Just We Two

Historical Note: In 1887 Bat Masterson was a Deputy US Marshal called in from Dodge where he was working as a gambler and local sports reporter to help quell trouble in Garfield & Gray Counties, with the worst violence occurring in Cimarron that involved John & George Gilbert agents for Asa Soule. He became Ford County Sheriff in a special election following his brother Ed's murder in November 1877. The appointed to his federal post in January 1878 was to replace his predecessor, who was killed in a Long Branch gunfight, H. T. McCarty. Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday lived in Dodge from 1876 until they all moved to Tombstone where the Earps faced the Clantons and McLaureys in that most famous of gunfights. Dodge's first elected City Marshal, Lawrence Degler, who was mayor when Masterson sold his Bridge Street house to his lover Annie Ladue, sold wholesale liquor. John A Martin was Kansas Governor at the time, having been elected in in 1885. Fred Singer was appointed interim sheriff in 1887 and served until the new sheriff elected in November took office in January of 1888. Sr. US Marshal Paxton, in charge of Missouri and Kansas is a figment of my imagination.

For 20 years Matt and I were simply a couple whose close attachment was known to only a few. I never imagined I'd look back on them as uncomplicated until the events leading up to and particularly those that occurred since our June wedding. Before we announced our marriage we simply had to pretend to all but those few closest to us that we were no more than good friends who occasionally walked out together socially and hope the dangers that came with our jobs didn't end everything. This was especially true for Matt who nearly died far too many times to suit me and he could say the same about me when it came to how he felt whenever I was hurt or in danger. Despite thinking I wouldn't I waited until he finally realized that our secret wasn't so secret and we were in danger simply because of how we earned our livings even without any special connection.

Getting off alone was a matter of finding the time. On quiet days like today Matt could leave trusted deputies to handle the daily and yes often dull routine of his job as marshal and I could leave handling the regulars to my saloon's staff could handle the customers. During such times we would sneak off to a secluded spot and hope we wouldn't be interrupted by the sudden appearance of a deputy. Since Matt's planning to retire it should be easier, but although he's willing to spend more time away from the office and the law, our altered circumstances takes some getting used to.

We're not your typical newlyweds, adjusting to being away from our parents, who only have to face possible illness and poverty while awaiting the birth of their first child in a house on a back street or out on a farm. We've led independent lives for too long. Still, I like to think I'm coping better than Matt. Cutting back on my time spent running the Long Branch while embracing motherhood is far easier than his adjusting to publicly acknowledging our deep love for each other while preparing for a change in career from lawman to rancher and judge while also becoming a father. Somehow settling into a home and starting a family is easier for a woman, even me.

I was thinking just that while waiting for him in our apartment. While Matt and I were on our honeymoon in St. Louis Festus and Albert broke through the walls of adjoining the upstairs rooms in my saloon that were home and put in doors so that the brother and sister we adopted not more than a month ago each have a private bedroom. The two men also put in a cook stove and a stairway leading to a door that opens directly into our main room on Matt's side of our big brass bed in the walled off alcove that's now our bedroom. The alcove, with only a curtain at the foot of the bed separating it from the rest of the apartment, was a later adjustment. Originally, one of the kid's rooms was to be our bedroom and the other, slightly smaller one, was to have been for the baby I'm carrying or if I hadn't conceived, a child we adopted.

For a time the layout of the rooms didn't matter while we faced our first crisis, the loss of a child. I, Matt and his seven-year-old sister stayed by our son's bed while Doc did all he could, including a final desperate attempt to save him with a transfusion of Matt's blood. It worked. Nat recovered enough by the start of the trial to testify from his bed that he and his best friend Lester Pruitt, who were playing hooky, had seen Luke Jenkins murder rival drummer Vernon Carruthers.

Now that Nat, our ten-year-old, has recovered enough from his bullet wounds to join Abby in Dodge City's school, we can be alone on afternoons like this, at least until the baby's born. Several pots of water were heating on the stove for our planned relaxing bath in the oversized tub awaiting us in the washroom. A pot of jambalaya was being kept warm for us to eat when we finished our soak. A small fire burned in the fireplace as I removed my clothes and donned a robe just as his footsteps approached our inner door. He'd come up the Long Branch main stairway, something he rarely did in the past.

