For two hours Rosalind sat riveted as Michaela related every detail she knew about Sully's life before they had met, and everything that had come after.

    Rosalind was deeply saddened by the further pain and loss that Sully had suffered as a young man, but she was equally astonished and affected by the ways Sully's experiences had paralleled his parents'.

    When Michaela explained how Sully had first come to Colorado during the Pike's Peak gold rush, and spoke of his time as a silver miner, Rosalind exclaimed, "Just like his father!"  And then with her next breath she asked urgently about his health.  Michaela hastened to assure her that Sully's decision to quit the mines had been dictated by personal philosophy, not illness.

    When Michaela spoke of Sully's courtship of Abagail Bray, and Abagail's decision to marry him in defiance of her father Loren's wishes, Rosalind murmered, "History repeats itself."  At the sad revelation of Abagail's and their daughter Hannah's death in childbirth, Rosalind's tears had flowed once more.

    "He has known so much pain," she whispered.  "How did he ever endure it?"

    "He nearly didn't," Michaela answered quietly, and she went on to speak of Sully's enlistment in the Union Army to *lose* himself in the war; of how his unscrupulous commanding officers had *used* him as a pawn to further their illegal greed, causing him to kill an innocent man; and Sully's subsequent desertion when he couldn't live with what he had done.

    "Sully returned to Colorado, not caring if he lived or died," Michaela related, pain swelling in her own heart as she imagined the depth of his depression and isolation.  "But then, thank God, something happened to deliver him from his pain and change his life forever.  He met Cloud Dancing and the Cheyenne."

    Michaela went on to tell Rosalind of how the Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing had found Sully in the woods and taken him in, and how Chief Black Kettle and his tribe had made him one of their "people."  Of how they had taught him their language, and how to survive in the wilderness.    How they had instilled in him a reverence and respect for the boundless wonders of nature—“'Mother Earth and Father Sky', as Cloud Dancing would say," noted Michaela with a fond smile.  Most importantly, she explained how Sully had formed an unbreakable bond of friendship and "brotherhood" with Cloud Dancing.  "Cloud Dancing shared his spiritual gifts with Sully," she said.  "He and the Cheyenne put hope in his heart again—they helped him to heal."

    Michaela could see that Rosalind had been deeply moved by what she had heard, and that she was profoundly grateful that Sully had found peace at last, after so much torment.

    "And then, one day in 1868, I arrived in Colorado Springs to establish a practice as the town's first doctor," Michaela said.  "And a new phase of Sully's life—and mine—began."

    "Did you meet right away?" Rosalind asked.

    "In a manner of speaking," Michaela replied, smiling at the recollection of their first encounter.  "I was not exactly *welcomed* with open arms by the town's inhabitants.  When Horace, our telegraph operator, received my wire accepting the position of doctor, he mistakenly believed that the last letter of my name was actually my middle initial—thereby creating the impression that a 'Michael A. Quinn' was coming—not 'Michaela Quinn.'   As you can guess, the townspeople were quite shocked to see a woman doctor arrive on the stagecoach!"

    "I can well imagine," Rosalind replied, shaking her head in commiseration.

    "Our pastor, Reverend Timothy Johnson, wanted to send me right back to Boston," Michaela went on.  "But I firmly disabused him of that notion!"

    "Good for you!"  said Rosalind emphatically.

    "Reverend Johnson took me to a woman named Charlotte Cooper, who ran the boarding house in town, and also served as the local midwife.  That's when I first met my children—Charlotte's children," she said softly.  "Charlotte, bless her heart, took me under her wing.  She gave me a place to stay, and told me everything I needed to know about the town and its inhabitants.  I saw Sully for the first time that day, negotiating with the Indians and some members of the army.   He saw me too, although I didn't realize it, when I slipped and fell face-first into the mud!"  The women laughed together, and Michaela continued, "A day or two later, Charlotte assisted me when I wanted to advertise for my own lodgings, and a place to conduct my practice.  She took me to Bray's store, so that I could post a notice.  That's when I actually met Sully for the first time—if you could call it a *meeting.*

    Michaela related the indignation she had felt when she saw a carved wooden sign hanging among the other public notices that proclaimed, "NO DOGS OR INDIANS"—and how she had taken it down.  And how, after an army officer in the store had snatched it back from her and replaced it, a tomahawk had come whistling through the air and cleaved the sign in two.  She told how she had turned in startled amazement to see Sully standing in the doorway, accompanied by an Indian, with a wolf at his heels.

