Chapter 1 "A Trip To Town"

Wednesday morning started out like any other morning in the Dillon house. Matt, Kitty, and Ruby were sitting around the kitchen table enjoying breakfast together as a family. Matt was dressed and ready to head off to work as soon as he finished breakfast. Kitty too was dressed and ready for the day. Ruby was still in her nightgown. Kitty would get her dressed and ready for the day after breakfast. It used to be that Matt would be at the jail just after dawn. But ever since Ruby was born, he didn't get there until after eight o'clock. This gave him time to have breakfast with his family. It was time both Matt and Kitty treasured.

"What do you ladies have planned for today?" asked Matt as he put a forkful of scrambled eggs in his mouth.

"The material, for Ruby's curtains, that I ordered a few Saturdays ago should be in. Ruby and I are going to go into town and pick it up," Kitty answered.

"The butterfwies and fower materiow for my big girl curtains?" Ruby asked.

"Yes," Kitty replied.

"Oh boy!" Ruby exclaimed. "When are we weaving? I wanna get my curtains?"

Ruby could not contain her excitement. It was a few weeks ago and the Dillon family was in Jonas' general store for their weekly Saturday trip. While they were there, Kitty went over to the table of material and started looking through the material that was there. She wanted to put new curtains in Ruby's room. On their trip to town, Kitty told Ruby about finding material for big girl curtains. It didn't take long for Kitty to find the material she thought would look great in Ruby's bedroom. Kitty showed the material to Ruby and Ruby thought it was so pretty. Unfortunately there wasn't enough to sew curtains for two windows. However, Jonas said he could order more. Kitty had him place the order.

"We'll leave later this morning," said Kitty. "Now, we're just going to get the material. Momma has to sew them into curtains."

"When are you going to sew 'em into curtains?" asked Ruby. Like her daddy, she too put a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth.

"I will start this afternoon when you are napping," said Kitty. Kitty then turned to Matt. "Do you think you'll be busy at work today? Maybe Ruby and I could have lunch with you at Delmonico's."

"I wish I could, but I'll be in Fort Dodge today," said Matt. "I have to meet with the Colonel at one o'clock. That reminds me. I probably won't be home at my normal time this evening. So go ahead and have supper without me."

"What time do you think you'll be home?" asked Kitty.

"Probably between six and six-thirty," Matt answered.

"That's only about an hour later than your usual time," said Kitty. "We'll wait for you. We're a family and we eat our meals as a family. I planned on heating the leftover chicken and veggie soup for supper. There's also some leftover bread."

"I like that soup. I'll make sure I'm home by six-thirty," said Matt as he got up from the table. He put his plate and coffee cup in the sink. "I need to get going."

"Don't forget our kisses, daddy," said Ruby.

"Daddy would never forget those," said Matt.

He walked over to Ruby, lifted her from her chair, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Ruby, in return, gave Matt a kiss on his cheek. Matt put Ruby down and walked over to Kitty. She stood up and wrapped her arms around Matt's neck. They gave each other a sweet kiss on the lips. With a four year old in the room, the kiss couldn't go too much further.

"I'll see ya this evening," said Matt.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Kitty.

"Bye, daddy!" said Ruby.

Matt put his Stetson on top of his head and walked out the back door. He walked to the barn to get his horse. After saddling his horse, Matt hitched up the wagon for Kitty. He knew she could do it on her own, but if he knew she was going into town with Ruby, he did it for her. Once the horses were hitched up to the wagon, Matt took off for town. Matt only planned on being at the jail for a few hours that morning. He had to leave by eleven-thirty if he wanted to be out to Fort Dodge by one.

"Alright, let momma get things cleaned up here and then we'll get you dressed," said Kitty as she gathered the rest of the dishes off the table. "You can play with your toys in the parlor while momma cleans up in here. When I'm done, we'll pick out a pretty dress for you to wear and do your hair."

"Okay, momma," Ruby agreed. "Are we going to town to get my materiow after that?"

"We sure will," Kitty replied.

