Title: If Thee Has Found Peace… Author: Janie (DISCLAIMER: Catherine Marshall's beautiful story of Christy is owned by the LeSourd Family. We are in no way seeking profit or credit for her story. We are continuing the story of Christy for our own amusement only. Any additions in story line and characters were invented by the writers of the fanfiction.) If Thee Has Found Peace… Part One Christy stared down at the ring nestled in its white satin lined box. She was acutely aware of the sacrifice that David had gone through to purchase it on his meager salary. But the small diamond sparkling in the bright afternoon sun brought her no joy. Behind her she could feel the stares of both David and Dr. MacNeill. Dr. MacNeill was here. He had followed her. How could he follow her like that? There was nothing left to say between them. She bit her lower lip trying to keep unbidden tears from rolling down her cheek. She glanced once more over her right shoulder at the face of the man who had started out as her nemesis and become her best friend. For just an instant she could see her own despair reflected in the doctor’s eyes. Then he ripped his eyes from her. Neil violently kicked Charlie’s flanks and the horse surged forward. Her dream from last night flashed before her –- Neil pulling her up onto the back of his horse and riding away with her –-, but then he roared past her and was gone back down across the field toward the forest. The young girls who crowded around her for a glimpse of the ring pulled Christy back to reality. “Land ‘o Goshen, miz Christy,” Ruby Mae squealed. “That’s the purtiest thang I ever did see!” From somewhere deep inside, Christy pulled up a smile she wanted to be genuine. Then David’s strong arm was around her shoulder. “What do you say, Christy? Shall I send a letter to your parents telling them of our betrothal?” He whispered tenderly into her ear. She looked up into his sweet face. His eyes were shining and there was such a look of love. She looked back across the field to see the doctor and his horse disappear into the trees. Creed Allen tugged her skirts. “Teacher, you cain’t go marryin’ up with the preacher. I’d be sore put out. You got to marry up with me,” the sweet imp begged. “Why Creed Allen, I am flattered,” Christy gently answered the child as she stoked his shaggy head with her free hand. She pulled the child tight against her. Christy looked back up at David and made a silent prayer to God for strength. “But Reverend Grantland has asked me first. Don’t think that he deserves an answer?” she said quietly. “I do,” David said leaning closer in toward her. His hand squeezed her shoulder gently. She closed the ring box and slipped it back into David’s other hand. “Now, however, is the time for Mr. William Shakespeare and a Midsummer Night’s Dream. That is if Reverend Grantland has finished your arithmetic lessons for the day?” “The school is all yours, Miss Huddleston.” David answered. “Then everyone back into your seats!” Christy urged. “Shoo!” She pulled away from David’s safe shoulder and herded the hoard of dirty faces toward the school steps. She hoped that she looked more self-composed than she felt. “Christy,” David called to her. She turned back to him. “I love you,” he said. Then with a huge grin, he spun on his heels and headed across the field not waiting for a reply. For a moment, Christy watched him jauntily prance away; then she turned back toward her children. She straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin and followed her children inside. Part Two Christy closed her portfolio and glanced up. The sun was starting to set, and she still sat at her desk at the school! She had been so immersed in making her lesson plans for the next day that she had not realized how late it had gotten. The time had just slipped away. But it had felt good. All day long she had been unable to concentrate on anything but her answer to David’s question. It was a welcome diversion to finally become wrapped up in tomorrow’s plans. But now the time to give David an answer was almost here and she still didn’t know what to say to him. She rested her chin on her hands, her elbows ungracefully propping her up, and closed her eyes. After a moment, she pulled herself together. She crammed her papers into her portfolio. “I can’t believe that I went charging down to Doctor MacNeill’s like I did,” she thought shaking her head. “What did I think I was going to do there? I definitely do not have romantic notions toward him!” she tried to convince herself. Then rushing up the hill… Oh, God, what did David think was going on? – and Margaret. Worse yet, what did Neil think?” She stuffed her notes into her portfolio. She thought about her conversation with Fairlight. She had told Fairlight that David was the one to make her laugh; that David was the one she looked to in a pinch. She had not lied. She owed so much to David Grantland. He had been her rock ever since she had come to Cutter Gap. She tried to imagine her and David’s wedding, but the image would not come. “Why can’t I picture our wedding?” she whispered louder than she realized. “Miss Huddleston, do you speak to God, or to thyself?” Christy looked up to see Miss Alice standing at the door. “Oh, Miss Alice,” Christy stammered as she rose from her chair. “I’m sorry. And, to answer your question, I was speaking to myself.” “Then I should not disturb thy conversation.” Alice said. “But, there is something that thee should know, Miss Huddleston.” Alice paused for a moment. She seemed to search Christy’s face before she continued. “I wanted thee to know that Neil and Margaret are leaving Cutter Gap tomorrow morning on the early train. Neil feels, and I agree, that if he is to resolve issues with his wife, it would best be done away from me – and Cutter Gap.” She walked down the aisle to meet Christy. “Oh, Miss Alice, I’m sorry,” Christy whispered as she rose to meet her friend. “ I had hoped that you would finally have time to work things out.” She pulled Alice into her embrace. Alice returned the hug and pushed Christy away to look into her face. “There will be no reconciliation between Margaret and me this time, Christy,” Alice answered. “I have not helped her by acquiescing to her whims all of these years. I only hope that she does no more damage to Neil than has been done already. He puts on quite a front, but thee knows as well as I that he is a tender man. Margaret has given him more pain than a man should have to bear. I worry that she will break him.” “Perhaps he will find strength in God, Miss Alice.” Christy answered. “I wish that would be true, Christy.” Alice countered. “But Margaret, and all of the pain, and all of the suffering he has seen as a doctor in these mountains has buried his faith – perhaps too deep for it to become rediscovered.” “Perhaps,” Christy answered. “But there is more God in him than anyone I have ever known,” she continued. “What he does…” her voice trailed off. “What will we do now, Miss Alice? We need him here,” Christy asked as the implications for the cove dawned on her. “Neil assures me that he will find someone to take his place as soon as possible. Until that time, Dan will help us in our time of need.” Alice answered. Alice posed her hands in front of her mouth in that position she often took that was so reminiscent of prayer. She appeared to study Christy for a moment. “But enough of my troubles, Miss Huddleston. I understand that David has given thee an ultimatum.” Christy walked to the door of the school and looked out across the meadow to the tall oaks beyond. The sky was turning into fire with the reddening of the setting sun. It illuminated the meadow with its soft glow. Behind her, Alice waited patiently while Christy gathered her thoughts. “David is a good man. We share a common background, and the same love of God. A woman would be lucky to be his wife. He is kind, understanding, and hard working. My parents love him, already.” “I am not the one who needs to be convinced, Miss Huddleston.” Alice answered quietly. Suddenly Christy’s tears began to flow. Alice turned her from the door and wrapped her in her arms as Christy’s tears turned into heartbreaking sobs. Can you help me, Miss Alice?” Christy finally asked sniffling. “I