Doc's Dilemma

Chapter 4

Doc knew he must have eventually slept for a while because a knocking on the outer door of his office brought him back to reality. He stood up carefully, his limbs stiffened by the cold air and the uncomfortable position his body had been forced into. He cast a quick glance at his patient in the bed then went to the door. He knew it would be Kitty even before he opened it.

"It doesn't look like you got much sleep last night Doc," the saloon owner commented, noting his tousled gray hair, and bleary eyes. "I brought you some breakfast from Delmonico's," she was looking at him, trying to judge how things were going from the expression on his face. She became more serious as she handed him the small sac of food.

"How is he this morning?"

The physician ran his fingers through his unruly hair, trying to push it towards the back of his head.

"He's holding his own. The fever broke for a while during the night and I think he asked for you. He coughed a little blood too, but less than before."

Kitty had put the coffee pot on the stove, and found a plate to put the food on.

"Here Curly, sit down and eat, I can't afford for you to get sick."
She sat and watched him for a while to make sure he ate the eggs and toast and poured him a cup of fresh coffee when it was ready. Try as she might she couldn't imagine life in Dodge without Matt. Somehow Doc had to see him through this.

xxx

It was later that afternoon. Doc had gone to make rounds on three patients he had to see and left Kitty with strict instructions to keep Matt quiet and still and to try to get him to drink something if he woke up. Other than that she was to keep him cool and let him rest.

She had been reading the newspaper, occasionally making comments that she directed towards the man in the bed, not that she expected any reply but just talking to him as if he was able to listen and understand made her feel better.

The day had been a hot one for the time of year and she had pulled the shade down over the window to keep the sunlight out. She figured it was getting late in the afternoon and Doc should be getting back soon. Dillon began to stir restlessly. She laid a hand on his shoulder, calling his name in a soft soothing voice. "Matt? How're you feeling?" She brushed her fingers across his forehead pushing that one errant black curl back in place. Surprisingly he opened his eyes, and turned his head slowly towards her.

"Kitty?" he asked, the word came out slowly and only after a lot of deliberation.

"Yes Matt." she squeezed his hand and smiled, "I'm here."

"Did Doc…get that bullet out of me."

"He did, but he says it was real close to your lung and you have to stay very still and quiet."

Matt grunted, generally showing disgust and disrespect for the doctor's advice.

He felt his head being lifted and a cool cup pressed to his lips.

"He also said for you to try and drink a little," she added, ignoring his opinion.

He took a few small sips and lay back exhausted.

"How long have I been here?" His voice was a little clearer now that he'd swallowed the water.

"About four days."

"Who's looking after the town?"

"You don't have to worry about that. Doug is doing a good job and he's got Chester and that young man Jed Bowman to help him."

She reached to push him back down as he tried to raise up a little.

"No Matt don't do it, I know you never listened to Doc in the past but this time you need to."

"No, I need to check on.." that was a s far as he got. A bout of coughing consumed him and once again Kitty wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"See what happens when you don't listen." she was so upset that she was halfway angry with him. "Doc and I have spent a lot of time sitting here with you and the least you can do is listen to us."

He wanted to answer but his mind became foggy once more. After a few moments Kitty could tell by the flush in his face that the fever was returning. She took to bathing his forehead with a cloth dampened with fresh cool well water and hoped Doc wouldn't be too long.

As if on cue the outer door to the office opened and Doc returned. He placed his black bag on the old roll top desk and his hat on the stand behind the door. Kitty met him at the entrance to the back room. He could tell by her face she was troubled.

"He had that coughing again Doc, more blood this time and now his fever has returned."

No physician liked to get bad news concerning his patient and he tried to smooth it over as much for his own sake as for hers. "We can expect ups and downs," he told her as he went to wash his hands and collect his stethoscope from the bag he had just put down. He was tired, very tired, he had already lost one patient that afternoon but now was not the time to think about it.

"Kitty, I saw Doug as I came into town. He asked if you would meet him at the jail, he has a favor to ask.

"But Curly,.." she really didn't want to leave now.

"Go on Kitty, I need to check him over and change that dressing. Doug sounded quite urgent so go and see what he wants. I'll take care of Matt."

