Chapter Twenty-Eight: Shame the devil
Matt drove Kitty home the following evening, and they were both glad to be back. While Kitty took a quick bath, not bothering to ask Sam for hot water, and dressed for an evening at the saloon, Matt went to find Festus and get a feel for the latest gossip.
Festus, as usual, had heard everything there was to hear. "Seems like those hoity-toity laydees, those what won't even let their husbands tip a hat to Miss Kitty, they's all upset like, but most of the folks, you know, Matthew, just folks, they're right happy for Miss Kitty comin' into a fortune and don't care two bits how'n she come by it. I've heard some men a-sayin' that if Jake owed Miss Kitty money, he ought to have paid it before this and not waited, but then others sayin' maybe he couldn't do it while he was alive 'cause of Miss Rose. There sure is a lot of talk, Matthew, but not much of it seems to be nasty like."
Festus stopped there and squinted sideways at the Marshal. "Leastways, not the talk about Miss Kitty."
"Oh?" Matt asked, with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Festus harrumphed and coughed a bit. "Well, Matthew, seems ya' got youself a new nickname around town."
"You think anybody'd have the nerve to say it in front of Kitty, Festus?" Matt asked him.
Festus considered that, "Maybe not right to her face, Matthew, but she's sure gonna hear."
"I suppose she's heard worse." Matt said. "If they keep it to talk, then it likely won't last too long. Anything else new goin' on? Any drovers in town?"
"Tuck Parmelee, he was in town couple three days ago, Matthew." Festus said brightly.
"Thought he was still in prison. What did he want?"
"Wants to kill you, Matthew. Newly and I. we both a-told him you'd done resigned and headed out to Coloraydo, but I don' know as he believed it. He rode out yest'rd'y, though." Festus said.
"Guess, we'll have to wait and see. I'll walk early rounds tonight if you'll take the later walk. That suit you, Festus?" Matt asked.
"Suits me jus' fine, Matthew. I'm a goin' down to the Long Branch and see if there's a lady will buy me a drink to celebrate all that money she done come into." Festus told him. Matt laughed and slapped him on the back.
Festus was not the only man in Dodge waiting to congratulate Kitty on her good fortune. There were shouts, and clapping, and laughter as she descended the stairs of the Long Branch. And before long she simply told Sam and Clem to pour a round for the house, and a first round for any one that came in later in the evening. The crowd was local, every man had heard the news, and one by one they wanted a chance to chat with Kitty about it. She kept her smile, told her friends she was sad to lose Jake, but always happy to see old debts repaid, and didn't let the conversation go any further.
Kitty was sitting with Doc, Festus, and Pete Sauer when Matt came in around eleven. Sauer hailed him even before Kitty did, and pulled him into a chair. "I need to talk to you about those K Bar studs, Matt," he said very seriously, and raised his voice above the noise to call Len Parsons over to join them. Kitty listened for a few minutes, enough to determine that the men were genuinely talking about breeding horses, and not simply making violently off-color remarks, then rose and went to stand at the bar.
Doc followed her, shaking his head. "If I talked to my patients using that kind of language, they'd run me out of town on a rail."
"You think things are going to pass over this easy, Doc?" she asked him after a bit.
"No, I think you're going to hear a fair number of dirty jokes and get asked for an explanation by every person in town who feels you owe them a personal conversation, but something new will come along eventually for folks to talk about," he replied. "I thank you for the drink, Kitty, and I'm going to call it a night."
The barroom was beginning to quiet down. Sam walked up to her as Doc left, and suddenly Annie was there beside her as well. "You have time to talk to us privately for a few minutes after closing, Miss Kitty?" Sam asked.
"You and Annie?" she responded. "Certainly. You want to wait, or come on into the office now?"
Sam looked around the bar. Nothing Clem couldn't handle. He picked up a quick nod from Annie – an action that raised Kitty's curiosity to a peak – and said, "Now would be fine, Miss Kitty." Sam opened the door to the back hall and ushered the ladies through.
Kitty sat behind her desk. Annie had the other chair, and Sam stood behind her. "What's this all about, Sam?" Kitty asked.
"Miss Kitty, Annie tells me you and the Marshal are going to buy the Kincaid ranch." he said.
"Yes, I think that's pretty likely, Sam. We won't know for sure until the price is set, but I don't think it will be higher than we can manage." Kitty replied frankly.
"Does that mean you're going to sell the Long Branch, Kitty?" Sam asked her just as frankly.
"Yes, it probably does, Sam. You know I wouldn't do that without talking to you about it first, but, yes, I think I'm going to want to sell." She looked him in the eye, "You want to buy me out, Sam?"
Kitty's eyes widened and she didn't even try to stop them when Annie's small hand moved up to meet Sam's big one. "Yes, ma'am. Annie and I, we'd like to offer you $3500 for a 60% interest in the Long Branch."
"Where'd you get that kind of money, Sam?" Kitty asked, her eyes on Annie.
And it was Annie who replied. "Sam's been saving to buy into the saloon for a long time, Miss Kitty. You know that. And I sent a telegram to my brother Johnny yesterday. Got an answer today. He said he could have the money for me by next week. Two thousand dollars."
"So I'd be selling to Johnny Barger?" Kitty said with a frown.
"No, ma'am. You'd be selling to Sam and me." Annie said, "The money's due me from sellin' up the Yellow Rose in Amarillo. I didn't need it at the time, and Johnny and Louisa did, but it's mine fair and square."