cannot help thee know thy mind, Christy. But if a doubt of thy love for David remains, thee owe it to thyself and to David to wait. You have seen at least one marriage that was too quickly undertaken. And, I would caution thee to be certain whose will guides thy choice – God’s or David’s.” she paused and stroked Christy’s hair. They stood silently for a few moments, then Alice answered. “But, perhaps there is someone here who could council thee – one who understands thy confusion.” Christy looked up into Alice’s face to see the woman looking at the door. “I will wait outside for thee to compose thyself. When you are ready, we will walk back to the mission together.” Christy turned toward the door as Alice brushed past her. Neil stood waiting. He stood there for the longest time just looking at her. Christy started to shake. Why was he here? Suddenly, she couldn’t take his stare any longer. She turned and ran up the aisle toward the security of her desk. He caught her halfway there and spun her around into his arms. She buried her face into his shoulder. He smelled like horse and tobacco and clean lye soap. She could think of nothing to say because there were no words that could pass between them. “Forgive me, Christy. Forgive me for letting you get hurt.” he whispered after a time. “And, forgive David for pushing you. I really believe that he loves you.” He lifted a stray strand of hair off her face. “Let your God lead your path.” He held her for a while longer with his chin resting on the top of her head and stroked her hair with his steady hand. At last he broke their embrace. “Marry the preacher, Christy.” he told her gently. “He’ll be good to you. He’ll take you away from here, build you a fine house and give you beautiful children. He’ll dote on you… and be home every night without fail.” The pain in his face betrayed his words as he spoke, and Christy knew that her face mirrored his. Then he pushed her away and walked out of her life. Part Three Christy and Alice walked back to the mission in silence. Each was comfortable that the other did not need to fill the quiet of the night with empty chatter. David was waiting on the mission porch when they arrived. Alice stepped in front of Christy and faced David. She leaned up and whispered something in his ear that Christy could not hear. David nodded a silent response, keeping his eyes on Christy. Then Alice swept past him into the mission, closing the door behind her. Christy and David were alone. “I was worried. It is getting dark. I was going to come get you, but Alice said she wanted to speak with you.” He cooed as he stoked her cheek with his palm. His touch was gentle and soothing. But, Christy trembled beneath his touch. “Marry the preacher,” Neil had said. “Christy?” David prodded her again. Christy looked deeply into David’s eyes. Suddenly he pulled her against him and buried her mouth with his. “Oh, Christy,” his words came out in a harsh rush as he pulled his lips from hers. “I dream of holding you close against me – of you and I, married, close, like this. Say yes Christy.” Her lips felt bruised. She pushed against him to break free of his embrace. “No!” she cried out. “I’m sorry,” she added, her voice barely above a whisper. “Christy, no…” David started, but she laid her finger across his lips stilling his voice. “Oh David,” she whispered gently. “If you really loved me you would not put a conditions on my heart.” She broke free, pushed past him, ran and into the night. She ran for the comfort of her school. She heard David calling after her, but she kept running. She did not see the men until they were on her. One filthy hand clamped down over her mouth stifling her scream, another pinned her against a man’s hard body. “She the one?” the man who held her asked. “She was the one we saw with the Doc yesterday. Gotta be the one,” the other man answered. Christy struggled against the frightening embrace. Then she saw the fist. She didn’t feel the pain, only the impact – then a strange drifting into nothing. David lost sight of her in the encroaching dark. He knew by the path she took that she was heading for the school. “Christy,” he called out. But there was no answer. He reached the school, but the building was empty. He found her portfolio spilled on the ground near the steps. Papers were blowing in the breeze. “Christy,” he called out again less hopeful, but the night had swallowed her. He searched until his hope began to fail. Finally, he quit and ran back to the mission. David slammed his shoulder against the door of the mission almost breaking the hinges. “Ruby Mae!” he yelled, as he barged in. “Run for Jeb Spencer and some of the other boys. I can’t find Christy.” “Easy David, take a breath! What happened.” Alice asked anxiously. David, visibly shaken and breathless answered. “She ran off. I followed her, but it is so dark outside, I lost her. She was headed to the church. When I got their, I found this.” He waved Christy’s portfolio in front of him. “She would never have willingly left it behind. There is just no sign of her. She has disappeared! And, it’s all my fault, Alice.” Alice took over. “Ruby Mae, take that lantern and run to the Spencer’s. Get Jeb, and send John to the O’Teals’ and the Holts. Send someone after Neil. Tell them all to meet us at the church!” Part Four As Christy regained consciousness she realized that something was not right. She shouldn’t be outside. She shouldn’t be lying on the ground. It was dark, and she was cold. Her body felt leaden, and her head was on fire. An unkempt dark-haired man knelt by a small fire. He was feeding twigs into the pitiful blaze. His hands were grubby and his clothes were torn. “Well now, its about time you came around,” another man said from her other side. “I was beginning to think that Joey may have sent you on an early path to your grave.” He stepped out of the shadows and into the fire’s meager light. Christy could see that he was better dressed – almost a dandy compared to the first man. He kneeled beside her and stroked her hair out of her face. Christy shuddered from his touch. Over his shoulder she could see the faint lightening of the sky. Morning was coming. She had been out of the mission all night! Surely someone was looking for her by now. “I have been sent to collect a debt owed to Alexander Crompton,” the dandy said, still stroking her hair. “Funny, though. You don’t dress like a showgirl, Mrs. MacNeill.” She tried to speak, to ask him who he was, to tell him that she was not Margaret, but the fog in her head was too thick. “Let’s see if we can help you find a way to pay your debts.” he hissed. Christy put her hands in front of her to hold the man away, but he grabbed both of her wrists in one vise-like claw and jerked her to her feet. Her breath exploded from her as his knee slammed into her stomach. Then she felt herself falling and rolling. Her head slammed against something sharp. Cold water began to seep into her clothes. She had was in the creek! She heard the men laughing from the bank above her. Slowly their voices began to recede into the distance. They were leaving her here! She struggled to push herself out of the cold shallow water. Her skirt was like an anchor that kept pulling her with the swift current. Just when she thought she could not fight any longer, a strong hand reached out and grabbed hers. She let herself be pulled to the bank and into the arms of Bird’s-Eye Taylor. Part Five “I got here as soon as I could,” Dan Scott said as he pushed through the door into the mission, “Where is she?” he asked. “Upstairs Dan, follow me,” Alice answered as she took the young black man’s arm and herded him toward the stairs. “Exactly what happened? Jeb said something about Bird’s Eye,” Dan asked as he and Alice climbed the steps. “We don’t really know, yet. Bird’s Eye Taylor found her down by Cold Gap creek this morning. She’s been badly beaten.” Alice explained. “He brought her here.” They burst into Christy’s room. David knelt crumpled up beside the bed, his hands across Christy’s. Ruby Mae and Fairlight Spencer flanked the stricken woman on either side. Ruby Mae was crying softly. Christy lay still, pale, and unconscious beneath the quilt. There were several large bruises on her face. One eye was