Chapter 6
Kitty had a real breakfast that morning, not much of one but at least it was food this time. Sam came in at his usual time and began to prepare for opening.
"Did you hear about Angus Farley?" he asked his boss.
"No, what about him?" Kitty asked.
"I heard he got drunk at The Lady Gay last night and got himself shot. He's up at Doc's," Sam replied.
"Oh no," Kitty said, genuinely sorry to hear the news but also secretly relieved it had not happened at The Long Branch. She had witnessed many shootings in her years at the saloon, and it never ceased to be a horrifying experience.
She instantly thought of her friend, Martha Farley. She had tried so hard to get Angus to stop drinking. How awful this must be for her.
"Sam, I think I'll go up to Doc's and check on Angus," she said. "Maybe see if he needs me to do anything for Martha. Can you open up?"
"Sure, Miss Kitty," he replied.
Kitty walked up Front Street toward Doc's, briefly stopping and looking over at the jail on her way. She didn't see any activity. Why hadn't he come to see her? Was he still that angry, or was he just avoiding conflict? She took a deep breath and continued up to Doc's office.
She was surprised to see Chester sitting with Angus, who was sleeping. After digging the bullet out and determining that he was probably going to make it, Doc had given him a strong dose of laudanum. He had been drifting in and out ever since.
"Hi Chester" Kitty said. "I didn't expect to see you here. Where is Doc?"
"He and Mister Dillon went out to the Wilder place," Chester explained. "It's just an awful thing, Miss Kitty. Miss Wilder came ridin' up and said Jonathan was hurt real bad, he musta had some kinda accident."
"You mean Mrs. Wilder?" Kitty asked, envisioning a very pregnant woman galloping a horse.
"No, Miss Abigail Wilder—Jonathan's sister. She just came here from Wichita and is stayin' with him and Sarah for a while," Chester said. "We met her yesterday when they came into town."
Kitty realized that must have been the young woman she had seen with Matt. Poor Sarah—it was hard enough getting ready to deliver a baby without something like this happening.
"Oh, how terrible," she said. "I certainly hope Jonathan is okay. "
She looked down at Angus, a big bandage on his side and the scraggly, worn face of a man who had been on a bender. Her life may not be perfect, but she couldn't imagine what Martha and Sarah must be going through. Her heart ached for both of them.
Chester saw Kitty looking at Angus and said, "Doc asked me to stay here with him. Mister Dillon feels terrible about shootin' him, but he didn't have no choice. Angus was drunk and fired first. It's a real shame."
"Matt shot Angus?" Kitty asked, having not even considered that possibility.
"Well yeah, Kyle Dooley came and told him there was trouble at The Lady Gay, and when he got there Angus was all crazy and wavin' his gun around at this saloon girl and another fella. After it was all over, Mister Dillon had to ride out to tell Mrs. Farley. He didn't get back 'til late."
It seemed like a whole lot had been going on in Dodge that Kitty didn't know about. No wonder Matt hadn't been by to see her. He had been too busy doing his job, with people's lives hanging in the balance. Nobody appreciated that fact more than she did.
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Matt and Abigail sat alone in the kitchen. After moving Jonathan into the house, everyone had been hovering around his bed and it was making Doc nervous. He asked that only Sarah stay, and he would let them know as soon as he had some news.
Abigail stared straight ahead with a blank look on her face. Matt was very sensitive to others' pain, though that wasn't always evident. Not knowing what to say in the face of negative emotions, he frequently said nothing. It was better than saying the wrong thing.
Finally, Abigail broke the silence. "He practically raised me, you know."
Matt smiled at her. "Is that so?"
"Yes," she said softly. "When our mother died I was six and he was ten. Our father did the best he could, but he had to work most of the time just to put food on the table. Jonathan was the one who saw to it that I was dressed for school, did my homework, cleaned up after chores. He was like a little mother hen."
"He's a fine man," Matt said. "I'm sure you're very proud of him."
