Chapter Eight: The Suitors

It had been more than three weeks since Matt Dillon's death and the men were getting desperate. They'd talked about it earlier in the day.

"Doc, I've proposed ta her half a dozen times. She's always nice about it, Doc, but she jus' doan really listen none." Festus had said, "I'm 'bout ready to jus' pick her up an' haul her off."

"You know you can't do that, Festus," Doc had told him, not liking the calculating look in the deputy's eye.

"Well, Festus is right about her not listening, Doc," Newly had commented, "I've tried several times. She doesn't object, she doesn't say yes or no, it's just like she isn't hearing me."

Doc had swiped a hand across his moustache and stared at them. "She cry any?" he had asked. He'd wished more than once that Kitty would cry, but she didn't.

Both men shook their heads. "Not since that first night, Doc," Newly had said, "And then it was just a few tears, not really crying."

"Doc, we got to get this settled," Festus had declared somewhat plaintively, "We know Miss Kitty's not gonna be safe, nor the child neither, until I get Tonneman, an' I cain't be headin' out to do that until this here is taken care of."

The other two men regarded him somberly. "You're still thinking Matt's alive, aren't you?" Doc had finally said.

Festus had shaken his head, "Not really, Doc. Not really thinkin' or believin' that, but, well, I gotta find his body – there'll be sumthin' left even if the wolves has been at it. Got to talk to men who saw him dead. I got to have more than I do right now, an' I think that's as how Miss Kitty's a-feelin' too. I think that's why she won' do what she oughter about givin' that child a name."

"Well it's going to stop tonight," Doc had said firmly. "It's a quiet night. There's no herds in town this week. I'll ask Sam to close early and we're all three going up there at closing time and have it out with her." Doc knew as he said it that it wasn't a good idea. Had Matt Dillon been around he would have told them it was a very bad idea.

OoOoO

It was only eleven but the Long Branch was nearly empty. The day had been a scorcher and the late July night was still hot despite the late hour. Louie Pheeters, only a little tipsy, was sweeping the floor and waiting for the drink he'd get from Sam when he finished. Doc, Newly, and Festus came walking in, slow and determined, and headed for the stairs. Sam regarded them with a knowing smile and a shake of his head. He understood why they were here. He and Kitty had talked earlier that day, and he was pretty sure none of the three knew what they were in for. The men walked right past without seeing him.

"Penelope and her suitors." Louie commented briefly as the men disappeared down the back hall.

"Penelope?" Sam questioned, not understanding, but Louie just kept sweeping.

It was Doc that knocked on her door, "Kitty, it's Doc, I need to talk to you."

"Come on in, Doc, it's not locked," came her reply from within.

They trooped into the room to find Kitty standing by her window, looking out at the night. She had lost weight, and Doc didn't like it. She wore a dark robe over her nightdress, and her pregnancy, obvious to them, still wouldn't have been to a casual observer. Kitty turned to regard them through wide eyes and whispered, "Oh, my."

"We need to talk to you, Kitty." Doc said.

"You been elected to speak for the delegation?" she asked with more interest than she'd shown any of them in some weeks.

"I suppose I have, if you want to put it that way," Doc replied gathering nods from the other two men.

"Well, have your say," she told them.

"You want to sit down?" Doc asked hopefully.

"No, thank you. I'll just take it standing." Kitty countered.

"Kitty, we've decided…" Doc began.

"You've decided?"

"Yes, damn it, we've decided that you need to make a decision on this right now. Another few weeks and everyone in town is going to know you're carrying a child. You need to either marry one of us now, right now, or you need to leave Dodge and go somewhere that you're not known and where you can take a new name and carry this through as a widow." Doc said.

"You don't think I am a widow, Doc?" Kitty asked. This part was new.

"Yes, Kitty, I think in fact you are," he surprised her by saying. "You and Matt were together for a lot of years, as close, closer even, as most married couples I know – even though you neither of you spoke a word about it. And if you were really Matt's widow with his name and a ring on your finger, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. But in that way, at least, you're not. I think you're being selfish here, Kitty, and it's got to stop."

"Selfish?" He should have noticed the sparks beginning to burn in her eyes, but he listened instead to the calm tone of her voice.

