Chapter Twenty-One: Letters
Estelle made her way down the alley behind the saloons and crept up the stairs to Doc's office. It was a Tuesday, it was lunch time, and she should have been at school. She sat very small and quiet on the top step, waiting for Doc to return. She held a thin book in her hands. On the cover there was a picture of a cowboy standing with a gun in each hand facing a group of sword-carrying warriors in Chinese armor. A beautiful young woman in a long Chinese dress cowered behind the cowboy. Estelle sniffled a little and wiped at her nose with the bleeding knuckles of her right hand.
Doc came around the corner maneuvering a toothpick in his mouth. He was halfway up the stairs before he noticed her crouched at the top. "Well, what a pleasure to see you, Estelle. You been waiting for me long?"
Estelle shook her head and one of her braids came undone. She looked down at the book in her hands rather than at Doc. He unlocked the door to his office and ushered her in. "You sit up there on the table, honey, and be my patient. I haven't got anyone else to practice on this afternoon." Estelle hoisted herself up onto the examining table, but caught her breath as the move rubbed the scraped surface of her hand. Doc poured some water in a basin, picked up soap and a clean cloth, and came to stand next to her. He took her hand and began very gently to wash the broken skin. "Didn't school just start yesterday, Estelle? You been fighting already?"
She nodded, hanging her head. "I know girls shouldn't fight, Doc, but he just made me so mad I didn't know what else to do."
Doc finished with her hand and put a finger under her chin to tip her head one way and another, realizing that she likely had a black eye coming. "Who did this, Estelle?"
"Mickey Richards," she responded willingly, "but you should see his face, Doc. I got him down in the gravel in the schoolyard, and sat on him, and pushed his face in it 'til he took it all back." Her face fell then, "But he cheated! When I let him up he started in again, and he ran away, and said he was gonna tell everybody." She looked up into Doc's face, blinking back tears, "And I don't want him to," she finished.
Doc wiped her face with the wet cloth, catching the tears she didn't want him to see. "And what is it that you don't want him saying to everybody?" he asked as he neatly did up her loose braid and tied it with the drooping ribbon.
Estelle held out the dime novel she'd been carrying. The title over the lurid picture read Matt Dillon and the Empress of China. Doc leafed through it. "Where'd you get this, honey?"
"From Mickey. He said Marshal Dillon ran off to China so he wouldn't have to marry Miss Kitty, and he said," Estelle lowered her face and couldn't go on.
"And he said…" Doc prompted helpfully.
"He said Maria is Marshal Dillon's baby, not Sam's."
"That the first time you've heard that story, Estelle?" Doc asked.
"No, sir," she replied. "I heard Mr. Burke say it in the barroom once, but Sam just laughed at him. And I've heard some of the boys at school say it, but they didn't know I was listening, so I could pretend I didn't hear."
"You ever think maybe the best thing to do might be to laugh at Mickey?"
That brought Estelle's head up and her eyes widened, "Instead of hittin' him?"
"Yep."
Estelle tilted her head to the side. "Would that work?"
"It worked for Sam." Doc said.
"I could try that, I suppose." Estelle said, and then added bloodthirstily, "And if it didn't work, I could pound his head into the wall."
"No," Doc told her shaking his head, "Once you start laughing at what someone says, you have to just keep on laughing, or ignore them, otherwise they'll keep on trying to hurt you with what they say."
Estelle considered that and finally shook her head. "No. I'd rather beat his head right in and push him down the privy hole at school. He could yell for a long time before anyone found him."
Doc held a hand over his mouth, trying to stroke away a smile while fiddling with his moustache. "I suppose that's true, honey, but try thinking about it this way. What is it you want Mickey to do?"
"Shut his lying mouth about Miss Kitty and Maria." Estelle said forthrightly.
"What if it's not a lie?" Doc asked her quietly, but that brought no comment, only tears.
