The next morning, Colleen awoke to a brilliantly sunny day. A pity that it didn't match her mood. The place in the bed next to her was empty. Andrew had already left for work, apparently.
Colleen dragged herself out of bed, straightened the covers, washed and dressed in a navy blue and green plaid two-piece gown. She reflected on her circumstances somberly in a somber state of thought.
As she slid the last hairpin into the heavy auburn coil of her hair, she caught a glimpse of the bracelet resting innocently on her dressing table. Oh that darned thing! It had caused so much trouble! Her marriage was still its infant stages, and she knew that she must do something to combat any problems that a certain man from Boston was intending to cause.
She gathered her books, ate breakfast quickly in the dining room and headed off to school. Her morning classes flew by, even though she heard only bits and pieces of the lectures.
She wrote notes and answered questions mechanically; years of training in the clinic with Michaela had made her quite comfortable with the material that was covered in the first few weeks. Her thoughts were now centered on the problem at hand. What was she to do about Mr. Patrick Collins?
By the time the noon dinner break came around, she had formulated a plan.
She ate quickly, went to the library and settled in a quiet corner with a sheet of paper and a pen. Then she began to write.
Apparently, she hadn't done a good enough job several months earlier, so she intended to make it perfectly clear that she had NO desire to see or hear from that wretched man ever again.
When she was satisfied that her letter was forceful but still in the confines of politeness that general courtesy and ladylikeness required, she set it aside to mail later and began to go over her notes for her anatomy lab. They were dissecting again today.
At the Pennsylvania train station, a dark haired man stepped off the train and into the crowd of people.
He was tired from a long trip from Denver, but determined. There was a score that needed to be settled, one left over from several months prior.
A certain young lady had been quite reluctant at his advances, but now things were more on his terms. She no longer had her family or friends around. But if he knew his little firebrand, she would still pose somewhat of a challenge. He was not, however, worried. After all, he always met his challenges and conquered them...
Gretta began to feel uneasily as everyone thanked Ryan Bell. For some odd reason, it felt like someone was staring at her.
She tried shaking the feeling off, but it stayed. Slowly, she looked around the room at everyone present.
Her glance finally came to Ryan Bell. He was staring at her, deeply into her eyes. Gretta felt her cheeks burning slightly. This was the second time a man stared at her this way.
"Umm..Brian...Katie is getting fussy. We should go now." Gretta placed Katie on the ground and held her hand.
"Okay Gretta. Bye Grace! Hope ya feel better! Bye everyone!" Brian called out.
Everyone called out their goodbyes as the trio left the room.
Ryan Bell still stood mesmerized by Gretta's beauty. But a question popped into his head.
"Is she married? She has two children with her...they don't look anything alike...or are they her brother and sister?" he wondered.
Suddenly, he felt determined to go and find out who this beauty was.
"Excuse me, but who were those people?" He asked Robert E.
"Oh! That's Gretta with Brian and Katie. They came back from Boston a few days ago," Robert E. said.
"Gretta...." Ryan Bell thought. "Gretta..."
Daniel entered the room at that moment. "Robert E.!" he said, "I just heard. Is Grace gonna be all right?"
"Sheriff!" Robert E. replied, "Grace and the baby are going to be just fine, thanks to Dr. Bell here! How are things at the jail? I didn't mean to just leave...but..."
"Don't mention it, I understand!" Daniel said. "Anyway, as soon as you left, old Mr. Voss came and took your place. Matthew's there now..."
Daniel turned to the tall young man, who was staring oddly into space.
"You must be Dr. Bell. I'm Daniel Simon, sheriff of Colorado Springs." He extended his hand.
Startled, Ryan shook his hand and mumbled a greeting.
"We're holding a man in the jail who says he needs some doctorin'..." Daniel continued. "Will you come and take a look?"
"Of course!" Ryan answered, "Lead the way, Sheriff!"
After coming home from school, Colleen had barely enough time to dress for dinner at the Penningtons.
It was really the last thing Colleen felt like doing, but she'd known about it for several days, and anyway, it was Andrew's employer...besides, in spite of worrying over Patrick Collins, Colleen did look forward to seeing Alexandra again.
"Remember, Andrew!" Colleen called, "We're meeting Mrs. Pennington for the first time tonight!"
Andrew smiled, "Well, I am, anyway! Don't worry, I'll never tell! I'd prefer to continue working!"
Colleen laughed at that. Andrew said "You look beautiful, Colleen! We'd better go now, darling. It wouldn't do to be late. We want to have time to have dinner before we leave for the opera."
"The opera?" Colleen asked.
"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Andrew said, "Oh, of course I didn't! Nathaniel only told me this afternoon. Alexandra loves the opera, and she wanted us all to go tonight."
"Oh..." Colleen said, thinking about how early she was expected to be in class the next day.
"They've already bought the tickets, dear...I hope you don't mind. Actually, I thought you might enjoy it!" Andrew looked at Colleen.
She stared back at him for a moment, then smiled broadly, "I'm sure I'll love it Andrew, as long as you're beside me! Let's go!"
And Colleen and Andrew decided to forget all about Patrick Collins for the evening.
