Gunsmoke: Chapter 13

The Distant Sound of Thunder Rumbling

**Here's a short chapter to remind you that rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, and I will finish this story. Eventually. I'm sorry its taken so long.

Kitty awoke slowly; it was like swimming through water up towards light.

Someone was snoring softly beside her, and she turned her head very slowly. Her entire body ached. She moved her left hand and felt along the soft worn quilt until her long, pale fingers gently brushed the slender, muscular arm of her daughter. Her entire body relaxed; her baby was safe.

Lena's breathing was steady and peaceful; her daughter's head was across her folded arms, one hand reaching towards her mother.

Kitty ran her weak, trembling hand through her girl's thick auburn tresses, allowing the silky strands to run through her fingers like water. The soft cascade caused Lena to wake, and she looked at Kitty through relieved, tired eyes.

Smiling, Lena said, "It's about time, lazy bones."

"How long?" Her mother's voice was a dry raspy whisper.

Lena rose and poured her mother a glass of water from the pitcher next to the bed. As she held it and helped her mother to drink slowly, she said, "Three days. You've been here, in the doctor's office, for three days." Her voice caught, "I didn't know if you…. Oh, Mama, if you had—"

"Come here, sweetheart."

Lena lay down gently beside her mother, burrowing into the pillow to place her face in the nest of her mother's hair. The familiar scent caused her to cry again in relief. "Thank God. Thank God, Mama."

Kitty didn't hear her. She was asleep again.

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Matt's heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs to Doc's old office. He'd been at the office with Newly, thanking him for arriving in time to save Kitty's life. Festus had once again come through for him, not only saving his life, but saving the two people he loved most in the world. That's not a debt ever repaid.

"Doctor." Matt nodded at the middle-aged man who still irked him by sitting in Doc's chair, in Doc's rightful place. It wasn't his fault this man wasn't his old friend, but it still irked the hell out of him.

"You may go on in, Mr. Dillon. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

He knocked on the door and opened it to find his daughter and Kitty playing gin rummy, on her bed.

He grinned happily. "This is indeed a sight for sore eyes."

Matt leaned down and placed a kiss on Kitty's cheek. "Here I was thinking that I was gonna have to find a prince to give you a kiss to wake you up."

"Nope. I have a princess here instead," she said smiling up at him. "A princess who's kicking my rear at playing cards."

"Well, as I recollect, she probably got that honest from her mama," he replied, elevating his eyebrows. "You're pretty talented at dealing, as I remember. Saved the whole damn town once, and my life, too," he said proudly to their daughter.

"Really, mama. You saved everyone by playing cards?" Lena was impressed.

Kitty shrugged, "Everybody gets lucky." She smiled tenderly at Matt. "Sometimes the stakes are just too high to lose."

"When did the doctor say you could get out of here," Matt asked.

Lena answered before Kitty could. "He said that if Mama's temperature remained normal and she felt up to it that she could leave here for 'other accommodations' close by for a few days."

"Sounds good to me, by golly. I've got something I'd like to discuss with the two of you anyway. This will give me time to build my case," he said, mysteriously.

"What?" They both exclaimed almost simultaneously. Their eyes were wide with curiosity. Matt was struck by how much alike their expressions were.

"I guess you'll just to wait and see. How about I go make arrangements at the Dodge House for the two of you?" Kitty started to protest that the Long Branch would be just fine.

"No, it won't. It's too loud and you'd never rest. Let me handle this. You two can listen for once and take a little direction. Maybe it'll keep you out of trouble."

The older man tipped his hat at the two of them, speechless, as he grinned and slipped out the door.

He heard laughter coming from Kitty's room, then he heard Lena say, "Has he always been so bossy?"