Lilly had started into labour and Billy held her and for reassurance and love. Between Kitty and Ma Smalley they calmed her down - that was before they all heard the reports from the guns somewhere down the street. Matt opened the door and grabbed his hat then charged out the front door of the boarding house. His eyes quickly scanned the street and came to rest on a small crowd at the foot of the staircase leading up to Doc's office.
He swallowed hard and then ran quickly toward the scene. "Let me through...out of the way." He pushed through the throng of towns folk. Matt pulled his gun and briskly climbed the stairs - two and three at a time. Once at the top he shoved the door open. The sight that greeted him caused his heart to jump into his throat.
James Charles lay dead just inside the door. Festus' bullet hit him just below the sternum. Festus was helping Doc to a sitting position as the solid hit he took from James cracked a rib or two before he hit his head on the edge of a chair. "Festus?"
The hill man didn't respond. Matt stepped closer. "Festus, what happened? Doc, you okay?"
Doc touched the growing bump on his head and said yes as Festus got the physician to his feet. Doc's eyes, however, we looking at Festus.
Matt's eyes narrowed in question and he was getting al little upset that Festus wasn't responding. "Festus? What happened here?" Matt looked at James Charles.
Finally Festus' saddened hazel eyes lifted to the marshal. "He came fer Lilly. I wasn't gonna let him take her and I wasn't gonna say she weren't here neither. Then he hit ol' Doc real hard and shoved him to the floor whar he hit his head. I didn't like that...at all." Festus' voice lacked emotion or edge. Matt wasn't sure what to make of it. "So you just shot him?" Matt then asked sternly.
"Not hardly." Festus' eyes seemed to grow dark. "He went fer his gun and then I shot him after he shot me..." Festus managed to wrap the wound before helping Doc. He held his upper arm so that Matt could see.
"Here. Let me have a look at that." Doc said with concern in his voice while moving to Festus' side and reaching for the cloth that the deputy wrapped around his upper arm.
Matt sighed. "I'm afraid that Festus' arm will have to wait, Doc. Lilly is having her baby..."
Doc ran his hand across his moustache and nodded and grabbed his medical bag then stepped over the dead man. "I'll be back when I can to look at that arm or your's." he said to the deputy.
"Festus, could you look after him?" Matt asked looking back into the office.
"Sure, Matthew..."
Once the other two men left, Festus' shoulders sagged. Lilly was having her baby and Billy Charles was there with her. Not him. Slowly he went about his business and left the room to tell Percy Crump that he had a customer up at the doctor's office. It was on his way to the undertakers that the hill man decided that he'd made enough of a mess of the situation and a fool of himself. He decided to leave Dodge behind him.