Five
Matt Dillon ranted and raved the entire ride back to Dodge City. The litany of his sermon appeared based on the Book of Susan. "Miss Bart is a fine and cultured lady and has never done anything to hurt you, and neither Susan nor I have given you any reason to come spying on us." He took a deep breath, "Furthermore, do you have any idea how close you came to being shot tonight? Did you even consider the danger you put yourself and Bessie in?"
Poor Kitty couldn't get a word in edgewise, for their seemed no pause in his tirade. Known as a man of few words, he seemed to have saved his entire stock for the ride home.
They dropped their horses off at the livery, where Matt rousted Moss from his sleep to tend to the weary animals. Then Dillon grabbed the saloon gal's hand and pulled her down the street. She had to run to keep up with his pace. For a few moments she wondered if he was going to lock her up. But they turned at the General Store where the Marshal practically dragged her up the steps to Doctor Adams' office.
He pounded on the door with his free fist. "Open up in there Doc!"
"Hold your horses I'm coming as fast as I can," came the cantankerous reply from inside the office. Doc took one look at Kitty and said, "Well, what in the world happened here?"
Matt growled, "Don't even ask Doc." The lawman scowled one last time at the bedraggled saloon gal and then left her in the care of the physician. Doc silently tended to Kitty's various wounds and bruises noting that she was not in the mood for conversation either. The old man knew domestic violence was a fact of the frontier, but he'd never suspected such foul play on the part of Matt Dillon. The elderly doctor was old enough not to be surprised by anything; still he promised himself, he'd have a good talking with that young fella in the morning. When salve, ointment and binding bandages had been applied to his satisfaction, Dr. Adams walked Kitty Russell over to the saloon, and told her not to worry, he'd make sure nothing like this ever happened again. "Get some sleep young lady." He ordered.
Dawn was on the horizon, and soon she would need to get back on ol' Paint and ride over to Bessie's so they could bake the Piss Apple cake. Kitty longed for a nice hot bath but, settled for cold water in a basin, cleaning up as best she could. She held a cool wet washcloth over her black eye and lay down with her posterior on a pillow. She was soon asleep.
Dillon, back at his office, tried to make sense out of Kitty's surprise appearance at Moon Bar Ranch. He sat on his cot pulling off his boots puzzling over her actions. As far as he could figure, Kitty must have found out he was going to the Bart's ranch, been overcome with jealousy and decided to spy on him and Susan. How she talked Bessie Roniger into accompanying her he didn't know. Kitty was lucky old man Bart had declined to press charges; he knew if it were up to Susan, she would have sent Kitty up the river for fifty years. Dillon chuckled at the idea in spite of himself. He lay down on his cot; he was asleep when his head hit the pillow.
The day of Matt's birthday broke gray and dreary. With only a few hours of sleep, Kitty had to pry her tired body from the bedcovers. She managed to limp her way over to her washstand and took a quick look at herself in the mirror. "Whoa," she said out loud. A magnificent shiner blackened her swollen eye. A groan escaped from her lips as she moved around, there was not one part on her body that didn't ache and truth be told, all she really wanted to do was take some of Doc's pain powders and crawl back to bed. Sleep and pain powders were not to be, not when Kitty Russell had a Piss Apple cake to bake.
Once dressed, she hobbled down to the stable and saddled the rented mare. Ol' Paint was none too happy to see her. She tried to make amends by some sweet-talking, but the horse would have none of it. Her ears remained flattened against her head for a good part of the ride to the Roniger's farmstead.
Kitty's first order of business was to make atonement to Will; he was at the pump, washing up. He actually smiled when he saw her. "Bessie explained that it was her idea to go with you last night, now I can't say I condone what you gals did, Lord only knows what could have happened to you. But, I reckon I admire your gumption." He took a long look at Kitty's black eye, whistled and then shook his head, "are you sure you ought to be out today?"
Kitty ruefully smiled back at the farmer and said, "I'm just fine, and once we get our baking done everything will be perfect." She bit her lip and then she added, "Thanks for not telling Matt about the cake."
Will winked and said with a crooked grin, "Wouldn't do to spoil a man's birthday surprise. Bessie's in the house."