Kitty took a long breath. She looked at Annie, hard, but addressed herself to Sam. "Sam, you know the Long Branch is yours if you want it. We've been together too long and too close for there to be any other answer. We can agree on a price or an arrangement one way or another. But I've heard too many of Annie's stories. I need the real truth before we move on with this, and Matt needs to hear it too." She stood up and went to put her arm around the younger woman, "You must know by now that I do love you, Annie, but loving and trusting are two different things. If we're going to do business together, I need to be able to trust your word. You think on that."
Kitty left the office and went back into the barroom of the Long Branch. "Time gentlemen!" She called, "Last round and we'll be closing in ten more minutes."
28 – 28 – 28
Sam and a very quiet Annie began cleaning up the barroom. Matt was still buttonholed with Sauer and Parsons, but when he stood and began clearing tables and putting up chairs, they did the same, talking the whole time. Matt eventually got them out the door without actually shoving them, but it was a close thing.
Matt locked the front door behind Sam and the three of them walked slowly up the darkened stairs. Matt looked down the hall but found it empty of Amos and his shotgun. "Summer herds are done, Matt. Amos won't be around much until late next spring."
Annie moved to kiss him goodnight, and then, cheeks suddenly wet with tears, kissed Kitty. "I will try, Kitty. Tomorrow morning, early. Just give me tonight to put it all together."
Kitty patted her arm, "Shouldn't be hard, Annie. You just need to tell the truth and shame the devil." Then she and Matt walked behind the curtain and into her room.
Matt stripped off his clothes and lay back onto the bed with a tired huff of breath. "God but it's good to be back," he said, watching her neatly remove, hang, and put away her dress. "You need any help there, honey?" he asked as she began untying the tapes on her petticoats.
"You can unlace me, Matt, if you can do it without getting yourself distracted," she told him, and he came over to untie and unlace her corset.
"Some particular reason we can't get distracted yet?" he asked, doing the job with the swift efficiency of long experience.
Kitty nodded, "Sam made me an offer on the Long Branch tonight, and I'd like to tell you about all that before we get busy with something else."
A few minutes later they sat, each nursing a glass of whiskey. Kitty, wrapped in a ruffled robe, was in Matt's big chair, and he sat sideways on the small sofa with one knee pulled up in front of him and the other foot resting on the floor. Kitty worked to keep her eyes on his face.
"Well, Kitty, Annie aside, isn't this what you wanted?" Matt asked after the evening's encounter had been described to him.
"Yes, it is." she sighed. "If I'm moving out to Kincaid, then I'm not going to run the Long Branch anymore. You've already given up your badge, or set a date to give it up. I told you I wouldn't be far behind. And if Sam's going to run the Long Branch, well, he needs a woman to help him." She looked over at Matt, not wanting to have to say the words they both knew.
"It's been a problem for years, Matt, you know that. You can't run a saloon without pretty girls, and if you've got pretty girls, some men are going to want more than a drink. I've never made my girls take trade, Matt. I'd quit the whole business before I did that. But a lot of girls want the extra money, and it's a hell of a lot safer for them upstairs at the Long Branch with Sam keeping an eye on things and Amos in the hallway with his shotgun when things get busy than it would be out on the street, or going up to some man's hotel room. I split down the middle with my girls, and the money goes in Sam's hand before the pair of them walk upstairs. It's a lot fairer than any other place in Dodge, and I take better care of my girls." She smiled, "I also charge more, and that keeps out the rougher business."
"You think Annie can handle all that, Kitty?" Matt said, thinking of the slender, straight-backed girl with her head of dark curls, and her polite Southern speech. He chuckled, and looked up at Kitty, "You know tonight's the first time I ever heard her call you 'Kitty' without the 'Miss' in front of it?"
"I noticed that, Matt," she said, "Didn't know if you would. But yes, Annie's as ready as I was and I took over that part of the Long Branch when I was just twenty-one."
Matt thought about that. He'd been so happy that she wasn't taking customers anymore that he'd hardly notice when 'Bill's girls' started to be 'Kitty's girls'. "So what's the problem, Kitty? Tell me straight out."
"Annie's been lying to us since she got here, Matt, about one thing and another. She's good at it, and there's a part of me that admires that 'cause it can be a necessary skill – but she doesn't seem to know who to lie to, and who needs the truth. If she's going to be my partner, and Sam's, then that's got to end." Matt recognized the firmness in Kitty's voice when she said it, and knew there would be no backing away.
"What do you want me to do, Kitty?" he asked.
"I want you to talk to her tomorrow morning. Get the whole story without any lies. And convince her somehow that she has to be straight with us. I'll be there, Matt, and Sam will be there too, but we won't make a move or say a word. I want you to do the talking." Kitty said.
"Why? Because I'm her father?" He was irritated, and fighting a battle with having it turn to real anger.
Kitty shrugged. "When you get right down to it, Matt, you are the reason she's here. But I don't think that word means quite the same to us right now as it does to most families, so let's just say it's because you're both Dillons, and Dillons don't lie to each other."
She walked over and took his hand, pulling him gently towards the bed. "Sometimes, Kitty Russell, you have a way of twisting my life that doesn't leave me very pleased with you," he told her. If he'd had anywhere else to go, he'd probably have gotten dressed and gone. Dropping her robe on the floor, Kitty blew out the light, and sat down on the edge of the bed, tugging him towards her. Still fuming, he told her. "Stop it, Kitty, I'm just not ready for that right now."
"You will be," she answered him. And pretty soon he was.