    "The same *wolf* I met last night?" Rosalind said smiling.

    "The very same," said Michaela.  "Sully raised him from a pup and he has been Sully's faithful companion ever since.  Brian has been looking after him while Sully has been in hiding."
 
    Michaela then went on to tell Rosalind of how, after Charlotte had taken her to Robert E.'s  to buy a horse, Sully had approached her and returned her advertisement, saying he was "answering it."  Of how he had led her—she on horseback, he on foot—out to the homestead he had built and shared with Abagail--and that he had subsequently abandoned—and how he had offered to rent it to Michaela for a dollar a month.  She recalled how she had taken out her small brass nameplate, reading "M. Quinn, M.D." and held it up beside the door for his inspection.  And how, when she asked what he thought, he had given her s little smile and said in a tone that was decidedly unimpressed, "Not much of a shingle."

    The hands on the mantle clock crawled from one till two, as Michaela shared with Rosalind the events of her history with Sully:  her turbulent first year in Colorado Springs, and the constant struggle to get the townspeople to accept her; the sadness of Charlotte's death from a rattlesnake bite, and Charlotte's dying wish that Michaela look after her children.

    She shared how the children had initially resented  having to live with this "stranger;" culminating with Brian running away—and how she and Sully found him with the help of Black Kettle and his tribe. She spoke of removing a bullet from Black Kettle's neck when he had been shot by the army, and how he had given her the Cheyenne name of "Medicine Woman."

    And she recalled her first Christmas with the children, when Sully had surprised them on that snowy, blustery Christmas Eve with presents for them all; including a wolf pup for Brian; and for her, a large, carved wooden plaque that read, "M. Quinn, M.D.  Medicine Woman."  And how he had said, "Now *that's* a shingle."

    She remembered the terrible time when the amoral buffalo skinner Tate Rankin had been wantonly slaughtering buffalo to clear the plains in preparation for the building of the railroad.  And how Sully had gone to Rankin on behalf of the Cheyenne Nation to ask him to spare enough buffalo for the Indians to survive the winter.  And that Rankin and his men had *answered* Sully's request by beating him nearly to death and leaving him temporarily paralyzed.  She recalled nursing Sully, with Cloud Dancing's help, through the long, painful weeks of his recovery.  And how ultimately he went off to seek revenge on Rankin, but stopped short of killing him, because she begged him not to.  And of how he was protected in his quest by the spirit of "Running Ghost," the White Buffalo.

    She spoke of their wilderness adventures together, like the time she and Sully had attempted to obtain water samples from the property of a hostile gold miner named Harding, whose mill operation was dumping mercury into a local stream and contaminating the town's water supply; and how, alone together in the wilderness, something about their relationship had indefinably changed.
 
     She recalled Brian's attempt to *fly* from a tree when Sully told him a story of a Cheyenne brave whose wisdom had allowed him to be transformed into a soaring eagle; and how when Brian fell and hit his head, he had became blind, slipped into a coma, and would have died without surgery to relieve the pressure in his brain.  And how it was Sully, with his absolute faith in her ability, who had given her the courage to operate on her own son.

    She recalled her and the children’s journey to Boston, when she received word that her mother was seriously ill; and how Sully had followed her there, and ultimately declared that he loved her—and how she had declared the same to him upon her return to Colorado Springs.

     She described their faltering steps toward courtship:  their mutual fear, at first, that they didn't have *enough* in common; how before the annual "Sweethearts' Dance" she had mistakenly believed that Sully was having a relationship with her friend Dorothy Jennings—when in reality he had been receiving dancing lessons from Dorothy in an effort to surprise and please her. And she relived the frightening memory of her abduction by Dog Soldiers, and how Sully wouldn't rest until he had found and rescued her, because she was his "heartsong."

