most. When it came right down to it, both her Kid Cole and Jim carried guns, and one of them was going to end up with a bullet in him. She only prayed to God that the man she loved would make it out alive.

Cheyenne Reservation

"Dr. Mike is doing well?" Cloud Dancing asked, as he and Sully stood beside his teepee. Brian and Johnny had found a few Cheyenne children and were playing together in the center of the little community.

"She's doin' great. Dr. Cook examined her, and she was restin' when I left her last. She wanted me to ask ya about Snow Bird. Is she doin' alright?"

"Snow Bird grows stronger with each day, though she feels guilty for nourishing her body, when the food is so scarce." Sully nodded.

"She's doin' the right thing. Dr. Mike says that her and the baby need as much nourishment as possible."

"I did not let myself believe I would be a father again," Cloud Dancing admitted. "The Spirits took my children from me too soon, and Snow Bird insisted that she could give me no more children. But the Spirits were generous." Sully smiled at the sparkle in his friend's eyes. It was the same sparkle he carried with him "The Spirits tell me you are happy."

"I am," Sully said with a nod. "I'm still worried about Michaela, but with Andrew in town, I feel a little better. He knows what he's doin'. I trust him."

"This is good," Cloud Dancing responded. "Does Dr. Mike trust him?"

"Yeah. I mean, you can tell she's thinks she knows exactly what's wrong at every second, but since she's the actual patient, she's seein' a different side to things. She ain't used to havin' to depend on other folks. I mean, she lit up when we went to our new home for our weddin' night. Just seein' the color come back to her face was enough. She just loved it. Now she's cooped up in town again, and I don't even feel right about bein' away from her."

"You share the same soul," Cloud Dancing pointed out. "You will never be apart. As long as you think of her, she is with you." Sully nodded, and he dug the heel of his moccasin into the dirt. He yawned, exhaustion beginning to settle into his bones.

"Sorry. Michaela and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep," he admitted. Cloud Dancing grinned, remembering the first few days and nights after his marriage to Snow Bird.

"It is good to see you happy."

"When I found Michaela, everything changed. She helped me get my life back together. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have come back. I never woulda seen my son again. I never woulda known he was alive."

"You have suffered since," Cloud Dancing noted. "People do not willingly accept you now?"

"That don't matter to me. Not anymore. Michaela and I have good friends. They're the ones that were able to care about us for who we are. Not a lot of folks are like that around here."

"Pa!" Johnny interrupted, running up. "Pa, ya gotta come quick!" Sully and Cloud Dancing turned toward Johnny's voice. Brian was rushing up behind him.

"What is it?" Sully asked, as they started toward the direction they'd come from.

"It's Little Wolf! He's hurt! He fell when we were playin' a game. He tried to climb this big tree, and he hurt his leg." Sully and Cloud Dancing continued following the boys until they reached a small group of Cheyenne children standing over Little Wolf. The young boy was about six, and he was one of the clumsiest children in the village. Unfortunately, his clumsiness had caused him injury today. As soon as Cloud Dancing saw the damage, he knew his own healing would not be sufficient enough.

"The bone is broken." The blood soaking his buckskin pants showed that the bone was protruding from the skin. "He needs surgery that I cannot perform." Sully's heart began to pound.

"I can take him into town. Dr. Cook…"

"Will this white man treat Cheyenne?" Sully honestly didn't know how to answer that question. Andrew Cook had probably never met an Indian in his entire life. The closest he'd probably come was at the wedding when Cloud Dancing stood as Sully's best man.

"We gotta take that chance. We don't get him into town soon, that's gonna get infected." Cloud Dancing nodded, and he picked the boy up, motioning for Sully to get the wagon. Johnny and Brian rushed after Sully to help. Little Wolf did not cry, as Cloud Dancing rushed him to the wagon. He stared up into the sky, praying to the Spirits for the strength to stay brave. He had been taught not to fear pain, but this was the first time the pain had been so overwhelming that it was hard not to cry out.

"Put him in the back," Sully said quickly, climbing up into the driver's seat with the boys. Cloud Dancing hopped into the back with the boy and settled him down, covering him with a blanket. He was going into shock.

"I will go with him." Sully nodded, and he flicked the reins. The horses took off at breakneck speed toward town, and a knot formed in Sully's stomach, as he hoped that Dr. Cook would not turn the child away.

Michaela heard the wagon rattling into town, and she pulled herself out of bed and over to the balcony doors. She stepped outside, seeing a young Cheyenne shaking terribly in the back, as Cloud Dancing held him close. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly pulled on her shoes and started making her way downstairs. She arrived just as Sully was bursting into the exam room with Little Wolf in his arms. Johnny and Brian followed him in with Cloud Dancing who was now covered in blood from the child's wound.

