Thanks to Grace who since she signed in as a guest I can't thank directly & thank you to all those who choose to follow my efforts.
Chapter 3 – Reflections on What Might Have Been
Kitty and Matt chose to remain upstairs, but Doc ignored his age and escorted their hostess back downstairs. He lasted about an hour before he too decided a bed was just what the doctor ordered despite it being Saturday night. Either way, both men had until Wednesday morning, the next to last day in August, to enjoy the sights. In Doc's case that included Julie Blane.
Doc remembered how Julie made him feel when she visited Dodge back in March so she could meet up with her son Lon and his pregnant wife Amy, who were supposedly in Wichita. In reality Lon was running from the law, including the army, so she'd slipped out of town when his man came for her, leaving the good doctor without a breakfast date. When it appeared that either Amy or the baby or both would be lost, she insisted her son send for medical help. She and Doc spent as much time as they could together from the time he arrived, who, despite employing all his medical skills, couldn't save Amy until she shot her son. Lon had used his newborn son as a shield to keep Matt and Festus at bay, giving her no choice but to save her grandson. The resultant emotional turmoil extinguished whatever spark had ignited between her and the Dodge City doctor. Before the next day had passed, she and the newborn were on a train heading back to the life she'd built in San Francisco. Doc wasn't sure he could rekindle it.
Stephen at nearly six months held nearly all of the attention and time she had to spare away from her House of Cards. There didn't appear to be any chance of getting her to uproot the infant, as well as give up her independence, to build a new life with an old country doctor. Still, he had hopes. After the crowded liveliness of the previous night, late Sunday morning, when Doc finally awoke to witness the gradually disappearing fog, all was peaceful. Thanks to the privacy of the third floor and the new day, anything might be possible when he came into the private kitchen for breakfast. Matt and Kitty had yet to stir despite the baby suddenly piercing the stillness with his demands to be fed and changed, leaving the grandmother and aging physician alone to care for the child Doc had brought into the world.
In truth, they were almost alone. Julie's cook and housekeeper doubled, who doubled as the boy's nanny, were also there. Edna and her husband Charlie Smoot, the chief bartender and bouncer, were the only employees allowed on the third floor. The couple had known Julie since her New Orleans days. They'd followed the Blanes westward when Marc L'Hommedieu persuaded Steve Blane that his pregnant wife was better off in San Francisco.
The senior L'Hommedieu had fired the Smoots as soon as he put his own people in charge of the Blane's former property, which was not long after he and his son took over supervision of Kitty Russell. They had the full approval of her father Wayne even if her remaining parent didn't know the full extent of their plans for her. In his favor, but only slightly, was he'd agreed in the mistaken belief they would continue to finance her schooling and her training in gambling skills. This, although he chose not to see it that way, was offset by the fact the 13-year-old was appropriated in exchange for the forgiveness of his extensive gambling debts.
As they had the evening before, the Smoots attended to their duties and allowed Julie and Doc the privacy to reflect back on the missed breakfast in Dodge and what might have developed between them. What that couple didn't know is that Doc and Julie also pondered what the future might hold for the still relatively young redhead whom they both loved and the not quite middle-aged man with whom she shared her most intimate moments.
"Doc, you have to realize that even if things had turned out differently at that cabin I still would have come back here. The only question would have been whether it would have been just me or if I'd be accompanied by my daughter-in-law and newborn grandson. I've put too much into this place and my independence to leave here for a small town like Dodge City. Would you have been willing to give up your patients, particularly the ones I've met, to start a new practice?"
"Oh pshaw! There were times I've threatened to do just that but those patients of mine you referred to would be mighty upset with me. Kitty'd probably send that overgrown public servant to forcibly bring me back and then follow him just to make sure he did. However, it's tempting when I think I'd be rid of Festus."
"She would, you know! She's not about to let the only man who's been what a father should be to her disappear from her life. Wayne Russell, on the other hand, should have done just that back in New Orleans and allowed her mother's people to raise her. Of course, that would have meant I'd never have had the pleasure of teaching a younger sister all I know about running a saloon. She'd never have been brought to me so I could teach her the things Pan couldn't. Fact is, she'd never have been anywhere near Panacea Sykes either."
"While I taught her a lot, I did fail her when it came to teaching her about men," Julie continued. "Then again, I haven't set a good example in that area. Steve was a good man, but weak in certain ways. I'm not sure how different it would have been with Lon if he hadn't died when the boy was 15. How much do you know about Kitty's life in New Orleans or even after she left but before you met her?"
"Not a lot beyond the fact her mother passed when she was 10 and her father sent her to live with Pan for a couple of years. I assume then she came to live with you until the L'Hommedieus got their hooks into her. I suspect while she was with you she met Cole Yankton. I also know thanks to Billy Critt that she had some connection to New Orleans society. I'm not sure I'd know even that much if all of them, Russell and you hadn't come through Dodge at one time or another. Kitty, like Matt, doesn't share a lot about their past even with their closest friends."
"Kitty's mother was disowned by most of her mother's people, but they did provide enough to ensure she went to a proper seminary for young ladies. I'm sure they would have taken the child back into the fold had Wayne not had his own ideas. Still, Pan and I made sure she continued her schooling, where she got to know Lucy Critt, until Marc L'Hommedieu called in his IOUs from her father. They noticed she was growing into quite the beauty and with brains to match. I wouldn't be surprised if Cole wasn't initially put up to seducing her even if he did eventually at least partially fall for her."
The conversation continued with Doc filling Julie in on what transpired during the visits made to Dodge by every person connected to her New Orleans past while she, in turn, supplied details of the lives of those people Doc mentioned. All of them were connected in some way with Dennis & Marc L'Hommedieu except Billy Critt and his sister Lucy and her maternal relatives. She was explaining how her young protégé split her time between her work at the Blane establishment and life with her friends at the Seminary when Kitty and Matt made their appearance.
Their arms were wrapped around each other's waist as they entered the private kitchen. Both were fully dressed except Matt wore no vest or jacket, and Kitty's hair hung down her back, tied in place by a ribbon to go with her casual skirt and blouse. At the table Matt relinquished his hold long enough to pull out a chair so his beautiful redhead could be seated before he folded his tall frame into the chair next to hers. Julie and Doc smiled at each other at the sight of the relaxed young couple, who, unlike at home, were making no attempt to hide their love for each other.
Once breakfast was served the conversation returned to its original topic. Only this time four people were taking part in it. Finally, Julie posed the questions all the reminiscences had been leading toward.
"Kitty, do you ever wonder what your life would have been had your father turned you over to your mother's people before his gambling debts made you his ace in the hole? Then again, since he elected to make you an asset in his business by having you train with both Pan and myself, would you have remained fully comfortable as a pampered society girl?"
"I can't really say for sure, but the training I received from my adoptive mother and older sister allowed me to survive the life the L'Hommedieus forced me into until I could make my own way. While it was rough and there were times when I almost wanted to die if I couldn't get away from how I was forced to live, that training is what allowed me to believe I could and finally succeed at building my own life. I miss mother, but without all that I endured and learned from the good people along the way coupled with my early social expectations, I would never have found my way to Dodge. Dodge City and the people there who've become my family allowed me to put all that experience to use as owner of the Long Branch."
All three companions around the table smiled broadly at her comment. There was no denying how proud they were of her. Matt even raised his face long enough from his plate piled high with the kind of breakfast only a New Orleans or San Francisco chef could provide, to allow the others to see the love and pride he held for his lady. They felt privileged in that he wouldn't allow such emotions to show if he didn't look on Doc and Julie as part of Kitty's adopted family and, by extension, as part of his.