swollen. Her lithe arms were black and blue. David’s head jerked up. “Where’s Doc?” he asked with a wild look in his eyes. “El Pano, left early last night.” Ben answered. “You’ll have to make do with me.” The black man leaned over Christy and stroked stray wisps of hair off of her battered forehead. He didn’t like how she looked. Her color was bad, her breathing shallow. “Dear God,” he whispered. “Who would do such a thing to this girl?” “Get out. Everyone but Miss Alice, get out!” Dan barked as opened his bag and went to work. Alice closed the door behind David and moved to Dan’s side. “Thee must know why she ran from David last night. She was in turmoil.” Dan studied Alice’s face, “I’ll warrant that she is not the only one.” No more words were needed between them. “You say Bird’s Eye brought her in?” Dan asked looking inquiringly at Alice. “I have already accused him falsely once, but I have to wonder. Do you think he did this?” “I think not. He and Christy were not on the best of terms, and he can be a brute, I will grant thee, but to abuse her in this manner… I think not, Dan.” They both grew silent as Dan exposed Christy’s abdomen. Alice drew in her breath sharply. “Oh, Dan,” she whispered in despair. Christy’s stomach was swollen and black. Dan gently pressed his fingertips into the discolored flesh. “She has some internal injuries, Alice. I think she needs surgery. Has anyone gone to El Pano for Doc MacNeill?” Dan said gravely, as he stoked his soothing hand over the large bruise. “No,” Alice quietly answered. “I thought that Christy had gone off to think. And, Neil and Margaret needed time. I was selfish. I never expected this. I pray that God will forgive me.” She gently took Christy’s hand. “Then we have to send someone for him now.” Dan answered. Alice looked out the window at the rising sun. “We’ll never catch that train, Dan.” “We have to try.” he answered softly. Alice looked deeply into the young man’s black eyes for a moment, then rushed from the room. “Dear God, let that train be late,” Dan prayed to himself as he stroked Christy’s cheek. Part Six The sun was just coming up over the mountains bathing the spring morning in its glow. As they stood on the train platform, Neil impatiently checked his pocket watch for the third time. He could hear the train’s whistle in the distance. He was tired. In a blind flight, he had brought Margaret down the mountain last night after leaving Christy. They had slept at Mrs. Tatum’s. Margaret was given a room. Neil slept in the barn – if you could call it sleep. The memory of Christy in his arms, at last, kept him awake and in turmoil. He couldn’t get over the fact that he had accused Grantland of hurting Christy, but he had delivered her the greatest hurt of all. “Where is your God in all of this, Christy?” he had whispered to the night air. Alice was right. He had run to her when he saw Christy holding Grantland’s ring. One look into her kind eyes and he had collapsed like a child. She held him and rocked him, like the mother she had become over the years. “Thee must find a way to work out thy hurt, Neil,” she advised. “Christy can not do that for thee.” she added gently. “You are a married man and must face that. Thee must decide to put Margaret away from thee forever, or to keep her and love her. But, to base thy decision on thy feelings for Christy will destroy Christy, because it will be a shame that she will be unable to bear. And, that thee will be unable to bear,” she added. “Once thee loved Margaret. Take time, see if a grain remains. If it does not, then, and only then, can you become truly free.” She was right. Grantland was right. He had to let Christy go. Telling her to marry Grantland was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. Margaret leaned against him half asleep. She had her arms wrapped around his left arm, her head against his shoulder. He looked down at her soft dark curls. He wanted to find Alice’s “grain”, but there was nothing. He wanted to feel alive, but he felt nothing. At the sound of a horse thundering down the road behind them, he spun around, a hopeful look on his face. But it was a customer arriving at the General Store. Margaret, dislodged from her comfortable nest, tugged on his arm. “She won’t come, Mac. She is too much starch and propriety to chase after a married man.” Margaret said gently looking up into his face. “It’s no difference to me what Miss Huddleston will or will not do, Margaret.” He answered impatiently, knowing full well that he was lying through his teeth. The train whistled again as it rolled up to the platform. Neil detached his arm from Margaret’s grasp. Beside him on the platform sat his medical bag, a small satchel of his clothes, and Margaret’s attaché case. He lifted up his medical bag and draped the long strap over his shoulder. He took up his satchel, then Margaret’s attaché as the train pulled up to the stop. It took all of his strength to not look back over the hills toward Cutter Gap. But, he knew that looking back would serve him no purpose. He might return again someday, but not until he got his life in order, not until he had found a way to forget. He stepped onto the train behind his wife. The whistle screamed, the train lurched forward and Doctor Neil MacNeill left Cutter Gap. The brown stallion pounded into El Pano just as the train disappeared around the first bend. Jeb Spencer pulled hard on the reins. His horse lifted his front legs to paw the air. Jeb just managed to hang on until the spirited horse finished his dance. The man momentarily watched the black smoke rise up above the hills as the train sped away. “Damnation!” he shouted. With a jerk, he spun the horse around and rushed back the way he had come. Neil settled into his seat and rested his head against the train’s window. He closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing but the sounds of the train. But, the words came. He tried to shut them out like he had always been able to do before. This time, the words would not be denied. At last, he opened his heart to them. “I love you, Christy, ” he whispered under his breath to the window. Christy dreamed. She was standing in the river. The sunlight reflected off the wet rocks and danced on the foam. There was a swish and a thin line flashed out and settled gently on top of the water. She followed the line up first to the rod, then to the handsome man holding it. He smiled without looking at her. “I love you, Christy,” Neil whispered. Part Seven The sound of Jeb’s horse returning to the mission sent Alice flying to the door. But, Jeb was alone. He shook his head. “I rode as hard as I could, Miss Alice, but twarn’t no use. That train ‘uz well gone by the I got there." Her feet were leaden as she climbed the steps to Christy’s room. She pushed open the door to see David’s hopeful face. She walked to him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. She looked at Dan. “Can you do the surgery?” she asked. Panic welled up in Dan’s face. “A dislocated shoulder, or a fractured bone, maybe even a fever, Alice, but this… I can’t.” “Thee must try and trust to God,” Alice implored as she moved closer to the young medical apprentice. “No,” Dan stated firmly. “If she has a damaged spleen or kidney I would kill her. I don’t know how to do it,” he said, enunciating his words. The sound of David’s fist flying against the wall made them all jump. “Can she travel?” Alice asked as she moved back to David’s side. “She has to, doesn’t she?” Ben answered. It took the better part of an hour to get Christy and the old mission wagon ready. They hauled one of the mattresses out of the mission and laid it in the wagon for Christy. They would take her to El Pano to wait for the next train. Dan and David carefully laid Christy onto the mattress. Jeb hitched up Doc MacNeill’s horse to the wagon. David didn’t trust old Theo the mule for the trip. The Doc’s horse was stronger and sturdier than Prince, although not as fast. Besides, Charlie had pulled wagons in the past when emergencies arose. Jeb climbed up onto the seat to drive the rig. Dan and John Spencer were in the wagon with Christy. David rode Prince in case something happened to Charlie. He did not want to waste the time going back for another horse. “I