Unshown Moments for Kitty's Outlaw (3)

This is for Mommoo and BigMommaT

AN: Thank you everyone for your kindnesses. I appreciate you all and I'll see you when I get back. (Or maybe, that's "I'll WRITE you" when I get back.

"Kitty!" Matt called as he hurried out of Doc's office and chased after her. "Wait up, please." What she'd said about the outlaw had both hurt and satisfied him in a way and he needed to clear the air between them. He needed to make sure she didn't hate him for suspecting her and that she no longer loved Yankton as she used to.

Kitty stopped with a sigh. "Matt, I… I don't…"

"I know, Kitty." He shook his head. "I know you're upset and I know you cared about Yankton and..."

"Matt, wait, please. I don't think you understand. I... it's just..." Kitty dropped her head and took a deep breath. "Can we go somewhere to talk? Somewhere, where we won't be interrupted for a while? Where even Chester can't find us?"

"Come on." Matt told her as he took her arm. "I know just the place."

The building was dark and eerily quiet as Matt led Kitty in and then lit a small lamp near the pulpit. Looking around, Kitty arched a brow at him.

"You brought me to a church?"

Matt shrugged. "I know, not the usual place to talk, but it's the one place where I know we won't be bothered by anyone or anything without going out of town. The reverend is away this week and no one else is usually around this end of town at this time of night so I figured it to be the best place."

Kitty looked rather speculatively around the small chapel with her arms crossed against her chest. "You sure the roof won't fall in with me in here?" Her voice was teasing but her look told him there was a grain of concern in mind.

"It won't. Nothing will happen to you either in here or out, as long as you're with me." He stepped closer, grateful she didn't move away from him, though she moved no closer. "Kitty, I'm sorry. I..."

"No, Matt." She shook her head, took a step and sat down on one of the pews. "You didn't know. I agree it did look like I had helped Cole and..."

"But you didn't and I should've known that." Matt interrupted as he took a seat beside her. "Kitty, we've known each other for over 3 years now and sometimes it seems even longer. I know you. I know you wouldn't betray me or the law and yet when..." He stopped. "I guess, it was just my jealously that allowed me to believe that you'd help your old flame."

"Jealously?" Kitty frowned. "Matt, you've never been a jealous man. I admit there've been times I was kinda hoping you would be but... you've never..."

"I've never felt I had earned the right." Matt answered with a touch of sadness in his voice as he moved his arm along the back of the pew and closer to her shoulder. "I can't marry you, Kitty. I can't even claim you the way I want to. And until or unless I can, it wouldn't be fair of me. That's why I never said anything when Yankton asked you to talk with him in private the other night. I didn't want you near him but I couldn't tell you no. I just didn't have the right."

Kitty turned in her seat to face him, studying his contrite expression in the dim light of the small lamp. "Let me tell you something, Marshal." She sighed. "I am a big girl. I can decide for myself who I talk to, and when. When I looked at you last night, I wasn't asking for your permission, I was wanting you to accept your place in my life and for you to tell Cole no."

Seeing the small look of confusion on his face, Kitty placed her hand on his outstretched arm. "Matt, while it's true that I wouldn't help anyone, including Cole, to break the law, it's not the only reason I wouldn't have done it if he'd asked. And it's the reason he didn't ask."

When Matt's confusion seemed even stronger, she shook her head with a soft smile and moved closer to him on the narrow bench. "Matt, Cole didn't ask and I wouldn't have helped him, simply because of you. I love you, Matt and Cole saw that. He understood what you don't seem to. And that is simply that I would never do anything to dishonor you or shame you, including helping the first man I ever loved. Us eating at that cantina was simply me trying to get you away from town and two certain friends so that we could talk about Cole and about us."

Matt closed his eyes and dropped his head for a brief moment before raising it again with a sheepish grin. "I really did make a mistake in this whole mess, didn't I?"

"No, you just allowed circumstances to sway you without first asking me about the truth of it all. You acted like Chester, ready to accept my guilt without verifiable proof." Kitty's tone was stern but her expression wasn't. She understood and Matt could see that.

Matt offered her his best lopsided grin. "Forgive me?"

"Nope." Kitty shook her head. "Nothing to forgive, as long as it doesn't happen again and you make me another promise."

"What's that?" He slowly moved his hand up and down her arm.

She moved even closer to him, placing a sweet kiss on his lips and giving him an impish grin. "Promise me that the next time you bring me to church, I'll have a wedding dress on and you'll be in your best suit with a ring and a preacher."

"Aww, Kitty." He started to protest but Kitty laughed as she reached up and placed a kiss on his lips. "I didn't say it had to be anytime soon."

Matt nodded with a chuckle. "Deal. So are we okay?"

"We are." Kitty agreed, the laughter gone. "But I do want another promise from you."

"Okay." Matt pulled her to him completely and wrapped his arm around her. "What else can I do for you?"

"Help me bury Cole and be there with me when I do." Her teasing, lighthearted tone had vanished to be replaced by a mournful note. "I don't want him buried by anyone else and I don't want to do it alone."

Matt tucked her up under his chin and tightened his grip. "I'll be right beside you, Kitty. You won't have to do anything like that alone again."

Kitty didn't reply as she snuggled closer into Matt's chest, finally feeling at peace. Matt might not have had the style or southern charm that Cole had used to sway her when she was a girl, but he had the love and the heart to sway the woman she'd become. And she knew that though he wasn't her first love, he would be her last and only from that day forward. Whether he brought her back to church or not.

End