The Mark of Cain

I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.

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"Morning, Sam." Kitty called as she descended the stairs and crossed the room to the coffee pot sitting on the bar.

"Good morning, Miss Kitty." He gave her a puzzled look. "You're up awful early this morning?"

"Don't remind me," Kitty groaned. "I promised Doc I'd go out on a call with him this morning. Mrs. Birchfield's about due and Doc thinks it could be today. He's going to go check on her and asked me to go with him in case it is her time and he needs help."

Sam nodded just as Doc walked in. "Morning, Kitty, Sam. You about ready to go, Kitty?"

"Sure am, Doc. Get yourself a cup of coffee while I grab my hat and my handbag."

"While Kitty dashed back upstairs for her things, Sam looked over at Doc. "Miss Kitty said you all were going out to the Birchfield's?" He asked rather fretfully.

"Yeah, Sam, we are." Doc poured himself a cup of strong black coffee. "I'm kinda worried about Mrs. Birchfield. She didn't look too good when I was out there last week. I warned her to stay off her feet as much as possible and leave the heavy work alone but I'm not sure she listened to me."

Sam nodded with a brow even more furrowed than usual. "Is Mr. Birchfield gonna be there? Cause if he is, you all might run into problems. He doesn't come in here, or any saloon that I know of, but I've ran into him around town. He never has a pleasant thing to say to anyone and looks angry most of time. I've also heard tell that he's pulled a gun on folks when he thought they'd disrespected him. I'm concerned with you all going out there."

With a swipe of his mustache and a sip of his coffee, Doc shook off the barman's fears. "Oh, don't worry about us, Sam. We're just gonna go out there and check on Mrs. Birchfield. You know she's lost two babies already and I'm afraid if she goes into labor alone…." He sighed sadly. "Well, I just want to make sure, is all. Besides, Cain won't even be there. From what I was told, he took the stage to Wichita a couple of days ago and hasn't come back yet."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Doc." Sam attempted a smile. 'But still, with the Marshal and Chester out of town…."

"What about the Marshal and Chester?" Kitty asked as she crossed back over to the two men.

"Oh, I was just saying with them out of town, you two should be careful when you go out today." Sam answered trying not to show just how worried he was. Even knowing Cain Birchfield was gone, didn't lessen his concern.

'Oh, we'll be fine, Sam." Kitty took the thought of danger no more seriously than Doc did. "You ready to go, Doctor?"

"Let's go." Doc replied as he extended his arm to Kitty and they left the saloon.

Sam watched them go with a troubled mind. Something just didn't feel right to him. But with Miss Kitty gone, he had to stay and take care of the Long Branch. Shaking his head, he went back to work.

"What were you two going on about?" Kitty asked curiously as she settled into Doc's buggy and he started it off down the street.

"Oh, he was just worried about Cain Birchfield." Doc shrugged.

"Well, what about him?" Kitty glanced over at Doc with a concerned frown.

"Oh, nothing really." Doc shrugged. "It's just that he's got a pretty bad reputation around town and Sam was afraid of what would happen if we ran into him today."

"What would happen?"

"Nothing," Doc replied easily. "Cause he won't be there. He took the stage out to Wichita two days back and he won't be home till late this week, from what I've heard."

Kitty nodded with an easier breath at the news and sat back in the seat, enjoying the ride out in the country.

Three hours later, they pulled up in front of the dilapidated farmhouse the Birchfields called home. "Doesn't look very prosperous around here, does it?" Kitty noted.

"No, sure doesn't," Doc took a swipe of his upper lip as he climbed down from his buggy and headed around to help Kitty down. "Cain seldom has more than two cents to rub together at one time."

"Then how'd he get the money to take the stage to Wichita?" Kitty asked; puzzled why a man would spend money on a stage ticket and yet leave his wife without food or care.

"That's a good question," Doc tugged at his ear as he reached in for his medical bag.

"That's also none of your business." A gruff voice sounded from the porch.

Looking up, Kitty and Doc saw Cain Birchfield standing on the porch with a rifle pointed at them. "You two get in the house," he ordered. "NOW!"

TBC