will pray for thee to reach thy destination in time, David,” Alice said as she took his large hand into hers. The route they took was longer and less steep than the usual trail. It had once been a wagon road, but over the years, had fallen into disrepair. Jeb, John, and David had to cut out brush and trees all along the way. David worked like a madman, all the while knowing that, with the delays, they had missed the afternoon train. Throughout the trip, Christy wavered between deep unconsciousness and near waking. Every jolt over a stump that made her cry out in pain made David’s heart wail in unison. Dan kept towels soaked in cold, mountain water draped across Christy’s swollen abdomen. They reached El Pano at dusk. Mrs. Tatum swept them under her wing. Not wanting to move Christy anymore, they rolled the wagon into the barn to spend the night and wait for another train. Two other men were sharing their berth. One of the men, a flatlander from the looks of him stood up and ambled over to the wagon where Christy lay unconscious. He looked down at her, then wandered back over to the barn door where David stood staring into the night. “What happened to her?” he asked David. “Miss Huddleston was beaten. We’re taking her to a doctor in Asheville,” David answered solemnly. “Miss Huddleston?” the stranger queried. “Christy Huddleston, the school teacher from the mission at Cutter Gap,” David snapped. “I thought you had a doc in these parts… MacNeill, I heard.” The man casually. “He and his wife have left Cutter Gap.” David answered. “Where’d they go?” the man asked. “I wish I knew,” David quipped and walked back to Christy. David didn’t see the strange look that passed between the man and his partner. The next morning they caught the train for Asheville. David, with careful instructions from Dan on Christy’s care, rode with her. Dan, Jeb, and John returned to Cutter Gap. William and Julia Huddleston, notified by telephone by Miss Alice, were waiting at the train depot with an ambulance when they arrived in Asheville. Part Eight Christy ran through the fog. The trail, blanketed with rocks and weeds materialized just within her range of vision. She could almost make out the shape of the trees that cocooned the path. They were like ghosts that reached out their wispy arms to entangle her. In the distance she could hear voices calling to her, but the heavy mountain mist disguised their true direction. She stumbled, tripping over her heavy skirts, and landed face down on the path. It would be so easy to lay here, she thought, but the voices kept calling from all around her. She got up to follow the voices, but the path separated into two. She did not know which way was the right path. A man’s hand reached out from the trees in the mist. She shrank back from it. He stepped out of the mist. William Huddleston shook his daughter’s shoulder gently. “Christy, Christy.” He called out to her. She began to pull out of the anesthesia. “Christy can you hear me? Christy screamed and jerked her eyes open. “NO! Let me go!” “Christy, It’s alright. It’s your father.” “Father?” Christy mumbled through the fog in her head. William gently stroked her head. “Christy, you’ve been hurt, but you are going to be fine, do you hear me?” “Margaret, Margaret,” She mumbled, her eyes still closed. “You have to tell Neil. He’ll know what to do.” “Don’t try to talk, baby.” Christy’s father whispered as he tried to still her thrashing. “No, Margaret MacNeill is in danger. They were after her. You have to tell Doctor MacNeill.” She whispered before floating back into the mist of anesthesia. Part Nine David sat in the chair beside Christy’s bed. His hand lay gently on her head as she slept. Softly, he stroked her forehead with his thumb. Christy stirred, then opened her eyes. “David,” she whispered. “You’re finally awake,” he said cheerily. “I had begun to think I had a Rumpelstiltskin on my hands. Are you in pain?” Christy stretched as far as the pain in her abdomen would allow. Her head pounded. “I hurt,” she winced. “You had a ruptured diaphragm, Christy. The doctors here were able to repair it, but you need a lot of rest and quiet. You also have one beaut of a shiner.” Instinctively, she lifted her hand to cover her aching eye. “How long have I been here?” she asked. “Three and a half days,” David answered as he pulled her hand back down. “Look, Christy,” he continued. “I’m really sorry about all of this.” “You have nothing to be sorry about, David. It was beyond all of our control,” she consoled. “I do,” he answered. “I am the one who sent you out there! It’s all my fault.” Christy laid her hand on David’s. “The men who attacked me are at fault, David.” she consoled him. “They were not after me. They were after Margaret MacNeill. Neil must be told. She is in danger if they find out that had the wrong woman.” “The MacNeill’s are gone, Christy. We don’t know where.” David answered gently. Christy turned her head away from David. The knowledge that Neil had truly left was almost too much to bear. She whispered, “I have to find them. They have been through so much. Margaret doesn’t deserve this. Neil doesn’t deserve this.” She turned back to look at David. “Please find them, David. Don’t let this happen to Mrs. MacNeill.” The pain in Christy voice and the look on her face hit David to his soul. “I will, Christy. I promise.” “Do you think that you can get me a drawing pad and pencil?” she asked him. “I can draw a picture of the men – so Doctor MacNeill will know.” “Of course,” David whispered concentrating on his hands. “David, if you find Neil, don’t tell him everything. Don’t tell him that those men hurt me. Please.” Christy pleaded. “Are you sure?” David gently asked. “Yes,” she whispered. David smiled at her lamely. “Your wish is my command. Now close your eyes and rest.” Christy wanted the chance to escape for a while longer, so she did as David asked and closed her eyes to sleep. Just at that moment there was a soft knock and her door opened. Julia Huddleston swept into the room, her arms full of packages. “Oh, good, you are awake. The doctors thought we should see some improvement today. Hello David, how is our patient?” “Better Mrs. Huddleston. But, if you would excuse me, Christy has sent me on an errand.” David asked. “Of course.” the woman replied turning her attention to her daughter. “I took the liberty of purchasing you some decent gowns to wear while you are here, my darling.” Julia bubbled as she began to unwrap the packages. David took the opportunity to slip out of the room. Part Ten Christy worked on the renditions of the two men who had abducted her from the mission. The drawings brought back all of the painful memories from that frightening night, but she knew that they had to be done. It took her two days to get them right. All the while, she continued to mend. David was her nearly constant companion, but she was painfully aware of a new sadness in him. She knew that she was the cause. It broke her heart to see him so dispirited. One evening, when he stopped by with a sweet treat from the bakery she tried to draw out his thoughts. “David? Tell me what you are thinking.” she gently prodded. David took a deep breath. He raised his hand and massaged his temple then looked deeply into her eyes. “I can’t pray, Christy” he began. “I have tried, but it doesn’t come.” Christy reached out for his hand. “Oh David, you have been under such a strain. My refusal, the hospital, it will come back to you. Your faith is strong.” “NO,” he almost shouted at her. He stood up and paced across the room. “That isn’t it. It started before, on the afternoon before you turned me down; when I went to see...” he paused and took a deep breath. “Christy, you were right. I don’t really love you the way I should. I wanted you because you represented all that I left behind. I wanted you because I wanted a woman in my life. And I wanted you because…” he stumbled across his words and turned to stare out of the window. “I wanted the people of Cutter Gap to think that I was the most important person to ever cross their paths. It hurt my pride when I saw that could never be. The Doc… The Doc and Miss Alice were the ones they turned to, and it galled me. Then you came along. Everyone fell in love with you, so