Doc sat down in the big chair by the window, remembering Matt sitting there not too much more than a year ago to tell him that Kitty was pregnant and he was going to marry her. "You come sit with me here, Estelle," Doc said opening his arms to her.
"I'm not too big?" she asked.
"You're not too big," Doc replied, and she came to sit on his lap and lean her head against his shoulder.
"Now Miss Kitty's talked to you about men and women and how babies are made, hasn't she?" Doc asked.
"Yes." Estelle agreed. "I know all about how that works, and I know that if a baby's born without the woman being married that it's a sin and a shame for her."
"Well, I don't know about the sin, honey, but people certainly make a point to call shame on her and on the child, too." Doc said, "That's why when Marshal Dillon was shot, we all thought it was important for Miss Kitty to get married before the baby was born. Festus, and Newly, and Frank, and I, we all wanted to marry her, but Sam was the lucky one who did."
"But Maria, she's really Marshal Dillon's daughter?" Estelle asked.
"Yes, she is." Doc responded simply.
Estelle took a while to think about this. "Why didn't Marshal Dillon marry Miss Kitty then? Didn't he love her? Or…" Estelle hesitated, but her faith in Doc let her continue, "Was it like with Helen and Cora and the cowboys they take upstairs?"
"Now sweetheart, I don't ever want you even to think that. Matt loved Kitty very, very much. He sat right here in this chair and told me that the day before he left to take Tonneman on the train. And they were planning to get married as soon as he got back. But he never came back," Doc said. "Now honey, you have to understand that Matt thought he was keeping Kitty safer by not marrying her. There were outlaws out there, bad men like the one who killed your ma and pa, who might have tried to hurt Kitty if they knew that the marshal loved her."
"Does she still love him?" Estelle asked.
"Yes, Estelle, she does. She loves him as much as ever, and she's been hoping and praying all year that he'll come back to her. Even when the rest of us thought he was dead, Kitty still thought he might be alive."
The girl ducked her head deeper into the folds of Doc's black coat, but he heard her question anyway. "Does that mean she doesn't love Sam?"
"What do you think, Estelle?" Doc asked.
"I think she does." Estelle admitted softly. "She acts like she does. And she sleeps with him in the same bed. And they both love Maria. And me." The last two words came out in a whisper.
"Well, honey, that's the best way to think of it. We don't just love one person in our lives. You loved both your mother and your father, didn't you?" Estelle nodded against his shoulder. "Kitty loves you, and Maria, and Sam, and she loves me too. I know she does."
"She loves Frank, Marshal Reardon, too. He kisses her all the time, when he comes in and when he leaves, sometimes he kisses her more than Sam does, and sometimes she cries on him and he holds her, but then I go away because it makes me sad."
"Yep, she surely loves Frank as well." Doc sighed, it was a hard thing to explain, "But the love that a man and wife have, the love that has them wanting to make a baby together, that's special. That's the kind of love Matt and Kitty had, still have if I know anything about it. They shared that love for years, honey, since before you were even born," he exaggerated slightly.
Estelle tried to work this out. "So Miss Kitty married Sam because she was going to have a baby, and she loved Sam, too, and thought if Marshal Dillon was dead, well then, Sam was second best."
Doc smiled, "That's not the most polite way to put it, Estelle, but I think you're right. I wouldn't go around saying that to anyone else though."
Estelle shook her head decisively at that. "But Doc, what about the new baby? That will be Sam's baby, won't it? And she's married to Sam. I know, I was there. What's Miss Kitty going to do when Marshal Dillon comes home?"
Doc sat very still. This was news to him, and not really news he wanted to hear. He stood Estelle up and then rose out of the chair himself. "I don't know, Estelle, I just don't know, but I bet she and Sam and Matt work something out. Now, how about I write you a note to give the teacher tomorrow morning, and tell her I needed your help here this afternoon. I've got a lot of pills to make up, and you can help me cut them and box them, how about that?"
Estelle nodded. "I'd like that, Doc. And we can talk some more?"
