Revenge

A Sequel to The Contract

By

AZgirl66

Chapter 1- Babies, Blisters and Bliss

Kitty Dillon stood on the front porch of the large, white ranch house she shared with Matt and their children. She lifted her face toward the warmth of the late morning sun, enjoying the stillness of the moment. It felt so good to finally be in the month of May, after a terribly wet April on the Kansas prairie. She smiled as she watched her four-year-old son rough-housing with the large family dog, a two-year-old little girl firmly planted on her hip.

"Ezra, you be careful with Mutt. He's a big dog and he's stronger than you think," Kitty gently warned the dark-haired boy, whose curls just couldn't be tamed.

"Mama, I'se a big boy. Don't ya worry, 'cause Uncle Festus teached me how t' play with Mutt," Ezra informed his mother, as he and the dog played tug-of-war using a large stick.

Little did the young boy know that his last statement caused a small pain in Kitty's heart. Uncle Festus was teaching him about how to handle the big dog, not his daddy. Daddy was an awfully busy man these days, what with still being a U.S. Marshal and running a small, but prosperous, horse ranch.

"Mama, me play, too! Pleeeaasse!" the little redheaded moppet with the ropey ringlets implored, while trying to wriggle out of her mother's arms.

Kitty walked down the steps and set the toddler free, knowing she would immediately run to the little wooden swing that her daddy had made several years prior for her older sister, Addie. Kitty had asked Matt to hang it on the end of a clothesline pole, so Addie could easily be amused while her mama took care of the laundry. Since then, a few other swings of varying sizes had been hung from random tree branches around the large yard.

"Mama, wing me! Wing me!" the little girl clapped her hands while she danced around in her pink gingham dress, waiting for her mother's assistance.

"I'm coming, Scarlett, for your wish is my command," Kitty happily walked toward her sweet girl, the only child that Matt had insisted upon naming all on his own. The proud papa had taken one look at her dark red hair as he held her in his arms for the first time and had insisted on the name Scarlett Kathleen. He'd seemed so happy to finally have another daughter after three boys in a row, Kitty just couldn't refuse him his wish. In fact, if she were to be totally honest with herself, Kitty could never say "no" to her husband. That's why you've got six children within the span of ten years, she chided herself.

Ezra's cries for his mother quickly pulled Kitty out of her musings. With cat-like reflexes, she caught the swing in mid-air to stop her toddler from taking flight and ran to her sobbing son, as he lay flat on the ground.

"Sweetie, what happened?" Kitty asked as she knelt beside her inconsolable boy.

"Mu-Mutt…he…he let go of the, the stick, Ma…ma," Ezra hiccupped, as tears ran down his flushed cheeks, "and I hurted my… my bottom!"

"Come 'ere, Son," Kitty put her arm around the boy, pulling him into a seated position, "you'll be okay. I think you just had the wind knocked outta ya," she consoled, rubbing his back.

"You fall down, Ezwa?" Scarlett asked, her big blue eyes wide with worry, her hands on her cheeks. "I hep you up," the toddler tugged on her brother's arm.

"What a nice sister you are," Kitty praised the girl as the boy stood, shaking the dust from his bottom. "What do you say to your sister?" she prompted.

"Thank you, Scarlett," Ezra genuinely offered, hugging his little sister.

Kitty couldn't help herself. She pulled both of the little ones into the folds of her simple blue calico dress and kissed the tops of their heads.

"Let's head inside t' wash up and have some dinner," she held their hands and started swinging their arms and began singing, "Skip, skip, skip t' my Lou, skip, skip, skip t' my Lou, skip t' my Lou my darling," as the children giggled their way up the stairs and into the house.

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"Kitty, I'm gonna head inta the washroom t' get started on some of the laundry before the kids get home from school," Abelia stated, watching Kitty while she discreetly nursed her two-month-old daughter in the sitting room.

"Thanks so much, Abelia. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help, especially with Matt being gone so much lately," Kitty warmly smiled at her friend, recently turned part-time housekeeper.

"As I look around this house, the evidence points to the fact that the marshal isn't gone all that much," Abelia snickered.

"Well, aren't you witty today?" Kitty teased, resting her head against the back of the rocking chair, her daughter noisily enjoying her meal.

Abelia rested the laundry basket on her hip and studied her fatigued friend for a matter-of-factly stated, "Kitty, with Jonathan now pretty much running our little farm on his own, and Mary Ann studying in Topeka, this job is a Godsend."

And it doesn't hurt that Festus spends most of his time here, Kitty thought, before adding, "You're the Godsend, Abelia. When I'm done with Maggie here, I'll start supper before Ezra and Scarlett get up from their naps."

And with that, Abelia disappeared behind the washroom door as Kitty tried to nap for a few minutes herself.

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"Mama, Mama! Guess what?!" shouted the breathless redheaded girl, running into her family's bright, large farmhouse kitchen.

"Addie Dillon! You know better than to come running into this house yelling like that," Kitty quietly admonished her freckle-faced girl, while she stirred her stew with one hand and held her sweet, redheaded toddler on her hip. She couldn't help but smile at her eldest child. Addie was tall for her age and had a beautiful head of thick, red, curly hair, that hung well past her shoulders.

"Sorry, Mama-but guess what?!" Addie jumped around in the kitchen like she had ants in her pants.

"I couldn't begin to guess, Addie. But, first things first, where are your brothers? You know you are supposed to all walk home from school together," Kitty looked over the girl's shoulder for the missing little boys.

"I promise they aren't that far behind me, Mama. I could see them the whole walk, don't worry. Now can I tell you my news?! Please?!" the girl begged, folding her hands together as if she were praying.

"Go ahead," Kitty grinned, turning herself and the toddler toward the excited, preadolescent girl.