I had to – don’t you see?” He buried his face in his hands. “It was pride, Christy. It was MY pride.” “No, David,” she consoled. “You have done so much for the people in the Cove. They know that, they respect you for it.” “Everything I did in Cutter Gap I did for myself. Just look at my resume! I single-handedly built a church and a school. But, they’re just buildings, Christy. What the people respected was my skill as a carpenter, not as a preacher.” He turned to face her. “I have decided that I am not going back to Cutter Gap. When you are on your feet, I am going home. I need to rethink my future, Christy.” Christy stared at the handsome young man in dismay. She could think of nothing to help him regain his faith. “Then I will pray for you, David,” she finally answered. He gently squeezed her hand and smiled. “Have you found the MacNeill’s?” she asked after a moment. “Not yet. Your father has detectives searching in all of the major cities around. If they can be found, he will find them. Have you finished the pictures? The newspaper promised me they would make lithographs so that I can send copies to Alice and Neil. The sheriff wants a copy as well.” he answered. She handed him her drawings and he rose to leave. David leaned over her and kissed her bruised forehead. “Forgive me, Christy. I ruined everything.” She reached out and pulled his hand against her cheek. “You have ruined nothing, David. You must forgive yourself.” “Not now, Christy. Not yet.” David turned and left. Part Eleven Christy was moved to her parent’s home to finish her recovery two full weeks after her attack. Her face held just a touch of dark blue bruising. Her eye was no longer swollen, but her stomach still hurt and the stitches pulled. She was also very worried about Neil and Margaret. On her dresser lay the envelope for Neil, with the pictures of her assailants. David had gotten the copies made and placed them, carefully folded, in the envelope. So far, her father’s associates had not been able to track down the couple. She picked up some paper and a pen, and her drawing board from the table beside her bed. It was up to her to write the letter to the MacNeills. “Dear Neil,” she began to write. She shook her head and wadded up the paper. There was so much that she wanted to say to Doctor MacNeill. She missed the long conversations that they had – even the squabbles! Her better judgement prevailed. Neil and Margaret’s relationship was too fragile to succumb to the childish dreams of a young girl. She started again. Dear Doctor and Mrs. MacNeill, I have had an encounter with two men who claim to be looking for Mrs. MacNeill. Their conversation, and their manner, lead me to believe that, should they find you, Margaret, you will be in grave peril. I have made these drawings so that, should you meet them, you will know them. I know, Dr. MacNeill, that you will do everything in your power to keep Mrs. MacNeill safe from harm. Please know, Doctor, that we will miss your advice and skill in Cutter Gap. Sincerely, Miss Christy Rudd Huddleston Christy slipped the letter into the envelope along with the pictures and prayed that her father and David would find a way to deliver them in time. That evening, as David sat by Christy’s bed watching her sleep, he picked up the envelope to look at the pictures one more time. As he pulled the folded pictures out, Christy’s note dropped in his lap. He glanced at Christy to see if she was still sleeping, then opened the letter. When he had finished reading the note, he picked up Christy’s pen and wrote something on the bottom of the letter. Then he returned the letter and pictures to the envelope and sealed them. William Huddleston located the MacNeill’s during the third week and the packet was mailed. The MacNeill’s were together at a hotel in Atlanta. Christy held the note with Neil’s address close to her heart and stared out the window knowing she would never use the address again. She prayed for their happiness – and her own. Part Twelve Neil furiously scrubbed the gore from his hands and arms. The mortality rate was appalling in the poorhouse. He took down the scrub brush and worked it madly across his blood-encrusted fingernails and cuticles. He thought life was hard in Cutter Gap. But, at least in the cove, there were fat coney’s to trap in wooden boxes, and creasy greens for boiling that grew wild on the cool mountain slopes. Here, for the people in Charleston’s poorhouse, food often came from garbage bins and compost piles. For the people in Cutter Gap, there were corn huskings and barn dances. Children splashed and played in the clear, cold streams that rolled down the mountains. For the poor here, there were dirty streets and disease carrying mosquitoes. Neil straightened and reached for a towel. He certainly was a long way from home, he mused. “Doctor MacNeill?” an elderly woman said as she held out his coat for him. “You will see to the arrangements for Mary’s funeral, Mrs. Gause?” he asked as he pulled the coat over his arm. “It’ll be a pauper’s grave for her for sure, Doctor MacNeill,” the poorhouse matron answered in her Irish lilt. “I’ll be back next Sunday, as usual, Mrs. Gause, if not sooner, if I get the opportunity.” Neil continued. “This time, try to see that the children have at least a little sleep – and feed them more. They need green vegetables and fruit, if you can get it.” “And what will I use to pay for it, Doctor?” the woman asked. “Ye know as well as I how small the state allotment is for this facility.” Neil reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out some money. “Here,” he said counting out some bills to the old woman. “It’s not much, but it should buy some collards, and maybe some oranges.” “You are too good to us, Doctor,” the woman cooed as she slipped the money from his fingertips. Neil stepped out of the gloom of the poorhouse infirmary and into the Charleston autumn air. It was just coming on dusk. The air was cool with a salty breeze blowing in from the harbor. He breathed deeply taking in the thick ocean smell. When he first came here from Atlanta three months ago, he had hated Charleston. And he thought Atlanta was flat! Now, however, the ocean breezes and the parade of tourists in fine carriages was growing on him. He strolled up Market Street and headed for Waterfront Park and the Battery, pondering the turns his life had taken. From Cutter Gap, he and Margaret had taken the train to Atlanta. He rented them separate rooms at an inexpensive hotel, and they spent a week strolling through the shops and gardens of the large city trying to rekindle a flame. Margaret seemed true to her word that she wanted a reconciliation. Neil tried his best to help recapture what they had lost, but he could not bring himself to share his room with her. Neil also searched the hospitals and doctor’s offices for someone to take over his practice. Jim Strong, a young internist, proved to be his answer. Jim was from a small community in Kentucky. And, like Neil, he had grown up dirt poor. Jim worked at the hospital and stayed in a cheap boarding house while he saved enough money to open his own practice. He had come to the work, not for the money, but to accomplish something in his life. Neil was immediately drawn to the young man. Jim was full of fun and mischief. His easy manner and non-judgmental attitudes would suit the people of the cove nicely. Neil could easily envision the younger man happily accepting a slug from an O’Teal’s jug. When he explained the Cutter Gap practice to Jim, the young doctor jumped at the opportunity to step into Neil’s world. He would move, it was decided, into Neil’s house, and slip quietly into the mature doctor’s former life. Neil was hired on at the hospital as Jim’s replacement. Two weeks after leaving Cutter Gap, Neil put Jim on the train for the cove. The fighting started during the fourth week after they left the cove. At first, Margaret mildly pouted at him if he came home from work later than he planned. Then, she started making a point by not being home when he came home. One night he returned to his room late after a particularly bad day. He was dead tired and in need of a bath. Margaret came bouncing into his room without knocking. She waved an expensive champagne