Title: The Journey Author: Angela M. DISCLAIMER: The story and characters of Christy are the property of the LeSourd family. This work of fanfiction was written for entertainment only and is not intended to infringe upon those rights. I am seeking no profit or credit from this story. Author's Note: This continues from the novel rather than the television series. THE JOURNEY The first hint of morning light peeked through the drawn curtains much sooner than Christy expected it. The room was barely illuminated, and she found herself disoriented as she tried to figure out where she was. She rolled onto her side, trying to break out of the fogginess of sleep, and remembered. How silly of her! She would have to tell Neil when he awakened. Now she lay by his side, marvelling at his silhouetted figure. She could scarcely believe that this man was her husband. If anyone had told her during her growing-up years that she would one day leave her comfortable life in Asheville to teach school in the "back of beyond," and end up marrying one of the mountain men, she would never have believed it. But marry Neil MacNeill she had, only the previous day. How could she have ever dreamed that they would become man and wife that first snowy day she set foot in the Cove? Her first memory of him at the Spencer cabin, performing life-saving surgery in the midst of squalor, seemed so recent, yet at the same time, as though it had taken place in another lifetime. His initial glimpse of her had brought about an intense questioning stare, which she had taken at the time to signal his disapproval of her presence. That Cutter Gap even had a physician to call its own had been somewhat of a surprise, and that Neil could call its people his own was even more of one. He was such an enigma to her for so long. It seemed every time they met, a lively discussion ensued. Both of them wanted to help the mountain people and had their best interests at heart, yet how often they had disagreed about the means to that end. Being in the Cove had spurred Christy's spiritual growth, and she had sought out God's answers to the problems that plagued the highlanders, while Neil denied that "her God" really cared about humans as individuals. She remembered one conversation in particular. Neil had questioned her regarding her beliefs about Christianity, and when she had been unable to answer him satisfactorily, a feeling of infuriation consumed her as she fled from their discussion. How confusing it had been when she first realized that she felt more toward Neil than friendship, and how wonderful at the same time She could still recall the dizzy, lightheaded feeling she had experienced at Ruby Mae's wedding. The music, the dancing, and Neil's explanantion of the shivaree custom had all joined together to leave her feeling weak-kneed and giddy. That had been the day when she first knew, although it had taken her some time to admit it to herself. The admission of her feelings toward Neil had not come until he had let his feelings for her be known. She had been so very sick with typhoid! Christy knew how close she had come to leaving this life the day she first heard Neil confess his love for her. In fact, she believed that hearing Neil's prayer, asking God to do with them what God would, was the only reason she was still living. As the night sky outside gave way to dawn, Christy snuggled close to Neil. She still felt a bit awkward, being so close to him in bed, but revelled in the fact that they were now married and this was her place. His breathing was deep, and Christy wondered if he were dreaming. His hair looked remarkably similar after a night of sleeping as it did during the day, she thought. She almost let out a chortle over this, but stopped herself just as the laugh was about to escape her throat. She wanted to enjoy watching him sleep just a while longer. *** Warm. Neil seldomly felt too warm when he slept, unless it was summer, but it wasn't. This was late winter, and the early mornings were very cold in these mountains. He opened his eyes, preparing to shove off the covers for a few more minutes of comfortable sleep, when he realized that Christy was curled up against him. He smiled to himself, humored that he had forgotten in his haze of sleep that Christy was in bed with him. Neil remained motionless, not wanting to wake her, even though he felt stifled by the heat her small body emanated. He even wondered if maybe she were running a fever and placed the back of his hand lightly on her forehead. No, he concluded, I'm just not used to having someone next to me in bed. Not since Margaret... He remembered fondly the first time he and Christy had ever spent time alone together, that Sunday afternoon when she had taken an unexpected fall in the creek while fording it on the old mule, Theo. It had been nearly a year ago, but so much had happened in that year. She had been with David that day, accompanying him to a preaching engagement at Lufty Branch, but had stayed behind at his cabin while her wool skirt dried by the fire. He had given her one of Margaret's dresses and some underthings to wear. If he had been taken aback by his first look at her at the Spencer cabin, then seeing her in Margaret's clothing had completely stunned him. She had seemed so young to him at the time; he knew he was well over ten years her senior. That day he had discovered her feistiness, her desire to help the people of the Cove, and he had had to defend himself when she accused him of not doing enough to improve living conditions there. Yet the whole conversation that early spring day had not gone that way. He had tried to explain some basics about Cutter Gap to her - the feuding, the mountain people's reticence toward change - and had shared with her several stories about some of the families that lived there. From that day forward, he had been taken with this spirited young woman with the big blue eyes who looked so much like Margaret. He admired her dogged determination to make life here a better one for its inhabitants. He had to remind himself often that Christy had not lived in Cutter Gap long enough to really understand what life was like for the highlanders as well as he did; after all, he was one of them. For the longest time, he had seen the mission as some sort of threat to the mountain way of life. His own spiritual beliefs, or lack thereof, went against those at the mission. But as Christy lay in that upstairs bedroom at the mission house for days on end, her body ravaged by the effects of typhoid, Neil had stopped running from the God he had been angry with for so long, ever since Margaret's death and the death of their tiny infant son. The thought of losing Christy was more than he could bear alone. So there, sitting beside her bed, he had cried out to the God that he did not understand, finally acknowledging that he held a love for Christy in his heart that seemed almost impossible for any one man to feel. And she had heard his prayer. She had reached out her hand to his, and he had called out her name, somehow knowing that she would get better, and also knowing that she meant more to him than any other person