    She related how finally Sully had proposed to her in a Cheyenne "sweat lodge;" and how the arrival in Colorado Springs of her fiance, who had been presumed dead in the war—but was in reality very much alive—had nearly driven them apart.  And how Sully's love for her, and desire for her to be happy even if it meant giving her up forever, had made her realize that he was the only man in her heart.

    She recalled the trip that she, Sully, the children and Cloud Dancing had taken to Washington, so that she could testify before the confirmation hearings conducted by the Commission on Indian Affairs, about the corrupt agents who victimized the Indians on the reservations.  And how Sully had been arrested for his long-ago desertion, and would have faced life in prison if together they had not managed to uncover the conspiracy against him, so that he was pardoned by President Grant, and offered the post of Indian Agent.

    She described how Sully had labored over the months to create their beautiful homestead, despite certain obstacles, like his ambivalence about the train coming to Colorado Springs; and his worries about lack of money.  She remembered how he had resisted accepting her financial help; but how he had ultimately realized and accepted that just as what was his was hers—what was hers was his, as well.

    And, her heart breaking within her, Michaela related the story of the unspeakable massacre of Black Kettle's tribe at the Washita, resulting in the deaths of Black Kettle, his wife, and Cloud Dancing's beloved wife Snowbird.  She spoke of how she, Sully and Cloud Dancing had grieved, knowing life for the Cheyenne would never be the same again.

    Finally, she recalled every beautiful detail of their wedding day; and, a year later, how Sully had delivered their precious Katie in the woods.

    "My great-niece—like having my own dear Kate alive again," Rosalind whispered, overcome by emotion at the extraordinary history that Sully and Michaela had shared.

    "And the rest, you know," Michaela finished, referring to the events at Palmer Creek that had forced Sully and Cloud Dancing into hiding.

    Michaela and Rosalind sat quietly for a few moments, as Rosalind tried to take in the enormity of the joys, sorrows and events in Sully's life; and the many chapters that formed the story of Sully's and Michaela's lives together.  Finally Rosalind spoke.

    "I haven't the words to express how moved I am by all you've told me, Michaela," she said tremulously.  "Nor can I ever adequately express my joy and gratitude that you are part of Byron's—of Sully's—life.  Surely you must have been a gift from God to make up for all that my nephew lost in his past."
 
    "Finding Sully was just as precious a gift for me," Michaela told her.  "And now both of us have received the wonderful gift of finding you."

    "I want *so* much to meet Sully at last, Michaela," Rosalind said yearningly.  "Do you think that he'll want to see me—that he'll welcome me?"

    "Oh yes," Michaela answered her without hesitation.  Though she had been unsure before, when she first learned of Rosalind's connection to her husband, she now had no doubt that Sully would both welcome and be grateful to have this link with his mother and his past.

    "I think it's best, however, that I see him alone first, to prepare him," she added.

    "Absolutely, " Rosalind agreed.  "It would be far too much of a shock for him to meet me without any warning.  I have total faith in you to handle this delicate situation in whatever way you think best.  And I shall wait patiently until you feel the time is right for us to meet.  After all, I have hoped and waited for twenty-five years!  Surely I can wait a little longer."
 
    By now, Rosalind's face was white and pinched with exhaustion, and Michaela insisted that she go upstairs to bed after this long and grueling day.  Rosalind offered no protest, and finally retired.  But Michaela, though her body also cried out in exhaustion, didn't think she could quiet the thoughts that continued to chase each other through her mind.  Taking an Indian blanket from the footstool at her feet, she drew it around herself and settled back in her chair.

    But her fatigue triumphed after all.  Within minutes, her tired eyes slipped shut, and she drifted off to sleep.
 
    The next thing she knew, she felt a slight draft, and became aware of a mingled fragrance of wood smoke, leather, and an intoxicating scent that could belong to no one else.  Her eyes flew open to reveal Sully kneeling in front of her.

    "Sully!" she breathed.  He gazed at her, his blue eyes dark with longing, his mouth curved in the special smile he reserved only for her.  Cupping her face in his hands, he drew her to him in a deep, lingering kiss.

    "Surprise," he whispered.