"Come in Cowboy," I cooed as he turned his key in the lock and opened the door. "I've got everything ready."

"You sure do!" he intoned, having already tossed his hat, jacket and gun belt onto the pegs by that very door. He eyed me appreciatively from head to toe. "Let's see if I can help you get those excess clothes off," he murmured with a twinkle in his eye as he hugged me.

"Look who's talkin' about being overdressed! Just where were you brought up? Haven't you heard of ladies first," I quipped, before I removed his vest, tossed it on the settee, and began unbuttoning his shirt.

I pushed him quite willingly onto that same settee so I could help him get his boots off. Picking up his discarded clothing I dropped it on the floor behind our bedroom alcove curtain. Soon, working together, we'd removed any remaining clothing. I watched approvingly as my tall, muscular husband carried the large pots of hot water to the tub and filled it just enough so we'd be covered with soapy bubbles when we climbed in. Feeling clean and refreshed, Matt pulled the handle of the wooden plug he'd cut and covered with leather, to let the water drain. Thanks to his ingenuity we could rinse off completely without flooding the floor or having to carry the full tub to the nearest window for dumping.

Despite the bath, my man wasn't fully relaxed. One look at his face confirmed it.

"Matt, what's wrong? That bath should have relaxed you completely."

"Ah, Kitty. It's just that even before you told me about the baby on the way, I haven't been too good at protecting my family."

"Matt you've done more than anyone to protect not just your family, but everyone in Dodge. You can't be everywhere at once. All you can do is what's possible."

"The possible isn't enough I'm afraid. We should have married after I retired and we sure should never have started a family. Nat was hurt out on the prairie and then nearly died a month ago because of me and the badge."

"Those escaped Dog Soldiers needed a horse. They might have tried for me again or to kill you but had no idea Nat was riding your horse or that we'd soon adopt him. Luke Jenkins tried to murder two boys because of what they saw him do, not because the father of one of them is a US Marshal."

"Yeah, but it was my horse and Nat is my son. Once Jenkins was locked in a cell, he laughed about me being Nat's pa. He knew I didn't stop him from nearly killing our son and couldn't prove he was the shooter and that's a fact."

"Is that a fact? Well here's another fact – you're wasting an opportunity that won't be coming as often as we'd like because of that family. Now what's wrong?" I added when my husband still hesitated.

I'm scared as big as I am I might hurt you or the comin' baby."

"Now you're being silly rather than just stubborn. I asked Doc. He said at four months there's no danger to me, or the baby, if we engage in marital relations. You can relax."

Maybe we relaxed a bit too much. We lost track of time. By the time we dressed the jambalaya was barely edible and we had at most 15 minutes to eat it before Nat and Abby came home from school. Also, Matt needed to get back to his office and I had work to do to prepare for the evening crowd before returning upstairs to prepare our family supper.

I knew Bat Masterson was back in town, but I was surprised to see him when Matt and I came down the stairs into the barroom. Matt wasn't very happy when Washington made Bat a deputy marshal, but they worked well together while the man was Ford County Sheriff, just like he worked with Wyatt Earp and even dentist Doc Holliday when he had to. I always secretly suspected that Matt strongly hinted the gambler with the cane and fast draw should follow his friends to Arizona when Bat sold his house on Bridge Street to Annie Ladue and made a half-hearted play for me during the summer of '81.

The three last returned four years ago in '83 as gunmen for Mayor Degler, who ran a wholesale liquor store and saloon, with only Bat having a legitimate occupation beyond being gunmen and gamblers as a local reporter. While the dentist was a mere shell of the man he was, he could still shoot accurately and fast as could his fellow gambler Bat. Wyatt had become a bitter man after his brother Morgan was killed and he took over from the now crippled Virgil as deputy marshal in Tombstone in the bitter aftermath following the gunfight with the Clantons and McLaureys. Matt went along with their return as hired guns, but only because the mayor's policies were keeping the Long Branch in business as well.

Bat returned on his own for a time two years later, but this year was the first time he'd returned as a lawman. It seemed he also returned as a gambler since he wanted me to arrange a high-stakes poker game that included George Gilbert, a man Matt had been keeping his eye on but hadn't yet learned anything more than he was the Dodge City agent for Asa Soule. In Matt's mind it spelled trouble for Cimarron in the election for the Gray County Seat on the last day of the month.