Truth be told the physician didn't want Kitty there if he found that the Marshal had taken a turn for the worse. There was no way he could break that news to her here and now. He would have to find a way to accept it himself first. He had seen people die from a bullet wound to the lung before. It was a very traumatic event, the patient almost drowning in his own blood before the heart finally stopped beating. He did not want his friend Matt Dillon to suffer such a fate, and iff that was the way it had to be he certainly did not want Kitty Russell to witness it. He would stay with his friend alone if he had to, even though it meant standing helplessly by and watching, knowing there was nothing he could do.

xxx

Kitty had grown fond of Doug Hamilton. Shortly after he had brought Matt back to town, he had been made acting US Marshal, taking over Matt's territory until the Marshal was able to resume his regular duties. They had a common reference point in Matt Dillon, and she saw many of the same qualities in the former Deputy Marshal that she saw in her own Marshal. He was loyal, strongly devoted to the badge, and yet softly spoken and gentle in his ways. She had come to understand that whatever part Gina had played in his episode of misfortune, he still loved her with his whole heart.

She arrived at the office to find him talking to Chester. The jailer looked up and smiled.
"Miss Kitty, come in and sit down, I've got some coffee on the stove." He pulled out a chair for her and she lowered herself into it, surprised at how exhausted she felt.

"I don't think I could drink anymore coffee right now, but thanks all the same," she smiled at him, knowing his next question would be about Matt and when he asked it, she had the answer all ready.

"Not much change I'm afraid, but Doc is with him now."

Chester was worried about his boss. Matt Dillon had been the first man to give him a job and treat him like a regular human being. Others had called him a cripple because of his stiff leg but the Marshal never treated him any different to anyone else and just presumed that somehow he could do everything asked of him. Chester couldn't help but admire the man who treated him so fairly.

"Kitty I need to ask you a big favor," Doug started. "This jail is no place for a woman especially since I now have three men back there. Gina needs a little privacy to attend to … well female things like bathing and clean clothes. I wondered if you could help."
The saloon owner smiled at him. Matt often commented on the fact that the Dodge City jail was no place for a woman. She had a spare room over the Long Branch and would be happy to accommodate the City Marshal's wife if he would remain responsible for her safety.

xxx

Later that evening Gina was enjoying the hot bath that Kitty had had filled for her and was dressed in a borrowed skirt and blouse. She felt clean and well dressed for the first time in weeks. Somehow dealing with Johnny Halstead had always made her feel dirty, she had tried to push it aside but it had always been there. Goodness knows why she had fallen for the young man who would kill for money, when she had the love of Doug Hamilton.

"Kitty," she started, "have you ever felt you'd made a complete fool of yourself?"

The red head laughed, "Many times Gina, what makes you ask?"

"Doug is a good man, he was never anything but kind and understanding towards me, even when he knew I was lying to him about spending time with women from the church. He thought it was all his fault, and he tried to adjust his life to make mine happier, even to the point of giving up the job he loved."

Kitty smiled - at first she thought that Gina was trying to influence her with lies, but looking into the young woman's face she knew she was telling the truth. A few days in a jail cell gave plenty of time for reflection.

"Have you told Doug about this?"

"There's really no privacy back there at the Marshal's office for a heart to heart talk." The woman walked around the room a little. "Tell me Kitty how do you cope with Matt's long absences, and before you deny it, I know how it is between you. I know how you have spent all your time sitting with him in Doc's office since Doug brought him back. I've heard Chester talking and I know how hard it is for you, Matt being hurt and all. Doug told me it was real bad."
"Doc will see him through," Kitty tried to convince herself as much as stop the other woman talking about it. Gina realized she had said the wrong thing and changed the subject.

"I'm sorry Kitty, I didn't mean it to sound like that. How do you cope with this? It always scared me when Doug was away. I was so afraid he wouldn't come back or that something would happen to him. I got so lonely when he was gone on those long trips. I guess I took the easy way out and found other men to occupy my time and stop myself from thinking about it. What do you do?"

Kitty thought - what did she do? Her fears and wants were the same as Gina's. Sure she had the Long Branch to run and when things were busy she could sometimes go as much as an hour or so without thinking of her man. Just hour by hour, day by day, that's all she could do.

"If you really love someone Gina, it is difficult but not impossible. Real love for a person means that whoever else you find, no one can fill the void left when that person is not with you. You just have to wait and hope. I'm not saying it's easy but you learn to deal with it."

She noticed the tears streaming from Gina's dark eyes. "I have been so stupid, so selfish, such a fool, What is going to happen to me Kitty?"

"I don't know the answer to that Gina, but whatever it is you have to accept it and face it with strength."

