The Prodigal Daughter
Chapter 1
The Talk
Matt pulled his hat down to shade his eyes as he lay back on the grassy bank. "Keep an eye on my line, Cooper."
"Okay, Daddy." The boy peered intently into the still water, silently praying to snag Old Blue. Festus had dubbed that name for the giant channel cat a couple of years ago. Almost everyone had snagged the jumbo fish at one time or another, but no one was able to bring him in. Somehow, he would always wiggle his way free.
"Can we talk man-to-man, Daddy?"
Matt pushed the tip of his hat up just enough to see the little boy behind the serious voice. There was no denying the sober expression accompanying his son's tone. With the contented smile of a father, he let his hat drop back down over his eyes. "Of course, what's on your mind?"
"Well…" Cooper released a hefty sigh after only the one word, which should have warned Matt that something big was coming. "I was wondering if the next time you sleep with Momma, if you could put a baby boy in her tummy?"
Leisure time was over. Matt came up off the ground, words were strangling him as he choked on some and sputtered out the rest. "Baby…tum…sleep…WHAT!?" Oh my gosh, this is going to be The Talk. Kitty said it would come, but surely not now. Not at this age! Matt struggled to regain a voice that resembled an adult—preferably a male one—but at this point, the lawman would take anything that didn't squeak. "Coop…" His voice fizzled out halfway through. Clearing his throat, he gave it another try. "Cooper, what do you mean—when I sleep with Momma?"
"Are you all right, Daddy?" Cooper's scowl was a youthful blend of confusion and curiosity. "Did you already give her one?"
"Yes. ...What! No, I didn't… give her…I mean... yes, I'm… all right." With a nervous hand, he readjusted his hat back on his head. "What uh… where did you hear… Son, it's not 'sleeping' that makes…"
Cooper stared, thinking how his dad's sick, hangdog look and green coloring, were similar to that time Ranger got into that bushel of fresh-picked green beans—stuffing himself until his stomach bloated and he puked everywhere. "Did you think it was about cookies too?"
"Cookies?" Matt looked up to the heavens with a simple request: Lord, just take me now. "Cooper, I don't understand…what has cookies got to do with it?"
With a sigh that clearly questioned who had the most knowledge in this conversation, Cooper began to explain. "Ben Smullens got mad at his wife, Katy for giving Hank Finney some cookies she made. Then, she had a baby in her tummy; but… I don't think it had anything to do with the cookies. Me and Tommy heard Mrs. Clovis tell Mrs. Weaks, that if Mrs. Smullens didn't want that baby, she shouldn't have slept with Mr. Finney."
With his tale complete, silence seemed to wrap itself around the two male Dillons. Identical blue eyes were caught in a gaze, the older ones having no answers, while the younger set was still full of questions.
"I still don't understand," the young boy's face stressed his serious concerns, "because you sleep with Momma every night. Why don't we have a whole bunch of babies?"
Matt brought his hand to his forehead and used the other one to lean on. Never had he been so swimmy-headed. in all his life. "First of all, it's not nice to listen to other people's conversations. It's called eavesdropping; and what Mrs. Clovis was doing is called gossiping. Both of you were wrong."
"We couldn't help it. Me and Tommy were just waiting our turn to pay for candy in Jonas' store, but those women just kept talking."
"Okay, but next time… next time just walk away." He sat back on the bank and motioned for Cooper to come closer. "Why do you want Momma to have a baby?"
"Not just a baby, a baby brother." Cooper clarified.
There was a hint of mercy in the air, as Matt realized this wasn't TheTalk, it was just a request. "Two sisters aren't enough for you?"
"Tommy Rachel has a new baby brother and he's going to teach him how to fish and hunt and swim and-"
Matt held up his hand to slow the boy down. "I got the picture. Can't you teach Hadley some of those things?" For the first time since this conversation began, he was granted a relaxing breath.
"Girls don't do those things."
"Cooper Reign Dillon! How can you say such a thing?" Matt scooted further up the bank, sitting upright. "Who taught you to fish and hunt? To climb a tree?…to spit?…want me to go on?"
The boy's troubled expression soon vanished, making way for a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "My sister. Sometimes, I forget that she's a girl. But… Daddy, I don't think Hadley is going to be like Calleigh." He paused then added "…Except her temper."
Another prayer came into Matt's heart when he envisioned his youngest daughter. He looked up to the heavens once again, Lord please don't let her learn to shoot.
Cooper was still curious about their earlier discussion. "So, Daddy. How come we don't have a bunch of babies?"
"Oh my gosh! Look! Is that Old Blue?" Matt hurried to the edge of the pond, hoping to leave certain questions behind him.