"You betcha, young lady. Any time at all you need to talk to me, I'll most surely listen," Doc told her wishing he too had someone older and wiser to advise him on this very subject.
OoOoO
The first of Matt's letters from Sydney was delivered not in Dodge but in Washington DC. Perhaps it was the fact that it was addressed to the Secretary of War that expedited its arrival, perhaps it was just chance, but on Wednesday the fifth of September William Endicott walked into his office and found a letter from Australia waiting for him on his desk. He cut open the envelope and read the contents. The letter was very matter of fact and there wasn't much he didn't already know. Marshal Dillon reported his abduction on July 7th of the previous year, named the ships he'd been held on, described his attempt to report in at the US consulate in Macau, and finished with the information that he was making his way back by available transport. He expected to be in San Francisco the first part of November and would appreciate the Secretary notifying the Marshal's Office there to expect him. Endicott pursed his lips and strode purposefully back and forth across the room several times, then called loudly for his assistant and began dictating telegrams.
OoOoO
Mollie Parks received the letter from Australia on Friday the seventh of September. When Elton at the post office tried to find out who it was from, she hushed him quickly and whispered that she didn't want Chet to find out. Elton grinned at that, but it kept his mouth shut. What Chet didn't know about Mollie wouldn't hurt him. Without even opening the letter, Mollie headed over to see Doc, passed it off to him for Kitty, and let him know in no uncertain terms that she expected to be let in on the contents.
Doc strolled over to the Long Branch. The room was busy with the lunch time crowd, but a nod from Clem headed him up for Kitty's room. He found her sharing a messy lunch with Sam, Julie, baby Maria, and, to his surprise, Newly. He dropped the letter next to Kitty's plate. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up wide-eyed at Doc. "Mollie just brought it over to me." he said.
Kitty was aware of Sam standing at her other shoulder as she picked up a knife from the table and slit the envelope. Her heart jumped at the sight of several pages covered on both sides with Matt's familiar scrawl, so different from the last, tightly-printed missive. Holding the paper so the men behind her could read it as well, she began.
Sydney, Australia
July 5th, 1888
Dear Kitty,
First let me tell you that I am well and safe. There was a difficult time when we arrived in Rio and an officer on the Lupinho found out about the letter that Luiz smuggled out for me. The boy and I were transferred to another ship, the Rainha Negra, which was heading for Macau by way of Sao Paulo de Loanda in Africa and Goa in India. We arrived in Macau last April and I was finally allowed to leave the ship.
I tried to report in to the American consulate in Macau, but the man there – Oliver VanHayes – called me a liar to my face and refused to help. There was a guard by the name of Michael Barker, from Austin, who did believe me, but he was unable to do anything for us. I was lucky enough to find a British ship in Macau that was moving horses and needed someone who knew how to handle them. Luiz and I signed on to San Francisco on the Annie Laurie under Captain Thomas MacIntyre. We had been at sea for some weeks before I found out that we were headed south to Australia and then to New Zealand and Hawaii before we make sail for America.
I am now in Sydney. I asked to be released from my contract, but Captain MacIntyre will not agree. That's his right under the law. I am going to mail one copy of this letter from the Post Office here, and send another by way of a ship heading out this week for California. The captain has arranged for Luiz and me to spend the next month before the ship sails at the home of the man who owns the horses we brought from China. I have no idea what to expect, but it has to be better than spending a month here in a city.
I expect to arrive in San Francisco sometime in the first half of November. From there I can take a train to Dodge. I wish that there was a faster way to return to you, but it seems that this is what I will have to put up with. I find it hard to believe that it has been a year since I was captured. I still worry about your safety but hope that one way or another Tonneman's gang has been put down. If not, then please believe that you are still in danger and let our friends protect you.
Kitty, I want you to know that I love you and that whatever has happened while I have been gone will not change that. I understand and accept that our lives will surely be different when I come back, but my love for you and our baby will not. You are in my thoughts every day and every night.
