Matt's Love Story…My Way Unfortunately I always have to do things my way. I didn't like Matt's love Story, I love Michael Learned, but not as Matt's love interest. Sorry, but that position was already occupied by Kitty Russell. So I've been chewing on this one for a long time. I'm going to post this first chapter. Please let me know what you think. I'm hoping you enjoy it. You'll have to forgive me if I make mistakes. You know I don't read over this too much and I'm too impatient to wait for someone to read over my work for me. So please forgive.

KR

Chapter One

Matt was heading for Wyoming. He knew that he'd be gone for at least four weeks. He was hoping that he would not be gone longer than that. Kitty was back in Dodge and he wanted very badly to be in her arms. He sure did miss her when he had to go away for long periods of time. He knew he was the only man in her life, but he always worried about her being alone when he was on these long rides. He smiled as he thought of that beautiful redhead sitting at her vanity brushing her long red waves. He never heard the rattler that startled his horse, throwing him from the safety of his saddle. Matt struggled to keep on the saddle but lost the battle all too quickly striking the ground hard and hitting his head on a rock. The darkness seemed to grab hold of him and he fell into unconsciousness. Buck bolted from the rattler and stopped about 20 feet from an unconscious Matt.

Kitty woke with a start calling out Matt's name. Sitting there in their bed, she touched her mouth with the back of her hand. Then suddenly she had a bad feeling. Getting up, she went into the wash room and got cleaned up and headed out to the jail to speak with Festus and Newly.

By the time she reached the Jail, it was still early morning. Festus and Newly would be up and getting ready for the morning rounds. Festus sat at the table having a cup of coffee and Newly was going over the paperwork for the day's events. Kitty came quickly barging in. She looked a bit flustered as if she had run all the way.

"Miss Kitty, what brings you here?" Festus asked as he stood to greet her. Kitty closed her eyes and breathed deeply through the dizziness. Festus was immediately at her side. Newly quickly grabbed a chair for her and they coaxed her to sit down.

"Festus, you keep an eye on her, I'll go get Doc." Newly said heading out the door and running down the street towards Doc's office.

Doc took her pulse, then looked into her eyes. "Hmmm."

"Can't you say anything more then, hmmmmm?' Festus said annoyed.

"Festus, I'm fine, really, I'm just a little winded is all." Kitty said to the three men looking on at her.

"That weren't no such a thing, Miss Kitty. You was plum pale." Festus said.

"I have to agree, Miss Kitty, you looked much too pale." Newly agreed.

"I had a bad dream this morning. I don't remember much about it, but something happened to Matt." Kitty said a little desperately.

"Kitty, Matt is fine. He's gonna send off a telegram as soon as he gets to Tulsa." Doc said gently touching her hand. "Now, Newly, why don't you help me get this pretty little thing up to my office so that I can take a better look at her." Doc said. Kitty smiled up at him and stood up. She suddenly wavered and Newly wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I got ya, Miss Kitty." He said holding onto her. "You just hold on to me and I'll get you up to Doc's office."

Kitty sat in the chair as doc went over his notes. He kept making a grunt noise after each notation. "Doc are you ever going to use words with more than one syllable, maybe something I can understand." She asked him.

"Sure, of course I can." He said and stopped.

"Well?" She said rather impatiently.

"Well, you're pregnant." Doc said as he sat on the chair across from her.

"What?" She said too stunned to do anything else. "I can't be, Doc, aren't I too old for a baby?"

"Nonsense." Doc said. "How old are you, 29-30?" He asked her

"38, Doc." She looked at her hands on her lap. "Are you sure, Doc?" She said timidly.

"Oh, I'm quite sure." He said smiling at her. Kitty looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Now don't you start crying, young lady, you know I go all to mush when you get emotional on me." He said handing her his handerchief.

"Doc, promise you won't tell anyone, not till I tell Matt." She said smiling at him.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, this is your news to tell, not mine." He said smiling at her and she at him. "By golly, it's about time too." Doc added.

"I know, Doc. But we've been trying, I can't believe it's finally going to happen." Kitty said as tears started again.

"Oh now will you cut out the tears. You know how they make me feel." Doc said sniffing at her and smiling. "I'm gonna be a grandpa." He said gently taking her hand.

Kitty smiled at Doc. She wouldn't deny him that right. He had always been like a father to her, ever since she came to Dodge.

Matt slowly climbed to his feet. Stumbling, he looked around and saw the horse standing there waiting for him. Slowly he made his way over to the big horse and climbed on top of it. Holding his-self up on the saddle, he slowly begins to move along

Through his haziness, he saw two shadowy figures struggling against each other. His mind swam as he slowly fell back into unconsciousness. He didn't know how long he had been lying in the dirt, but gentle hands shook him.

"Come on, wake up. Let me get you into the house and into bed." Isabelle Lang said as she helped Matt to his feet. She helped the big man into the house, shoved the door closed with her foot and took him into the back room where she began to help him out of his shirt and jacket. She stripped him down to his long underwear then covered him with the blankets and helped him lay back on the pillow. His head was swimming once again and he slowly lost consciousness again.

Kitty stood in her room looking into the mirror at herself. She wondered if anyone would notice that she was not pregnant with Matt's child. A smile came to her as she gently placed her hand on her abdomen. "So, we're having a baby. Finally.!" She said looking at her slight roundedness. "I hope you're a little boy. I think you're Pa, would love a little boy. A son to go fishing with him and learn to hunt." Laughing softly. "He's probably going to want you to follow in his footsteps and become a lawman." A sadness entered her eyes. "And someday you'll meet your true love. It will be hard, but if you find the right person, to love you and stand by you, it will be worth it." She began to hum softly as she sat at her vanity and let down her long red hair. Taking her brush, she began to brush the long strands, her eyes closing as she thought about how often Matt would sit with her and brush her hair for her. It was an intimacy between the two. He loved her red hair and he loved to brush it for her. And she loved to watch him in the mirror as he paid so much gentle attention to her. 'Please be safe my love.' She whispered softly as she thought of Matt.

The fever spiked and he was thirsty. He wanted water desperately. Staggering from the bed, he made his way to the dresser where he had seen the basin with a metal pitcher sitting inside of it. He stumbled and stopped himself from falling by grabbing onto the dresser. As he looked towards the window, he saw that it was dusk. There was a lone figure outside, digging. He couldn't make out who the figure was or what he was digging as his vision was blurry. He reached over and grabbed the pitcher and downed the water.

To Be Continued.

KR