- PAGE 2 -
- Colorado Springs Town -The air was fresh and warm as Jake Slicker stepped outside his barber shop for a moment or two in between clients to sip a warm mug of coffee. The aroma filled his lungs and he smiled and stretched. It looked as though it had the makings of a beautiful day.
Across the street he could see a young woman he had never seen before and an old man moving across the street from the train station towards the bank and he shrugged. "New comers," he whispered to himself and swirled the coffee about for a moment. He would meet them soon enough and that he knew. Until that time he would put the matter out of his mind and enjoy his break.
***
Preston sat at his desk in the bank, quietly spinning one of his neatly polished and well-kept gold pens. The bank was quiet, it always was quiet. He spent most of his time wishing he had somewhere else to be or go, but with all the problems that were hanging about banks these days no one came near him and with the loss of his hotel he felt as though he had little purpose left in the world.
Every few minutes or so he would glance up at the clock and sigh before finally returning to the paperwork that littered his desk and demanded attention. Perhaps someone would come in today and he'd have something to do.
An old man entered the bank.
"Good day." Logan said to Preston. "I'd like to open an account here. But tell me, is your bank secure? I do not want all my money robbed from me!"
Preston glanced up slowly, in front of him stood an old man who he didn't recognize. He had always been taught the best way to make business was to be bright and alert and confident, but in recent months he had lost all of his confidence and couldn't muster the strength to be cheerful and alert.
"Good day," Preston smiled as best he could as he rose to his feet and extended a hand to the man before him. "Preston A. Lodge the Third at your service. I've been running this bank for a few years now and I'm certain that you will find it a secure and safe location for your most valued objects and fortunes."
Lodge’s smile grew a bit as he moved back into the old flow. He was starting to feel a bit like his old self again. Maybe this was all he needed - a new face, a fresh start. It might be all right for him in the end.
Logan took the hand he was offered and shook it.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lodge. I'm Logan Knight, I just moved here from Washington with my daughter." He motioned to a young brunette to come over to him. "Erika, this is Preston Lodge."
Erika smiled. "Nice to meet you." she said.
Preston smiled and nodded at the young woman. She was quite attractive.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he stated softly as he gently took her hand and kissed her finger tips as is customary in polite society. "I'm sure that you will both find Colorado Springs a lovely location to settle down in. I myself have found it quite a wonderful little spot in the world."
Erika smiled as Preston kissed her hand. "I'm sure your right." she replied.
He smiled and motioned to the chairs in front of his desk, "Please, sit down, let us discuss what your plans are and what you want your money to accomplish here in this fine establishment."
Preston smiled and sank down into his chair glancing about the otherwise empty bank. What he wouldn't give to have another teller to work the front while he was busy back in his office. Smiling and doing his best to not let on about how long it had been since he had seen a new face and had any new business, he clapped his hands together and smiled, "Let's get started."
Logan took the seat he was offered. "Wonderful, now I'd like to open an account with you Mr. Lodge and also keep some of my valuables in your safe."
The old man withdrew a small bag from his coat.
"These belonged to my dear wife Annie, I haven’t the heart to sell them." he showed Preston the cameo brooch, diamond earrings and diamond necklace. "They will be my daughter's one day, after she marries. Till then I would like them locked away."
Erika had an extremely bored look on her face.
"I'm sorry for interrupting." she said. "Father, I'm going to get some air."
Logan nodded, and standing he kissed her on the cheek. "Don't get into any trouble, Erika." he chided.
The young woman nodded and looked at Preston.
"You have a lovely bank, Mr. Lodge, if you'll excuse me." Erika said.
Preston rose to his feet and nodded as Erika left the room.
"Wonderful to meet you miss, I look forward to seeing you around town." Preston replied.
He watched her leave the room before turning back to Logan. "A charming daughter you have sir; she'll be turning heads in the town for sure. You're a very lucky man."
Logan smiled: "Thank you, I am very blessed to have Erika for a daughter."
Preston returned to his seat and slowly picked through the items Logan had offered him and said, "I can promise you the safest location for these items is here in this bank sir. Now, how much money are you looking to put away?"
"Well now, I would of course like the jewelry to stay here and, not my entire fortune, but a few hundred dollars to put away here. Perhaps three hundred for starters."
Preston nodded, "A few hundred dollars is a good way to start off an account. It's a decent amount of money for anyone to beginning saving. Now if you just fill out these papers, we can be on our way."
The banker smiled as he handed the papers over to him. It felt good to be doing some real business again. Logan nodded and started to fill out the paperwork.
***
Outside the homestead, the women walked and talked.
"You always did know when something was wrong with me." Colleen chuckled humorlessly. "Look, can this just wait until later? I don't really feel like getting into it right now. I just want to talk and hear about good things."
She studied her Ma's kind face. In Boston there weren't many kind faces around since her grandmother passed away, aside from her Aunt Rebecca with whom she had grown very close. Lately she had been spending more and more time over at her aunt's home, rather than in her own.
Andrew was getting impossible to live with. They were constantly fighting and Colleen feared that her marriage was in real jeopardy. In fact, she honestly didn't know how it could be salvaged.
