"Ow!" Kitty cried out as she once again stumbled and fell to her knees. She had been walking now for hours and other than somewhere out on the vast prairie, she had no idea where she was. What she did know was that she was cold and tired and hungry and she had no doubt that her situation wasn't likely to improve anytime soon.

The only hope she had was that she'd come upon a farm or a ranch or something and they would help her. So far, she'd found nothing but more prairie. But she couldn't stop. To stop would be to die out there. She had no choice but to keep going and pray for help.

Finally finding a small circle of cedar trees, Kitty gratefully entered and settled herself under the spreading boughs of the largest one. It wasn't much, but it at least knocked the cold north wind away and allowed her shelter for a few minutes while she rested. She knew it would be dangerous to stay there for too long. If she fell asleep, she'd most likely not wake up again. But she had gone as far as her exhausted body would allow, without rest of some kind.

As she sat shivering under the thick spreading branches of the cedar, she ruefully remembered her discussion with Matt. He'd warned her not to go alone. But her anger at his taking off without a word, regardless of the circumstances, and Chester's suggestion that he practically owned her, had served to propel from her Dodge with the force of a cannon.

Alone.

As he'd asked her not to be.

The trip out to the Ronniger's had seemed to prove Matt and Chester both wrong. The morning, though cold, had been sunny with hardly a breeze and the trip had been easy. There hadn't been a single problem and she made it to the Ronniger's in just under three hours.

The ever growing Ronniger family had welcomed her warmly. They were surprised and pleased with the gifts she brought, as was she with the quilt that Bess and her girls had given her. Made of scraps of fabric from old clothes as well as material she had given them over the year, it was well made and beautiful. Just like the family that had given it to her.

After a satisfying lunch of pot roast and potatoes with dried apple pie for desert, Kitty had come close to accepting the family's offer of a bed for the night when she looked outside to see that the skies had darkened some and the wind had picked up. But finally she shook her head and took her leave of them. The next day was Christmas Eve and she wanted to be back in Dodge just in case a certain someone made it back by Christmas.

Her leaving there was another thing she now regretted. She was only a couple miles away from the Ronniger's when the wind picked up speed, roaring across the prairie like a charging lion. Kitty held tightly to the reins and tried her best to not only slow the increasingly frightened horse down but get her under control.

She had just about managed it too when suddenly, a rotten branch from a large tree near the road, broke off and came crashing down on the road, kicking up debris and scaring the horse even worse. Rearing up, the mare kicked madly to be free of her burdens of buggy and passenger and took off at as fast a pace as she could.

Kitty pulled with all her strength on the reins but her efforts were futile. The horse heeded no call but that of its own fear. Hurtling down the road, it rounded a bend at a pace that the two wheeled contraption it was hauling couldn't handle.

Before Kitty could brace herself, the buggy went up on two wheels and then over onto its side. The horse continued to drag it until he got it wrapped around a tree. As soon as she was free of the heavy weight, she raced on. Kitty was tossed around like a rag doll inside the carriage. When it finally came to an abrupt halt against the side of a large oak, she fell crumpled to the ground unconscious.

How long she had lain there, she didn't know. But when she came to, she was addled and hurt and her only thought was to get herself home. Nothing was left of the buggy but its twisted frame. The horse was long gone.

Though in hindsight, it would've been better for her had she stayed with the buggy, Kitty hadn't exactly been completely coherent when she started walking. She couldn't remember how far she'd walked or even which direction she'd originally struck out in. She now figured she was headed south east and that she'd been walking for hours, but she wasn't even sure of that.

"If I ever get back to Dodge…" she sighed, declining to finish that thought as she was actually beginning to be afraid that she might never get back there. She might never see the home and man that she loved with all her might.

"Stop it!" She sternly warned herself as she wearily forced herself back to her feet and left the shelter of the tree and started to walk again, reluctantly leaving the only shelter for miles behind her.

{{*M&K*}}

"Mr. Dillon!" Chester yelled to be heard over the wind that had really begun to howl. "Hold up a minute, will ya?"

Trying to hem in his irritation at any delay, Matt turned back. "What's wrong?" They were only about a mile from town and Matt knew they had a lot more ground to cover before they even got near the Ronniger's place.

"It's my horse." Chester told him as he dismounted and went around to the animal's front left foot. Picking it up, he examined it with a shake of his head. "He's pulling up for some reason. Don't appear to have no stones in his feet, but he's limping sure enough."

Matt took a deep breath. "Alright, head on back to Dodge then. No sense in ruining him by trying to keep going."

"Well, what are you gonna do?" Chester asked, not sure he leave his boss out there alone or that he wanted to walk the mile back to town.

"I'm going to find Kitty." Matt told him before he turned his buckskin and took off, leaving Chester in the dust with neither time nor room for argument.

As he rode, he tried hard to avoid thinking of all the bad things that could've happened to her. He kept telling himself that he was being silly and he would find her safe and sound at the Ronniger's. But each yard he rode, the more his mind focused on the negative and before he realized it, he had his horse at an almost full gallop.

He was about a two miles east of the Ronniger's place when he spotted something off in the distance. When he got closer, he recognized one of Moss' buggies, turned over, one wheel off. The horse and passenger nowhere to be seen.

Rushing over, Matt dismounted and frantically searched the buggy and all around it. He could find no sign of anyone other a slight smear of blood on the seat and on the side of the buggy. On the ground lay a torn package which contained a handmade quilt. Heart in his throat, Matt took note of tracks leading off north.

"Well, at least she's walking." He muttered as he picked up the quilt and threw it across his horse. When he found her, he figured she might need that. Grabbing his reins, he quickly mounted and began to follow, praying fervently that she would still be walking when he found her.

TBC

Just another note to thank those I can't PM. You all are wonderful and I appreciate your kindness. And Debbie W, I've been spending a lot of time just sitting with my mom lately, so I've had plenty of time to write.