Callie and Dr. Martin were taking one of their walks around the resort when she told him about her visit with Ura Prospect. “I remembered what I saw, Dr. Martin. But it can’t mean what I think it does. That’s just not possible.”
“Are you comfortable sharing the details of your memory?” he asked.
Callie hesitated. What if her memory caused trouble for Emmy? “No, sir. But it’s not because I don’t trust you. It’s just that what I remembered involves someone else, someone I love very much. I saw them do something they would never do. I think that’s why my mind has been so confused. I know I didn’t imagine it. I know I saw what I saw. But there has to be something about it that I don’t understand. I think that’s what I have to find out now. That’s why I feel ready to go home. The ‘what’ I found here, but the ‘why’ is back there.”
They had circled back to the front porch of the hotel. Dr. Martin smiled at her. “You’ve come a long way in a very short time, Miss Bullock. I believe you will find your ‘why’ because you aren’t afraid of it anymore.”
“I didn’t do it by myself,” Callie said. “Do you allow patients to hug you, or is that against the rules?”
“Some rules are meant to be broken,” he said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. Callie hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. He tipped his hat to her and said, “I’ll speak with your father, and we’ll see about continuing our talks through correspondence as long as you need to.”
She stepped inside the lobby, where Mrs. Hayes was handing a room key to a new guest. “There you are, Miss Bullock. Did you have a nice walk?”
“Yes, ma’am, thank you,” Callie said.
“You have a guest in the parlor,” Mrs. Hayes said. “I’ve already had a tea service sent in for you.”
“Thank you.” This was a puzzle. No one but Dr. Martin and Ura knew Callie was ready to come home, and her family still thought visitors weren’t allowed.
She stepped around the corner to the parlor door and opened it. There, by the window, stood Solomon. Callie gasped, too shocked to speak.
He smiled at her and asked, “Aren’t you even a little glad to see me?”
All the emotions that had built up over the past few weeks came at her in a swirl. She just stood there trembling, unable to move, until Solomon came to her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s alright, Callie. Everything’s going to be alright.”
She remembered the story he had told Sam—of clinging to a tree to keep from drowning in the Mississippi. That was how she felt right now, like she might drown in her own deluge if she didn’t cling to Solomon.
He kissed her and guided her to the sofa, where they sat down together.
Staring into his eyes, she said, “Never in my whole life have I been so happy to see anybody.”
He kissed her again before Callie began peppering him with questions: Why was he here? How was Emmy? How was Theo? How long could he stay?
“Mrs. Hayes got worried about you because you weren’t eating,” he explained. “She spoke with the doctor, and he telegrammed your father that he thought you needed a visitor from home.”
“And Daddy sent you?” she asked.
He looked down. Maybe this was all just too much for him. Maybe he had come to say goodbye. “Actually, your mother asked me to come here today.”
“Mama sent you?”
“Yes.” He looked up at her with such sadness in his eyes.
All the joy of seeing Solomon drained away as Callie realized he had likely been coerced into coming. “You didn’t want to come?”
“No. I mean yes. It’s just that—”
Callie felt physically ill. She forced a quivering smile and laid her hand over his. “It’s alright. Nobody could expect you to take all of this on. You need to think about your farm and your future. You don’t need all my—”
Solomon silenced her with a kiss. “What I’m trying and failing miserably to say, Callie, is that I very much wanted to see you. But I have to tell you something that I wish I didn’t. It’s Emmy. She’s sick.”
Callie felt the blood drain from her face, her head so light that she thought she might faint. “The same as Knox?”
Solomon nodded. “But not nearly as bad right now. She has hope, Callie. But I won’t lie to you. She’s very sick.”
“We have to go to her, Solomon.” Her voice was shaking.
“We can’t.”
“But—”
“She’s not at home anymore, Callie.”
“Where is she?”
“Your father has taken her to New Mexico by train. Dr. Embry found a sanatorium in a place called Silver City. Emmy will have the best doctors, the best food, the best everything. Your father plans to stay with her until she’s well enough to come home. That’s why your mother asked me to come. I didn’t want to be the one to tell you. But then again, I couldn’t stand the thought of anybody else doing it, so when your doctor telegrammed that you could have visitors . . .”
“I couldn’t have stood it coming from anybody else,” she said. She was quiet for a moment. “We should go home.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“Alright then,” he said. “I came on the only train running today, and tomorrow the only run is in the afternoon. But I promise we’ll be on it. In the meantime, is there someplace we can talk? Someplace outside where there’s sun and air?”
Callie nodded. “I know a place.”