Levi slowly made his way to the kitchen. Shock, that's what he felt. The past two days had been full of extreme highs and lows. He had been so worried, at first about Hope, then the baby, no babies, that it never crossed his mind that she could lose her memory. He'd heard of people losing their memory before, but he didn't know anybody personally.

Harold was in the kitchen. It looked like he had just finished making breakfast when Levi entered the room. The older man smiled. "I heard the two of you talking a little while ago. I figured she'd be hungry, so I'm attempting to make breakfast. How is she? Is she, wait a minute, I don't like that look on your face." Harold said as his smile was replaced with a worried frown.

"She can't remember."

"Well it's not uncommon to forget an accident or traumatic event."

"No." Levi said shaking his head. "She can't remember anything prior to coming here. Nothing. I don't know what to do, Harold."

"Wow, I hadn't thought about that. How is she dealing with it?" The frown on the older man's face increased as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"She was beginning to really get upset, but I think I got her to calm down. I told her to just breathe and rest, and that we would talk about what she did and did not remember after we ate breakfast." Levi ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it a disheveled mess as he leaned against the counter with his ankles crossed.

"Didn't you tell me that her father had been horrible to her, and that he'd tried to marry her off to pay off his gambling debts? Maybe this is a good thing. She obviously didn't have a happy life before she came here, so now all the memories she has are good ones."

"You know Harold, you just may be right. I think one of the reasons that she is so upset is because she doesn't know that she's only forgotten bad memories. Here, I'll fix her a tray of food, and we will talk while she eats."

Feeling optimistic, Levi fixed a tray of food and began walking to the door but stopped. He turned around to face the older man. "Thank you Harold."

"You don't have to thank me, boy, but you're welcome. Now, go feed the poor woman and find out what she remembers. Then tell her what she's forgotten. I'll get one of the men to go and get Doc Baker.

"No, I do need to thank you. I let you come for a visit, and then move in here permanently, but you have become a very important member of this family. You have helped each one of us so much. You're a wonderful grandfather to Ellie, and you have become a very good friend to me, and I know that Hope feels the same way. I want you to know that I appreciate everything you do and have done, and that you are welcome to stay here as long as you want to." Harold, not sure what to say, simply nodded as Levi turned to leave the kitchen.

In all the time Hope had been there on the ranch, he'd never seen the woman eat like this. She'd been asleep when he'd gotten back to the room; however the aroma of the bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee quickly woke her up. Hope ate every bite of food that he'd put on her plate. He wasn't even sure that he could have eaten that much.

Groaning, Hope laid back on the pillows and rubbed her belly. "I can't believe I ate it all."

"Well, you haven't eaten since yesterday morning at breakfast." He moved the tray from the bed, and then sat back on the bed in front of her. "Okay Love, let's talk about what you remember." The pitiful look on her face at the mention of her losing her of memory, almost made him wish he hadn't brought it up.

"I – I remember almost everything since I've been here. But before that, it's just nothing."

"Okay, do you know little things like, how old you are and when your birthday is, and where you grew up?"

Hope sat there for a moment with a blank expression, and then smiled. "I know I'm 22, my birthday is October 19th, and I'm pretty sure I grew up in Georgia."

"Why didn't you tell me that your birthday was October 19th? You were here. Yes, you grew up in Georgia and since you've had a birthday, you are 22."

It was obvious to her that he was a little miffed at her for not letting him know about her birthday. "Well, it was before we decided that we wanted a real marriage. I didn't think it was important, it's just another day. But, I got the other right, about Georgia. I know I came here on a train." She nibbled her bottom lip as she thought. "Did I tell you anything about my life before I met you?"

Levi nodded slowly wondering how much he should tell her. On one hand, he wanted to tell her everything he knew so that she wouldn't care so much about not remembering, therefore keeping her from getting upset. On the other hand, he wasn't sure that if telling her everything wouldn't upset her more. He must have sat there too long thinking about it because she picked up on his indecision.