alive. Each moment they spent together during her recovery had brought them closer together. As soon as Christy had been well enough, Neil had taken her on a picnic at the top of Pebble Mountain. There, after having eaten their meal of chicken, gingerbread, and apples with the incredible backdrop of ridge upon ridge of smoke-ringed mountains as the setting, Neil had asked Christy to be his wife. The engagement period had been a short one, just long enough for all the wedding arrangements to be made. Christy's parents, particularly her mother, had wanted her to return to Asheville for the wedding. Christy, however, insisted that since Cutter Gap had been her home before the wedding and would continue to be afterwards, the wedding should take place there. Neil knew as long as he lived he would forever remember seeing Christy in her wedding gown, walking down the aisle of the church/schoolhouse, her arm entwined in her father's. She was the picture of youth and beauty, and he felt his knees start to buckle slightly when he thought about the fact that he would be taking her back to his cabin that night. As she reached the altar and smiled at him from beneath her veil, Neil had felt a tear roll down his cheek. He had never been happier. *** Now he leaned over Christy's sleeping form, and kissed her lightly on her cheek. She smiled sleepily at him before her eyes were even all the way open. "G'mornin', sleepyhead," he spoke. "I was awake earlier," she said. "I must've fallen back asleep." "And did you sleep well?" "Yes, I did, except I couldn't place where I was when I first woke up. Did you?" "How could I not?" he smiled back at her, lowering his head until his lips met with Christy's, and tenderly kissed her. When he drew back, she said softly, "I've just decided I want every morning to start off this way." "You do, do you?" "I know it won't always be possible, but as many days as we can, I want to kiss you first thing, before either of us gets out of bed." "That sounds like an excellent plan to me." Neil lay back down, pulled Christy to him, and she put her head on his chest. They were quiet and motionless, each drinking in the blissful solitude of the early morning, Christy listening to Neil's heart beating loudly in her ear, and Neil enjoying the feel of Christy's breath against his skin. "Did you ever think you'd marry an old hillbilly man like myself?" he asked, breaking their silence. Christy laughed at this, answering him, "Well, I can't say that you are exactly who I envisioned marrying when I was a little girl. I saw myself living in Asheville, marrying someone who wore a suit to work everyday, living a life that closely resembled my parents' lives. But those were my notions about how my life would be. I'm so glad that God had different plans." "Me too, love," he replied, stroking her hair. "You're a brave one. It's not every city girl who can leave everything she's always known to come to a place like this." "Not all of my ideas proved to be wrong, though." "What do you mean?" "You're so much of who I wanted, Neil. I didn't know you would be a doctor who rode horseback all over these mountains to visit his patients . But so much of who you are is what I prayed for in a husband. And those are the things that God sent me." He pressed her closer to him and breathed in the scent of her, speechless with emotion. "Oh, really? Such as?" "Your compassion for other people. Your intelligence. Your sense of humor. Your strength." "Well, it's good to know you think so highly of me, seeing as how you married me and all," he teased her. Christy let out a small laugh. She knew she would always remember this first morning as a married woman, and wanted the moment to last as long as possible. "Tell me what you're thinking," she asked Neil. "I'm wondering if you have any idea how you restored life to my spirit, and if you have any idea how blessed I feel to have you by my side." She felt a knot form in her throat and tears well in her eyes, unable to speak for a moment. "What's the matter, lass?" Neil asked when he felt the warm tears fall onto his chest and realized Christy was not saying anything. "Nothing," she uttered. "I can't think of anything that could make me happier than being beside you in this bed, in this cabin, in Cutter Gap, Tennessee." "I was just thinking those same thoughts." "Isn't it wonderful, Neil?" she whispered. "This is the very beginning." Neil sat up, and pulled Christy up beside him. "Yesterday we repeated vows someone else had written in front of the people we know best. I meant every single one of them, forever." "I did, too, Neil..." "Shhh," he said, gently placing a finger over her lips. "Let me finish." Christy smiled and Neil picked up her hands in his. "I have a promise I want to make to you from my own heart, though, here by ourselves. After Margaret died and then our son, I never expected to be happy, really happy, again. And so I am amazed to find that my heart contains the kind of joy you have given to me." "You were right, Christy. This is the very beginning of our journey together. We have our whole lives ahead of us. There will be some good times, some bad times, and some in-between times. There will be warm mealtimes filled with good food and interesting conversation, sitting beside each other in church on Sunday mornings, laughter the first time our baby smiles, winter nights spent reading to each other in front of the fireplace, and lots of other nights spent together in this bed not sleeping..." Christy felt her cheeks grow warm, and Neil continued. "But there will be other nights when I'm not here at all, when I'm out attending to a patient and you're not sure when I'll be back home. There will be times when the work around the cabin stacks up around you and a cryinig child clings to your skirts all day long so that you never have any time to rest. And likely there will be sickness here that you might not have encountered had you stayed in Asheville, as you have already found out. No matter what season of our lives, though, I promise to love you with everything I have in me. Those bad times will only show us how precious life is and how wonderful the good times are." Christy wrapped her arms around her husband, and he embraced her in turn. They kissed with a passion neither of them had allowed themselves to give into during their courtship. When at last they drew apart, Christy looked into her new husband's eyes and told him, "I love you, Neil MacNeill. I love you now and all the rest of our lives. Someday when we're old and gray, we will hold hands and one of us will watch as life fades from the other's eyes, but even then, death won't stop me from loving you." "Even the end will be a part of our life together, just as important as this beginning. But we have so much ahead of us between now and then, Christy. All of life." From the corner of her eye Christy saw the white lace of her wedding gown which was laid neatly over a chair and thought of the vow " 'til death do us part." That was the way it would be for them. "Yes," she told Neil, taking his face in her hands and smiling broadly. "And I'm so glad this is the beginning." The End!