"Doug told me he would wait for me, whatever the outcome of the trial. He said he would be there for me."

"He's a good man Gina and he loves you very much, just keep that thought in your head and repeat it to yourself every day."

They exchanged an embrace before Kitty stood back and looked at the younger woman. She reached in a drawer for a linen handkerchief and handed it to the dark eyed beauty.

"I have to get ready to go to work soon Gina. You can stay in this room as long as you promise not to try to leave. Believe me it will be a lot more comfortable than the jail."

"I promise Kitty, and thank you for everything."

Kitty left the young woman and went along the hall to her own suite of rooms behind the curtain. She would have time to change her clothes then go up to Doc's before the evening rush started.

xxx

For Matt the passage time had been very blurred. The last clear thing he could remember was some instinct telling him a bullet was headed his way. He had managed to draw his gun and fire at the flash just as the impact knocked him off his horse and he hit the ground. He heard more gunfire but the terrible pain in his chest almost stopped him from taking another breath let alone turn his body to see where it came from. All he could do was lie where he had fallen and wait for that initial vicious pain to subside before he could even think about anything else. He remembered telling Hamilton to watch the prisoner, but after that events became a jumble of disconnected images. Somehow he was in a wagon, every bump in the road was like a hot iron piercing his chest but he knew they were headed somewhere and whoever was driving was pushing the horses to go faster. The wagon had stopped and he was being carried, there were voices that at any other time he would have recognized but now they were just noise, the words incomprehensible. He tried to talk, to ask what was going on, but his voice was locked within him, he didn't have the strength to push it out. The pain was bad, but it got much worse, someone was poking at his chest, he wanted to knock those hands away, they needed to leave him alone. He struggled some more but that only met with a covering being placed over his mouth and nose, followed by a sweet sickly smell. He tried to fight it but he had no strength and at last darkness came.

He had no idea how long he had been lying there but he was cold, shivering and barely able to move. There was a face in front of him but it was distorted and would not stay in focus. More sounds, someone may have been calling his name, it was all vaguely familiar and yet he recognized nothing. Pain became the only constant in his life. From feeling cold and shivering he went to heat, so hot that sweat was blurring his eyes. He was aware of cool hands touching him, cold cloths around his face and chest, the very air was cold and yet his body felt as if he was on fire.

Slowly his vision settled, he tried to turn his head. The familiar but unknown voice was there again. This time he worked really hard and managed to trap the image and the sound together.

"Matt, it's Doc," he heard. Doc, yes that was the voice he recognized. He tried to turn towards it, maybe if he could sit up his head would clear, but something pushed him back, restrained him. There was someone he needed, someone who could help him, an image came to him; the red hair, the blue eyes, she would understand him. He tried to say her name, "Kitty". He knew the sound barely came out because his mouth was so dry. Suddenly there was moisture, a damp sponge that brought some relief and he tried again. The familiar face beside him must have heard because it replied "…be here soon." He understood that but by now he felt the cough rising in his chest. He didn't want to let it out, he knew it would make the pain much worse, but he couldn't stop it. It forced its way through him and pain flooded his whole body. The darkness behind his closed eyes became fiery red flames and he felt something warm and sticky rising in its wake. The cool cloth wiped across his mouth once more, then reality faded and darkness took over again.

xxx

He was trying to surface from the blackness. The pain was there so he knew he was still alive. Something else was there too, a smell, one that was familiar and pleasant. It was the gentle perfume he associated with the woman he loved. He was going to say her name no matter what the cost. First he opened his eyes, searching for her. To begin with he could not focus, but that made him try even harder, finally he made his mouth form her name. He could sense more than see her response. A soft gentle hand took hold of his. He remembered now, he took a bullet, probably from a rifle. His chest hurt so badly, it was as if a hot poker was buried deep in his lung and waves of pain radiated outwards. Maybe the bullet was still in there, what if Doc hadn't been able to remove it?

Carefully he asked the question and was pleased with the reply. If Doc had removed the bullet and he was still alive he would be all right. His next concern was the town. He was here in the bed, what was happening on the street. He needed to get up and check, but a hand pushed him down. Someone else was watching the town, he should relax but he couldn't. He tried once more to sit up but that deep rasping cough returned. He couldn't fight it. He felt the fever blurring his mind again, sleep would soon follow and mask the pain. He sank back on the pillows and into the welcoming darkness.

TBC