"You gots to think of the baby, Miss Kitty," Festus inserted into the conversation.

"And your own safety, Kitty, yours and the baby's." Newly added.

"And that means I have to marry one of you?" Kitty's voice was tight.

"Yes, Kitty, it does." Doc answered sternly.

"Even a widow's allowed her year," Kitty told them turning again to the window, determined not to let tears fall. She loved each of these men, and she loved what they were trying to do for her, but it wasn't going to work, and they didn't listen when she tried to tell them.

It was Newly who answered her back sincerely, "That's just the point, Kitty. A widow's year is there so that if she has a child everyone will know whose it is. You don't want everyone knowing this is Matt's child," he hesitated and went to put his hands on her shoulders, "I guess I know you do really want that, Kitty, but you also know it's not safe for the child. If you marry now, well, then your baby will be born early, but that happens too often for people to really mind, and the baby will have a father and a name." He tried to turn her towards him, but she wouldn't move. "I know it's not what you want, Kitty, but it's the way it needs to be. You have to accept that. Matt would want that."

She turned on him with such fire that he stepped back sharply, "Don't you dare, don't any of you dare, to tell me what Matt would have wanted!"

"Well, I'm a-fixin' to, Miss Kitty," Festus said between courage and irritation. "Nothin' you can say can convince me that Matthew wouldn' want his chile to have a name, and keepin' you an' that chile safe, wael, that's the las' job he gived me so I suppose it's up to me ta do 'er."

"The last thing he ever said to me, Festus Haggen, was to ask me if I'd wait for him until he got back," Kitty declared, "And that's just what I intend to do, if it takes my entire life." And I'll do my waiting in Dodge City, because if by some chance he ever were to come back, that's where he would look for me, she thought.

"A' course you will, Miss Kitty," Festus told her, "We'uns all knows that. We don't none o' us expec' ta take Matthew's place. We jus' want what's best and safest for you. That there's why ya' jus' got to marry with one a' us, Miss Kitty, and do it right away."

"He's not coming back, Kitty," Doc said matter-of-factly. "No matter how many times he did before, no matter how much you hope for it, we all hope for it, he's not coming back."

In the quiet after Doc finished, they each heard the swift heavy tread on the stairs. The bedroom door burst open revealing a tall, broad-shouldered cowboy filling the doorway. He was unshaven and his clothes and face were beyond filthy with dust and mud. Ignoring the three men, he strode across the room and pulled Kitty hard into his arms. All the tears she carefully hadn't shed came sobbing out of her, and his own tears made tracks down the face he buried in her hair.

Frank Reardon looked up from Kitty's embrace and met Doc's eyes. A gesture with his chin sent them all out the door, closing it behind them.

"I suppose," Doc said, hat in hand, "That's that."

OoOoO

By the time they had both finished crying, Kitty's face and robe were nearly as dirty as he was. "Where on earth have you been, Frank?" she finally asked, taking the tiniest step back from him.

"It took a few days for Doc's telegram to get to me, Kitty, and I left ridin' south that day, but it took nearly two weeks to get to the rail head in Cheyenne, and then on the train back and forth to get to Hays. I've been riding down from there in the heat the last two days."

"You could have sent a telegram." Kitty said.

"Didn't think it would matter, darlin', you knew I was comin'." Frank answered.

"I knew you would if you could, Frank, but I kept thinking something had happened to you. I was afraid maybe I'd lost you, too." Kitty took a full step backwards. "We've got to get you cleaned up."

Frank ran his fingers over the side of her face leaving a muddy track. "You too, I guess. I'm sorry about that, Kitty." He wasn't apologizing for coming straight to her, she knew, just for the dirt he'd carried in.

"Look, you've used my tub before. The water won't be warm, but hot as it's been it's not likely to be too cold either."

Kitty followed him into the washroom, and washed her hands and face as Frank began pumping water into the tub. She laid out a towel and a bar of soap and left the room as he began stripping off his grimy clothes.

She changed the dirty robe for a clean one and headed down the back stairs. She went back into the small kitchen to assemble bread and cheese and sausage – the makings of the free lunch that graced the bar each afternoon. Festus and Newly were gone when she went into the deserted barroom, but Doc stood at the bar with Sam. Kitty stopped beside them. "Pull me a beer, Sam," she asked.

