1877:
Kitty was lying in bed pondering her future.
Unborn Jamie had just given her a mighty kick, and when she startled awake, it was like her mind also had been jolted.
"Matt", Kitty shook his shoulder. "Matt, are you awake? I need to talk to you. Matt?"
"Whaa…," Matt slowly opened his eyes, then sat straight up in bed.
"What is it, Honey?! Is it time?! Are you and the baby all right?!"
The ex-lawman who had routinely faced down dire dangers for years, was now pale, his pulse racing as he took Kitty by the shoulders and looked in her eyes. It was too early for their baby to be born.
"Matt…we need to have a photograph made of us."
His worried blue eyes opened wide, then crinkled in amusement as he tried not to laugh.
"Darlin', do we really have to talk about this now?" He glanced at the clock on the fireplace mantle. "You know I have to get up for the stock in about three hours." He thought back about her odd requests when pregnant with Rosie, but this topped them all.
"I know, and I'm sorry Matt, but this is important to me, for us. Please, Sweetheart."
He looked at his very pregnant wife and knew he would never see anything more beautiful, her tousled red curls lit by moonlight, her large eyes so full of love for him.
"Kitty, you know I once told you that I would never say no to you, and I am a man of my word. Henry can take care of the stock when he gets here, and we'll get gussied up and head for town. Doc said this new photographer does a fine job. And, as you know, Doc doesn't want you going anywhere after next week."
She reached up and put her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a tender kiss, her round belly pushing against him. Little Jamie gave them both a satisfied kick.
The next morning, after a slow and careful buggy ride to town, Matt and Kitty sat for a photograph together, as Kitty wanted. Kitty requested two photos, and the photographer got permission to make a copy of the first for his own private collection after admiring the beautiful young couple through his viewfinder. After they left, he immediately processed the photos and was surprised at the results. Yes, he had captured their beauty, and the first photo was them in a standard solemn pose. As for the second photo, at the moment of exposure, they had both slightly turned their heads towards each other and smiled. In a moment of inspiration, the photographer hand-tinted the photo to capture their blue eyes and her vibrant red hair.
That night, Kitty had one more task to do. She carefully snipped a curl of Rosie's glossy reddish-brown hair as she slept, tied it with a pink ribbon, and put it in a dated envelope with 'Rose Russell Dillon' written on it. Then she put it in a small wooden box in a concealed drawer in her armoire.
Matt picked up the two photographs a few days later, and waited until he got home so he and Kitty could see them for the first time together. He had expected to see the usual result of a couple staring glumly at the camera. Both were pleased with the first, more solemn, traditional pose, for public display, but the second one made them both grin with delight. The tinting was lovely, and preserved the real them for all time.
Framing the more traditional photo, Matt put it up on the wall at the top of the stairs, as Kitty directed. The second one was labeled, dated, and put in the box with the curl of Rosie's hair.
1997:
Knowing that Nanny was an early riser, Rusty went downstairs before even her parents were up, and lightly tapped at her great grandmother's door.
"Come on in, Rusty. I've been expecting you." The still lovely eighty-two year old smiled as the young woman with the spikey red hair and sky blue eyes came in. Katy, "Nanny," saw the coloring and high cheekbones of her own mother, Claire, and of her daughter, Mary, in the girl. All the women in the family were blessed with beauty, but the red hair and sky blue eyes skipped every other generation so far.
"Morning Nanny. It's so good to see you again. I want to come see you more often now that I've got some seniority at work. How are you doing?"
They both knew the question was about her Paul, "Pappy" to the family.
"Oh, it's been hard, Baby, but I keep reminding myself that we'll soon be together, in God's good time. Don't look like that, now! I love life, but a part of my heart is gone. You'll understand one day when you meet the right man."
Rusty blushed and looked down. Not having a serious boyfriend was a sore spot with her since the females in her family usually had one or more children by her current age of twenty-two. It didn't bother her, but she could see her mother and grandmother looking at her speculatively at times. Only her father, brother, and Nanny didn't push her about it.
"Nanny, I want to learn about the family. I've been having a recurrent dream that I feel like is more like a peek into the past.'
Katy perked up for the first time in days, and avidly listened as Rusty described the details of her dream.
The old woman smiled at her beloved great granddaughter, took a key out of the small table next to her, and handed it to the young woman.
"Rusty, unlock the drawer in the bottom back of my armoire, and bring it to me."