Doc, I thought of you when I first saw the Chinese horses. They look just like the bronze statue on the top of your desk. You will want to know that the shot that took me down left a scar across my face from my cheekbone to below my right ear. No one sewed it up, but an Indian woman who was caring for me on the wagon ride down to Galveston bandaged it and put something on it that seemed to help. Pretty sure the bone was damaged some, but it has healed. I don't look very pretty, but then I never did. I am otherwise in good health and strength.
Frank, I hope that you are in Dodge and taking care of things. I remember at all times that 'a brother is born for adversity' and know that we will see this through together.
Barring accidents, I am confident of my return in November. The Annie Laurie is a tight ship with a good Captain. Let Festus know I get double rations as part of my pay. The food is not good, but at least there is enough of it. Newly, will you look out for a good Colt for me? You know what I like. I haven't worn a gun in a year now, but suppose I will have to when I return.
Sam, I think sometimes about that drink I turned down during our conversation my last night in Dodge. They serve us a measure of rum twice a week on this ship, but it's foul stuff. You give Mollie a hug for me and thank her for handling these letters.
God bless. With love, Matt
Kitty put the letter down and started sniffling. Sam pulled a clean white handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her, then stood rubbing her neck very gently.
"Bad news?" Newly asked.
"No, Newly," Kitty said, "Good news. Here, read it, there's a part for you." She handed him the letter.
Newly read it quickly and then checked his watch. "The afternoon session of court's going to start in just a few minutes, Kitty. Let me head down and see if I can take Frank's place. There's only two cases this afternoon, and he doesn't have to testify in either." Kitty smiled her thanks at him as he donned his hat and left the room.
Julie picked up baby Maria and started washing her face. "I'll take her for her nap, Miss Kitty," the girl said, "You mind if I lay down with her?"
"You do that, Julie," Kitty said, wiping her eyes and handing the handkerchief back to her husband, "You're working too hard, days here and nights at Delmonico's."
"Tain't nothin' compared to farmin', Miss Kitty," the girl replied, "But Newly and I, we're goin' for a buggy ride tonight after the restaurant closes up, so I thought…"
"We'll likely have people in here talkin' for a while, Julie," Kitty told her, "Why don't you take Maria all the way down to Sam's old room for her nap? It will be quieter." Julie handed the baby to her parents for kisses and then whisked her down the hall.
"I'm going to miss that child, Kitty," Sam said looking after them.
"I know you will, Sam, and you know you'll always be welcome as a part of her family." Kitty told him.
Sam tipped up her chin and gave her first a warm smile and then a soft kiss. "Don't be sad for me, Kitty. I've had a wonderful year, and, well, there's some relief in the waiting being over."
Doc had wandered over to look out the window in an attempt to give them some privacy, but neither Kitty nor Sam seemed disturbed at all by his presence. He turned as Kitty snorted a laugh and said, "A wonderful year? First with me fat as a pig and not able to work a bit, then you being shot, then months of a cryin' baby wakin' you every night?"
"Best year since I came west," Sam affirmed with a big smile stretching over his face.
"You're a fool, Sam Noonan!" Kitty said shaking her head. "But I'm mighty glad you are," she told him tenderly, and they left it at that.
Frank came in a few minutes later, and they heard Festus jingling down the hall from the back stairs. Kitty handed Frank the letter and asked him to read it aloud. They were all silent when he finished reading. Eventually Frank spoke up, "That's from Proverbs, isn't it, Doc?"
Doc nodded. "Chapter seventeen. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
"We're good then." Frank said in satisfaction. "Sam what was that bit about him turning down a drink?"
"He was reminding me of a conversation we had that last night before he left. We talked about the baby coming, and he told me he trusted me to take care of Kitty while he was gone." Sam replied.
Frank laid a hand on Sam's shoulder. "No one could have done better, compadre," he said, then turned to the others in the room. "I asked Judge Brooker to join us up here after court. I'm thinking we need some legal advice."