Ruby had a big smile on her face and walked into the parlor to play with her toys. She decided to play with her blocks. Ruby gathered all of her blocks from her crate of toys. She liked to see how tall she could build a tower before it fell over.

While Ruby played with her blocks, Kitty cleaned up the kitchen from this morning's breakfast. She filled the sink with water so she could wash the dishes. Before she washed the dishes, she washed off the kitchen table. Kitty always washed the kitchen table before she washed the dishes. Twenty minutes later Kitty had finished cleaning away the evidence from the morning's breakfast. She walked into the parlor to get Ruby.

"Are ya done cweaning, momma?" Ruby asked. She placed a block on her tall tower.

"I am. Let's put these blocks away and get you ready for the day," Kitty replied.

"Okay," said Ruby. She knocked down her tower and then put the blocks back in the crate.

Kitty and Ruby walked into Ruby's room. Kitty opened Ruby's chifferobe so they could pick out a dress. Ruby decided on a green calico dress. Kitty lifted Ruby's nightgown over her head and replaced it with the dress. She then put Ruby's hair in pigtails, tying a green ribbon around each one.

"You're all set and ready to go," said Kitty. She grabbed Ruby's sun bonnet off the chest of drawers.

"Momma, can I bring my dolls?" asked Ruby.

"You can bring one," said Kitty.

"Do you remember who's turn it is to come to town with me?" asked Ruby.

When Ruby decided to take her dolls to town with her, she was only allowed to bring one. Because of that, she would make the dolls take turns on which one went with her. Ruby always wanted to make sure she was fair.

"The last time you took Annie. It's Lulu's turn today," said Kitty.

"Did you hear that, Wuwu?" Ruby addressed her doll. "It's your turn to go with me." She took Lulu off her bed. "We be back wayter, Annie." Ruby waved to her other doll, still sitting on the bed.

When Kitty and Ruby walked outside, Kitty noticed that the wagon was all ready for them. She smiled as she thought of Matt hitching the wagon up for her. It was little things like hitching up the wagon that made Kitty fall more in love with Matt, if that was even possible. Kitty lifted Ruby up onto the seat and then climbed up herself. They headed for town.

Kitty and Ruby's ride to town was about twenty minutes. Kitty parked the wagon on a side street. She pulled the brake and got down. Kitty then got Ruby down. The two of them walked to Jonas' store hand in hand. Reaching their destination, Kitty pushed the door open. She and Ruby walked inside. The dinging of the little bell above the door caught Jonas' attention.

"Hello, Miss Kitty and Miss Ruby," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"We're here to see if the material has arrived," Kitty answered.

"I did get a shipment of supplies yesterday. I'll go check the back room and see if your material was part of that shipment," said Mr. Jonas.

"Thank you," said Kitty.

Mr. Jonas went to the back supply room. He was pretty sure that the material had arrived. He just had to locate it. Mr. Jonas was in the supply room looking for the material and Kitty was gathering some needles and thread to buy. She also was buying some buttons to sew on the curtains and some ribbon to tie the curtains back on each side. A few minutes later Mr. Jonas returned with the material.

"Here ya go, Miss Kitty. I found it," said Mr. Jonas as he placed the material on the table. "It's the one with butterflies and flowers. Correct?"

"That's it," Kitty confirmed. "How much do I owe you? Add this to the material." She placed her other items on the counter.

"Let me do the figuring," Mr. Jonas replied.

"Momma, can Wuwu and I wook at the toys?' asked Ruby.

Since they were the only ones in the store, Kitty felt that it was fine for Ruby to go over to the toys. "Alright, but we're not buying any. You just had a birthday a few months ago."

"Come on, Wuwu. We get to wook at the toys," Ruby said to her doll.

Ruby walked over to where Jonas kept the toys. He kept them on a shelf near the back door. She wasn't over there for no more than a minute when a hand and a cloth was put over her mouth and nose. Ruby had no chance to scream or fight. She was out cold the moment the cloth went over her mouth and nose. Ruby dropped Lulu as the stranger took Ruby out the back door. Kitty and Mr. Jonas were oblivious to what had just taken place.

TBC