"If he doesn't make it, I will have lost the three most important men in my life in two months," she said. She was still staring straight ahead, talking in almost a monotone.
"Doc is the best there is," Matt said encouragingly. "Your brother is in good hands."
She didn't respond, instead looking at the floor. Suddenly she looked up and said, "Are you married, Marshal?"
The question caught him off guard. "No Ma'am," he replied.
He started to explain. To say that he had a dangerous job, that he was gone a lot, that that he had no right to subject a family to that kind of life. All the things he had told Kitty, and a couple of others before her. A speech he had memorized by heart. But he stopped himself—this was not about him.
"Is there a woman in your life?" she asked.
Matt shifted uncomfortably in his seat, fumbling with his hat. "Um, well, I, uh…" He was clearly not prepared to answer that question.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," Abigail said honestly. She normally wouldn't be so forward with a man she hardly knew, but this day had been anything but normal. She needed comforting, and the man sitting across from her had kind blue eyes and a gentle manner that told her he was one of the good ones.
"That's okay," Matt said.
"I was just thinking how Jonathan and Sarah met so soon after he moved here. It was like they were destined to be together." she said.
"Yes, we went to their wedding," Matt offered, realizing the "we" had slipped out as soon as he said it. Abigail noticed but didn't call attention to it.
"Love is a funny thing," she said. "It can come along when you least expect it, and it can leave the same way."
Matt thought about that for a few seconds. "I suppose so," he said, remembering what Chester had said about her beau in Wichita.
"I was sure I had found the perfect man a few months ago," she began. "The first time I saw him I thought the sun rose and set in his eyes. It's hard to explain, but it was like my heart came alive that day. I know it sounds silly, but it's the God's honest truth."
It didn't sound silly, and she didn't need to explain. Matt understood that feeling.
"He said he felt the same way about me," she continued. "We had big plans—we were going to get married, and he was going to show me his world. Ben loved to travel and said we would go places I had never even imagined. Our life was going to be one big adventure, and I dreamed about it all the time. I'd never been out of Wichita until I came here."
She stopped there, and Matt wondered if she was planning to continue. Should he say something? He was perfectly comfortable with silence, but this woman seemed to need a sympathetic ear, and maybe someone to care about what she was going through. She was facing the prospect of losing the last member of her family, after all. He decided to go against his nature and ask something personal.
"What happened between you and Ben?" Abigail appreciated the caring tone of his question.
Abigail thought about how to answer that. "I suppose life happened," she finally said. "Ben was restless, and he wanted to get out of Wichita. He was ready to start that adventure. I was too, but I had my father to consider. Ben said he could go live with his sister in Salina, but my father didn't want that. I knew he didn't have very long, and I couldn't just leave him in some strange town while I went off with a man, no matter how much I loved that man."
"So he just left?" Matt asked incredulously.
"He said he loved me, but it had been six months and he was tired of waiting for me to be available to do all the things we planned," she said sadly. "We were barely in our 20's, and I told him we would have plenty of years to do all those things. But apparently I wasn't worth waiting for. So our big adventure became his alone. The ironic thing is, my father died three weeks after he left."
"Does he know that?" Matt asked.
"Not that I'm aware of," she answered. "I don't even know where he is. It doesn't matter, really. He made his choice."
"I'm sorry," Matt said. "And if I may say so, Ben is a fool."
He wasn't merely trying to make her feel better, he thought the man had made a huge mistake. Matt knew from experience that a beautiful, smart, independent woman with that kind of selfless devotion didn't come along in a man's life every day. And when she did, you didn't let her go that easily.
"Thank you for saying that," she said with a smile. "Though I'm the one who feels like a fool. I shouldn't have been so surprised that he left without me."
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because it's a man's world, Marshal," she explained. "We all want to feel like we're special and our needs matter, and I suppose if we're lucky enough to find a good man we'll get to feel that way sometimes. But a man's needs come first—a woman learns that early in life. It's just the way it is."
TBC