You smiled, you smiled

oh and then the spell was cast

And here we are in Heaven

For you are mine

at last

"At Last" Sung by Etta James, written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren

Chapter Ten

Matt stood uncomfortably next to the bar, wondering if it was too early to find Kitty and leave. He didn't care for social gatherings like this, and his own was no exception. He hadn't seen his wife since they'd walked in an hour and a half earlier, when several ladies swooped in and whisked her away to the far end of the room, where she was immediately surrounded by every female over the age of fifteen, all exclaiming over her dress, and the wedding ceremony, and whatever else ladies talked about when large numbers of them gathered together. Since then, every time he tried to find her, he was stopped by someone who wanted to shake his hand, clap him on the back, and tell him what a lucky man he was. He'd give them no argument about that, but right now he was feeling lucky to have caught a few glimpses of the back of her red hair.

Suddenly he noticed Doc heading in his direction. Doc grabbed his arm and tried to yank him in the general direction of the group of ladies. "You need to get Kitty out of here," he said in an urgent tone.

"What's wrong?" he asked, resting his hand on his hip just above his gun. Doc rolled his eyes.

"Nothing you're going to need a gunfight over, hopefully. Well, she's as white as a sheet. I doubt if she's had anything to eat today but wedding cake. Get her away from that hen party and sit her down somewhere before she faints. I'm going to ask Sam to get her a sandwich or something."

"Have him bring it to her office." Matt started for the group of women, stopping for a moment at the refreshment table to pour a glass of water. When he got close enough to see her, it appeared that Doc had been exaggerating a bit. She stood there holding a plate with a mostly untouched slice of cake, an insincere smile on her face. She looked tired and definitely not happy to be there.

"Excuse me, ladies; I'd like to speak to my wife if you don't mind." Kitty felt Matt's hand at her back, guiding her away from the women who had been crowded around her, no doubt looking for some tidbit of information they could use to gossip about the reason for the sudden marriage of the Marshal and the saloon owner after so many years, judging by the number of times the subject of babies and children had been brought up.

"Thanks, Matt, I think I've gotten just about all the housekeeping advice I can use for one day. Apparently they don't think I know how to do anything but pour drinks. Is that for me?" She reached for the water.

"You look like you need to sit down. Have you had anything to eat today?" Matt unlocked the office door and opened it, following her in.

Kitty sank into her office chair wearily. "I'm a little light-headed, I guess," she admitted, sipping the water. "And here I thought you just wanted to be alone with me."

"Well, sure I do. And Doc's seeing about getting you something to eat."

"So the two of you are ganging up on me?" A knock on the door kept Matt from having to answer the question. "Come in."

"Doc thought you could use something to eat." Sam set a plate on Kitty's desk. "That's my fault, Miss Kitty, I didn't even think to see that you had breakfast this morning, with us being closed and all."

"That's all right, Sam. I guess we all had too much on our minds this morning to eat." She reached for the sandwich and took a bite.

"I just wanted to say congratulations again. It was a wonderful ceremony."

"Thank you Sam. Can you stay for a few minutes? I just wanted to talk about a few more things before we go." Matt saw Kitty signal toward the door with her eyes and took the hint.

"Well, I think I'll be getting our bags loaded and the horses ready so we can leave soon. Much obliged, Sam," he said, shaking Sam's hand.

"You're welcome, Marshal. Have a safe trip."

"I'll be back in a little while, Kitty."

"See you later, Matt."

Kitty motioned to Sam to sit in the other chair. "Sam, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you taking care of things for me, and without much of an explanation."

"You don't owe me any explanations, Miss Kitty, most women stop working when they get married. I'm happy to do it." Sam, of course, knew his employer was not "most women."

"Just the same, I'm going to give you one. The papers I had drawn up authorize you to make any decisions you see fit, and that includes selling it." At his startled look, she continued. "No, I'm not ready to put it up for sale yet, but if someone makes a good offer on the place in the meantime, feel free to take it. That includes you, Sam. If you're interested in buying me out, name your price and it's yours."

"That's very generous, ma'am, and I'll sure think that over. Are you sure you want to sell?"

"Well, it's time for me to think about getting out of the saloon business. A saloon and a family don't mix. And I stopped working because Doc wanted me to. What I'm trying to say is-"

"I understand, Miss Kitty."

"You don't seem surprised, Sam. How did you know?"

