Ten
Kitty read the charges and then threw the papers on the bed in disgust; she turned to Matt, "What did I ever do to make her hate me so?" She sat down in front of her dressing table and reached a hand back to rub her neck, which had begun to ache.
Dillon moved behind her and took over the task, "I don't think there is anything they can really use against you and neither does Judge Brooker, he knows you, and what kind of mother you've been to Christopher. This is just Susan's way of making things difficult."
"If you had seen Mrs. Osgood swatting Chris with the newspaper you would have done more than threaten her, and I bet a fair number of Dodge City brides in the past year HAD to get married, as for the Long Branch, well, I did work a couple hours the day you and Chris left for Hayes City. They were short staffed, and I still own a percentage of the place, I had to protect my interests, didn't I?"
Dillon's fingers increased the pressure as he felt the tension building in the tight muscles of her shoulders, "Calm down, Kitty, the Judge isn't concerned and neither am I, if Susan insists on this, the only one she will embarrass is herself, after all, we have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of."
GS GS GS
By frontier standards, the home was a mansion, built with imported limestone. It boasted three stories; the top floor housing a full sized ballroom. Kitty climbed the thirteen steps to the front door and knocked, from inside she heard Susan's voice, "Come right in Miss Pry, I'll be out in a moment."
She walked inside, "It's not Miss Pry; it's me, Kitty Dillon."
There was silence in response followed by Susan's rapid footsteps, "What are YOU doing here? I'm expecting Edsel Pry."
"I thought we should talk."
"You and I have nothing to talk about."
"Let me say my piece and I'll leave."
"Very well," With her hand she gestured toward a door to the left of the main hallway and Kitty entered followed by Susan. The room was a library its walls lined with volumes of unread books; the dark carpet underfoot was thick but lacked warmth despite its luxury and the furniture looked hard and uninviting.
"I'm here to ask you to drop the charges."
If Susan had been startled to find Kitty Russell in her home, she covered it well, what surprised her more was the transformation of the woman herself. Gone were the heavy makeup and the gaudy clothing. The woman before her had a lovely face dusted only with a light coat of freckles; her auburn hair was pulled back in a loose bun with just a few tendrils escaping to frame her face. Her gown was classic gray wool, draped gracefully over her expanding figure and accented by a delicate lace collar. A cameo brooch, pearl earrings and wedding band were the only items of jewelry she wore. She smelled fresh and clean and her scent hung in the air around her.
"They're not only my charges; Martha Osgoode contributed with observations of her own."
"If you tell her to retract her statement she will." Kitty took a step toward Susan, "Christopher needs me, and I need him, you can't take him away from me, from us, not now."
"Seems to me there was once someone I needed, and you took him away." Susan's voice was bitter.
"I didn't take Matt away from you, he was never yours; don't you know that?"
"I loved him, from the first time I saw him, I loved him." Susan confessed honestly.
"So did I, and the miracle of it was, he loved me back, he knew what I was, what I had to be and still he loved me."
"How could he? You were trash." Her words were hissed at Kitty with lethal venom.
Kitty clenched and unclenched her hands, there was nothing she wanted more at the moment than to wrap her fingers around Susan's neck. Reminding herself Christopher was at stake she forced calm to her voice, "That's the thing about love, it accepts, it encourages it gives you the feeling you can do anything, become anything. Susan, Matt and I have waited all these years to have a home and family, there were so many times I thought it would never happen, but now it has. Christopher is a part of our family. If you force him to be taken from us… please … please reconsider."
The side of Susan's face twitched but otherwise remained hard and fixed, Kitty tried another tactic, "You couldn't have changed this much over the years; the woman I remember would never have set out to deliberately hurt someone."
"What do you remember?" Susan scoffed, "I wonder…"
"I remember you were pretty, spirited and a little spoiled, but you had a good heart or at least I thought you did."
She spun at Kitty, "Then why wasn't I good enough for him, why would he pick YOU over me?
For a moment she felt she was talking to Christopher, "Don't you see? There was never a CHOICE in the matter for us."
"But he knew what you were, surely he knew about the men, how could he be any kind of man and not have cared about that?"
Kitty's eyes narrowed slightly and an almost imperceptible grimace crossed her face, "All I ask is you think this over before you do something you would live to regret." Kitty ended simply.
"Is that a threat MRS. Dillon?"
"No Susan, I guess you could call it a prediction." With that Kitty turned and left the room passing Sterling Harris on her way out.
Sterling studied his wife from the doorway for a moment and then entered the room, "Do you mind explaining to me what the hell is going on, why have you set out to destroy that family after all they've been through?"
"My only concern is for the child." Susan stated coldly.
"No, I don't think so." he examined his wife's frigid countenance, "no, I think your only concern is revenge, Why, I'm not sure, but I do know the welfare of the boy is the farthest thing from your mind. As your husband, I am demanding you retract any statement you have made regarding Mrs. Dillon."
"I'll do no such thing." She declared defiantly. She turned to face him with her chin high and her eyes uncompromising.
Grabbing her shoulders, Sterling Harris gave her a shake, "You are a little fool, why do you insist on destroying their happiness and our own?"
She was startled by his force and by the depth of emotion, and for a fraction of a second she wanted to feel the power of his embrace, but pride wouldn't allow such an admission even to herself and she pulled herself free.
"We can't go on like this." Harris said bitterly, defeat apparent in his voice. "I need my family, I need my children. Listening to you and sending them to boarding school was a mistake. I had thought someday we could all be a family."
"Yes, it appears this has all been a mistake." She straightened her spine, "I'll move back to Moon Bar Ranch today."
"That would be best." He agreed, "The sad thing is, it didn't have to end this way.
GS GS GS
Howie the clerk at the Dodge House watched the Dillons climb the stairs hand in hand to Judge Brooker's rooms. He thought to himself that it was a shame they had to worry about this Susan Bart thing, just when they were getting their lives settled.
Answering the door, the judge ushered them into his sitting room and offered them a seat. Kitty told the Judge about her visit with Susan, ending with, "I just don't know what to do; she won't change her mind."
"I can postpone the hearing until after the first of the year – I think if we give Mrs. Harris a little time, she will see the error of her ways." The elderly man smiled at the worried couple in front of him, offering assurance, "A lot of things can happen between now and then, just try not to worry."