Chapter 1 – At Last Time to Relax
Dodge City wasn't always the Queen of the Kansas cow towns, but the cattle trade has expanded every year since Matt Dillon was named marshal. With only the jailer Chester Goode to assist him on any regular basis most of the work during the season, as it came to be known, fell squarely on the big man's shoulders from the early arrivals in March trying to get a leg up on their more established competitors to the stragglers in October and November who scrounged together whatever herd they could, whether they obtained them legally or not. The town's many saloons, gambling dens and dance halls overflowed during the height of this annual influx of cattlemen and associated hangers on. Naturally, the area's only doctor had more than his fair share of business from the resulting knifings and shootings.
That's where things stood in late October of 1872 five months after the tall lawman's 32nd birthday at the start of his seventh year as US Marshal headquartered in Dodge City and also by extension the local law as well. This particular Saturday dawned bright and clear and unseasonably warm. The swarms of men, girls and cattle who descended upon the town for the season had tapered off to a relative trickle so the previous night Matt had asked the red-haired owner of the Long Branch, the classiest saloon, Kitty Russell, to take some time off to go on a picnic with him and maybe a little fishing by the Arkansas at a little secluded spot about five miles from town. Judging from the weather, Matt thought, God must have approved of this hard-working couple taking time off to relax. By evening they'd both be hard at work again.
After giving Chester his instructions on their way back from breakfast, Matt strolled over to Moss Grimick's stable to arrange for a buggy to drive to the chosen spot along the riverbank. Moss promised to leave it behind the Long Branch in an hour. It would be ready and waiting with their fishing gear even if Kitty hadn't quite got her day started. He needn't have worried about any delay. He spotted the beautiful redhead crossing the street from the saloon with Doc Adams to eat her own breakfast and arrange for a picnic basket from the café. It was definitely a very promising day.
An hour later, as Matt handed his lady fair into their carriage he couldn't help but feel like the youth he'd been during that year or so after he'd first come to Dodge on his way to adventure and possibly romance farther south and west. He'd found adventure all right and even some romance, but he reckoned he'd be a married man with a passel of young'uns had he met Kitty while a lad in Texas working as a cowboy for the Fallon family, the folks who fostered the gangling, wild and starving youth. Although both of them had lived for a time in that large state, he joined the Union Army not long after her arrival. He did remember catching a glimpse of a fetching young girl with flaming red hair when a stage passed within a few feet of his cavalry unit. He could never be sure, but he was convinced that was his first peek at the young woman who now possessed his heart even if the oath he swore when he took up the badge he now wore prevented him from making what they had official and as permanent as the life of a lawman with his reputation allowed.
As the sun climbed higher in the sky and their stomachs began to grumble the couple turned from the sunny riverbank to where they'd spread out their blanket under the shade of a stand of cottonwoods. First, however, while Kitty got their picnic lunch ready, Matt cleaned the fish they'd caught and would bring back to town to share with Chester and Doc for supper. He placed them on a line in the moving stream to keep them fresh until they were ready to turn toward home.
"You're just in time, Cowboy. Come. Stretch out beside me. Once I've got some food in you I'm sure there's something we might do to wile away the time that will be more than enjoyable for both of us."
The man so well hidden behind the badge he wore over his heart smiled that certain boyish grin in response to her invitation. Responsibilities were forgotten, at least for the next few hours. Until then all that mattered was the two of them even if a part of him was always the ever alert lawman.