CHAPTER 2

"What is this nonsense you're tellin' me?" Grace blustered, truly shocked that such words came tumbling from the mouth of her friend. "I can't believe that! I ain't neva seen a man more in love with his wife than Sully is with you. And Katie – he'd do anythin' for his little girl..."

Michaela nodded miserably, her hands raised to her face as the tears flowed unchecked.

"That's what I thought too...but it's true," she blubbered. "We...we had a terrible fight and I...I told him to leave. I told him I never wanted to see him again...and he never came back!" she moaned in misery.

Startled, Grace quickly moved around the desk and went to her knees, taking her distraught friend in her arms and cradling Michaela's head against her chest. Still shocked, she rocked her friend gently from side to side, whispering, "I...I just can't believe it. Not Sully. Not after all you two been through togetha..."

"Oh Grace!" Michaela whined, clutching her friend desperately as she finally allowed herself to take another into her confidence. But now that the dam had broken, the river of tears was unstoppable. "I don't know what I'm going to do," she sobbed. "I can't live the rest of my life without him...he IS my life!"

Anger rose up in Grace at the stupidity of men – even one everyone figured was near perfect. "Somebody needs ta go find that man and take a horse whip to his no good hide," she grumbled.

Michaela immediately pulled back, tears streaming, her face red and puffy. "No," she sniffled, shaking her head. "I don't blame him for leaving." Looking around for the handkerchief she had let her daughter use, she now wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "I had been impossible to live with after Mother passed on. I only realized after he'd been gone for a week with no word, that I'd taken his patience and understanding for granted. He'd been there the whole time, supporting me, loving me, helping build the hospital, caring for Katie when I was barely functioning...and I gave him nothing in return..." Remembering scenes from those months, she shook her head miserably. "Everyone has a breaking point," she concluded with a pitiful shrug. "He reached his."

"Well, still..." Grace argued, seating herself in the chair Katie had vacated. "I did all that an' worse to Robert E. afta Anthony passed on, but all it took was us really talkin', just one time, for everythin' to be alright again. All that is water unda the bridge now. You'd think Sully'd be over it...and come back..."

Michaela nodded, lips trembling with emotion. "Every day I pray for his return...but..." she stopped, shrugging forlornly.

Suddenly reaching out to grasp one of her friend's hands, she mewled, "Grace, what should I do? I know I can't live the rest of my life without him, but I...I can't bare the thought of anyone knowing about this! I...I can't ask Daniel to go look for him and I can't go myself...I wouldn't even know where to look!"

Grace thought for a moment, patting her friend's hand consolingly. "What about Cloud Dancin' and Dorothy...surely they'd know..."

Michaela nodded, "I thought of that, but the last letter I got from her, she and Cloud Dancing were in New York again. I've been hoping they would come for a visit...the last time they were here, I was away in Denver..."

Grace's gentle heart ached as she gazed at her friend. With determination, she pressed her lips together and nodded, giving her hand another pat.

"Don't you worry, Docta Mike. We'll think 'a somethin'!"

OOOOOOO

After spending a little more time with her friend to make sure she was as all right as possible, Grace left the hospital and marched down the street and past the library. Rounding the corner, she passed the Gold Nugget, which was already filled with boisterous early arrivers of the evening crowd. Scooting through the alley between what used to be Michaela's clinic and the empty Gazette building, she hurried to the stables.

Robert E. looked up as she approached, flashing her a smile as he curried one of his boarded horses. But the look on her face took him aback. His smile quickly disappeared.

"Robert E.," she called as she marched near. He stopped what he was doing and met her at the gate.

"What's wrong, suga'?"

"I just came from Docta Mike's office and...and I gotta tell you somethin'. You ain't gonna believe it."

Robert E.'s brown eyes opened larger as he stared at his fuming wife. What in the world? "What? Tell me."

Grace flapped her hands for a second; still so agitated at Sully she couldn't stand it. At that moment, if she would have seen him, she might have wrung his neck.

"Grace! What?" Robert E. sputtered, grasping her arms. "Is Docta Mike alright? Katie?"

"Yes, they're alright – as alright as they can be," she answered dramatically. "Do you know what that no good Sully up and did? He left his wife and chil'! Six months ago!" Shaking her head, still in the grip of the shock of the unexpected news, she sneered, "I woulda neva expected that..."

"It ain't whatcha thinkin', Grace," Robert E. interrupted.

Stopping short, Grace's mouth dropped open and she stared at her husband. He had that guilty look she'd seen many times before. Shaking his head, he dropped his hands from her arms and took a rag out of his back pocket to wipe the sweat that had suddenly begun to bead on his forehead.

"And just whata you know about this?" Grace asked, cocking her head and placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm just sayin'," Robert E. tried to back peddle, knowing he had already said too much. "That there's always two sides ta every story. Now, now, it ain't none 'a our bizness..." he began.