Mrs. Roniger was waiting for the saloon gal in the kitchen, the apples were boiling on the stove and Bessie was already getting the rest of the fixings ready for the cake. With the skill of someone who has done it before, Kitty beat the ingredients together and poured the batter into the pan. Grateful the task was nearly accomplished, she opened the oven door, but as she did so, there was a tremendous, "whhoooosh," as heat and flame surged out of the black iron monster, and attacked Kitty. Bessie watching from the dry sink, quickly took her wet dish towel and swung it at Kitty's head, the dish towel hit her across the face and forehead and the saloon gal slumped to the chair behind her. She was startled and knocked half senseless, "What did you do that for?"
"Your hair was on fire! " Bessie exclaimed.
Kitty pulled herself to her feet and looked in the kitchen mirror. "Oh no", her beautiful perfect red bangs were singed up to her hairline, her eyelashes were gone and she had a large red welt forming across her cheek from the dish towel. She looked at Bessie and shook her head. "If things keep going this way I won't live long enough to give Matt his cake." Kitty was ready to swear off any future baking.
I am sorry to report that her problems weren't entirely behind her, for when Kitty was taking the cake out of the oven, she lifted the pan just a little too high, catching both wrists at the top of the hot oven. She received a pair of nasty burns for her effort. Fortunately, she did not drop the cake and managed to set it on the cutting board before letting out a howl.
While Bessie frosted the cake, Will applied bear grease and bandages to the burns. Kitty realized there were few things in life that smelled worse than rendered bear grease, but it did make the burns feel better.
"Miss Kitty, there is no way we are going to let you ride that horse of yours back to Dodge. You're gonna take the buggy." Will stated firmly. Bessie agreed saying that would be the only way she could get the cake back to Dodge City any way.
So it happened that Kitty Russell bruised, burned, smelly and weary drove the buggy to Moss Gimmick's stable at dusk that evening, the evening of Matt's birthday.
GS GS GS
He had been looking for her all day, and it had been a long day at that. He'd stopped by the Long Branch early to take her to breakfast, hoping to make amends, only to find she was gone. When he got back to his office Susan Bart was waiting for him. On his desk was an apple cake she'd baked especially for him.
"It's the very same cake I baked for the church social, the one you liked so much. I wanted you to have it for your birthday." She cut him an extra large piece right there, and watched while as he ate every last morsel. He had no choice but to invite her to lunch at Delmonico's and listen to her incessant chatter through the entire meal.
Back at his office doing paperwork, Doc Adams stopped by. The old man clearly had his feathers ruffled, and Dillon had sat in confused silence while the physician lectured him. Pacing back and forth across the length of the office, he'd stop in front of Matt every so often to wag a finger at him. "I know there are different rules out here on the prairie young fella, but that don't make it right to treat a woman with anything other than a kind hand and a gentle voice. Don't let anger get the better of you."
At first Matt didn't understand what Doc had been insinuating, but then realizing how the situation must have appeared the night before, it became clear to him. It took some explaining before Doc let go of his suspicions.
It could have been coincidence or the fact that he had been hanging around Moss Grimmick's place all afternoon waiting for her to get back ... but that's where Dillon was when she pulled in. "Where have you been?" he asked and then noticed the state of her usually fastidious person. He saw her black eye had taken on impressive proportions since the previous night. He noticed too, the singed bangs and bandaged wrists. "What happened, are you alright? " His heart skipped a beat as he thought she was the most endearingly pathetic sight he had ever seen.
Tears of complete exhaustion filled her eyes, and she answered back in a less than stoic voice, "I've been baking you a birthday cake, Happy Birthday Matt." She thrust the cake in his face. He opened Bessie Roniger's cake tin and looked at her splendid accomplishment.
"I hope you like it." she sniffed.
Matt smiled lovingly at her, "As long as it isn't one of Susan Bart's piss apple cakes, I'm sure it will be just fine."
The dropped jaw and woeful look on Kitty's face brought the grim truth to young Dillon's mind. So that's what she was doing in the Bart's cow pasture.
"Piss apple?" he asked.
"Piss apple." she replied with a sad affirmative nod of her head. "I thought you liked Susan's cake, you said it tasted just like your mother's."
"It did Kitty, my mother was a wonderful lady, but she couldn't bake, and even if she could, the only apple trees we had were ..."
She finished his sentence. "Piss apples."
Matt Dillon put the cake down, reached up and lifted her out of the buggy, and with the utmost gentleness, (Doc would have approved) took her in his arms and kissed her.
Kitty Russell sighed, and secretly swore she would never bake again, but aloud she said. "Happy Birthday, Cowboy."
He replied with absolute honesty, "It is now."
the end