OoOoO
If Judge Brooker was embarrassed as Newly led him into the Long Branch and up the stairs to Kitty's room, he certainly didn't show it. He'd been up there twice before – once to offer her his condolences the week after Matt's death, and once in December to see the new baby. Sam greeted him at the door, and he went over to shake hands first with Kitty and then with Doc. "Quite a welcoming committee, Galen," he said, "I understood from Marshal Reardon that you needed some help with a private matter?"
Kitty smiled at him, "And this doesn't look too private to you, does it, Judge?"
Doc swiped a hand across his moustache and said, "It is though, Cyrus. It's just that all of us here are involved in it, and we're all looking for the best way to solve a problem. Why don't you sit down, and we'll talk?"
Sam offered him Matt's big chair as the others settled around the room. Kitty sat between Newly and Doc on the settee with Frank on the floor at her feet. Festus moved chairs out from the big table for himself and Sam.
"Can I get you a drink, sir?" Sam asked.
"A glass of whiskey would be very welcome, Sam." Brooker replied looking around him at the five men and one woman who were regarding him expectantly.
Sam took glasses from the sideboard and poured whiskey, handing one to each of them and keeping one for himself. He raised his glass, "To Matt, may we see him soon." They all drank.
"I take it," Brooker said, "That this means you've heard from him?"
"You knew he was alive, Cyrus?" Doc asked.
"I heard the news from Governor Martin, yes, but nothing more conclusive," the judge told him.
"We got a letter today, Judge, from Australia. Matt says he hopes to be back in early November." Kitty said.
Brooker's eyes lighted at that. "The best news I've heard this year, Mrs. Noonan! And what can I do to be of assistance here?"
Sam was forthright. "When I married Kitty last year, when we believed that Matt was dead, I told her that I would give her a divorce if we were wrong and he came back. I need to know the easiest and quietest way to do that."
The room was silent while Judge Brooker pondered that, sipping his whiskey. "You are in agreement with this, Mrs. Noonan?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Yes, I am."
"There are some different ways that you can do this," the judge said. "I won't comment on it being an odd arrangement. I believe I know the facts behind the case, but in order to discuss this I must be very frank with you. I hope you will not be disturbed by my blunt speaking, Mrs. Noonan? I take it that you are comfortable discussing this matter in front of all of these gentlemen?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Judge." Kitty told him.
"Well then. You and Sam are both residents of the state of Kansas. As such either of you can bring suit for divorce, but you must have grounds. Sam, you have grounds to divorce your wife under Kansas law in that she was pregnant with another man's child when you married her. I assume that's true, Galen?"
"It is." Doc told him, "but we've worked mighty hard, all of us, to play down that fact, if not to keep it a secret. I'd hate to see it stated in open court."
"As would I." the judge replied, "On the other hand, grounds for divorce in this state are somewhat limited. Desertion is clearly out of the question, and I'm assuming that you do not wish to charge Sam with repeated violence against your person, Mrs. Noonan?"
"I won't do that, Judge, and please, it's Kitty."
Brooker smiled at her and said, "Thank you, Kitty." before turning somber again. "The remaining grounds for divorce are non-consummation, insanity, impotence, sodomy, and adultery. Not a pleasant selection, but I think the easiest to settle on is the last."
Sam looked horrified, but Kitty nodded, her face calm. "I'll agree to that, your honor. Sam can divorce me, and I'll provide whatever evidence is needed of my guilt."
"You will not!" Sam exploded. "That was never the way of it, Kitty. I told you I'd give you a divorce, and I will, but you'll bring the action against me, and I'll agree to anything you say."
Looking back and forth between the two of them, and then at the other men in the room, Brooker told them, "You do realize that in Kansas divorces are granted by suit in an open courtroom, and that they must be announced in the local paper beforehand?"
