Expectations!

One

Susan Bart Harris wore the cloak of her middle years with out charm; she looked at the world through hard and suspicious eyes. Her life had been marred by an early disappointment - the having and the
losing of Matt Dillon. She had never been able to get past the loss.

It was twenty-two years earlier that she had first seen the handsome young lawman, that day had changed the course of her life. Her father Randolph Bart had owned the largest ranch in Ford County, it was his private empire and he had chosen to rule it like a king. He treated his daughter as if she was a princess and the pretty little girl grew into a spoiled young woman who had her every wish granted. She had no reason to doubt this would be the case when she set her eye on Matt Dillon. Susan was young and attractive and could offer a prospective husband a bright future. But Matt had been young as well with a youthful idealism that wouldn't allow him to consider his personal life over what he considered his noble higher calling – Duty to the Badge. He told Susan there was no room in his life for anything but the Badge.

Then Kitty Russell came to town and all his youthful ideals were tested - where Susan had demanded his soul, Kitty had been content with his heart, and he had lost that to her almost from the very
beginning.

When the emotions he felt for Kitty seemed to threaten the Duty he felt to the Badge he broke off the relationship, Susan had been a safe substitute, for a few short weeks Susan's world became complete
as Matt focused his romantic attentions back on her. But for Dillon it only meant emptiness in his life because Susan was no substitute Kitty and he sorely missed her. He missed her gentle laughter and
sometimes-bawdy humor he missed the fire of her temper and the passion of her kisses. He missed the part of him that was only complete when he was with her.

It was on a hot summer night that he tried to explain this to Susan. Words spoken to a woman always difficult for him became near impossible. Susan only jeered at him saying, "You go back to your little saloon girl, and when you feel the need to settle down with a real lady, I'll be here." With those words she grabbed him, forcing all the passion she had into a kiss meant to change his mind, but it only confirmed his decision.

When the sad truth came to her that Dillon had made his choices of badge and mistress she left town, going east to attend school and then staying on to live with a wealthy widowed aunt. At the aunt's
passing Susan determined the time was right for her return to father and Dodge City.

She came home to find her father near death, she never knew if he realized she had returned to him. At his death she vowed to complete his dream of a ditch that would divert Bart's Creek, known to the
rest of the county as Silver Creek away from the small homesteaders like the Ronigers and small ranchers like the Watkins. Matt had urged her to reconsider warning her that a range war would result. When she refused he told her she was a `hard-hearted little fool'.

Susan didn't care, for she felt somehow she was exacting a measure of revenge against Matt and anyone else who dared to defy her wishes. She hired a gun and bloodshed occurred, Ford County was on the brink of a full-blown range war. Desperate to end the fighting before it became a bloody disaster, Matt made a careful study of the Bart's deed, and found a loophole. The creek determined the boundaries of the ranch, if Susan diverted the creek it would open up a large
portion of her ranch to homesteaders.

Susan was beaten, and it was a bitter blow and once more she left Dodge. Moon Bar Ranch prospered under the direction of her foreman. Susan having inherited her Aunt's estate as well, could have and do as she pleased, she traveled to Europe, dined with royalty, returned to the United States and ended up in a cold lonely mansion in Boston. She realized sadly something was missing from her life and maybe something was missing from herself as well. She returned to Kansas determined to find it.

Dodge society such as it was welcomed her back with open arms. She was a strong opinionated wealthy woman and she soon found herself heading various committees and organizations, sometimes forced to work alongside another strong opinionated woman – Kitty Russell. The fact Kitty had integrated herself into Dodge society unnerved her. Susan had never been able to see beyond the cheap saloon girl dresses to the woman Kitty had become. She had never been able to understand
the fact Kitty had made something proud of herself through sheer force of spirit.

Kitty Russell was the woman Matt Dillon had fallen in love with, and Susan had never been able to forgive her for that. However she had always been able to console herself that at least she was a
respectable woman while Kitty was little better than a whore and had lead a sinful life.

Now with the simple words of `I do' Kitty had become respectable to even the most God fearing of Dodge City citizens, and that fact served to fuel the fire of hate that had slowly smoldered for twenty
years.

