Apart 25

"He going to die?" Beau sat next to the bed and watched the slight rise and fall of the big man's chest as Kitty stood on his other side, gently wiping his fevered brow with a cool wet cloth.

"No." She shook her head. "He won't. He's just hurt, is all, and he needs the rest he's getting. But he won't die."

Beau accepted her assessment with a slight nod of his head as he scooted out of his chair and headed to the door. "I'm gonna go and check on the puppies." He told her as he let himself out of the room.

"Alright." Kitty nodded with a smile as she watched him leave. The animals brought from the child's home was his solace and she understood. They represented home and safety to him. Just like Matt did to her. Turning her attention back to Matt she moved the thin sheet, covering him, aside and sponged his chest thoroughly.

"You're a stubborn man, Matt Dillon." She sighed. "I asked you not to do this and you did it anyway. What am I going to do if you…" She shook those words away. "You're not going to die, Matt. Do you hear me? You are NOT going to die."

Matt offered no protest or agreement as he lay silently in the Sherriff's bed.

Wearily, Kitty moved around the bed and sat down in the chair that Beau had vacated. When she'd awoken to find Matt gone, she knew exactly where he was going. Though he'd said there was no law in this part of the country, Kitty raised the alarm nevertheless. The stable man told her that there was indeed a Sherriff in the town, or at least a part time one and that early in the morning he could probably be found at his small farm at the edge of town. Knowing she couldn't leave the children alone, Kitty bundled them up, and carried them with her as she ran down the street to the small house pointed out to her. She didn't want to take time to wait for the wagon to be hitched up or the horse to be saddled.

The Sherriff, Franklin Warner, was an older man, thin of hair and thick of waist and he didn't look to be too eager to ride out into unknown danger in search of an errant Marshal who was out of his jurisdiction and a villain who, as far as he knew, had done nothing illegal in his town.

But Kitty refused to accept that answer and swore to go herself, children in tow, if he refused. She saw no need to inform the man that Matt wasn't her husband or that the children weren't hers and Beau offered no comment on the subject. The Sherriff was about to refuse again when the red head began to waver and came close to fainting away with the baby in her arms. Quickly, he reached out and steadied her, directing her to his stoop to sit down. The woman was in no condition to go anywhere and yet he saw the stubborn glint in her eye that told him she'd do just that if he didn't.

Shaking his head, he pointed to the front door of his small home. "Go on in and rest yourself, Ma'am. Get these little ones in out of the air. I'll go see about finding your husband."

It had taken Warner quite a while to find the men he sought but eventually he did, not long before sunset. Four men. Two dead and two close to it. He had no way of carting the men and he couldn't lift them alone if he did. So marking the spot in his memory, he rode back to town and returned a few hours later with several men and a wagon.

"What ya figure happened out here?" Burt, the grocer asked as he and Harvey the café owner helped Franklin pick the big man up and move him into the wagon, laying him next to the only other living man among the four.

"Well," Franklin shrugged. "Looks to me like the lawman was ambushed by the other three. Guess he managed to get those two dead ones before he fell from his own miseries. The other one, well, guess the Marshal got him after he got the Marshal. Least ways, that's how I'm going to write it."

"You figure one of these two here is the lawman?" Burt glanced at the two in the wagon.

Franklin nodded. "From that lady's description, I figure this big one's hers. I'll know for sure though when we get em back to town."

"We going to bury them two dead ones?" Harvey asked.

"Nope." Franklin shook his head. "We ain't got time. There's a lady back in town wanting her husband back alive and if he is one of these, I intend to get him to her. Come on. We'll send someone out tomorrow for those two."

When Kitty finally saw the wagon pull up in front of the house, she burst out of the door and rushed to them. Beau, as Kitty had requested, stayed inside with his sister. "Matt?" She cried when she saw him. "He's…" She looked up at the part-time Sherriff as he stiffly got down from the wagon seat and met at the back. "He's not…"

"Neither one of em, Ma'am." Franklin told her. "Which one is yours?"

Kitty refused to even glance at Daniel as she placed a hand on Matt's leg. "He's mine." She stated. "The other one is the outlaw Matt was looking for."

"We'll get your man inside, Ma'am." Franklin told her. "And we'll take this other one down to the shed." The shed, the Sherriff had mentioned was just that, a small structure with a cot and a single barred window in the heavy oak door that they used as a jail. It wasn't much, but right then, Franklin could care less.

Kitty nodded and followed the men as they carried Matt in. She had been tending to Matt ever since. The town was too small for a doctor and the nearest one, though sent for, was days away in North Platte. Kitty wasn't sure Matt would make it and yet she refused to give up hope. Remembering the many times she'd helped Doc tend to Matt as well as many others, she stitched up his knife wounds, forced liquids down his throat and constantly, when not taking care of the children, sat in vigil. Her own needs were ignored for the most part. They mattered little in the face of everything else.

Beau, though extremely young, was still perceptive and he understood beyond his years the love this woman had for this man as he'd understood the love his parents had shared. He was small but he did his best to help take care of his sister and even offered to sit with the big man when she seemed near to collapse. Kitty would hug him and thank him, but always refuse, sending him to tend to his animals, now housed in Franklin Warner's barn or watch his sister.

Franklin too offered to help, even offering to bring in some of the town ladies to assist, but as with Beau, Kitty refused. Matt was hers. She's trust his care to no one else.

She must've fallen asleep for she didn't realize Matt was awake until he reached out and took her hand, tugging at it. Opening her eyes, she looked across to see Matt smiling back at her.

"Matt?" She pulled herself from the chair and moved to sit beside him on the bed. "You're awake." She said wonderingly. "You came back to me."

TBC

AN: This story has taken me much longer to finish than I expected or intended and now I have a dilemma. I have two different endings that begin with chapter 26. Both of them have Matt and Kitty together, fear not about that. But do you want to read both or do you have a preference for how it should end?