bottle and two glasses as she waltzed around the room. She wore very little. She smiled seductively and slipped down beside him where he sat on the bed. His eyes were instinctively drawn to the low neckline of her dressing gown as she slipped her arms around him. Suddenly he realized that he was very hungry, but not for food. The realization was surprising and upsetting. Startled by his response, he pushed her away more roughly than he meant. The bottle slipped from her hands and smashed on the floor. “Damn you, Mac!” Margaret wailed. “I just wanted a little fun. I am your wife after all.” “I’m tired, Margaret. I have been working since 6:00 this morning,” he lashed back. “Work, work, work! The Great Doctor MacNeill,” she countered at him. “Well?” she sneered. “What do you have to show for it besides smelling like death!” She sidled back against him. “I didn’t want to tell you this, Mac since I know you have been pining over your little school teacher.” Margaret paused to gauge his reaction. “I got a letter from Susie. You remember Susie from the teahouse in El Pano? Your schoolteacher and the preacher got married last week. It was quite a to do!” Neil stared at Margaret, dismay showing on his face. “Its too late, Mac. She’s already wedded – and bedded,” she whispered. “You will just have to make do with me.” “I don’t want to just ‘make do’, Margaret.” Neil answered. “When we married, I was the happiest man alive. I want that back. I want joy again.” “Then let me be with you, Neil. Don’t shut me out any longer.” Margaret reached her arms out for him. He heard Alice’s words again, “Find the grain, Neil.” Slowly, he let himself be drawn into her embrace. She pulled him down to her and gently kissed him. Neil opened himself to the kiss. The early sun through the curtains waved across Neil’s face. He reached across the bed for his wife, but the bed was empty. He looked up to see Margaret staring out the window. She was wearing one of his shirts. She looked beautiful in the morning light. Last night he felt as if they had found a grain of love again. “Come back to bed,” he cooed. She smiled and slipped back into the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the soft curve of her neck. “I need five hundred dollars, Mac,” she whispered in his ear. He leaned back and looked at her. “I don’t have that kind of money, Margaret.” “You could take out a loan,” she answered. “With what collateral? My good name?” “Please, Mac? For me?” She reached below the covers to stroke his chest. “Why do you need this money? Who do you owe?” he asked trying to keep his composer. “Oh, just some loans for living expenses. The treatments were so expensive – even with the money you sent me.” Her lips traced a path across his neck. Neil groaned. Completely in her spell, he promised to try. Two weeks later, he bounced back to the hotel after work, a draft for five hundred dollars in his pocket. He had mortgaged the property in Cutter Gap. He was early for a change. He tried to turn the handle on the door to their room, but it was locked. As he fished the key out of his pocket, he thought he heard noises in the room. He turned the key in the lock and opened the door. Margaret stood in the center of the room. She wore a bed sheet wrapped around her – and nothing else. A man was standing behind her hastily buttoning his trousers. Neil pulled the money from his coat pocket and threw it on the floor in front of his wife. “There, payment for services rendered,” he sneered. He turned on his heels and walked out slamming the door behind him. The next day Neil filed for divorce. The deal he struck with Margaret, through his new lawyer, was simple. In addition to the money he had already given her, he promised to buy her a small house in which to live – along with a small monthly allotment. However, to keep her from pulling one of her disappearing acts, she had to pick up the money from the lawyer in person. Neil would retain the deed on the house until the day the divorce became final, and Margaret had signed on the line. It would take a year to be over, but it would take him that longer than that to pay off the house anyway! He left Atlanta for Charleston the fifth week after leaving Cutter Gap. Neil had read in a medical journal at the hospital about the need for a doctor to care for the residents of the Charleston poorhouse. These were his kind of patients, he thought. A week later he received the letter saying that Margaret was dead. His solicitor wrote and said that she had been murdered in her room. There were signs of a struggle. Margaret had been strangled to death with the sash from her dressing robe. There were no witnesses and no suspects. Her effects were awaiting Neil at the lawyer’s office. Neil buried her on a Sunday afternoon. He arranged for the lawyer to send the small trunk of Margaret’s things to Alice. He could not bring himself to open it. His letter to Alice was short and reflected his deep regrets that he had not kept Margaret safe for her. He sent no return address, only the key to the trunk. The next day he returned to Charleston. Neil shut out the memories and breathed deeply of the wind from the harbor. He slept little lately. He worked six days at the Charleston hospital, usually two shifts a day to pay off his massive debts. On Sunday, his day off, he worked without pay at the poorhouse infirmary. The busy schedule seemed to partly assuage the aching need that assaulted his soul – a need that he desperately wanted to fill. Standing that day on the Battery, he suddenly became aware of the evening bells peeling from the Huguenot church downtown. He turned in their direction. “What do you find there, Christy?” he whispered. Without his conscious consent, his feet propelled him toward the sound of the bells. Part Thirteen Christy healed. Before David left, she had been well enough to take short walks in her mother’s flower garden. He was kind and gentle, but detached. One evening, he was especially quiet. “A penny?” Christy whispered to him one month after the attack, as they sat on the stone bench amid the roses. “I was thinking that its time to go. You know that I wrote to my parents? Father has a position that has just come available in the loan department,” David answered. Christy took his hand in hers. “I had hoped you would change your mind and go back to Cutter Gap.” “I want to, I really do. But, I have to work some things out first.” he answered, his eyes serious and intent. “Do I really have a calling, or am I just fulfilling my mother’s fantasies? I need to find out.” Christy looked away. “I have been doing a lot of thinking, too, David.” She looked back at him. “Once, Miss Alice accused me of coming to Cutter Gap to find a husband. Maybe she was right. I was so high minded when I got off of that train in El Pano for the first time. I thought that I could change the world. But, I have realized that the world I wanted to change was not Fairlight and Ruby Mae’s world, but my own. I mean… well… a girl dreams of being swept away by a knight on a charging war-horse. But, there are no knights in Asheville, just businessmen, and farmers, and loggers. I need to learn how to not be the damsel in distress. I need to know how to be Christy Huddleston. Until I do, I’ll never be satisfied with a man made from flesh and bone. That is why I have to go back. I need to finish what I started – I need to finish finding me.” “I guess we have both been selfish in that regard,” he answered. “You wanted a knight, I wanted a princess. I’m sorry that I pressured you so much. If we had the chance to do it over, I would do it all differently.” Christy stared up into the starry night. There was a chill in the air that hinted at the approach of winter. David’s confession made her feel somehow freer. She smiled and breathed deeply. “Snow is coming, I can feel it.” The next morning, David left. All morning Christy wandered from room to room not knowing what to do with herself. David, her rock, was gone. Neil, her best friend, was rebuilding his life somewhere in Atlanta with his wife. Her father had told her that his private detective had seen them strolling happily and hand in hand along the streets of the large town. Neil was working in the local hospital. Margaret was