3 – The end all be all

AN: Thank you everyone for the nice reviews. You are much too kind and I do appreciate it. And a special thank you to Mommoo. You are terrifically sweet and obviously very intelligent as you love Matt and Kitty too.

The young man stood on the boardwalk in front of the jail for a few minutes sizing up the town he was now in charge of. Life had taken him on some strange twists and turns but he'd finally found his place in the world. And it was here in this muddy little cow town called Dodge City.

Oh there were times he didn't think he'd make it and times he didn't want to make it. There were times when he was with her that he was content with his life as it was. But as he looked back on it now, he realized he wasn't supposed to be with her. She was pretty and all with that long blonde hair and big blue eyes. And she was sweet and smart and more than willing to be with him but there was something missing. A connection gone that should be there in order for it to work between them.

That same missing connection had driven a wedge between him and every other girl he'd had any involvement with. Well, that and the fact that he told them up front that he wouldn't marry them. When he'd told her that, it didn't seem to daunt her at first and it'd made his attraction for her stronger. But, like all the others, she eventually began to demand more of his time and his attention than his job allowed. The last night he'd seen her, was the night she'd demanded that he take off his badge and marry her.

He'd tried to reason with her, patiently explaining yet again he reasons for not marrying or having a family but she refused to listen.

"We made plans!" She declared. "You were going to work this job of yours long enough to get us a stake and then we were going to get married. Why are you backing out of it now?"

"I'm not." He shook his head, trying hard to control his temper. "And I never promised to marry you. I told you from the beginning that I would never marry. I thought you understood that."

"What I understand is that you led me to believe that we would be together." She barked at him with a glare.

"And we have been." He glared back. "But this is as far as I'm willing to go. I can't marry you. Please, please understand that."

But she hadn't understood and when they parted that evening, it was for good. He didn't regret his honesty; he made it a point to be honest in all of his dealings. And he didn't regret his decision not to marry her. He didn't think he had it in him to be a husband and father. But he did regret the hurt he saw in her eyes when she walked away from him. He'd never wanted to hurt her.

But that was over now and any plans he now held for the future, did not include her or any other woman. From this day forward, he would keep his dealings with all women on a strictly business basis. It was safer that way.

Just then, his stomach loudly grumbled. "Speaking of plans." He mused softly to himself. "I think I have plans for breakfast."

As he crossed the muddy street towards the café, the stage rumbled by. He gave it scant attention. Stages came through the ever bustling town two or three times a day and each time it belched out gamblers and cowboys and ladies of the night as well as farmers and any other number of people trying to get from one place to another. Unless he was looking for someone in particular, he seldom paid the stage any notice.

This morning his only plans involved a big breakfast at the café, maybe some checkers with the town doctor and a few circuits around town with his assistant. There was nothing and no one on that stage that he had any interest in or planned to pay attention to.

Until he saw the young red head get off the stage, accept a small valise from the driver and slog her way down to the café.

The young woman offered a brief smile to the driver as he handed down her bag and gave directions to the café. But that smile soon took a downward turn as she looked around at the bogged down streets and drab gray buildings of Dodge City. She'd been in worse towns but that didn't make her like this one any better.

Since she'd taken off on her own two years previous, she'd seen a lot of worse, worse towns, worse people and worse attitudes toward women, her kind of woman in particular. But she'd kept her head up and constantly looked forward and not back. She really had nothing behind her to look back for. The only man she'd ever thought she loved had used her and, she found out later, cheated on her while he had her entertaining men to absolve him of his gambling debts.

She was glad she was away from that situation. Of course, over the last two years she'd been in other situations like it and even worse. But at least those times her heart wasn't involved. The things she'd had to do to survive had been difficult and sometimes the things she'd experienced had been downright cruel. But she hadn't had her heart broken again during those times. Her heart was something she was not willing to extend any longer to anyone. Especially not a man.

She didn't need a man. She didn't need anyone or anything that would bring her that kind of grief again. What she needed was breakfast and another stage ticket to anyplace but here.

The driver had said there would be a couple of hours delay before the next stage would leave so taking another glance around her, she picked her way through the muck and mire to the building the driver had pointed out and went inside. Looking into her reticule, she saw she had about 40 dollars left. Not enough to get her much further but at least it would get her out of this town. As the waiter delivered her toast, egg and coffee, she made plans to eat breakfast and then get back on the stage and leave.

Until she glanced up from her meager breakfast and saw a tall man wearing a big Stetson sitting at a table across from her.

The young lawman tried hard not to look directly at the stunning girl who was sitting mere feet away from him. But it was mighty hard. He'd never seen a girl with hair quite that color or eyes that blue or porcelain skin like hers. But there was more besides beauty to her and it held his attention more so than the huge breakfast he'd ordered. This girl had something undefinable that trapped him before he knew it and though he made no moves towards her, he resolved somehow, someway, he would get to know her. He planned on that for sure.

The young woman was careful not to stare at the big man but it was an impossible task to keep from looking entirely. He was not only the biggest man she'd ever seen but also the best looking. With dark curls framing his head and beautiful blue eyes and just a hint of dimples when he briefly smiled up at the waiter, her heart practically leapt for joy at the sight of him.

Why he caught her attention, aside from his obvious physical attributes, she wasn't sure. But she knew, deep down, in a place that knew no logic, that there was something about that man unlike any other she'd ever known. And since her mother had died, she had known a lot of men. But this one… this was one different.

Finishing up her breakfast, the young woman paid for her meal, gripped her travel worn bag and hastily left the café. As she walked away, she knew her previous plans had now changed. She now planned on finding a place to stay and a job to sustain her while she found out more about the tall dark haired man that drew her like a moth to a flame.

Best laid plans.

A year later, the graying physician stood at the bar of the Long Branch and glanced fondly at the two people sitting at a back table talking. They were making plans to go fishing on her next day off. He didn't know if those plans would fall through as other plans had, or if they'd succeed this time. But he was fairly certain in the long run it wouldn't matter.

Those two, whether they acknowledged it yet or not, were head over heels for each other. He had a pretty good idea that they wouldn't be saying their 'I do's' anytime soon and he knew that more times than not, any plans they made would probably be set aside when that young man's badge called.

But he wasn't concerned so much with the time it took, as long as it happened. Because, he had plans to walk a certain young lady down the aisle and give her away to a certain young man.

End