"Miss Nelson said we are having a Father/Daughter dance in a month, just before the end of the school year. I can't wait! My daddy is the biggest, strongest, bravest, most handsome daddy in the whole school! He'll come with me, won't he, Mama? He should be home, right?"

"Oh, Baby," Kitty's eyes teared up as she tucked an errant curl behind Addie's ear, "your daddy wouldn't miss it for the world, you know that," she smiled brightly, adding, "Now, would you please take your sister and help her get cleaned up for a little snack?" Kitty gingerly handed the animated moppet to her big sister.

"You know what?" Kitty called to the little dark-haired boy, playing with blocks in the adjacent sitting room, "Time for you t' clean-up those blocks, Ezra. When your brothers get home, you can play with them outside. Maybe you can show them how to play 'tug of war' with Mutt," she beamed at her sweet boy.

"Yay!" Ezra clapped his hands and began putting his blocks in their wooden box.

"Mama! We're HOME!" shouted two boys in unison. One with red hair and freckles, one with dark, curly hair and a little darker complexion.

"Matthew! Adam!" Kitty whisper-yelled, "You know not to yell in this house. I swear if you wake up-" the sound of an unhappy infant caused everyone to freeze, the school-aged boys staring at each other with wide eyes.

"Sorry, Mama," the boys echoed each other.

"Just for that, you two are on dish duty the next two nights," Kitty ordered, as she headed for the study, soothing, "Mama's coming, Maggie. Mama's coming."

"Awwww, dish duty! I hate dish duty," eight-year-old Matthew Dillon, Jr. complained, stomping one of his feet.

"Shh, Matthew…if Mama hears you-" the younger, albeit wiser, brother tried to warn his sibling, but it was too late.

Kitty re-entered the sitting room, comforting her youngest child by gently patting her back. She stepped out of the connecting small study where the infant had been napping, face flushed with annoyance, "Mama did hear you, Matthew, and for sassing me, you not only have dish duty for the next four nights," Kitty arched her brows as she paused momentarily, waiting for another outburst from her eldest boy. When he wisely didn't respond at all, his mother continued, "You will also be watering the garden for the next four days. Got it, Mister?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry I sassed you," the boy sincerely apologized, looking directly into his mother's big blue eyes with his matching set.

"I believe you. Now come 'ere and give me a hug," Kitty held out her one available arm to embrace the penitent boy.

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Kitty lounged with her eyes closed and her head gently resting against the back of the bathtub. She felt totally relaxed as she allowed the steaming water to take all the stress out of her tired limbs. Oh. Matt, she lamented, you should have been home already. Please be okay, Cowboy.

Without opening her eyes, she reached for her glass of amber liquid that was perched upon a stool, strategically placed next to the tub. A soft knock at the door caused her to slightly jump.

"Mama?" a small whisper sniffled.

Kitty quickly stood, lilac scented water sloshing around the tub. She immediately grabbed her towel to cover herself.

"Come in," the startled mother whispered, remembering her two-month-old was asleep just a few feet away on the other side of the door. She slipped into her white cotton nightgown, just as her distraught son entered the water closet, rubbing his eyes.

"Mama," the boy softly cried, "I…I…"

"Oh, Adam, Sweetie, what's wrong?" Kitty knelt next to the boy who was an exact replica of his father. She nonchalantly reached over his shoulder and quietly closed the door, so as not to wake the baby.

"Ma…ma….I want my….my…daddy!" Adam cried so intensely; no sound was coming out of his mouth.

Kitty gingerly lifted the boy into her arms and tip-toed out of the water closet, through her bedroom and down the stairs into the sitting room. She sat in Matt's large, over-stuffed tufted chair and cradled the boy, as if he were much younger than his nearly six years.

"Adam, Sweetie, would it make you feel better if I told you Mama cried tonight, too, because she misses Daddy?" Kitty looked into eyes that reminded her so very much of her husband.

The boy wiped his nose with the sleeve of his nightshirt, his eyes wide with wonder, "You did, Mama?"

Kitty nodded her head, raised her eyebrows and answered, "I most certainly did. Right there in the bathtub."

"But you're a mama…mamas don't cry," he searched his mother's azure eyes, knowing she would never lie to him.

Adam loved his mama with all his heart. Uncle Festus had always told the children, "Yer mama is special. You children are plum lucky that God made 'er yer mama. She's the smartest, kindest, looksomest woman I ever did know."

"But mamas cry sometimes," Kitty comforted, pulling the boy's head of curls to rest upon her chest, "especially when the best husband and daddy in the whole state of Kansas has to be away from home." Kitty used the back of her hand to wipe away her own falling teardrops.

"Next week is my birthday. I'm gonna be six. Daddy can't miss my birthday," Adam yawned, clutching one of his mama's hands in both of his, while she stroked his back with the other.

"Six years old…my, my, Adam Russell Dillon. You're getting to be such a big boy," Kitty kissed the top of his head, noticing that his breathing was becoming deeper, as he began to give in to his little body's demand for sleep. Matt, please make it home soon. You'll break his heart if you don't.

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Kitty collapsed into her bed, silently counting the hours until Maggie would have her up again, demanding her next meal. I think I can get at least two hours of sleep and then three more before the children need to be up for school.

She reached for some cream to rub onto her dry hands and arms, noticing a couple of blisters on her palms, most likely the result of working in her garden without her gloves. This brought a smile to her lips, as she remembered once, several years prior, joking with Doc about her looking "cute", digging up potatoes all day. Doc had suggested that Kitty convince Matt to "quit playin' with guns, get some land and raise things." Well, Doc, some of your suggestions took. Land…check. Raising things…check, check, check, check, check and check! Now, about those guns… Indeed, it's time to broach the subject of retirement. Again.

TBC