Chapter 3 Going Home (Part 2)

Santa Fe (Back to Dodge)

Kitty raised a valid concern. It was out of the ordinary for Kitty, Doc, and Festus to go searching for Matt. There had been plenty of times that Matt had left town in pursuit of an outlaw. During those times, Doc, Kitty, and Festus did not go after him. How were they going to explain going after Matt this time? Doc spoke first.

"The only logical explanation for going after Matt would be that Matt was injured and we went to get him," said Doc.

"But Festus had wires sent looking for Matt," Kitty reminded the group. "How do we explain that?"

"That's simple," said Matt. "If people question your leaving Dodge to look for me, tell them you hadn't heard from me in over a week, and you were very concerned. Isn't that the truth?" Doc, Kitty, and Festus shook their heads yes. "Okay, you tell them you went searching for me because you hadn't heard from me and when you found me I was injured. Nobody is going to question the three of you going. You're my closest friends."

Matt was right. Nobody would question the three of them going and searching for him. Kitty, Doc, and Festus were his closest friends. The next thing to consider was how much information did they want to give the townsfolk in regards to Matt's injury.

"What do we say about Matt's injury? How much information do we give?" asked Kitty.

Doc looked at Matt. "I guess that's up to you. Do you want people to know you suffered memory loss?"

"I really haven't thought about that," Matt thoughtfully commented. "I've obviously physically healed these last few weeks. We need to have something to explain why I never contacted any of you or had someone contact you."

"Ya know," Festus spoke up. "Maybe we're a frettin' over nothin'. We ain't gotta come up with some big story. We can jest say that Matthew hurt his head and was too swimmy heady to contact us." Doc, Matt, and Kitty all looked at each other.

"By thunder, this doesn't happen too often, but Festus may just be right," said Doc.

"Now looky here," Festus started to say.

"Oh stop," said Doc. He turned his attention to Matt and Kitty. "You probably don't want to say swimmy heady. I would suggest the saying that Matt's head injury clouded Matt's memory."

All four friends nodded in agreement. The fact that Matt had been staying with a woman would not be mentioned. The citizens of Dodge City did not need to know that bit of information. Only if any of them were asked about Matt's time away, would they tell about Matt's head injury clouding his memory. If they were not asked, Matt, Kitty, Doc, and Festus would not say anything.

"What about Newly? What are we going to tell him?" asked Kitty.

"The entire story," Matt responded immediately. He did not even have to think about his answer. "We will tell him the truth. He's one of my deputies and I trust him. Newly wouldn't be one of my deputies if I couldn't trust him. We'll just make sure he knows what to share and what not to share." Kitty, Doc, and Festus did not argue with Matt's decision. They agreed with Matt.

Newly O'Brian could be trusted. Kitty first started to trust Newly, when they were kidnapped by Mexican outlaw Manez and his gang. They had mistaken Newly for a doctor. Even before Kitty and Newly had been kidnapped, Newly defended her on the stage. Doc trusted Newly because he kept Kitty safe during their ordeal and because he proved to be an educated man when it came to medicine. There had been multiple times when Doc relied on Newly's medical background. Festus trusted Newly in a similar way that Matt did, as a deputy. Festus could see that Matt trusted Newly, so he would trust him too. They all trusted Newly as a friend.

Matt decided to change the subject. "I've been gone for a few weeks. How have things been in Dodge? Anybody get shot?"

"When we left Dodge, everything was right as rain," Festus replied. "We left Newly in charge. We figured you wouldn't want Miss Kitty looking fer ya by her lonesome. That's why we comed along. I still remember how upset you were when she went to Pickaxe alone." Doc didn't even try to conceal his smile or stop his chuckle. Kitty just rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Festus," said Matt. "I appreciate you coming along. What about you, Doc? What made you come along? I'm kinda surprised you left Dodge so abruptly, not knowing how long you'd be gone."

