Finally, Matt turned his eyes back to the bible and looked down at the passage that Paul had pointed out to him. Ecclesiastes 3. To everything there is a purpose and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Matt glanced up to see Paul's knowing smile. "Guess you're right about that. Maybe now's just not the time." He sighed suddenly feeling extremely tired.

Paul must've noticed, because he stood and pointed to the cot where Kitty lay and then pointed at Matt.

Matt frowned, not at all sure he should do that, but then he reminded himself, he'd already told Paul everything there was to tell about him and Kitty. If the man was suggesting he lay down beside her, than Paul obviously wasn't offended or even shocked at their relationship. And though a part of him warned that he shouldn't go to sleep in the presence of a total stranger, for some reason, he trusted this old man. And he was exhausted.

Wearily getting to his feet, Matt nodded. "I guess, you're right." He smiled at his host. "If I'm gonna get her back to Dodge tomorrow, I'm gonna need some sleep."

Crossing over to the cot, Matt paused and looked around the room. There wasn't another cot in the room. "Where are you going to sleep?"

Paul patted him on the shoulder with a smile and a shake of his head, pointing to the large rocker he'd occupied most of the night. Patting his chest, he raised his hand making an okay sign with his thumb and index finger.

Matt nodded again. He knew the only place for Kitty to sleep was in that cot and the only place where he could sleep was right beside her, so lifting back the covers, he gently moved her over a little and then lay down beside her. Looking over at Paul, he gratefully smiled. "I appreciate all you've done for us, Paul."

Paul shook his head and nodded towards the bible one last time. Without words, he'd conveyed to Matt how he felt about it. His responsibility was to do unto others as he'd have done unto him.

With a deep breath, Matt pulled Kitty tightly into his arms and then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

"You think he's ever gonna wake up, Doc?" Chester's voice was plaintive and loud and it roused the sleeping law man.

"Well, of course, he's going to wake up, Chester." Doc answered in an exasperated tone. "I've already told you that. He was hurt and sick but not dead. Besides, he has too fine a doctor for anything less than a complete recovery."

Chester cast him a glare and a snort of distrust.

Doc started to address that when he noticed Matt awake and staring at them. "Well, would you look at that?" He grinned with an elbow to Chester's ribs. "See, I told you he'd be alright. Good to see ya awake, Matt." Doc stepped over to him, placing a cool hand on his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

Matt didn't answer right off as he looked around him. He was in Doc's office, in his back room. Kitty was no where to be seen. "Kitty!" He groaned as he tried to get up.

Swiftly, yet gently, Doc pushed him back down. "Now you just lay right back there, Mr. Marshal. Kitty's just fine. She won't be up dancing for a while yet, but she's doing well. Better than you are, anyway."

"How…' Matt stopped and licked his dry lips. Nothing was making sense. "How did we get here?"

"Me, Will Ronniger and his son's brought you in, Mr. Dillon." Chester spoke up.

Doc nodded. "When you didn't come back to town, Chester got another horse and headed out. He found the buggy but figured he might need some help, so he went on to the Ronniger ranch."

"It was too dark though when I got there so we had to wait til morning to come but as soon as it was daylight, we set out. We found your horse standing alone near a ravine north of here and you and Miss Kitty at the bottom of it. Heaven's, we had the devil's own time getting you two out of there."

"What? N… No, it… it was Paul. He helped us." Matt insisted, pulling himself up, regardless of Doc's protests. "He pulled us out of there. He… he…"

"Who's Paul?" Doc questioned glancing up at Chester. He was beginning to think the bump Matt took on the back of his head was worse than he thought.

"There wasn't anyone around there, Mr. Dillon." Chester frowned.

When Matt didn't answer, Doc reached out and checked his forehead again. "Well, there's no fever."

Matt finally looked back up at Doc. "It… it's… Never mind."

Doc wanted to ask more but he changed his mind deciding Matt was just not yet himself and perhaps still suffering from the effects of the concussion he'd suffered. "Well, alright." He turned for the door, pushing Chester aheah of him. "You get some rest, Matt and I'll check on you later. You've been out of it for a couple of days now and you need it."

"Doc?" Matt stopped him before he closed the door.

"Yeah?"

"What day is it?"

"Two days after Christmas." Doc answered. "They found you two Christmas morning."

Matt sat back, shaking his head. How could they have found them Christmas morning? It was Christmas Eve when he and Kitty were at Paul's place. And how could Will and Chester and his sons pull them out of the ravine when he distinctly remembered Paul doing it?

About an hour after Doc and Chester left him, a knock came at the door. "Come in." Matt called.

When the door opened, Kitty came in, limping and leaning heavily on Sam's arm. "Matt? Are you okay?" She asked anxiously.

"Kitty!" Matt sat up a little. "You shouldn't be up on that leg." He looked reprovingly at Sam. "Sam, you shouldn't have let her."

"Marshal, I tried. But…"

"Hush." Kitty shook her head at him as she carefully sat down on the bed beside Matt. "You have nothing to apologize for, Sam. I made you help me." She smiled up at her bartender. "Thank you. You can go on back now. I'll be fine here."

"Yes, Ma'am." He nodded and turned for the door, before stopping and looking back. "You want me to come back for you in an hour or so?"

Kitty glanced over at Matt then shook her head. "No, don't worry about it, Sam. I'm fine and I'll get back."

With a curt bob of his head, Sam exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"Doc's going to have your head, Kitty." Matt warned. "You should be staying in bed with that leg."

Kitty laughed. "Curly told me the same thing. But he knows me better than that. Once I heard you were awake, no power on earth could keep me out of here."

Matt reached out and took her hand. "Well, I'm glad to see you anyway. Doc did say you were going to be alright."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah. He said my leg was infected and I had a bad hit to the head but I'd be fine. Of course, I wouldn't have been if you hadn't found me. Doc said that as cold as it was, me and you both would've died if we hadn't been holding each other with that quilt around us."

Matt didn't answer as his mind went back to the old man, Paul. He was real. Matt knew he was. He could still taste the delicious meal he'd been served and still remembered the bible he'd held in his hands as Paul had used it to communicate with him. And yet…

"Matt?" Kitty tugged at his hand when he lapsed into silence. "Is something wrong?"

Matt looked up at her, with a grateful smile. "No, honey. I'm just so glad that you're alright. I was so scared when I saw you in that ravine. Until I got down there to you, I thought you might already be dead. I've never been so worried."

Kitty shook her head with a sigh. "To be honest, I don't remember too much at all about it. I remember wandering around the prairie, cold and tired. And I sorta remember falling down into the ravine. But after that, not so much. Well, except for the old man I dreamed up."

Matt snapped to attention. "Old man?"

"Um hum." Kitty nodded. "I seem to remember lying on a cot, with you beside me and some older gentleman with a long white beard and hair standing beside you. But I know that's impossible no matter how real it seemed."

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her about Paul, but Matt kept his silence. Now in the cold light of day, in the real and familiar back room of Doc's, Matt wasn't so sure that Paul really had existed. If what Doc had told him, there was no way he could've been real.

Matt instead, simply smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

TBC