Stranger In Their Midst

Chapter Seven

Having checked in on Lars Hansen earlier in the day, Hyrum now stood next to his window and watched as Catalina laughed and talked with the Ingalls children. While he'd fought it all morning, Hyrum's mind turned back to the visit he'd had with his old friend, Lars. The man had indeed had a heart attack.

"I tell ya," Lars lay in his bed waving his finger at Hyrum, "if what you have told me is true, then I bet you everything I have that you can forget the idea that Peter Johnson or Miles Lampe might be her husband. I say you are her husband."

"Now why on earth would you say that?" Hyrum asked the question, yet the idea took root.

Lars looked sympathetically upon his old friend. A part of him hoped he was wrong; the other part knew he just had to be right. "After that accident, you kept mumbling something about us needing to find something or someone. I say it was her. You need to find out."

Hyrum put his one hand on the wall and one on the window as Catalina threw her head back and laughed at something one of the children had said. Having known he knew her from someplace from the moment he saw her, Hyrum finally admitted what Lars said could be true. He'd always felt there was something important lost. Not just his memory of events, but something, or someone, he'd lost or something left undone. At the time of the accident he had put the melancholy and anxious feelings down to the effects of his head trauma and the amnesia that was common with such injuries. It hadn't take him long to put those feelings into the back of his mind. He'd convinced himself that it wasn't all that important; that he had needed to concentrate on his healing and getting back to doctoring the good people of Walnut Grove. After all this was his home. But now, Lars insights were very conceivable and he had to find out for sure. He turned around and headed for the door.

The Ingalls children were just telling Catalina good bye, when Hyrum walked up to her. She would have smiled and joked with Hyrum, but one look at the seriousness in his eyes and Catalina quickly threw that idea out. "What's wrong, Senor Hyrum?"

Hyrum motioned to the road ahead of them. "Let's go for a walk."

Catalina felt her heart skip a beat and she started walking. They'd gone a good fifty yards before Hyrum spoke. "I have been thinking everything over. I was thinking about Peter Johnson or Miles Lampe, the only other two men in this area who are missing a short part of their memory. They haven't been to town for a few months and, from what I hear, you haven't left town." Hyrum stopped walking and turned to face her. He took a deep breath and asked, "Am I the man you married; am I the friend you spoke of?"

Hyrum's question had her turning her head away from him. One memory after another raced through her mind. Everything from the first time she'd talked to him to the moment he first kissed her. Feelings she'd pushed back to her the back of her mind came flooding back, or maybe they'd never left. Maybe they were the reason she'd never been able to let go.

"Catalina." Hyrum lifted up his hand, took a hold of her chin and turned it towards him. She didn't have to answer with words as the mixture of joy and pain was clearly in her eyes. "What good would it do?" Hyrum stood outside his office arguing with Lars. "I've only lost three months of my life." Hyrum had completely forgotten the words until he saw the look in her eyes. In that moment, he knew he'd lost more than months, and this woman had lost just as much when a life of celibacy had been forced upon her. But, he still needed to hear her say it. He took her face in his hands and asked again, "Am I the man you married?"

Catalina opened her mouth to answer when they heard Mrs. Olsen screaming and not with words. Hyrum let go of her face as they both ran towards the store. They're heart stopped as they saw Willie lying on the ground unconscious. "What happened?" Dr. Baker knelt down beside the boy and began looking him over. By this time Nels had ran across the street from the restaurant, as had Charles.

"The fool boy was up on the roof for some stupid reason!" Harriet answered as she tried to get to her son. Nels stopped her, something she went to protest until he pointed out the obvious, Hyrum was taking care of things.

"Well, we need to move him inside. Do you have a board we can slide him onto? I don't want to chance anymore damage being done." Hyrum looked at Nels, though it was Charles who spoke up.

"I'll go get something from the mill!" He turned and ran away from the store.

"Any chance you can help me?" Hyrum looked up at Catalina. If she was indeed his wife, she might as well start assisting him.

"She's a dressmaker!" Harriet squealed as horror spread over her face only to be silenced by Nels.

"Willie won't get the help he needs if you start arguing with Hyrum! If the doc wants her to help, let her!" Nels, more worried for his son that he was his wife's foolish priorities, barked. Again, it was the thought of Willie's needs that made it so Harriet stopped vocally objecting. Her eyes would never stop fighting the notion though. Within ten minutes, Willie was lying in his own bed; Dr. Baker was continuing to look him over with Catalina in the room while the others waited downstairs.

Nels and the others thought for sure Harriet would wear their new carpet out before Hyrum and Catalina made their way back down the stairs. "How's my poor boy?" Harriet was on top of Hyrum before he took two steps into the room. Nels had to pull her back. The way the woman said poor boy, had goose bumps popping up all over Catalina's skin. She kept quiet though. After all, she guessed the woman was entitled to some leeway in this case.

"He's broken his leg and has a slight concussion." Doctor Baker answered. He had been relieved when Willie had woken shortly after he'd sent everyone out of the room. "Keep him in bed for a couple of days and fluids only for the next twenty four hours. I'll bring some crutches by tomorrow." He said as he opened the door for Catalina.

"Thanks for everything, Doc." Nels held the door open, while Hyrum and Catalina exited, as did the others.

Knowing her son would be all right made it so Harriet was right back to her observations and know it all remarks. Once the door was shut she started in on about how Hyrum had been looking at Catalina and how the woman had a lot of nerve letting it go on. Nels simply walked out of the room and went upstairs.