"You want me to help you carry that up, Miss Kitty?" he asked, filling a foamy mug.

"No, I can manage," she replied setting the mug on her tray. She met Sam's eyes. "Frank is going to stay here tonight." Sam nodded slowly. Doc's head came up like a bird dog, but he kept his mouth closed. Kitty looked across at Doc, ""Frank and I are going to talk tonight, Doc. You and the rest can have him tomorrow, but tonight we're going to grieve." Doc found himself echoing Sam's slow nod.

Sam said. "I'll try to find some clothes and things for him for the morning."

"I have some things of Matt's." Kitty told him,

"Too big," was Sam's laconic comment.

"Less so on him than on another man." Kitty answered and made her way up the stairs carefully balancing the tray.

Doc and Sam watched her go. "I've been waiting for Frank," Doc said. "It surely took him a long time to get here."

"It's a long way, Doc, more than a thousand miles and no roads for a lot of it."

Doc looked over speculatively at the big man behind the bar, "Seems to me maybe I should have been watching you rather than just waiting for Frank."

"Seems to me, Doc, you all should have been payin' more attention to Miss Kitty, and less to what you'd decided was best for her to do." Sam told him.

Doc's hand came up to swipe over his moustache. "I suppose that's true, Sam."

"Doc?"

"Yes."

"Who's Penelope?"

OoOoO

Kitty set the food down on the table and seated herself to wait. She remembered so many times when Matt and Frank had come in from the trail together. So many times the three of them had sat here, in this room, talking late into the night. Matt never talked as much with anyone, even her, as he did with Frank. It didn't seem possible that Frank was here and Matt was not.

She heard water sloshing in the tub and then running out the drain. Frank came in rubbing a towel through his hair. She'd seen most of him before, over the years, but never all of him. He looked at her looking at him and wrapped the damp towel around his waist. He sat and dug in to his cold meal, downing the beer with thirsty relish. "You don't look like you're eatin' enough, Kitty," he told her between bites.

She snorted. "That's what Doc tells me," she agreed.

"Is he right?" Frank asked.

"I guess he is," Kitty conceded. "I just haven't wanted to eat since… well, I've tried, Frank, but I can't get much down."

"We'll work on that," Frank told her. "You have any whiskey up here?" he asked her.

"I thought you'd be dry and want the beer," Kitty said getting up and bringing over a decanter and two glasses from the table by the window.

"You were right," he finished off the last mouthful and emptied the mug. Picking up the decanter he poured them both a full glass. "Toss that off, Kitty," he told her, "We have some hard talking to do, and this will oil the way." They drank and he refilled her glass, but not his own.

"You tryin' to get me drunk, Frank?" she asked, downing the second glass.

"Yes," he replied. He stood up and took her hand, drawing her towards the bed and blowing out the lamp.

Kitty pulled back just a little, "You sure about this, Frank?"

"I'm sure," he told her. "Maria's dead, and Matt's dead, and there's too many ghosts. I need something solid to hold on to, Kitty. I need the comfort, darlin', and you do too. I'm sure not heading anywhere else tonight, and, you'll need to tell me everything that happened. The whiskey will help with that. I don't know anything except what Doc said in his telegram and the little I've heard on the trail."

Kitty lay back beside him in the dark. Waiting. She remembered that Maria had been pregnant when she had died, and was pretty sure what would happen next. She was right. Frank lay on his side next to her, running his hands comfortingly, almost idly, over her body. It took only a few moments for his hands to stop, feeling her belly, and he let out a choking moan, "Dear Lord, Kitty, I didn't know." He pulled her into his arms and cradled her against him, "Darlin', I didn't know. Matt wrote to me about Mannon, but I didn't know you were carryin' again. Did Matt know?"

"He knew, Frank. We were going to get married that next week, after he came back from delivering the prisoner. He had it worked out with Judge Brooker." Kitty said, and went on to tell him something she hadn't told anyone, something only she and Matt had known, "But he wanted to marry me, that last day. Said we should just go have the preacher say the words before he left. I wouldn't do it, Frank. Thought it was bad luck." She started crying again, "I wish I had."

