Months after their breakup, Nathan fought to stay focused on his medical practice as Sweet Springs buzzed of Margaret's upcoming marriage to the Duke of Marlborough. It promised to be the wedding of the decade.

"Just when you thought those Wainwrights couldn't stoop any lower, they arrange a marriage between a penniless Duke and their spoiled brat of a daughter," Elisabeth said. She checked the silverware for spots.

"People like that will do anything to raise themselves a few notches on the social register," Koren answered, sipping his coffee.

Merald came out of the kitchen; she smoothed her hands on her apron. "They say Tom Wainwright plans to pour millions of dollars into maintaining the family's English estate in exchange for a title for Margaret," Merald blurted.

"All I know is our Nate is only a shadow of the man he once was since she broke his heart."

"Nate's young. He'll bounce back," Koren assured Elisabeth.

"Miss Margaret is a Duchess now," Jenny said, setting the dinner table.

"Oh, she's shit," Elisabeth answered angrily. "I hope she rots in England."

"Now, honey," Koren asserted, putting his cup aside, "don't go getting yourself all upset. All of what's happened will make him a better man, you'll see."

Nathan's tireless attention to his work paid off. His medical skills were so impeccable, Dr. Koren offered him a full partnership. He accepted and after two years, bought a beautiful ranch home not far from the Korens. Nathan became Sweet Springs' most eligible bachelor.

**************

It was 1910, and Nathan thought a barn dance seemed a bit childish. Eva Mitchell, the new woman in his life, insisted on his taking her. But just an hour before the dance, he got summoned to the Collins' ranch. One of their mares was having trouble birthing its foal.

"Honey, you go ahead and I'll meet you as soon as I can." He grabbed his medical bag.

"Okay, sweetheart," Eva said. She kissed him on the lips.

The birth, though exhausting and difficult, wasn't anything Nate couldn't handle. Dr. Koren worked less and less these days; painful arthritis kept him away from damp barns and long distance rides. Nathan appeared satisfied with the new arrangement of Koren reserving his strength for only the extremely rare and difficult cases.

After helping to bring a beautiful, healthy colt into the world, Nate rushed home to change before joining Eva at the dance. When he arrived, everything seemed in full swing. Nate felt a bit out of place. These types of occasions weren't his cup of tea anymore. But he made the best of it. After all, he thought, these events were only good for the women to show off the latest fashion.

Nathan settled in a corner and watched the parade of lace and ribbons sashay before him. Eva found him, and playfully pulled him up to dance. They circled the floor with Eva smiling profusely.

Suddenly, as if the moment skipped into flashback, Nathan found himself circling the floor with Margaret: her white lace gown sparkling about the room; her dark hair shining beneath the lights, with the whiteness of her teeth flashing as she laughed. He stopped and hurried off the floor, with a confused Eva tagging behind. She found him leaning against a tree overlooking the flower garden. He exhaled hard, then lit a cigarette.

"Nate, what's wrong? Was it my dancing?" she inquired, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No. I just felt a little dizzy, that's all."

"Oh, you had me worried," she said. "You looked at me as if you'd seen a ghost."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"We could leave, if you'd like?"

"No, of course not. I'll be fine. I'll just stand here awhile. You go back in." He puffed on a cigarette.

"I'm not leaving you." She stood in front of him, fingering her pearls.

"Eva, I'm fine, really. I had a trying day, that's all."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insisted that you come."

"Don't apologize. I'm delighted we came."

"Nate, are you sure you...."


"Will you stop!" he snapped. "I'm fine I told you!" Startled, she stepped back.

"Alright," she said above a whisper. She looked down at the floor and stood there not knowing what to do or say. When he saw what his words had done, he walked to her and held her by her shoulders.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you. I'm fine, honey, really I am. I just need a minute."

"Nathan, may I say one thing?"

"Of course."

"You're working too hard. You're doing the work of two men now that Dr. Koren is semi-retired. I think you should have an assistant."

"Yes, he and I have recently discussed just that. Now stop worrying about me. That's an order."

"Yes, doctor," she said playfully. She turned and headed back inside.

Nathan was disappointed at the way he reacted. "Damn you, Margaret!" He slammed his fist against the tree. Finishing a few puffs on a second cigarette, he went back inside and pretended to enjoy the rest of the night. After the dance, Nate dropped Eva off at her place instead of allowing her the usual weekend at his. He wanted to be alone.

"Honey, won't you let me stay with you tonight. I'll be quiet. You won't even know I'm there."

"Eva, you sleep naked and never put a stitch on until after breakfast. And you don't think I'll know you're there?"

"Oh, you know what I mean. I'm saying I won't be in your hair...get in the way."

"I'll be gone most of the day, and you'll be alone at the ranch. Now that won't be fun for you."

"Alright," she said sighing. He walked her to the door and kissed her goodnight.

Later that night, just before going to bed, he dug in his drawer for the yellowing slips of paper. They were notes written by Margaret before she left. He never even got to feel her soft body against his. She kept that for some damn Duke...he thought.