"What are you not telling me?"

He figured the best thing to do was to tell her everything he knew, including letting her read her letters to him. By the time she was through peppering him with question after question, most of which he could not answer, they were both exhausted. She had handled everything better than he'd thought she would, but then she was an amazing woman. She had just finished reading her letters to him when Doc Baker knocked on the door.

Levi walked over and opened the door for him. Doc Baker walked in, setting his medical bag on the side of the bed. "Well, how are you feeling today, Hope? You look good."

"I feel fine I guess. My head hurts a little."

"No other aches or pains?" The doctor asked.

"No, I don't hurt anywhere else, but..." She stopped, looked over to Levi, then back to the doctor.

"But what?" Doc urged.

"Hope cannot remember anything before she moved to Red Valley. She knows she grew up in Georgia, her age, and date of birth, but that's it." Levi replied.

The old doctor's brows drew together in thought. "Let me see your head again." Gently, his nimble fingers probed the back and side of her head. The knot was almost completely gone, that was good. "Why don't you lie down so I can listen to those babies, and then we'll talk some more on your memory?"

He listened to their heartbeats for a minute, and then put the stethoscope down. He was satisfied that he had heard correctly yesterday, there were indeed two of them. And as far as he could tell they both seemed fine, with good strong heartbeats. "Everything seems to be good with them." He pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. "Look, I'll be honest with you both. I don't know very much about memory loss. What I do know is that you may not ever recover your memory."

"Then again, you might wake up tomorrow with all of your memories intact or it could come back little by little. The fact of the matter is, we know very little about the brain. Maybe one day that will change, but for now this is it. The brain is extremely complex."

"I want you to stay in bed for at least the next week. After that, I want you to take it easy. You're a small woman and your husband's a big man. I don't want you to do anything that will make you deliver them early, and I would say that they should be here around the middle to end of July."

Hope knew that he was a doctor, but she still could not stop the blush that colored her face and neck. For goodness sakes, she could even feel her ears burning. Levi cleared his throat several times to hide his laughter at Hope, and then jumped up. I'll walk you out Doc."

"You close your eyes and rest; I'll be back in a few minutes." Levi said as he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. He walked to the door and waited for Doc to gather his things, and then the two of them walked out. Hope was already drifting off to sleep even before Levi could shut the door.

The two men said nothing until they were outside. "Okay Doc, tell me the truth. How worried should I be?"

They walked to the doctor's waiting buggy then stopped. Doc set his bag on the seat then turned around to face Levi. The older man took his hat off, ran his right hand up and down his face for a moment as if he were trying to smooth out the weathered lines on it. "I really don't know, Levi. I told you both the truth up there." He nodded towards the house, where Hope lay sleeping. "We really don't know very much about the brain and brain injuries. She doesn't appear to have any side effects from the fall except her memory. I'd say she's pretty damn lucky."

"The fact that she didn't lose those babies is a miracle in itself. The bump on her head doesn't seem to have changed her personality any and she did wake up. Some people never wake up from a blow like that. Let's just take one day at a time. Don't let her dwell on things, try to keep her positive. If you need me, just send someone and I will come as fast as this old body will let me."

"How long do you really want me to keep her in bed?"

"She needs to stay in bed for a week, but I'll be happy with two or three more days. After that, I don't want her lifting anything heavier than a cup of coffee. In fact, you might want to hire someone full time to cook and clean." Levi nodded and Doc Baker turned to step up into his buggy.

"Hey Doc?" Levi said as he reached out and placed his hand on the other man's shoulder. "Um, what about sex?" Oh, good lord, he could feel his face turn a light shade of red. Thank God his hat kept his face shadowed.

The old man couldn't hide his smile as he patted Levi on the back. "Wait a couple of weeks. After that, it should be fine, just nothing...." Doc raised his eye brows searching for the right words. "Just keep it easy." Satisfied, he stepped into his buggy and started off back to town.