Frank held her and stroked her, kissing her hair and face. There were tears from both of them. And then later there was more.

In the deep quiet of the night, after Kitty had told him everything there was to tell about Matt's death and its aftermath, Frank asked her, "You still set on what you want to do, Kitty?"

She breathed deep and settled back against the pillows. There was comfort in him leaving that decision in her hands. "You want me to marry you, Frank?" she asked.

"Yes I do, Kitty."

"Why?"

"I'd be lying if I said it was just for Matt, but part of it is. A man takes care of his brother's widow – and his child – that's the way of it. Boaz married Ruth. And I'd do it just for that if that was all there was, but you know I love you, darlin'," Frank told her, "I loved you long before Maria, and, well, loving her like I did, knowing that deep kind of love, same as you and Matt had, getting a child with her, that just tells me you and I could find that with each other. It might take some time, but we could wait for it. The waiting wouldn't be wasted."

"What if Matt came back, Frank?" Kitty let the question sit between them.

"Matt's not comin' back, Kitty." Frank's voice was solid. "If you're still waitin' for that, then it's time you stopped."

"But…"

"I heard all you said," he interrupted, "What the girl saw and what she told you. But she wasn't a reliable witness, Kitty, bein' captured like that, bein' shot, her mother dyin' right there. And even if she was, even if Matt was by some chance just barely alive when they took his body away, Tonneman wasn't going to let him live. You know that, and I know that. Hell, Matt knew that. He's dead Kitty, and we both have to accept that." Frank paused, and then added, "No matter how much we loved him, he's gone."

Kitty dropped it. She didn't have to convince anyone. "What you gonna do here in Dodge, Frank? You stayin'?"

"Figured I'd do what Matt asked me and take over as marshal." Frank said, "It may take a few months to convince the War Department, but I'm pretty sure I can convince the town council in an hour or two to hire me as City Marshal in the meantime."

"I'm not going to marry you, Frank," Kitty told him abruptly, needing to get it out. His hands stilled against her, and he waited. "I've got two reasons and either one is good enough. First, you haven't been here in Dodge and there's no way we could even pretend this is your child. Second, I will not be married to a lawman again. I will not."

"Anything else?" he asked, his hands beginning to stir her again.

She nodded against his chest and whispered, "You're too like him, Frank. You always were. I'd feel your hands, like now, and think of his."

"That wouldn't last, darlin'," Frank said, caressing her, "And while it did, I wouldn't mind."

"No, Frank. You asked what I decided and I told you earlier, I'm goin' on with that tomorrow."

"You're going to marry Sam Noonan?"

"Yes," Kitty replied, "I am. Sam and I deal well together. We've been partners for a while, and he's the only one of all of you who's agreed to end the marriage if Matt comes back."

"Sam think Matt's alive?" Frank probed.

Kitty shook her head. "No he doesn't. Festus and I are the only ones who still think that's even possible, but Sam, well, he may just be humoring me, but he's willing to go into this knowing it could end."

"I don't have anything against Sam, Kitty," Frank said, "But you can't deny he's some older than you. You ready to deal with that?"

"Twenty years, almost exactly," she replied, "He's a good man, Frank. He's had a family before and he's happy at the idea of another. With us being partners, him living here the past few years, people aren't going to question my marrying him, and likely not question the baby as much either."

"I'd rather you married me, Kitty," Frank told her, "I think you'd be happier."

Her voice was soft but very firm when she answered him, "I might be, Frank, at least until the first gunfight, or the first time you were shot, or until someone took me or the baby as a hostage to force you to do something you didn't want to do." She stroked her hands over this back, "This is better, Frank, safer. For me and for Matt's baby."

"All right, Kitty. I won't argue with you about it, and I'll stand by the two of you – the three of you – as best I can." Frank's hands moved against her breasts, "So it's just tonight for you and me?" he asked.

"Just tonight. I wouldn't do that to him, Frank, after we're married." Kitty said. "He might agree, but I wouldn't. It wouldn't be fair."

"All right then, Kitty. Just tonight," he told her moving his mouth to kiss her lips and then her neck.