How he hated Big Tom. He wondered what kind of man would use his daughter just to elevate his social standing in the world. And what kind of woman would let him. He wanted to hate Margaret too, but couldn't.

**************

Eva Mitchell knew all too well what had happened at the dance tonight. She'd seen that far-away look in his eyes before. She knew it was memories of Margaret burning in those eyes. She had prayed to God to extinguish that fire. But tonight it seemed that blaze raged on. She sat in front of her mirror in her pink lace nighty and brushed her long red hair. She flashed her green eyes and ran her hand over her pale white face.

She was eleven years Nathan's junior, and a wealthy young widow with no children. While visiting in a town not far from Sweet Springs, she'd met Nathan through a friend. The moment her eyes fell upon him, she loved him, though none of the town folk took their relationship seriously. She settled there...bought land and built one of the finest homes in Sweet Springs.

"So I'm wasting my time," she said to herself, staring into the mirror. "He'll never love another as he had Margaret," she spoke defiantly. Eva wrote in her diary: I'LL MAKE LIARS OF YOU ALL. But two years of loving him had not brought her any closer to what she'd promised in her diary. Last spring when she'd told Nathan she was pregnant, she thought he'd explode.

"I don't like being forced into marriage." He paced the floor in front of her fireplace.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything."

"Really, Eva? You know damn well I won't let my child be born a bastard."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I didn't make this baby alone," she said looking off.

"No. But you planned it alone, didn't you?" He came and stood facing her.

"What are you saying?"

"You said you couldn't have children. That's why I never insisted we take precautions."

"I stayed childless for all the fifteen years of my marriage. I thought I couldn't conceive," she said turning her back to him.

"And I believed you until I found out your husband was a hundred. No wonder you couldn't conceive. The old fart had no more juice left." Eva snatched around to face him.

"He was eighty-two when he died," she snapped. "Plenty of old men make babies."

After several rounds of shouting at each other, Nathan stormed out of her house. For days he avoided Eva like the plague. He sent all of her messages back unopened. On day five, however, sitting in his study, he felt more deeply about the situation. Perhaps, he thought, this baby was the kick in the pants he needed to finally settle down and have his life make sense again. Tired of holding on to a dead dream, he went to Eva with a pragmatic proposal.

"We'll marry as soon as possible; but don't go making a big thing about it. I don't want people to let on," he said, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"...that I'm carrying your child?" She smirked and folded her arms.

"Exactly. And we don't want a bunch of busybodies counting backwards once the child is born."

Eva's confidant, an elderly woman she had recently befriended, beamed with excitement for her. The two busied themselves planning the perfect little inconspicuous wedding. But as if life couldn't be more difficult for Eva, happiness made a U-turn when a trip to the doctor seemed to put her world on the edge of a cliff.

"I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, Mrs. Mitchell, but you were never pregnant. I'm afraid you are experiencing early change of life," the doctor said, putting his chart aside.

"But that's impossible. I'm just thirty-nine. My mother was much older when she had me." She eased down off the examining table.

"It doesn't happen to many women this early, but it does happen."

Eva became so upset, she left the material she'd bought for her wedding dress in the doctor's office and rode home in a daze. She couldn't bear to tell Nathan the truth. She prayed somehow God would perform a miracle, and she'd be pregnant.

For two nights she wrestled with what to do until her brain seemed on fire. Finally, she sent her coachman with a message. When Nate arrived, she sat him down and told him she'd miscarried. Nathan's face went into blank mode and lines stretched across his forehead. He pulled her onto his lap, wrapped his arms around her middle and pressed his face against her belly. Later, he'd call it his second most devastating loss since the death of his father.

"I shouldn't have said those horrible things to you. It's my fault for putting you under so much stress," he said. The material of her dress muffled his voice. She placed a finger under his chin and lifted his face; his eyes appeared glassy.

"It wasn't your fault, sweetheart. It was no one's fault. This happens to women all the time."

"I'm not going to lie and say I would have been the perfect husband, but I would have loved that baby. You must believe me."

"I do, honey. I do."

He spent the night holding her but never spoke. He kept looking up at the ceiling until he fell asleep. The next day, she cooked his favorite breakfast of steak and eggs.

"I'm not hungry," he told her, checking his medical bag.

"You should eat something."

"I can't. I'll be late. There's a new shipment of steers. I have to clear them before they can be delivered to the Goosemen's ranch."

"I understand. Don't get too busy to eat, now." She walked him to the door.

"I won't." He kissed her cheek and left.

Not wanting to be alone, she spent the day at the home of her confidant. Eva felt more than just the barrenness of her womb. All her hopes and dreams were barren also. Even though Nate had behaved so tenderly after her alleged miscarriage, he never spoke of marriage again.

"God, I love him so much," she told her confidant. "Now, the one thing that could have cut Margaret out of his brain forever may never happen." The talk ended with the old woman rocking Eva in her aging arms like a weeping child.