TWENTY

A Sunday dinner at the Krump house was Matt and Lettie's next and final date. On that occasion Matilda accompanied him. While the little girl had a good time with Helmut and the rest of the baker's children, it was clear to Matt that Lettie did not. After they'd eaten their meal, she confessed to him, "I like you, und perhaps a part of me vill avays love you … but …" They were sitting in wooden chairs under the grape arbor at the rear of the bakeria. She lowered her head and studied a speck on her skirt. She took a deep breath before continuing, for it is always difficult to let go a dream. "I tink you are too old for me. I am not ready to be mutter, especially to child da age of my own little brother. I tink ve vill be friends." She looked up at him and smiled in full dimple. "You vill find da lady dat makes you happy, und if you need someone to talk wit, den you come to me. Ja? I vill have coffee und da kuchen und ve will talk."

He nodded, smiled and agreed, "Ja." His smile, weak though it was, still had power over her and she wondered briefly if she would ever be completely over Marshal Matt Dillon. She decided silently she would not and she was content with that knowledge.

The young heart has great resiliency. The next day he saw her snuggled up to Jackson Holmes as the pair headed out of town for a picnic in one of Hank's rented buggies. He guessed he should feel some sense of rejection, but the only emotion he felt was relief.

GS GS GS GS

A period of respite hit the cattle town and Dodge was relatively quiet with the only area of uneasiness being the Moon Bar boys, Ricky Bates and Ralph Butler. Investigative work on Matt's part had supported what he'd suspected. Ricky Bates and two other ranch hands working at Moon Bar were tied in with the Sharlow Gang. Although he didn't have hard proof, he was certain Butler was in on it too. With Judge Brooker in town a speedy trial was eminent, held up only by the arrival of an attorney Susan had hired from Topeka.

It was no surprise to Dillon when Susan Barts stormed in his office a day or two later. With out preamble, she pounded her fist on his desk, "I demand you drop the charges and let my men go."

On this day, there was nothing soft left of Susan Barts. She'd given the last 15 years of her life to running her father's ranch - Moon Bar. She'd developed the muscles of a cowhand, her face was weathered from years in the sun and her hair pulled back left no trace of the soft curls which had framed her face in youth. Still, it couldn't be denied she was a handsome woman. Dressed in a calf length split skirt, with matching leather jacket, black boots and a silver trimmed Stetson, she made any man look twice.

He shook his head, "I can't do that. They've broken the law."

"I need them Matt, I'm shorthanded as it is, if I lose them, at this time of the year, I'm in real trouble."

"We have evidence they've been stealing cattle from both the Lonesome U and Ted Honecker's place … most likely from you too, you're better off without them. Look Susan, if we can prove they're part of Sharlow's gang … it goes deeper yet …"

She tried to relax her voice and soften the contours of her mouth, but the edge was hard to lose, "Surely our years of friendship must mean something? I'll be responsible for them … put them in my custody."

"Can't do it, the law's the law. The best I can promise is a fair trial."

Her eyes thinned, until they were as shards of glass, sharp and dangerous. He wondered fleetingly how he could ever have found them inviting. Her voice held a bite, "You never change do you? The law." She spat the word from the distaste it caused in her mouth. "it's all you care about, the law and that damn badge you're so proud of. What has it ever gotten you … what do you have to show for all the years you've dedicated to it?"

Susan Barts functioned under her own code of ethics, in truth, he'd been aware of it back when he'd first come to know her. He'd never been able to get through to her thick skull what duty and honor meant to him; he wasn't sure it was worth the effort to try at this late date. However, he stood and took her elbow in hand, propelling her to the window. "Take a good look out there Susan, and then remember what this all was twenty years ago." A small town in the east couldn't have looked more civilized. Farm wagons rolled benignly down the street. Young mothers walked with toddlers at the hand. Old folks went about their business, stopping in the general store, and having coffee at Delmonico's. School bells and church bells rang in the distance. "Take a look. That's what I've got to show for it. Seems a fair reward to me."

"Like I said, you never change." She pulled her elbow away and looked in his face, "They say Kitty saddled you with a brat. It figures, I'm just surprised its only one … what I'm wondering, is how come you're so sure it's yours?"

If she were a man, he'd a killed her, or come just short of it, "Get out, Susan."

She smiled, satisfied she'd hit her mark. "You'll pay you know … if my boys go to prison, you'll pay."

"That a threat?"

She blew air through her nose, and shook her head, "You might say it's just a neighborly warning between old friends."