By now several townspeople were gathering outside to find out what the commotion was about. Several people had been alarmed to see an Indian in the back of the wagon, and now people were curious. Was there an attack? Would there be a war between the town and the reservation? Some people had gone home to get their guns just in case.

"Where's Dr. Cook?" Sully asked, immediately alarmed that Michaela was out of bed.

"He rode out to the Sanderson farm. Mr. Sanderson has pneumonia, and he has to…what happened?"

"Little Wolf was tryin' to climb a tree, and he fell. Broke his leg real bad," Johnny pointed out, his eyes wide and his voice high with adrenaline.

"Put him on the table," Michaela instructed, pulling an apron around her dress. Sully stared at her in astonishment.

"Michaela, ya shouldn't be…"

"Sully, this little boy needs my help. Dr. Cook's not here, and if I don't do something, he could lose too much blood." Knowing his wife was right, Sully placed the boy on the table, and Cloud Dancing moved to help the doctor prepare whatever she needed to fix the boy's leg. "Could you take the boys outside, Sully?"

"Sure," he replied. He glanced at Cloud Dancing. "Make sure she sits down if she needs to." Cloud Dancing gave him an affirmative nod, and Sully disappeared out onto the porch with Johnny and Brian. The townsfolk tried to peer inside, but Sully shut the door.

"What's goin' on in there?" Ruth asked.

"The boys were playin' on the reservation, and one of the Cheyenne boys fell and hurt his leg."

"They got their own medicine man. Why'd ya bring him here?" Hank asked.

"Because Cloud Dancin' don't have the instruments that Dr. Mike's got," Brian explained.

"First we let a woman be the doctor. Then we let a bunch of Injuns come into town. I say we call the army and have 'em do somethin' about it."

"Hank, that ain't gonna be necessary," Sully snapped. "It's just one boy, and if we didn't bring 'im into town, he'd have lost too much blood or he woulda got an infection. He coulda died. Dr. Mike's tryin' to save his life."

"So he can grow up hatin' us and wantin' to fight us too, huh?"

"The Cheyenne never attacked our town."

"Ya weren't here when the Dog Soldiers ransacked us a few years back, Sully. I was. I saw 'em wearin' blood like pain on their faces. Bunch of savages," Hank spat.

"The Dog Soldiers attacked you, but they ain't the Cheyenne nation. They're renegades who broke away."

"But them Injuns still help 'em! They're friends with 'em, so they ain't no friends of ours!"

"Ya don't know what you're talkin' about, Hank."

"She's gonna save that boy, and someday, he's gonna repay her by comin' back here and takin' what he wants. They all think they can do whatever they want."

"They were here first, Hank How would you feel if somebody came and took your land away from you and expected you to be fine with it?" Carrie spoke up.

"I'm with Hank! I say we call the army and have 'em get these Injuns under control once and for all!" came a voice from the back of the crowd, causing several other citizens to speak up in agreement.

"Now hold on!" Sully yelled above the rising clamor of the group. "They ain't done nothin' wrong. It was my idea to bring the boy into town. Cheyenne have been granted leave from the reservation as long as nothin' happens that might cause the army to get involved. So far, nothin' has happened, and as long as everybody stays calm everything'll be fine."

"What if they all start comin' into town?"

"That ain't gonna happen. The Cheyenne have their own way of life, and they'd prefer to live it together."

"They got their own way of life, but they need our medicine to get better."

"That ain't their fault, Hank."

"But—"

"Leave 'em alone, Hank!" Johnny spoke up. "The Cheyenne are good people! Ya don't have to talk so bad about 'em. They ain't bad. Folks like you just don't wanna accept 'em, so ya make things up that ain't true."

"Why don't ya show some respect?" Hank asked.

"You don't show respect for nobody!" Johnny yelled.

"Johnny, hey," Sully said quickly, putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

"No! It ain't fair! He ain't got no right to talk like that! The Cheyenne ain't never done nothin' to him! He just likes bein' mean."

"It's alright, Johnny," Sully insisted. He looked back up at the crowd. "Why don't ya all go back home? I'm sure ya got better things to do that to stand around here." When the group started to break up, Marjorie, Timothy and Rebecca came rushing up from the back.

"What happened?" Marjorie asked. "We saw a crowd, and…"

"One of the Cheyenne boys got hurt on the Reservation. Michaela's lookin' at him now."

"Michaela?" Rebecca asked. "She's supposed to be resting!"

"Dr. Cook went out to the Sanderson farm. Don't know when he'll be back."

"I'll ride out and get him," Timothy offered.

