Chapter 1 – Who is Thad Farron?

Kitty Russell finally got the chance to sit and talk to Matt Dillon alone after Thad Farron was asleep for the night. They sat at the round table in her rooms sipping brandy and contemplating a night together. She knew she owed him an explanation that went well beyond the questions her recent actions raised. It meant reliving her life in Abilene just before she came to Dodge City, spotted him and decided to stay. She took a deep breadth and cuddled against his bare shoulder, moving closer to his body as they sat side by side on her big brass bed leaning against the headboard with their feet out in front of them.

"Matt, I know I owe you an explanation of my recent trips out of town. I'll start with the easy part. No, Thad's not my son and yes, I killed his father – in self-defense. I've already told you I don't want the reward. You also know enough about my past that it's no surprise I worked in the Silver Slipper in Abilene before coming here. It's where I got to know your friend Bill Hickok and also Tucker Farron and his wife Ellie.

That Abilene saloon was a vast improvement on the New Orleans riverboats and the Alhambra in Laredo where, no thanks to my father, the L'Hommedeus forced me to work and entertain men I would have rather not taken a second look at. I made my way there disguised as a cook's assistant on a cattle drive. If I hadn't managed to escape, I might be dead instead of the owner of the Long Branch. The only thing I'm grateful to the L'Hommedeus and their employees for is they allowed me to work in Abilene for the remainder of the War Between the States. You know that's where I met Sara Baxton and Claire Hollis. Claire and I turned out to be luckier than Sara or Ellie. We kept our independence and escaped the beatings at the hands of husbands who thought they were doing the saloon gal a great favor by marrying her.

Ellie, a girl my age, came to Kansas from Missouri because it offered her a better chance to earn any kind of living then the small town where she grew up. Her family and their farm were wiped out during a fight between Quantrell's Raiders and a bunch of Jayhawkers. We met when Jim Witherspoon hired her despite her lack of experience. We had a lot in common and soon became close friends, sharing everything including the men - locals, cowboys and drifters with reputations for not necessarily being law abiding.

Tucker Farron was one of them and one of the handsomest and most charming. I wasn't fooled, but Ellie was. She was much more accepting and naïve than me, believing him to be her ticket out of the life we led. She easily fell in love with him and, much to my surprise, he proposed. Once they married, his true nature surfaced and, of course, she told me all about it. Despite all my efforts to discourage him, he still tried to pay me for my time. I told him time and again how much I loathed him, which only seemed to challenge him. By the time Ellie could see him for what he was he'd gone off to rob a bank or train somewhere and she was with child. With all the rough treatment he gave her when he was around, it's a wonder Thad was ever born.

Ellie tried desperately to hide the truth from him, but others took it upon themselves to tell Farron he had a son. He confronted her, but by the time he did, I, and some of the other girls, took turns hiding the baby. She began to move around Kansas, hiding the boy in each town. I, meanwhile, decided I'd had enough of the saloon life in Abilene and decided to head west. I was hoping to make my way back to San Francisco where Julie Blane, the woman who, along with her husband, taught me the saloon business at the tender age of 12 at their place in New Orleans have lived since before I was packed off to Texas, but got stuck here instead. I kept in touch with Ellie and would see her whenever I could. I always helped as much as I could with Thad. After I became part owner of the Long Branch I hired her. That's when I really got to know Thad and made my promise to her."

"Kitty, I remember Farron coming into the Long Branch when he passed through Dodge and the look of hate you'd give him whenever he did. I also recall Ellie. She worked for you for a couple of years, but I don't remember her having a son or Farron beating her. I'd have thrown him in jail if he had."

"That's because Farron knew I was close to you and was in awe of my ability to stand up to him. As for Thad, as soon as he came close to school age Ellie and I arranged to send him to live with an old friend of her mother's, whom she'd managed to get in touch with. Mrs. Brinkley had a home in the Missouri side of Kansas City where she taught school after her own children were grown. Her husband ran a wholesale produce business. Ellie left here after a year to be closer to her son. She went to work as a file clerk for Mr. Brinkley's manager. Some of my trips east were to see Ellie and Thad. I never told Farron where she was, although he tried to get it out of me. He must have found her some other way because he beat her to death and Mrs. Brinkley sent Thad to me."

Matt understood the obligation to Thad and his mother as one of responsibility and duty and agreed the arrangement with Horace and Mattie Buckley made perfect sense since they lived on an isolated farm. It was unlikely Farron would find Thad or me there, but he did thanks to pure chance. Kitty's confrontation with him, a man who couldn't believe a woman, even a remarkable one, had the stomach for killing, solved one problem. That left the problem of Thad's future. Kitty, with the help of her closest friends, needed to find the best way to help a boy who already was dealing with more than any ten-year-old should remarkably well grow into the kind of man that would make his mother and foster aunt proud.