After having checked Michael Brown, and finding that he hadn't really needed medical attention in particular...he'd just wanted attention in general, Ryan Bell was back in his room at the Gold Nugget.
Although it was only mid afternoon, and today's work hadn't really been very taxing, Ryan had a lot on his mind and was exhausted. He lay on the bed and fell into a restless sleep.
All his dreams were of the beautiful Gretta. But they were not pleasant ones. She continued to push him away. It must have been a full five minutes of knocking, no, POUNDING on the door before Ryan awoke and realized that the pounding was real.
He opened the door. Gretta was standing there. She said...
"What are you doing here?"
The doctor just stood there with a dumb look on his face.
"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" He asked. "I came here to see if there was still a position at the Chateau. Have we met? You look awfully familiar."
"Why don't you just go away before you ruin everything?" Gretta demanded. "I came here to start over, and you are just going to give me away!"
"I have met you before!" Ryan shouted. He remembered now. "At the ball in London! As I remember, you wouldn't dance with me."
"Probably because you couldn't dance." She shot back.
"And you are just as stuck up as I remember too." He said with a chill in his voice.
"Oh, things were different then!" Gretta (Victoria) insisted. "And if you have a very good memory, you will remember that I refused every man who asked to dance with me."
He hadn't remembered exactly who she was until that moment.
"Victoria Ryan!" He shouted, like a boy having found a long lost treasure. If she'd known how sweet on her he'd been three years ago!
"Ah! So you are going to give me away!" Victoria (Gretta) said.
"What!? Give you away?" He asked. "Wait a minute...are you a ghost or something? You're supposed to be dead! You died in a train crash!"
"They just think I did," Victoria (Gretta) replied. "I left to find a new life for myself. I met Brian and Matthew Cooper in Boston, and they let me come back with them and their sister Katie. Listen, are we just going to stand here in the doorway, or are you going to invite me in?"
"I say we go someplace where we can talk all this over," Ryan suggested.
A little later they were sitting under a large oak tree over a picnic, Dr. Bell had gotten from Grace's cafe.
"Now, come on." He said,"I want the whole story."
Gretta began at the beginning. She didn't know why. Well, he might as well know the truth. It would all come out sooner or later.
When she finished her tale, from the time she first met him at the London Ball, 3 years ago, to the present, where they sat. When she finished, he gave a long whistle.
"Weren't our fathers businessmen together once?" He asked.
"I don't know," Gretta replied.
"I think it was before you were born," he said. "They were good friends once. I was named after your father, you know."
Gretta looked up and smiled.
"Now I suppose you'll be going to the town paper, or something, with everything." She said meekly.
"N-no.." He began. "Not if you promise me one thing."
"Well, what is it?"
He held out his hand.
"Friends?" He asked.
She took his hand, and repeated,
"Friends." They both smiled.
It was Patrick Collins' first time in Philadelphia, not at all a strange occurrence because he hadn't lived in the East for that long. (His family had moved to Denver when he was nine.)
Still, he prided himself on being able to manage in a strange territory. He was soon on his way to one of the finer hotels in the city. His secretary had done quite a good job making his travel arrangements.
He got himself settled and immediately went to the bar for a drink. He hadn't had one since the night before on the train and was beginning to really need one.
Andrew and Colleen walked down the darkening streets toward the restaurant where they were meeting their dinner companions.
"I missed you this morning," Colleen commented.
Andrew looked at his wife with devotion. She looked radiant in an elegant forest-green evening gown, perfectly accentuated by the delicate pearl jewelry and the elaborate upsweep of her fiery auburn hair.
"I'm sorry, I had to get to the clinic early this morning. I should have left a note," he apologized, squeezing the small gloved hand that rested on his arm.
"That's all right, I just miss waking up next to you," Colleen said shyly.
"So do I, my darling," he whispered back. If they were not on a public street, he would have kissed her.
"How were your classes today?" he asked instead.
"Fine, basically a nice review of what I know, but they're still fascinating."
Colleen paused for a moment. "I...wrote a letter to Patrick Collins. I told him that I have no desire to see or hear from him again, and that if I do, I will consider taking legal action. I'm going to mail it tomorrow."
"That's a good idea. I promise you, that man will never do anything more to hurt you or us," Andrew vowed.
Colleen smiled. "How could I have ever thought about loving anyone else but you?"
This time, Andrew completely disregarded the fact they were on Market Street and kissed his wife. Then, they resumed their walk. They were meeting the Penningtons? at a very nice restaurant attached to one of the finest hotels in Philadelphia.
The Cooks entered the restaurant, checked their wraps and found their friends waiting in the lounge. After flurried greetings and introductions all around (Colleen and Alexandra were quite convincing in pretending this was the first time they had met!) they made their way to the dining room.
"Please excuse the sudden change in plans. We wanted to have you over to the house, but we just repainted and the odor is horrendous! You must come another time though," Alexandra explained apologetically.
Andrew was just about to say something in response when he caught sight of a familiar figure. A dark haired man was making his way toward Colleen, who was standing a bit away from the group, admiring a floral arrangement. She turned around just then and froze dead in her tracks...
...and a small gasp escaped her lips. Andrew was standing close enough to hear this and walked over and nonchalantly slipped his arm around his wife's waist.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's Patrick Collins..."
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