"None 'a our bizness?!" Grace exploded, angry that her husband seemed to know something she had obviously been kept in the dark about. "We're talkin' about our Godchild...our friends, Robert E.! You tell me what you know about this – right now!"

"Grace! Keep ya voice down," the blacksmith murmured, casting his gaze around to make sure no one was near as he tried to hush his volatile wife – which was no simple feat. "Now, what I'm gonna tell ya has got ta stay between you and me, undastand?"

Grace just stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Sully...he's in Yellowstone. He sends money once a month for me ta give Loren to pay on Docta Mike's tab, and I write him back and let him know how she and Katie are doin'. Truth is, Docta Mike...she kicked him out and she won't let him see Katie."

"That ain't true!" Grace shot right back, becoming more confused and concerned. None of this made any sense. "I just come from her, Robert E.! She don't know where he is, and...and you shoulda seen her – I ain't neva seen her so upset. It's like she's on the edge and gonna collapse any minute!" At his disbelieving look, she added, "I'm tellin' ya, she don't know where he is."

The man shook his head, sure of his facts. "Sully wrote her a letter. He gave her time and told her where he'd be. She neva said he could come back."

"Oh Robert E...she couldna got that letter! She wouldn't lie ta me, not like that," Grace pursed her lips and shook her head emphatically. "Somethin' ain't right here. Now, she's hurtin' bad...and Katie is too! We gotta do somethin', Robert E.!"

Scrubbing his hand over his face, and wiping the back of his neck with the rag, the man thought back over the months, observing Dr. Mike as she went about her business. He could plainly see she wasn't happy. Matter of fact, he had entertained thoughts of coming right out and asking her why she was keeping Sully away, but being a man of his word and a man who prided himself on minding his own business, he'd never taken that step. He'd told himself whatever was going on was between the two of them.

Now looking into the piercing eyes of his wife, he agreed. Something wasn't right. Something just didn't add up, didn't ring true. He'd thought so all along. Sully had made him swear not to tell a soul, but... Sometimes...a man's gotta go back on his word if it's for the greater good...

Clamping his lips tight, he gave his wife a quick nod.

OOOOOOO

"Sully...do you want your family restored, or is it your wish to continue on the way you are living?" The wise Cheyenne gently asked.

Sully shot him a look that could melt steel. "Whadda you think? But I ain't the one that called it quits. She is," he growled bitterly.

Cloud Dancing's expression didn't change. He understood his brother wasn't striking out at him, but at an enemy that was unseen and unreachable - the enemy of misunderstanding. "But you are the one who walked away," he gently reminded.

"I told ya, I gave her time. She decided she didn't want me around anymore. I..." Sully paused, pressing his lips together tightly before adding, "I used to wonder if she'd get tired of me someday. It was one 'a the things that took me so long to get past...and why it took me so long ta ask her ta marry me." He stared at his brother, hurt and anger warring in his eyes, until suddenly all of the quickly kindled fire seemed to burn out just as fast as it had flared. Right before Cloud Dancing's eyes, he withered back down to the shell of a man he had become. "I jus'...thought I'd paid my dues on that...but I guess I hadn't."

Weighing his options, the concerned medicine man pursed his lips for a moment, and then asked pointedly, "Where is the man I have known for the past seventeen winters? The fearless man who jumped from a cliff with the woman he loved...who fought against an entire garrison of Mexican soldiers to save her...who would have given his life to protect what was his?"

Sully lowered his head in shame, feeling every bit the defeated man that he was. She was his strength. Without Michaela's love, he was nothing. Empty. Less than zero. Cloud Dancing could barely make out his answer as he whispered, "None 'a that matters anymore. She don't need me...she don't want me. I can't make her love me."

Normally, the calm Indian would have raised his eyebrows and gave a slight shrug before going about his business if someone stubbornly refused to accept his advice. But seeing his brother in such pain and physically dying from grief...he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Sully, I do not believe this is true." He raised one hand, fingers splayed upward as he made his point. "Spirits say fight. Fight for your family. Spirits say... stand up and be a man." He watched as his brother brought his hands up to hold his head as he kept his head lowered, softly groaning. Cloud Dancing had one more bullet to fire and leaning forward, he reminded the distraught man, "Katie needs the influence of her father...no matter what is happening between her parents."

Sully took in a ragged breath, pressing his palms against his forehead as the megrim now raged with vicious ferocity. If he did as his brother was urging, he would be going against his word to Michaela. He had promised that he would abide by her wishes and stay away if that was what she wanted.

As much as he wanted to be with her, to be with and raise Katie, to get his family back, he also wanted Michaela to be happy, no matter the personal cost. No matter that living without them the past six months had nearly killed him.

Finally, he raised his eyes to his friend, his cheeks wet with tears.

The brothers locked gazes.