apparently playing the dutiful life of the wife at home. Three lives, at one time so completely entwined, had parted. But, she was healing inside along with her physical wounds – and she was learning to be happy again. “Neil,” she whispered to the walls, “be happy, too.” The letter from Alice came in the mail that same day. “The children wonder when “teacher” will return. So do I. Please come home when you can, Miss Huddleston. I have need of thee.” was all Alice wrote. Against their better judgement, her parents put her on the train for Cutter Gap three weeks later. Part Fourteen Neil sat in the booth at the café listening to the happy chatter around him. His friends were off on a new tangent. He took another sip of his beer. “No, listen…” Gabrielle rushed into the conversation in her usual way. “If there is a God, he has to be from outer space. Really, he has to be an alien. The definition of God PRECLUDES any other conclusion!” “Get REAL, Gabby!” Bill Tyler interjected. “Sometime in your life, you have to stand on faith alone. You used to, I know, you were reared Catholic!” Neil let the discussion fade into the general din of the café. Gabrielle Lonclerke was, in many ways, just like Margaret. Her role in life, it seemed, was to shock. He wished he could find a way to warn his friend Bill. Bill Tyler had taken one look at the sophisticated and carefree Gabrielle and become immediately smitten. But then again, maybe it would work for Bill. After all, he was from an exciting town and planned to stay in exciting towns, not in some remote corner of Appalachia. And he had plenty of money to keep Gabrielle in fine style! Life had taken some unexpected turns for Neil in the last few months. First, he had hooked up with Bill. They had met at the poorhouse. Bill Tyler, a lawyer by trade, had come searching for one of the residents about a will and the possibility of financial windfall. Neil had been working there that day. There was an instant attraction between the carefree Charleston society son and the poor country doctor from Appalachia. In the evenings, Bill literally drug Neil out of his small dark room and into Charleston’s nightlife. With Bill, there was always an entourage of the elite, eligible, and somewhat socially scandalous members of the Charleston ton. Whether he wanted one or not, Neil almost always had a date. Then there was the Reverend MacAlpine. Will MacAlpine was a Presbyterian minister that he had met that day he had wandered, completely forlorn, into the Huguenot church in downtown Charleston. Neil had slipped into the last pew, hoping to not be noticed by the church’s patrons. He tried to concentrate on the sermon, to see if he could reconcile Christy and Alice’s faith with what the preacher was saying. But, he admitted to himself, he was totally out of his element. As the services ended, he had risen to go, but the man sitting next to him gently took him by the arm. “Are you a regular here?” the stately white-haired man had asked him. Neil politely tried to shake him off, “No, just a visitor.” “Indeed? So am I. My church is Trinity Presbyterian. I just like to see how the other guys do it occasionally. I am a minister myself, but it is always handy to pick up new tricks. I asked if you were a regular because I wanted to know how the number of people here tonight compared with the number who attend regular Sunday services.” Neil turned to leave, “I wouldn’t know,” he answered. Neil wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but he had ended up at Reverend MacAlpine’s home that evening being served a scrumptious dinner of roast chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, and apple cobbler. That dinner became a regular tradition on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons after work. After dinner, he would question the reverend at great lengths about his faith. Slowly, Neil was beginning to understand some of what Christy believed. So many times in the past, he had felt so alone. Not necessarily lonely, but alone. Christy and Reverend MacAlpine’s God was always present. They were never alone. Somewhere deep inside, he began to want that presence, that spiritual companion – but he still did not know how to ask for it. Maybe someday, he thought. He knew now that he was on a quest to find out what he really believed, and how Doctor MacNeill fit into the grand scheme of things. Margaret’s death had paved the way for his return to Cutter Gap, but he was not ready, yet. As the months passed, he began to loosen up. He dropped some of his work load at the hospital, and let Bill pull him into Charleston society. He began to date without Bill’s machinations. He began to smile. Part Fifteen Christy drew in a deep breath of the cold mountain air. She was home, at least that was how it felt as she watched the sun break over the mountains that rimmed Cutter Gap. She bundled the quilt tighter around her arms and smiled. Christmas was coming and excitement was in the air. Miss Alice and the children had welcomed her with open arms when the wagon her father hired for her pulled up to the mission seven months ago. The road that David, Jeb, and John had “built” during her rescue was certainly coming in handy! It had been quite a struggle to get her parents to agree to let her return to Cutter Gap, but as before, she had prevailed and won. It took even longer to quell the fear that she first felt when she walked up the path alone for the first time from the mission to the school. Now, her wounds were almost a distant memory. And, the wounds in her heart were healing as well. David wrote last week. He was working at his father’s bank as a junior loan officer. But on the weekends, and many evenings, he passed the time in contemplation and conversation at the seminary. He was desperately trying to work out how he felt about God’s mission, and his role in that mission. He had also met a young woman named Elizabeth Anderson. He promised Christy that he would take it slow and let God take the lead in the relationship. There had been no word from Neil. Alice had told her about the horrible day Margaret’s trunk had arrived, and of Neil’s letter explaining her death. That was why she had written asking Christy to came “home.” The Quaker had needed a friend. Christy took some of the workload off of Alice, and provided a handy shoulder when needed. Still, for a time, Alice sank into a deep despair that Christy feared would swallow her whole. But the older woman’s faith proved to be greater than tragedy. Now, as Christmas approached and the mountain air turned to ice, Alice seemed to be returning to her old self. “Well, you are certainly an early riser, Christy.” Christy spun around startled from her reverie by the jovial voice. “And you, Doctor Strong, stay up too late,” she answered as she took in the disheveled appearance of Neil’s replacement. “My lot in life, I guess,” he said as he hurriedly tried to smooth down his wrinkled shirt. “How are you feeling these days. Any residual pains?” “None, doctor. I am as healthy as Charlie.” She reached forward and stroked the brown horse’s nose. “He likes you.” Jim Strong noticed. Doctor Strong certainly is different from Neil, Christy mused. Where Neil was often brooding, Jim was a clown. Jim was tall and very slender, built very much like David. His blonde hair was cut close to his scalp – so unlike Doctor MacNeill’s disheveled aura. The young doctor dismounted. “May I walk you back to the mission, Christy?” “I AM getting cold,” she replied. They walked silently up the hill for a small distance before Jim spoke again. “You know, Christy, there is a dance next week.” “Yes, I am quite aware of that, doctor. It is the school Christmas dance, and I am in charge of it.” She smirked. “Oh, well, I forgot.” He sheepishly grinned at her. “Would you go with me?” S he stopped and looked into his handsome face. She thought “A girl could fall in love with him if she weren’t careful.” A voice, buried for long months swelled in her. “It’s all in the dance, Miss Huddleston.” The voice said in a lilting Scottish brogue. Suddenly, Christy knew something wonderful was going to happen. Christy’s heart leaped for joy and she turned to look out across the hills, still blue from the morning haze as