Rob pushed open the doors of the Longbranch and went up to the bar. "Can I get a whiskey, Sam?"
"Coming right up," said the bartender. He poured a shot and handed it to Rob and the young man took out a coin. Sam shook his head. "Miss Kitty said your money's no good in here."
Rob took a sip. "Well, thank Miss Kitty for me, would you?" Sam smiled and nodded and Rob went over to a table. He was on his third whiskey when the marshal came in with a man Rob had not seen before. They collected beers and came over to his table to sit down.
"Rob, I don't think you met Newly O'Brian. Newly, this is Dr Robert Parker, Letty's fiancé," said Matt.
Rob extended his hand, observing the badge on the man's chest. "Are you a deputy too, Mr O'Brian?"
"Newly." They shook hands and Newly smiled. "I'm mostly a gunsmith but I help the marshal out from time to time. I just got back from delivering a prisoner to Hays City."
"Say, Rob, have you seen Festus?" asked Matt. "I can't seem to find him anywhere."
"I haven't seen him, marshal." Rob drank some more whiskey. "I don't know where Letty is either."
Matt looked at him sharply. "They're probably down by the river. Well, it wasn't important but if you do see him will you tell him I want him?"
Rob nodded and the marshal left the two young men alone. Newly sipped his beer and said, "I understand this is your first visit to Dodge City."
"That's right." Rob finished his drink and stared into the empty glass as if debating whether to buy another. "I don't remember Letty talking about you."
"Well, I've only been in Dodge a few years myself and I wasn't here when she visited last time." Newly collected the glasses and went over to the bar, returning with a coffeepot and two cups.
Rob looked slightly more interested. "Where are you from originally, Newly?"
"Pennsylvania." Newly poured the coffee and handed a cup to Rob.
"Pennsylvania." Rob tasted the coffee, added sugar, tried it again. "Nice place, Pennsylvania."
Newly took a sip of coffee. "The whole East coast is a nice place, wouldn't you say?"
Rob looked up. "I certainly would. This dusty little cowtown in the middle of nowhere..." He stopped abruptly.
Newly nodded thoughtfully. "Dodge has become home to me but I can still remember the first time I saw it." He smiled reminiscently. "It sure didn't look like much. I wasn't planning on staying but...well, I got to know some of the folks. I knew gunsmithing and blacksmithing and I started doing a little work, and then I started helping out the marshal..." The young man shrugged. "I just settled in and before I knew it this was the place I wanted to spend the rest of my life."
"That's how Letty feels," said Rob gloomily. "We met in England...she was teaching at a branch of the Troy Female Seminary and I was taking a vacation after finishing medical school." Now it was his turn to reminisce. "She had six months to go with the school and I had been planning to tour all of Europe but the day I met her I changed my plans. I stayed in England until she was ready to come back to the States and we got engaged on the boat over." Rob shrugged uneasily. "I've never been west of St Louis in my life but Letty kept talking about Festus and Dodge City and how she wanted to come back. I wanted to please her so I agreed to come here."
Newly drank more coffee. "For a visit."
Rob nodded vigorously. "For a visit! I didn't really think she would want to stay here. Newly, if you could have seen her in England...fancy clothes and the daintiest little palomino pony...we went riding every Sunday and I would see her sometimes at her boarding house...the most exclusive boarding house in London and you couldn't get past the front door without a written invitation from the proprietor AND there were always at least two chaperones at all times..."
"Sounds a lot different from Ma Smalley's," grinned Newly.
"Well, Mrs Smalley keeps a pretty close eye on Letty," said Rob. He assumed a virtuous expression. "Not that she needs to...my intentions have always been completely honorable. Now, though..." He shook his head and poured another cup of coffee. "I don't know what my intentions are. I don't know what to do..."
Newly pushed his cup back and forth. "My wife Patricia was just passing through when I met her. She was a governess from back East and we got caught in a tornado." Rob's eyes widened and Newly smiled. "Talk about a bad first impression...but I loved her and she married me...I'll never know how I managed it but she married me..."
"Does she like Dodge?" asked Rob.
Newly closed his eyes. "She had leukemia when I asked her to marry me."
Rob bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Newly."
Newly opened his eyes. "So am I. But I'm not sorry for the time we had together and I'm not sorry it was here in Dodge." His eyes met Rob's. "I could give you ten thousand reasons why I loved Patricia. One of them is that she loved my home and my family. I lost her but I still have my memories here where we were happy..." Newly's voice dropped. "With the people who loved us both."