Sterling Harris's heart had broken when his wife had passed away. She had been the love of his life. He had met Susan at a Cattlemen's Association meeting and had been impressed with her no nonsense approach to life, though cold and stern in appearance she remained a handsome woman. There was none of the sweet prettiness that had defined his wife to remind him of her loss. Their union had been a business deal, which had doubled the size of his ranch. Still he missed the comfort of a woman's love and secretly hoped that with Susan he would again find happiness. When she had demanded after the wedding that he send his three motherless children back east to boarding school he had reluctantly obliged, hoping that time alone together, would give love a chance to grow.

GS GS GS

Susan and Mr. Harris sat at a table in Delmonico's that morning finishing their breakfast and listening to the idle gossip being exchanged at the tables around them. The big news seemed to be the Marshal's return with the three members of the Sharlow gang, two of them alive and the other one dead. Word was that Dillon had been injured, but to what extent remained unknown.

Edsel Pry stopped by the Harris table on her way out of the restaurant, "Miss Pry have you heard the latest?" Sterling asked the elderly woman.

"The latest what, Mr. Harris?" she questioned back.

"The Marshal brought in the three of 'em that robbed the stage and murdered the Greenwoods. He killed one, Dillon himself was wounded - no one seems to know just how bad."

Miss Pry listened to the news, keeping a sharp eye on Susan's reaction to her husband's speech. "Has that Greenwood boy been out at the ranch with Miss Kitty all this time?" she queried.

"Yup, as far as I know," Sterling replied.

Susan shook her head in disgust, "That woman taking care of a child, it's just disgraceful, how can they allow it?"

"Mrs. Harris I think you have forgotten she is a married woman now, and has been a respectable member of this community for a good number of years."

"Miss Pry, maybe most of Dodge has forgotten, but you and I have been around this town long enough to remember what she was…"

Edsel looked down her long thin nose at Susan, she raised an eyebrow and responded, "Yes, I recall and I can also imagine the courage it must have taken to raise herself out of those circumstances and make something of herself." She paused and narrowed her already squinty eyes; "It seems to me you were mighty attracted to the Marshal back in those days."

"Humpf." Susan snorted. "That man was only interested in one thing, and when I wouldn't give it to him, he went right back to the woman who would."

"You don't say." Edsel replied skeptically, "Well, I must be going, good day to you Mr. Harris, Susan…"

Susan folded her arms across her chest, she was clearly annoyed with Miss Pry, and furthermore, she couldn't understand why she didn't have an ally in this woman.

"What was that about?" asked Mr. Harris his curiosity aroused.

She was about to answer him when the restaurant doors opened, she looked up to see Matt Dillon filling the frame of the doorway. The morning sun shining behind him haloed his body in light. Susan's
heart skipped a beat, he was like some Greek god, she thought and she couldn't imagine any man alive being more handsome. She was so caught up by his appearance that she failed to notice the little boy with Dillon until he passed by her table tipped his hat and said, "Morning Susan … Mr. Harris." They took a seat at a table directly behind her.

Sterling Harris had watched the cold stern features of his wife's face soften as her eyes fixed on the lawman. A sudden understanding of Susan came to him and it brought a painful twinge to his heart.

Leaning back in her chair, she drank her coffee while trying to hear the conversation between the man and the boy. With some annoyance she ignored what she considered the mindless prattle of her
husband. "Susan I think the time has come to have the children back home, after all we've had enough time to adjust to married life, and Dodge is their home too, it's time to become a family." The waiter
came to give them their check but Susan quickly requested more coffee, in an effort to prolong her time in such close proximity to Matt Dillon.

With his spurs a jingling Festus Hagen entered the restaurant and headed to Matt Dillon's table nearly knocking over a waiter in the process, "Matthew, how's Miss Kitty a feelin' this morning?" he asked
in a loud voice.

Before Matt could answer Christopher piped up, "Guess what Mr. Festus?"

Festus smiled down at the little boy and gave his head a good-natured pat, "What Pardner, did ya up and lose another tooth?"

"Naa –aaa, We're gonna have a BABY!"

The words came to Susan's ears as clearly as if they had been spoken directly in her ear, and caused the coffee to catch in her throat, and blow out her nose, forcing a fit of coughing.