Complications Prologue
I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.
AN: This is a love story about two people who were meant to be together no matter the complications that come their way. That is ALL this is. Please keep this in mind if you choose to read this story.
Oh, and one more thing. Please remember everyone, this is fiction. So if I didn't get something completely historically or geographically correct, I'm sorry. But I didn't promise you rose gardens or absolute perfection.
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The day was sunny and warm. Not too hot and not too cool. Just the way Kitty liked it. That is, if Kitty had of been around to enjoy it.
But as Matt stood solemnly by her grave side, he grieved for all the things, like this day, she'd never be able to enjoy again.
"Papa." Matthew Junior tugged at his sleeve. "We'd better get back. Jane's gonna have our heads if we're late to supper."
Matt looked into the eyes of his oldest son, seeing the same color and shape as Kitty's. "Yeah, I guess so." He sighed. "Don't want to make your wife mad."
Matt Jr. grinned. "Nope, sure don't. Besides, your granddaughter has been waiting all day for you to sit down and have a tea party with her."
Matt chuckled, in spite of himself. His redheaded, spitfire of a 6 year old granddaughter was in many ways a tiny replica of the woman she was named after, not only in looks, but in temperament as well.
Little Kate was beautiful, red headed, blue eyed and sweet natured. She was patient and kind and gave her heart easily. She defended those she loved and faced terrors that would send other six year old girls scrambling. Terrors like the big dog next door, who constantly barked and lunged at the front gate anytime someone walked by, was nothing to Kate.
But Kate could be a handful as well. She wasn't easily fooled and but was easily angry when someone tried. Though loving, she demanded a respect for that love and usually got it. Yep, she was just like Kitty.
As Matt and Matt Junior turned away from the grave, Matt looked down the hill to the buggy waiting at the gate. His second oldest boy, Samuel was sitting patiently inside, ready to drive them home. Samuel had taken his mother's death hard, harder than Matt Jr. or his sisters Emma and Rachel. He had been closer to Kitty than his siblings. Not because Kitty loved them less or because they loved her less, but there are just some times that a heart connects with another in a way that it doesn't with anyone else. It was that way between Kitty and Samuel from the day he was born.
As Matt stepped slowly down the hill and climbed into the buggy, he turned his head and gazed once more on the final resting place of the woman he'd loved for most of his life. It hurt to leave her there. No matter how happy he was to be in the midst of his children and their families, his joy was tempered with the sorrow of losing her.
"You ready, Papa?" Samuel asked as his father climbed in beside him. His eyes remained focused straight ahead. He never let his gaze travel up that hill to where his mother was lying. It hurt too bad to do that.
Matt sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."
Matt Junior claimed his horse from behind the buggy and mounted up, following along behind, thinking about his parents and the life they'd lived. It hadn't been easy, that was certain. It had been fraught with perils and adventures enough to kill even the most seasoned of life's travelers. But somehow Matt and Kitty Dillon had made it through.
They had raised four children, ran a successful businesses and his father had a trunk full of awards and honors bestowed upon him for his work as both a US Marshal and also a high ranking official in the fledgling Intelligence community out of Washington.
However, Matt Junior knew none of that was as important to his father as the life he'd had with his mother. She had been the glue that held everything together. That had held Matt together, the many times he'd thought he'd fall apart.
Their lives had been complicated and filled with angst and humor as well as grief and joy, but always covered with love. Not only love for everyone around them, but more specifically their love for each other. They sometimes paid a high price for that but they had always declared that it had been worth every hit they had ever taken.
Though he wasn't one to linger in the past too often, Matt Junior thought about the conversation he'd had with his mother, not too long before the heart attack had claimed her. She had told him about a set of events that had taken place that had complicated her life tremendously. But it had also changed it and brought her and his father to the place that they needed to be, in order to bring them the life they were meant to have.
It had all started on a late summer day. Kitty and Matt had known each other for seven years by then, both as friends and as lovers and it seemed that, though imperfect, their life would always remain as it was right then.
But that was until Kitty got that letter.
TBC