"Oh Colleen, is it really that bad?" asked her mother.
She took Colleen into a hug as they came to stand before their old home. Dr. Mike wasn't having the best time either. Things were changing fast and mostly not for the best.
So she hardly had anything to talk about that was good enough to cheer up Colleen. Dr. Mike paused. "Things around here are..." she looked down at Colleen, then at her youngest daughter Katie.
She smiled. "Fine" Michaela said, hoping she sounded realistic. She didn’t want to worry Colleen; the girl had her own problems to worry about.
"Lets go in and I'll make us some tea" she said.
She walked up towards the house that held many happy memories, but that was mostly in the past. Now things were um.....okay she supposed.
"I'm not convinced. You may know me, but I also know you. Things aren't fine, are they? Gosh," Colleen sighed. "What a pair we are."
She let her mother lead her into the homestead that held so many memories - some sweet, some bittersweet. She remembered when they brought Katie back after she was born. Colleen was the first one to set her in the crib that their pa had made.
This was the house in which they had Thanksgiving dinner after the diphtheria epidemic; when so many were lost. They trusted Andrew and brought him into their home. Was that all a mistake?
Dr. Mike smiled.
"I should have known not to tell a little white lie like that Colleen, you do know me well enough." she sighed deeply as she asked Katie to go do her homework on the table.
Michaela turned around to watch Colleen thinking back on the good days when they were all a family. She walked over and put a full kettle on the stove.
"Colleen, it is great to have you back." she said as she looked down at the kettle. Tears filled her eyes as she watched it boil.
Colleen watched her mother and knew that she was trying to restrain her emotions.
"Ma? Look at me," Colleen said gently. "Everything is going to be okay. I'm home now and I can help out around here... and at the clinic, if you'll have me?"
Colleen knew that her mother always wanted her to go into practice with her, but she got married and moved away, and started her own practice with her husband. In her heart, she sometimes wondered if her mother were somewhat jealous of Andrew at first.
Colleen had been so taken with him, a young, successful doctor from the big city. For the life of her she never knew why he returned her affections. She still felt - after almost four years in the city - like a country bumpkin, the ugly duckling. She longed for the days when she could hide behind her mother's petticoat - she was safe then.
Michaela turned around and took her daughter in her arms.
"Oh, I would love you to join my practice." She had wanted the young woman to join her practice ever since she found out she had been interested in medicine. Some part of her was jealous of Andrew. He had her daughter, her abilities in medicine and she also didn't see her all that often. But hearing it from Colleen's mouth was wonderful.
As she hugged her daughter, she wiped the tears away. She felt stupid crying in front of Colleen, but she didn't know who else to turn too.
"Colleen, promise me you'll tell me everything when the time’s right, please" she said worried about her.
The kettle started to whistle.
"I'll get that. You make yourself comfortable. It'll be us for a while..." she started as she went over to pour the water.
She didn't tell Colleen that Sully and the boys were out of town for a very long time. She sighed to herself as she poured the tea, wondering if things would ever go back to normal.
"I promise." Colleen answered. "And thank you for having me in your practice. Things, um, they're not well with Andrew and me. We lost our funding for the clinic. You know that we had a grant, but apparently Governor Taylor thought that the money could be used elsewhere than at an orphanage, so he revoked it. Andrew went back into practice with his father and needless to say Dr. Cook didn't welcome me with open arms. Andrew fought for me at first, but after a while we just stopped seeing eye to eye." Colleen explained.
There was so much more to the story, but she felt like this was sufficient for now.
Dr. Quinn turned around and took Colleen in her arms. "Oh honey, I never knew it was this bad. Sit down and tell me more." she said, handing her a cup of tea and pulling out a seat for Colleen. She sat next to the girl.
"There's so much to tell, Ma." Colleen said, her voice cracking. "I couldn't find work. I continued to go to the orphanage to check on the children but I wasn't being paid. It wasn't full-time or anything, but it was something to keep me occupied. At first things were still okay with Andrew and me. It wasn't until a few months passed that things started getting bad. For the first couple of weeks, I looked for a new job, but it wasn't going well. Andrew and I decided maybe this happened for a reason, and maybe it was time to start a family. That, um..."
Colleen broke down into tears, sobbing fiercely.
"I, um, I got pregnant easily enough. I..." she paused, looking into her mother's eyes. "I lost my baby, Ma."
Michaela took Colleen into her arms hugging her tightly, feeling the emotions run high. She loved this child and seeing her crying, breaking down in tears hurt her as much as Sully had. She held her tightly, shushing her gently as she rocked back and forth with Colleen in her arms, as if she was 13 years old again.
"It's okay my darling. It’s okay, shhhhh" she placed a hand on her hair and then pulled Colleen’s face up gently to look into her eyes.
"I know how you feel. I lost a child too not long ago." Mike said. She let Colleen fall back into her arms. "But I'm here for you....."
Michaela felt heart broken. She herself started to have tears in her eyes. Memories that had been boxed up came forward. She closed her eyes, hugging Colleen tightly, scared of letting her go as if she would disappear for ever.
Colleen had never felt so close to her mother before.
***