"Seems ta me, yur honor," Festus said, "That the state a' Kansas makes it durned difficult for a couple a folks ta split up proper."
"Exactly so, Deputy, although I must tell you that many states have even more stringent laws, and some states forbid divorce for any reason."
Doc took a look at the glum faces around him and twisted his mouth in an attempt not to smile, "You got some other notion that might help us here, Cyrus?" he asked.
"As it happens, Galen," he replied, "I do."
Kitty looked across at him expectantly, and he addressed her as if the two of them were alone in the room. "Kitty, this is not going to be easy, and you need to accept that, but I think I know a way to make it a little less difficult. The state of Nevada issues divorces in camera, that is, privately in a judge's chambers, and although a decree of divorce must be published in the local newspaper, the grounds for the divorce are not stated. The variety of complaints is similar to those in Kansas, but since the decree is granted privately by the judge, documentary evidence is usually sufficient, and if all parties are agreed on the settlements, then the actual legal action is largely a formality."
"But we don't live in Nevada, Judge Brooker." Kitty said with some confusion.
"But you could, Kitty. It would take you six weeks to establish residency. Only one party needs to be a resident of the state. I have a good friend in a law office in Reno who I think would be happy to take your case, and I can ask Judge McCarren or Judge Julien to hear the case. If we have all the paperwork ready and signed, the judge can hear your case and grant your divorce as soon as you become a resident, and the divorce will be final upon publication."
Sam and Kitty looked at each other. "I could leave in a few days, Sam."
He nodded in agreement, but said gently, "I still need to give you cause, Kitty."
Judge Brooker cleared his throat, "It seems to me, Kitty, that if you wrote out your complaint saying that you believed your husband had been unfaithful to you with, perhaps, one or more of the ladies who work here, and that when you confronted him he did not deny the allegation, that would be sufficient."
"And if it's not," Frank said with a grin, "Bet those girls would every one of 'em line up to sign an affidavit if they thought it would help. Only problem would be to keep them from embroiderin' their descriptions a little too much."
Sam's color rose sharply, but Brooker just nodded his head and said, "Exactly so, Marshal, exactly so."
OoOoO
It had been a fairly busy evening at the Long Branch, but by midnight most of the crowd was gone. One table of poker players still sat near the door, and Doc was nursing a whiskey at the bar with Kitty. He'd been quiet all evening, not responding to Kitty's small talk, and she was a little worried. Finally, he clicked his glass firmly down on the bar, and raised a hand to motion Sam over to them.
"Get you something else, Doc?" Sam asked.
"No, but I need to talk to the two of you," he glanced around, "This private enough?"
"I think so, Doc," Kitty replied in a low voice. "I know you've been thinking about something all evening, why don't you just tell us?"
Doc looked at Sam rather than at Kitty and announced with quiet determination, "I'm going to Reno with Kitty, Sam, and I don't want any argument from you. I've telegraphed east for a replacement for my practice. If the man works out, well then, it's time I was retiring anyway. I know you want to have Kitty leave as soon as possible, but I need a week to get things set up. That cuts it close but still gives her time to get everything done in Reno."
Sam just met the man's gaze and nodded. Kitty bristled a bit and said, "What's this all about, Doc? You know I'm capable of taking care of myself, and it's only four days to Reno on the train."
Still not looking at Kitty, Doc said, "What arrangements you and Sam choose to make about a divorce is up to the two of you, and maybe Matt, but I'm not going to let a woman with your history of miscarriage travel or stay alone in a strange town. Now that's final, and it's the way it's going to be. We can take the morning train a week from tomorrow." Without saying goodnight, Doc turned sharply and walked out the door.
"Damn." Kitty said.
"No." Sam replied, "Thank God."
o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o * o *
I realize that the waiting period for residency in the state of Nevada was three months at this time in history, and that it didn't change to six weeks until several decades later. That, however, did not fit the timeline of the story, so I hastened the advent of the new regulations to make Kitty's wait fit the available time.