"I came along to support Kitty. I'm confident that Newly can handle medical issues," replied Doc. "Now that I know that you were injured, I'm glad I came along."

"Doc, do you think Matt's going to be alright?" Kitty asked, her voice full of concern.

"I wish I could give you a concrete answer, but I can't," Doc answered. "The human mind is such a mystery. Remember when that barrel fell on Ben Galt's head? That injury completely changed his personality. He went from a nice, decent man to a mean one. It's clear that Matt's injury didn't change his personality, but it did give him amnesia."

"What's amnesia and who's Ben Galt?" Festus asked.

"The medical term for memory loss," Doc responded. "Ben was in Dodge about a year before you came."

"Will my amnesia have any lasting effects?" asked Matt. He asked the question that was forefront on Kitty's mind.

"Like I said, I can't give a definite answer," Doc said. "I recently read in one of my medical journals that amnesia affects people differently. Some people don't even recover their memory. There are people who regain their memory, but have relapses later on, and lose their memory again. And then there are people who make full recoveries and have no lasting effects. Unfortunately there's no way of knowing how Matt will be."

Matt, Kitty, and Festus all focused on the part about relapses and Matt possibly losing his memory again. They hoped Matt wouldn't experience memory loss again. But if it did happen, at least Matt would be in Dodge City with them, and not in some strange town. At least that's what they were hoping. There was a chance he could if a relapse away from Dodge. Right now they weren't going to worry about that. Matt had his memory and appeared to be fine.

"I don't know about you fellas, but I'm ready to retire for the night," Kitty yawned.

"Me too," Matt also yawned. "It's been a long day."

Matt stood up and held his hand out to Kitty to help her stand up. Kitty accepted the offered hand. Festus also stood up. Before leaving Doc's sleeper car, Kitty turned to Festus.

"I still feel guilty that you're gonna be sleeping in a passenger car, while we sleep in the comforts of a sleeper car," she said.

"Mizz Kitty, I told ya not to fret none 'bout that," said Festus. "I'll be jest fine."

Kitty knew Festus would be fine. Like Matt, Festus had spent many nights sleeping on the prairie. A seat on a train's passenger car would be a luxury compared to the unforgiving prairie. Festus walked to his assigned passenger car, while Matt and Kitty walked to their sleeper car. Matt and Kitty walked inside their sleeper car and shut the door. This was the first time they had been alone since finding Matt. Matt took Kitty into his arms and simply held her.

"Cowboy, I missed you so much," said Kitty, still in Matt's warm and loving embrace.

"Kitty, I'm so glad you found me," said Matt. He finally released her and looked into her eyes. "I hated the feeling of not knowing who I was or where I belonged. But those feelings are gone, because now I know who I am and where I belong."

Kitty was smiling at Matt, when a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Matt, what about Sam?"

"What about him?" Matt asked, trailing kisses down the side of Kitty's neck.

"What are we going to tell him?" Kitty asked. "Are we going to tell him the entire story or what we plan on telling the rest of the town, if they ask?"

Matt stopped kissing Kitty's neck and was quiet for a moment before responding. He knew Kitty would support his decision. "Kitty, I trust Sam. I trust him with your life. Back when Cooner and his gang threatened to kill a man a day, including you, Doc, and Chester, until I left Dodge, I asked Sam to be your bodyguard."

Kitty remembered that time. Matt had tried to get her to hide out at Jake Wirth's, but she refused. There was no way she was going to let those men disrupt her life. She knew her decision had upset Matt. He was trying to do what he could to keep her safe, to keep her alive. When Kitty told Matt she wasn't leaving town, Matt did the next best thing he could think of to protect her. He asked Sam to be her bodyguard.

"So are you saying that you want to tell Sam the entire story?" questioned Kitty.

"Yes," Matt answered. "It's getting late. Let's turn in."

Matt and Kitty got ready for bed and crawled under the covers. Kitty snuggled up to Matt and he held her in his arms. At this time this was all they needed. There would be time for a more intimate reunion later.

TBC