"I suspected, that's all. You've had that look on your face a woman gets when-well, that a woman gets." Sam had volunteered few details over the years about his personal life beyond what an employer needed to know. Kitty had to wonder what Sam knew about "that look" and hoped the story was a happy one. "I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, Miss Kitty."

"Not at all, Sam. We're both very happy about the baby. Now, unless you have any more questions for me about our arrangement, I think it's time for me to go get ready to leave. Could you help me get through that crowd without getting stopped a dozen times?"

Sam stood as she did, and as she took his arm to leave the office she noticed he seemed a little winded. "Are you feeling all right, Sam?"

"It's nothing, Miss Kitty. Just old age catching up with me."

"Well, promise me you'll go see Doc. Soon, all right? First thing tomorrow."

"I will, Miss Kitty."

Kitty sat at her vanity table, dressed in her green traveling suit. The three saloon girls packed her bags for her while presumably talking about how beautiful the wedding had been-at least that's how their conversation started. She'd stopped paying attention at some point, a fact that she was made aware of when Alice asked her a question. "Ssshh, she's not even listening to us," Dorie said, just loud enough for her to hear. "She's been looking at her ring for the last five minutes." Kitty had to laugh at herself softly. It was true. She'd been lost in her thoughts of the ring and, even more, the man who had put it on her finger just a few hours before, ever since she sat down. She probably would have gone right back to thinking about him, if it hadn't been for something large and furry landing on her lap. Startled, she looked down.

"Well, hello," she said to her orange and white cat, Pumpkin, scratching behind his ears. "I was wondering if you were going to show your face today. I might have known you'd come around for attention right when it's time for me to leave." Pumpkin stretched up on his hind legs, putting his front paws on Kitty's shoulder and rubbing the top of his head against her face.

"That's so cute when he does that," Melody said, rushing over to them, "but he's shedding all over you!" She managed to pry the cat away from Kitty without his claws snagging anything.

"Are you girls sure you don't mind looking out for him?" The girls all assured her that he would get plenty of attention-probably much more than he wanted, she thought. "You be a good boy while I'm gone and don't steal any of these girls' clothes," she told Pumpkin, referring to a habit he'd had as a young cat of taking certain garments of Kitty's while her back was turned and dragging them down to the barroom, usually while the Marshal was there.

"We'll make sure he behaves," Alice said.

Kitty heard the familiar footsteps on the back stairs, followed by a knock on the door. Dorie opened it and the girls excused themselves after Matt stepped in. She stood and they met in the middle of the room. He rested his hands lightly on her shoulders. "Ready to go, Mrs. Dillon?"

"There's one thing I want to do first." She reached up to kiss him and his arms went around her, pulling her closer. "I've been waiting all day for that."

"Now, hold on just a minute. I seem to remember kissing you in the church."

"Yes, you did, and that was a real nice kiss, Cowboy. But can you kiss like this in church?"

"No, and we'd probably better not now, either, if we want to get out of here anytime soon."

Kitty stepped back, disappointed, but just as eager for them to be on their way as Matt was. She pointed at her bags. "Why don't you take them down the back stairs and then come back and get me. We have to leave through the front."

Matt raised his eyebrows at the three bags lined up on the settee but said nothing about them. "Why do we have to do that?"

Kitty picked up her bouquet and pantomimed throwing it. "Tradition. I've caught enough of these things. It's someone else's turn."

Most of the guests were still there waiting when they appeared on the balcony overlooking the downstairs of the Long Branch. Soon the word started to spread through the room. "She's getting ready to throw her bouquet!" Unmarried women and girls moved closer to the balcony in anticipation. Kitty closed her eyes and flung the bouquet over the railing. A loud cheer went up and she could hear Matt laughing behind her. She opened her eyes and saw Doc standing there with her bouquet in his hand and a perturbed look on his face.

"Now, what in thunder am I going to do with this?" he sputtered.

"Thet means yore next, Doc!" Festus said helpfully, poking him in the arm.

"I know what it-I am not next!" Doc said in disgust.

"Are we done now?" Matt asked.

"Yes, I do believe our wedding day duties have been officially carried out, Marshal."

"Well, it's about time. We have a honeymoon to get to." He put his arm around her shoulder and she slipped hers around his waist. Just before they got to the stairs she stopped him.

"Matt? That's a nice suit you're wearing. Is it new?"