if the voice had been real. She turned and smiled at the country doctor in front of her. “I would love to have you escort me, Doctor Strong, but I am saving all of my dances.” Then, to his surprise and for no reason but the happiness in her heart, she dropped the quilt from her shoulders and began to run up the mountainside toward the school that David had built. Dimly, she was aware of Jim’s voice calling out behind her, but she kept running. Once, she stopped and, laughing, turned two cartwheels in the brown grass. Alice watched her from a distance, her hands on her hips and a growing smile on her face. “Welcome home, Miss Huddleston.” She laughed too. Part Sixteen Alice turned from Christy and her admirer and walked back into the mission and to her room. It was time, she thought. She kneeled down in front of the wood trunk that had brought her so much sadness – Margaret’s trunk. Since it had arrived, Alice had been unable to open it. The memories that the trunk contained had threatened to deepen her sadness at her daughter’s death. Finally, it was time. On top of the trunk lay the letter from Neil. She opened the envelope and retrieved the key to the trunk’s lock. As she lifted the lid, Margaret’s smell rose around her. On top, lay the shawl that Margaret had worn that last night when they had argued in the church. Alice pulled the shawl to her cheek. Her hopes and dreams had not been Margaret’s, and that had forever kept them apart. She sorted through the gaily colored dresses wondering what to do with them. Then she found the letter. It was folded up quite small and stashed in Margaret’s purse. She smoothed it out to read the addresses on the front. To her surprise, it was a letter for Neil. It was from Christy. For a moment, she considered giving it back to Christy, but instead, she slipped the letter from the envelope. Inside she found two drawings of hard looking men. They were the originals from which her own copies had been made. They were the faces of Christy’s attackers. She also found the short letter from Christy to Neil and Margaret with her warning. Then her eyes fell on the note that had been added to the end of the letter. “Doc, the answer was no. – David Grantland.” “Oh Margaret,” she whispered as the ramifications of the undelivered letter hit her. “Thee kept this from Neil because of thy vanity and it has brought thee thy death.” Alice rose and went to her desk. She began to write. She wrote to every hospital in Columbia, Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Greenville, Knoxville, and Nashville. “Dr. Neil MacNeill,” she addressed every letter. Part Seventeen “Doctor MacNeill, a letter for you,” the young nurse called out to Neil as he closed the door to his patient’s room near the nurse’s station. He wrinkled his brow in curiosity as his reached out for the letter. Who would send him a post here? He took the envelope and turned it over to the front. It was from Alice. How had she found him? He tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter written on Alice’s stationary. Alice wrote, I beg you, if thee has not found peace, stay away and find joy. But remember always that I love thee as my son, and always will. But, if thee has healed thy wounds, if thee has found thy peace, if you are ready… please come home. Thy life awaits thee here. Alice’s words haunted him as he finished his rounds. “If thee has found peace… come home,” Alice had written. She was telling him, he surmised, that he had to be over Christy, as well as Margaret, before he returned to Cutter Gap. He had to be strong enough inside to cope with the reality of watching Christy and her preacher as they embarked on life’s greatest dance. That night, in his small room, he sat in the dark. Had he found peace? Had he found joy? He thought of all he had been through. Why? What was God’s purpose? Some many times he had asked that same question of Reverend MacAlpine. He had loved Margaret, and she had turned on him. He had loved Christy – still did, he had to admit – with all his heart. But, she was beyond his reach. He thought about his people in Appalachia. He thought about his family cabin, mortgaged now, but still his. He thought about Fairlight’s smile, and Ruby Mae’s possum pie. He thought about Christy’s eyes. Could he return home and not be, once again, hurt? Suddenly he remembered how he had felt at twenty-five – fresh out of medical school and ready to tackle the world. His calling to practice in Cutter Gap… His calling… He heard the evening bells from the church in the distance. Suddenly he was on his knees. “Dear God,” he whispered, “I have been vain and selfish. I have thought that I was the only one in control of my destiny. I thought that I was alone. You called me. You gave me a purpose. You gave me a skill. Yet at every turn, I have rebelled against what you gave me. Then, when the path looked dark, I blamed you. But now I see that you didn’t put these obstacles in my path, I put them there! The choice to be happy is my choice and I make it now. I give myself into your hands.” A wave of warmth drifted down over him as he finally set his fate to God’s. He cried then, and let God’s love sweep all of the years of pain away from him. He let go of Margaret, and he let go of Christy. He let go of his own self-pity. The next morning, he found himself on the floor where he had fallen asleep. He smiled as he rubbed the stiffness out of his back. Yes, he had found peace, at last. It was time to go home. He pulled his portmanteau out of the closet and began to pack. Part Eighteen Christy checked the barn one more time. Everything was ready for the dance. Pews, borrowed from the church, were lined up against the walls to make space for resting between dancing. Fairlight and Alice had placed flowers, carefully dried from the fall, along with candles and lanterns, everywhere. Bright streamers made from Margaret’s older dresses spanned the rafters. (Margaret would like that, Christy thought; red satin ribbons for a dance!) It was going to be the best party ever in Cutter Gap! Christy hugged herself in delight then danced to the door of the barn. She still could not understand exactly why she was so happy these days! The other week, talking to Jim under the early morning sun, the wave of joy had swept over her like a flood. Was it Jim asking her to dance? Or was it the memory of another dance? “Dear God, let Neil find peace” she prayed. She bounded down the steps, taking two at a time. She scurried out into the light layer of snow on the meadow, a huge smile on her face. It was time to get dressed and ready for her date. Suddenly she noticed Mountie running toward her. “Teacher! Teacher!” the normally quiet girl yelled. “Miz Alice done took a fall in the snow! She be hurt and cain’t walk.” Christy swept down upon the little urchin! “Oh Mountie, where is she? Has someone gone for Dr. Strong?” Christy words rushed out as she reached the child. “She be at the mission, and Ruby Mae run for Dr. Jim ‘but Doc be already with her!” Mountie answered excitedly. “Mountie, I don’t understand, if Ruby Mae went for Dr. Strong how could he already be with her?” Her answer was the hoofbeats coming up from the mission. It was Charlie, his rider low on his back. She watched him for a moment, unsure of what she was seeing. Why wasn’t Jim with Alice? The rider drew up short a distance away and watched her. Then she was running! Her heart raced out across the meadow with her as he spurred the horse and charged in her direction. Suddenly he was there, reaching down his hand. He pulled her up behind him onto the horse. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks as she nestled her head against his strong back, her arms locked around his waist. She smelled the sweet tobacco smoke from his pipe, and the clean scent of lye soap. He tilted his head over his shoulder and spoke to her. “If I didn’t know better, Miss Huddleston, I would say you were glad to see me.” “If I didn’t know better, Doctor MacNeill, I would say you were wearing armor.” She laid her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “Not anymore, Christy. Not any more,” he laughed. Then he spurred the horse into a jubilant run and the wind swept around Christy like a flood of love. The End