One of the strongest and earliest memories he had of his mother was her holding him as a small boy after a wild Texas storm.
"Sssh now, everything is all right," she cooed, her arms enveloping the still-frightened child as she sat in the wooden rocker on the small porch. Her sturdy, rambunctious two-year-old boy was usually so brave and full of laughter, but the roaring storms of the prairie always terrified him. Now he cowered in her arms, clinging tightly to her, dreading another blast of thunder after a blazing bolt of lightning.
"Mattie!" Her calming voice had now risen in tone, but he could hear the joy and excitement. Curious, he tilted his head full of reddish-blond curls and fixed his long-lashed, pale-blue eyes on her rapturous face.
"Mattie, LOOK!" The pretty ranch woman was staring towards the far hills, pointing towards the distant sky. "It's a rainbow, Honey! A DOUBLE rainbow!" The toddler's eyes followed his mother's outstretched arm and saw the sky glowing with two arches of vibrantly colored stripes. Already a boy of few words, little Matt Dillon silently absorbed the strange and beautiful sight, then looked up into his mother's smiling face with a question in his serious blue eyes.
"' The bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant ("a promise, Mattie") between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.' Whenever you see a rainbow, Baby, I want you to be happy and know how much you are loved!" she exclaimed, kissing the top of his head. The young woman often read the Bible to her only child, and he solemnly nodded at the way her voice sounded at such times, full of a deep reverence and love.
"Bow!" he exclaimed, and his own small arm pointed towards the glory in the distant sky.
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Eight short years later, the cholera took first, his big, strong father, Levi, and then his grief-stricken mother, Grace, two weeks later. After she had collapsed on her bed for the last time, ten-year-old Matt had quietly come in and lay down beside her.
"I'm so sorry, my precious Boy," she gasped, her right hand entwined in her child's tangled curls. "I miss your Daddy too much…I…tried to stay here with you, but…he's waiting for me. You be strong and brave. Live a good, long, happy life. Daddy and I will see you…later." She had asked Marianne Hopper to come by this morning, and knew her dear friend would take her son home. The child-less Hoppers already had a three-year-old foster son, Chance, but had always loved Matthew Dillon like their own, and he called them "Aunt" and "Uncle."
The strong, quiet young boy was already almost as tall as Bill Hopper, and quickly strengthened his muscles helping with the ranch work. Marianne treated the sad orphan with as much kindness as she could, but dealing with her younger foster child occupied much of her time. One time she was playing with little Chance as she bathed him, and looked up to see the lean young boy watching from the doorway, a wistful look in his thoughtful blue eyes.
"Matthew, did you want something?" she queried as she looked up again with a smile, but the tall boy had already silently slipped away. Shaking her head, she knew exactly what the lonely young boy wanted…his mother. The kind, harried woman resolved to find more time for him, but chores and Chance always seemed to intervene.
"Bill, how's Matthew doing? Do you think he's happy? Fitting in?" Marianne asked her husband one night after both boys were bedded down, and the tired couple sat together on the front porch in the swing.
Bill chewed on his pipe stem for a few moments, then sighed, and patted his wife's hand. "Honey, he's only been here a little less than three months now, and he's still getting used to things. That boy is sure a hard worker! As tall and strong as he is, I sometimes forget than he's only ten! And can that boy ride and shoot!" Bills' eyes glowed as he proudly thought about how quickly "Matt" was learning these manly skills.
"Yes, Bill, but he IS a BOY! And the quietest, saddest-eyed one I have ever seen. It just breaks my heart to see the way he looks at me sometimes. I wish I didn't look so much like Grace. I try to kiss him goodnight but he stiffens up and only tolerates it. A ten-year-old boy shouldn't have such a hard shell!"
"Give him time, Sweetheart, give him time. Levi Dillon had always teased Grace how she was the 'sun and the moon' to that boy. You just be yourself and he'll come around. I sure did!" The dark-haired man smoothed his handlebar mustache, leaned over and gave his smiling wife a tender kiss before taking her hand and leading her inside.
The storm blew in with a vengeance a little after midnight, making the screen door bang and the tin roof reverberate with the torments of rain. Matt awoke with a start, wide-eyed as always when a storm shook his world. He had always hated the upheaval of storms and flipped over onto his stomach, pulling his pillow down over his ears. "I'm too big to cry!" he chided himself as the first tears filled his eyes. As a low sob escaped his mouth, he felt a warm hand gently rub his back.
"Sssh now, everything is all right Mattie." The young pretty woman held the sleeping three-year-old in her right arm as she sat on the edge of the bed, soothing the older boy with her left hand on his back, then in his curly hair. She eased herself, still holding the sleeping child, down beside Matt, who turned over and wrapped his lean arms around her neck.
"Oh Auntie Marianne! Why did Mama leave me?! Pa leaving was terrible, but then…" His soft voice was muffled against her, and she felt the dampness of his tears on her neck.
"Mattie. Your Mama will NEVER leave you! She is inside of you, same as your Pa is. Did you know how proud she was of you? The last talk we had, she couldn't wait to tell me about how you wouldn't let those big, mean fifteen-year-old Becker twins bully young Sammy White down at the swimming hole."
Sniffing, Matt pulled away, sat up and looked into Marianne's blue-green eyes in surprise. "But Auntie Marianne! Mama always said that God made me big and strong for a reason! I'm supposed to protect the smaller and weaker, she said."
Marianne Hopper pulled the tired boy down against her side and the three settled down to sleep, no longer minding nature's noisy display.
Early the next day, a glorious morning, Marianne awoke to find herself alone in Matt's small bed. Groggily sitting up, she pushed her hair from her face and hurried out towards the delicious aroma of bacon and coffee.
"Well, good morning sleepyhead! I figured you could use a lie-in. Don't worry. The boys are fed. Come sit down and have some coffee while I make some eggs for you." Bill set a cup down for her and poured the hot, strong liquid.
The night-gowned young woman smiled back and sat down at the table that was littered with food morsels at Chance's place, and a scraped-clean plate at Matt's place. She looked around curiously.
Her tall, stocky husband glanced over from the stove. "The boys are out on the porch. Go on and take a quick look before you eat."
Marianne went to the screen door, pushed it open and looked over at the porch swing. Matt was holding Chance up against his chest and pointing towards the hills in the East where a double rainbow lit up the surrounding high clouds.
"Look Chance! A DOUBLE rainbow! That's God's way of telling us that we are remembered and loved!"
Chance looked at the bright colors, then back at Matt, and clapped his hands in joy.