Chapter 4
It was just before sunrise and Matt rolled over to give Kitty a soft kiss on the cheek. As much as he wanted to spend more time in bed with her, Matt knew he had to get up and start his day. One of the things that did change in their relationship was that he no longer tried to sneak out of Kitty's room early in the morning. Both he and Kitty knew that they were the worst kept secret in Dodge and no longer tried to hide their relationship. The only reason Matt was up early today was because he wanted to get an early start to his day. The first thing he wanted to do was to go down to the Stage Depot and find out when today's stage would be arriving.
"Kitty, I should get going," said Matt as he crawled out of bed and got dressed.
"I hate to see you leave, Cowboy, but I guess there's no stopping you," said Kitty, stretching underneath the covers. "Besides, I should probably get up soon too. I have to be downstairs in a couple of hours."
One final kiss and Matt left Kitty's room. He walked over to the Stage Depot to ask Bruce when the stage would be coming. "Hey, Bruce, what time is the stage arriving today?"
"Good morning, Marshal. Are you expecting someone or something on the stage?" asked Bruce.
"It's been a couple weeks since I've welcomed the stage as Marshal, and I thought I'd welcome it in today," Matt replied. He hoped Bruce wouldn't notice that he avoided answering Bruce's question.
"Oh, I see. Well, the stage is expected to be here at three o'clock this afternoon," said Bruce.
"Thank you, Bruce," said Matt, walking away from the depot.
'Three o'clock,' thought Matt. 'Kitty was working until this evening, so that would allow me to meet the stage and Mike on my own. I doubt Doc and Festus would be there with me to meet the stage, especially if I do not tell them of my plans to meet it.'
It was mid-morning and the stage pulled into a relay station. They were about twenty miles from Dodge. The closer she got to Dodge, the more excited Mike was getting. She really couldn't wait to see Dan, uh Matt.
"Ma'am, we should only be here a half an hour. I want to rest the horses and we have two more passengers to pick up. There's some breakfast in there, if you're interested.," said Jim, the stagecoach driver.
"Thank you," Mike said.
As much as she wanted to hurry and get to Dodge City, Mike welcomed the thirty minute layover. She needed to get out of the stagecoach to walk around and stretch her muscles, especially her back. Being this advanced in her pregnancy, the baby seemed to press on her lower back. It probably was not the brightest idea to travel such a distance with her due date so close, but she wanted to be in Dodge City so she could give birth there.
Remembering that the stagecoach driver told her breakfast was available, Mike walked into the relay station to get some. Inside, she saw a couple that had to be in their sixties. Mike assumed that these were the passengers that would be joining her. Mike sat down at the table and began to eat. Thirty minutes later Mike and the other couple boarded the stagecoach and took off for Dodge City.
"Since we're going to be sharing a stagecoach for the next several hours, we might as well get acquainted. I'm Doris Pritchard and this is my husband, Norman Pritchard," said Doris. She extended her hand to Mike.
Mike took the offered hand and introduced herself. "It's very nice to meet the two of you. I'm Melinda Yates."
"Are you headed to Dodge to meet your husband?" asked Doris.
"I should have been more clear when I introduced myself, I'm Miss Melinda Yates. I'm not married," said Mike.
"I'm sorry. I just thought since you were carrying a child, that there was a husband. Please forgive me," said Doris with sincerity in her voice.
"Don't worry about it. The truth is the baby's father is not in the picture. He doesn't even know that I'm pregnant. My plan is to go to Dodge City to start a new life for me and my baby," Mike told Doris.
"When is your baby due?" asked Doris. She knew it wasn't the ideal situation for a woman to be single and pregnant, but she didn't judge people. Melinda seemed like a very nice woman. A nice woman that was going to be bringing another one of God's children into the world and that's all that mattered.
"I'm due to give birth in a month or so. I'm nervous and excited at the same time," Mike said.
"I totally understand. I felt the same way with my first baby. It's completely normal," said Doris. She reached over and patted Mike on the hand.
After riding for another hour, Mike's back started to bother her. Doris noticed this. "Are you alright, dear?"
"This past month my back started bothering me. I guess riding in the stagecoach hasn't helped it," Mike answered.
"Do you want Norm to ask the driver to stop so you can get out and walk around and stretch?" asked Doris.
"That's not necessary. The faster we get to Dodge the better," said Mike.
As soon as she said that, she felt a gush of water. "Oh no!" Mike panicked.
"What's wrong?" Doris quickly asked.
"I think my water just broke," Mike cried.
Doris looked down to see water dripping from beneath Mike and got wide eyed. She put her head out the window and told the driver to stop. "Driver, you need to stop. We have a situation in here."
Hearing the yelling, Jim brought the team of horses to a halt. He jumped down from the seat to see what was happening. He opened the stage door. "What seems to be the problem?"
"This woman has just gone into labor. Her water just broke," answered Doris.
TBC