"He's givin' Mr. Sanderson a treatment for his pneumonia. Cloud Dancin' is helpin' Michaela. He won't let her get too tired." He swallowed hard his stomach tying in knots again. It was going to be a long way, he was sure, and he only hoped that Michaela wasn't pushing herself too hard. That was the last thing she needed now.

When she opened the clinic door, Michaela was pleasantly surprised to just find Sully there. He had sent Johnny and Brian along with Marjorie, Rebecca, and Timothy, and he was waiting alone. He stood up as soon as she appeared in the doorway.

"He's going to be alright. I set his leg and managed to stop the bleeding. He nearly lost that leg, Sully. But he did remarkably well, and Cloud Dancing's taking him upstairs to rest." She shook her head. "I'll be glad when the hospital is finished. We're running out of room up there." Sully nodded, and he pulled her close. "I was terrified. I was afraid I'd make a mistake or…"

"You've seen breaks like that dozens of times."

"I know, but for a moment, a thought crossed my mind. What if…what if I did something wrong? What if he died? I suppose I'm just so worried about…"

"About the fact that ya ain't been workin'?" Michaela nodded guiltily. "It hasn't been too long, Michaela. It ain't like you're gonna forget how to do somethin'."

"I know. I guess it just worries me."

"Come on," he urged, nodding toward the inside of the clinic. Michaela led the way inside, and Sully held her hand, following closely behind. Once inside, Sully led her to her desk, and she sat down, feeling slightly awkward sitting behind a desk that Dr. Cook was currently using as his workspace.

"This feels so strange."

"Strange how?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, when I was working on Little Wolf today, I so badly wanted to jump back into being a doctor full time, but then I started to worry that I was going to do something wrong since I've been resting for so long."

"But ya didn't do anything wrong. You did a great job, Michaela. I'm sure Little Wolf's gonna be real grateful that he had such a good doctor to take care of him. If it hadn't been for you, he probably wouldn't have got treatment."

"I suppose that's true, but I still worry that I'm going to do something wrong."

"You're just nervous about getting back into the swing of things. That's normal. Ya just gotta relax and stop worryin' about that right now." Michaela nodded slowly, and Sully knelt down beside her and pulled her into a hug.

"I should get up there and check on my patient."

"Alright. I'll help ya up." He and Michaela stood and started up the stairs. Michaela found it more and more difficult to get up and down them, but she had been bedridden for weeks, so it wasn't any wonder.

Once upstairs, Michaela and Sully entered Little Wolf's recovery room. He hadn't woken up yet, and Michaela knew he'd be in a lot of pain when he did.

"He will be alright?" Cloud Dancing asked, standing up to face the doctor.

"I'll keep a close eye on him. If Dr. Cook won't finish his treatment, I'll make certain he's well taken care of." She glanced at Sully.

"And I'll help out in any way I can," he assured them both. Michaela nodded gratefully, and she sat down at Little Wolf's bedside, placing a cool, damp cloth on his forehead. Her heart went out to the little boy, and she realized then that his parents must be worried sick.

"Cloud Dancing, we need to get word to his parents that he's going to be fine." Cloud Dancing's expression grew grim.

"Little Wolf's parents were killed by soldiers when he was an infant. The tribe has raised him since." Michaela and Sully exchanged glances, and Sully nodded in confirmation. Sully was reminded of his own childhood growing up, and he felt a pang of sorrow for the child. Sure, he had a huge Cheyenne family, but the fact that he didn't have a mother and a father in his life would certainly impact the way he grew up.

"He's slightly malnourished…"

"As are many of our people," Cloud Dancing explained. Michaela frowned deeply and placed her hand against Little Wolf's forehead.

"He's developing a fever." Shaking her head she opened her medical bag and pulled out a small bottle of white powder.

"What's that?" Sully questioned.

"I'm going to give him Quinine to help with the fever. He needs proper nourishment if his leg is going to heal correctly." She glanced at Sully and then back to Cloud Dancing. "Would it be alright with the Cheyenne if he stayed with us for a while? We can care for him and make sure he gets plenty of rest and food. Then he will be able to return to your tribe." Cloud Dancing and Sully exchanged glances.

"I will speak with Black Kettle, but I'm certain he will not object. I must leave now."

"We'll make sure he doesn't wake up alone. Thank you for your help, Cloud Dancing." The Cheyenne medicine man nodded and left. Sully escorted him out, and Michaela sat in silence at Little Wolf's bedside, hoping that she could bring some comfort to the orphan's life. Her eyes welled with tears thinking about the fact that he had no mother or father. She only hoped that while the child remained in her and Sully's care that he would feel the love of parents.

The clock continued to tick away, and Michaela sat waiting for the child to wake up. Her body was tired, but she couldn't rest until she'd given him something for his fever. She hoped it would go away quickly, because a fever was the last thing that little boy needed.