AN: I have to give a thank you to my little sister for her help in this. Wouldn't know what to do without her.
The next morning dawned gray and rainy. Looking outside, Kitty felt the weather matched her feelings. She hadn't expected Matt to come for her but when he did, after everything he'd said, he left as suddenly as he'd come and with the same words. He'd shown up and thrown her life into turmoil and then took off. Now she felt worse then she had when she'd left Dodge over a year ago.
Deciding the weather was a good enough excuse to stay in, Kitty fixed herself a strong pot of coffee and then curled herself up on the couch with a book she'd been intending to read, hoping for at least an hour's distraction or so. But she'd barely opened the book when a knock came at the door. This was the polite knock of a neighbor and Kitty ignored it. She wasn't in the mood for polite company.
But the knocking didn't stop. Who ever was out there, wasn't going away. Taking a deep breath, Kitty put the book down and made her way to the door, prepared to shoo whoever it was away no matter how rude she needed to be.
It was Matt, shaved, clean and in a suit. "Here." He grunted as he placed a bouquet of flowers in her hand and turned and walked away.
For just a second, Kitty stood in the doorway, with a perplexed look on her face and a handful of wild flowers watching Matt walk away without saying another word. "Matt!" Kitty clamped her mouth tight and started out the door, following him down the walkway. "What is this? What do you want?"
Matt turned with a very serious look on his face. "Those are flowers and I thought I'd made it clear to you what I want. I want you. I told you that last night. I was wrong in how I told you and I was wrong in letting you go in the first place but I'm not wrong about wanting and needing you. I found a job down at the Lucky Ace saloon so when you're ready to talk, you can find me there. I sent a wire to Dodge to have someone take care of my place for a while. I'm going to stay here, Kitty, as long as it takes to convince you that I meant what I said."
Kitty stood speechless as Matt turned again and walked on down the street. Walking back to her house, she placed the flours into a vase and filled it with water then stood there for a while staring at them. Suddenly, something he'd said pricked at her. He was working at the Lucky Ace saloon. Kitty knew the place. It wasn't New Orleans worst place but it most certainly wasn't the best. The only job they'd have for a man like Matt was a guard. It wasn't a badge but once again he was taking on the role of a sort of lawman.
Pursing her lips, Kitty marched to her bedroom and got herself dressed. Leaving her house, she turned down the street headed to the Lucky Ace. She didn't plan on staying and she wasn't planning on conversation. But she was going to prove to herself, as well as Matt, that he hadn't changed, and her decision to leave had been the right one.
It was still early when she got to the saloon so the place was quiet. Kitty didn't see Matt near the front of the place, where she expected him; so she squared her shoulders and marched in, ready to read him the riot act. He was sitting at a table near the bar, a deck of cards on the table in front of him.
"Matt?" Kitty's raised brow showed her confusion. "What are you doing?"
"Working." He shrugged. "I told you I got a job here. I'm their new dealer."
"You?" Kitty was stunned. "Dealing?" Kitty knew he could be good at cards, but Matt had never liked dealers much. He'd never trusted them and now, here he was working as one. It didn't make sense.
"Yeah." Matt nodded. "Dealing. Why? You think I hired on as a swamper or something, with my bad knee?"
"Well… no…" Kitty shrugged. "Actually I…. well it doesn't matter, what I thought but I sure didn't expect you to start dealing. You never liked dealers."
"No, sure didn't, as a law man that is." Matt picked up the deck of cards in front of him and began shuffling them. "But like I told you, I'm no longer a law man. I'm a private citizen in need of job. Hank, the owner here, gave me one as a dealer."
Kitty didn't know whether to laugh or shake her head at him. She did both. "Matt Dillon, 3 times in 2 days you've surprised me and I'm not sure I can take any more."
"Then marry me, Kitty." Matt looked up at her, blue eyes shining with sincerity.
Kitty took a seat next to him, silently contemplating his proposal and her answer. Finally, she leaned close so that her voice would not carry to the few other people in the saloon. "If I were to say yes, Matt, then I'd need to know, without a shadow of a doubt that you don't intend to ever take that badge back up. I'd have to be positive that you'd changed."
Matt dropped his head. "Kitty, I have nothing but my word to you that I'm done with that. But I AM done with it. I'd be lying if I said quitting was easy, because it wasn't. It was so much a part of me for most of my life. But…" Matt stopped and raised his head, locking eyes with Kitty. "But so were you. And you were the better part of it. The part that sustained me and kept me going when nothing else did. These last few weeks, I have found that I can get along without that badge. But I can't get along without you."
Kitty sat back. She'd always been able to read Matt simply by watching what he did and looking into his eyes. Matt was telling her what he thought to be the truth. But she still wasn't sure the badge would let him go that easily or visa versa.
When a couple minutes went by and Kitty didn't reply, Matt spoke. "Kitty? Are you…"
"When you get through here, Matt, come back to my house." Kitty abruptly got back to her feet. "We'll talk more then." Before Matt could reply, Kitty quickly turned and left.
Matt wasn't sure if that was bad or good. But he would do as she asked and pray she would say yes to his proposal.
TBC