CHAPTER 13:

Still on the farmhouse porch, Michaela continued to think about recent events. She was also thinking about the letter she had received from her mother. Her family wrote to her very rarely and she was disappointed, though not surprised. Finally, she was especially disappointed not to receive a letter from her father. But she reasoned with herself by imagining the number of days or even months that a letter took to travel the way between Boston and Colorado. She knew that when she received a letter, the stories told in it were already obsolete.

However, she had been forced to write to her family about her children. About her new life. In her letter, she asked for advice on raising children. And her mother, who had not denied going to the station to say goodbye, had simply written to her that she had to give up all that and that in order to raise children, you had to first be a mother. Michaela had burned the letter.

As she saw an approaching figure under the sun, she stood up. Was it Matthew? After a moment she immediately recognized the gait. She smiled, her heart racing. It was Sully. Her reaction to him was still the same. Their passion had never waned and their love was always growing stronger.

The negative point of everything that had happened – in addition to Charlotte's death, of course – was that by moving to Sully's farm, the young man had to sleep elsewhere.

After the outbreak, the fact that Michaela and Sully were together had spread around town like wildfire. Most had been completely surprised. Hank had laughed and said one day at mass "Michaela is a stick of dynamite, and I have the match.". Loren had been surprised knowing full well that Abigail's death had made the young man very unhappy. But he was secretly happy that he was able to start a new life. And he had to admit, they went very well together.

Horace had also found it very romantic, hoping he could live the same way with Myra once she was released from her contract with Hank.

In conclusion, when Sully offered his old farm when the whole town knew they were courting each other, there was no way they were living together without being married. They had decided on this together. It was not Michaela's idea or Sully's idea. Just common sense. Common sense that had made them unhappy, having grown accustomed to sleeping together and having intimate moments whenever they wanted. But now she was completely overwhelmed between the clinic and the children. And Sully was also with his craft. He had had a new mission which was to photograph the natural spaces of Colorado. In addition to everything else he already had to do.

So she knew that Sully slept in lean-tos that he had created in different places. Once he had shown her one of them and she had found it incredible. Only the resources of nature, nothing more.

Michaela and Sully had had so few intimate moments that each time it happened, the conclusion was breathtaking. They had had the opportunity to do it once at the clinic, in Michaela's old room, and twice more in the barn on the farm when Matthew was away. But that was it. Michaela really missed the young man. Her thoughts were very often focused on him and she really missed the recurring caresses she had been entitled to for whole nights in a row at boarding school.

Also, the most important thing for her, was that he showed her every day that the argument they had had the first few weeks in Colorado Springs was really behind them. Not once had the young man left her despite the many disagreements on all the various subjects of the world that they had had. And for Michaela, that was enough. She trusted him completely and agreed that everyone made mistakes. What she remembered above all was his constant presence, the moment when he had saved her life when she had caught the flu, the gift of shelter for her and the children, and his encounter with the beings who were so dear to his heart: the Cheyenne.

"Sully." smiled Michaela as he hopped onto the porch before hugging her.

The young man sighed well, so happy that she was at the farm in the middle of the morning. He loved her so much. His love for her only grew more every day. Although he missed their intimate moments terribly, he felt extremely lucky to have her with him. Every night in his lean-to seemed empty and sad to him, and he dreamed of the day when they could be together again.

In reality he had planned to propose to Michaela in marriage. But he did not have a ring. He could not have enough money to buy one that would be up to his lover according to him. And he was beginning to despair.

Sully kissed her cheek before looking into her eyes, once again unable to prevent the pride from spreading through her entire being. Everything she had accomplished in such a short time had impressed him so much. She had a bad temper and that completely amused Sully. He had seen a bit of that passion in her when they first kissed and then made love. But he had especially seen it when she had persuaded General MacArthur to withdraw his troops from Colorado.

And since they had been here, he had seen it all: with Dorothy's trial, the epidemic, Brian and Loren's operations, her insistence on treating everyone and not letting it go. And he had seen it again yesterday when she had won that race, disguised as a man, to prove that women could be so strong. And honestly, seeing her as a man had also amused him immensely. He had gently teased her about her fake mustache which had tickled him when she had kissed him passionately after the race, in the privacy of the farm. She then hit him gently with her cowboy hat and laughed. Yes, he was very lucky. And after what had happened to his friend Charlotte and Michaela taking care of the three children, he saw them as his family. For him, they were also his children. And he learned every day from Michaela how to raise them.

"How are you?" he asked her, his eyes still locked on hers.

"Alright. And you? Did you manage to sleep?" asked the young woman in return.

"I kept thinking about you…" Sully whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver.

She giggled before turning back to the farmhouse to make sure Brian and Colleen were inside and away from the windows. So she turned to him again and kissed him passionately, her lips having missed him since he had left the farm the night before. Sully responded immediately, his grip tightening around his lover's hip. Then, the couple separated quickly hearing a clearing of the throat just behind Sully who had his back to the road.

They turned and met Matthew's gaze, who chuckled in embarrassment. He waved at them and Michaela waved too, her voice trailing off. As her son walked towards the barn she called him.

"Matthew! Wait, where were you this morning?"

"Oh, yes, sorry Doctor Mike, I was with Ingrid at the immigrant camp. They needed me to get an aunt back on the spot. I completely forgot to tell you about it yesterday and as I had to leave early, I didn't dare wake you up." Matthew spoke, cowboy hat in hand as he approached the couple.

"It is okay, but wake me up anyway, please."

"I'll do it." Matthew smiled before heading back to the barn.

Sully turned back to Michaela. "Do you have any patients today?"

"Yes, but after lunch. With the children we will go to Grace, then could you keep Brian? There is no school today…"

"Yes of course, I will take him with me fishing. I know he loves it. And then we might go see Cloud Dancing."

"You are perfect." smiled Michaela bringing her face closer to the young man's.

"Oh, I wish I heard that more often." laughed Sully.

During the summer, Grace had decided to open an outdoor restaurant, with the encouragement of Brian, Olive, Colleen and Michaela. In addition, the men of the city had finally decided to build and finish the school. Mainly for Brian. When he was in a coma and no one knew if he would make it, the last thing he said was that he wanted to see school out. So Sully and Matthew had activated, motivating the men of the city but also Robert E. who, at the beginning, was not wanted to build the school.

Note : Thank you for reading. Hope you will like the sequel. Thanks for the last comment! You are going too fast for me haha! we hadn't even arrived at the part where we talk about Sully and Michaela's relationship ;)