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"Did you catch Old Blue?" Kitty greeted the two anglers at the back door, motioning for them to take off their muddy boots outside.
"We saw him, but he didn't give us a bite. He's probably sleeping on the bottom where it's cool." Matt leaned down eager to give her the kiss he'd been carrying for her. "But we caught these." With a thumb pointing behind him, he stepped out of the way for his son to show off their catch.
Cooper held up a string, proudly displaying four good-sized catfish. "Can we have them for supper, Momma?"
"I don't know? Are you going to clean them?"
"I saw Uncle Festus coming up the road. I'll ask him to help me." Cooper knew he had a better chance of handling a knife with his uncle, as opposed to either of his parents. "I'll go ask him now!" The fishy smell wafted past the proud mother, as the boy rushed out of the room.
Matt watched the boy run past the window, toward the road. He stepped up behind his wife, leaning down to nuzzle her neck. "Mmmm, you smell mighty good lady."
With both hands captive to a sticky ball of dough, Kitty was pretty much at her husband's mercy as his hands slid around her waist and slowly dived down the front of her dress. She playfully rolled her eyes back toward him, "Too bad I can't say the same for you; and what are you doing?"
Huge hands pressed her body against his, while his mouth lingered near her ear. "I thought you would remember, but I'd be glad to show you all over again." His hands slipped under her apron, wasting no time pushing the lightweight cotton dress aside. She was always amazed at the way his hands were able to snake their way through multiple layers of material.
"Matt… I have to get this bread ready for supper. Everyone is going…" a tiny but palpable gasp stalled her thoughts. "…going to… to be coming home." She was becoming both aroused—and panicked.
"They'll be at least an hour cleaning those fish, and no one else will be home until dinner time."
Kitty leaned into him, pressing her head back against his chest. "What's gotten into you?" At this point it was a breathless question, not an objection.
Matt reached around her and pulled the gooey ball from her hand, plopping it back into the bowl. "I'm hungry… for cookies." Matt swept his beautiful redhead up into his arms—puzzled look, messy hands and all—taking the stairs toward the bedroom two at a time.
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"I swear if one more person had asked me why we didn't have any bread with supper, I was going to have to shoot them…or you!" Kitty slipped into bed, briskly rubbing her hands across her arms to absorb the lotion from her nightly ritual.
Matt raised up far enough to pilfer a kiss, "You loved it." His mischievous grin matched the wriggling brows. "Remember what the good book says, man does not live by bread alone."
There was no sense in traveling down that path of conversation any further. Her husband was incorrigible, pure and simple. "Could you at least explain to me what cookies have to do with anything?" Her smile wasn't one of disapproval, just satisfied curiosity.
"What would you say to having another baby?" Matt propped himself on one arm, as he watched her stunned reaction to his question.
"What?" Kitty sat perfectly still, her glistening arms falling limply into her lap.
Matt laughed softly. Taking advantage of Kitty's temporary shock, he placed another kiss to her partially opened lips. "Cooper was asking me about babies."
The shock passed and her mouth fell open in surprise, "The Talk? You had The Talk with him? Oh no! He's too young to know about… about those things. Matt… he's still my baby!"
Kitty was working her way to tears and the Marshal knew he had to derail the sob-train before it came into the station. "No-no! Not the talk, honey. Not yet. What he wanted…was for me to…to put a baby, a baby brother…." He reached over, letting his long fingers span across her stomach. "…In there."
Her lids closed, her body relaxed and she uttered a sigh of relief. "Oh, is that all. Ever since Lena Rachel had a baby boy, that's all Cooper has talked about." She stopped, cocking her head to one side. "What does that have to do with cookies?"
Matt Dillon reached for his wife, pulling her into his arms. "Well, it seems as though Katy Smullens gave Hank Finney some cookies; and now she's having a baby." He could feel the laughter causing Kitty's body to shake. "It's okay, because Cooper figured out it was the 'sleeping together' that made the babies, not the eating of cookies. But he can't figure out why, 'we don't have a whole passel of em'."
By now, Kitty had buried her face in Matt's broad shoulders to muffle her laughter. Waking two children at this hour was never a good idea.
The laughter eventually waned, but she continued to rest her head on him. Kitty loved the sound of his voice as it rumbled up his chest, echoing in her ear. "Kitty?"
The wispy tendrils of sleep were teasing her body as she nestled peacefully against him.
"Hmmm?"
"You still didn't really answer my question."
"What was that?" There was a sleepy innocence in her tone.
"What would you say to having another baby? Another boy would be nice." Matt waited, but the only disturbance in the overall silence, was the soft, gentle sounds of her sleeping. He brushed a few stray hairs from her temple and replaced them with a kiss. "It's okay, sweetheart; we can discuss it later."
TBC
