The Rescue Epilogue

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Kitty sat beside Matt, cradling her three month old son close to her chest as the stage made its bumpy way down the road. The day was beautiful and sunny and the abundant prairie wildflowers lent a heavenly fragrance to their travels, as well as beautiful sights to ponder on, as they made their way back towards Dodge.

Wrapping an arm around her, Matt looked down at his wife and child and smiled. "Comfortable?" He asked a touch sarcastically as the stage hit another rut in the road, tossing them against each other.

Kitty looked down at her still sleeping son and nodded. "Yep." She said. "You?"

Matt grinned. "As long as I have you two, I'm as happy as a pig in slop, to quote a certain friend of mine."

Kitty laughed, as she thought of Festus and Doc and Sam and all the others in town that she would be seeing in a couple of days. "Wonder if Dodge has changed any." She mused.

Matt shrugged. "Probably has. And probably not for the good."

His tone had an edge of bitterness to it and though Kitty understood why, she didn't want him to feel that way. "Matt, I know some bad things happened there, but some good things did too, ya know. I mean, it is after all, where we met."

Matt sighed and shook his head. "Yes, it is but don't give Dodge any credit for that. I have a feeling we were meant to be together no matter where we met."

Kitty grinned up at him. "Me too." She agreed. "But still, it was Dodge where we met and for a while, we had a good life there."

Matt looked down at her with an arched brow. "As good as now?"

Kitty shook her head and reached up, kissing him. "No." She said as she settled close to him to finish out their ride.

Two days later, Doc, Festus, Sam and a whole contingent of Dodge City citizens waited anxiously outside the stage station for the stage to arrive. It had been a little over a year since most of them had seen the red headed beauty and the tall iconic lawman. They all knew, by now, of the marriage and the baby and those present were eager to see them.

Those not present, were the ones that couldn't face them. Men like Lijah Krupp who'd said loudly, many times, how he was sure the saloon owner was guilty and even suggested she'd come onto him a time or two. And women like Eulaina Clearwater who'd called Kitty every vile name she could think of and speculated on how many other men she'd killed.

Once the details were made known of what had really happened, those two individuals, along with every person on the jury, purposely kept their heads low and stayed out of town if at all possible. The jury foreman, George Goodell, went so far as to leave town the day before, so ashamed was he in his part of the whole thing.

"Here it comes!" Festus said excitedly when he spotted the stage turning the corner at the edge of town and racing down towards them.

All necks craned to get a first look at the incoming conveyance and the precious people it was carrying to them. When the stage came to a jolting halt, Sam wasted no time in wrenching the door open and looking inside. "Welcome home, Miss Kitty." He grinned from ear to ear when he saw her.

"Oh, Sam." Kitty exclaimed as she handed Matt the baby and climbed into her friends arms. Hugging him tightly for a moment, she moved on from him to Doc to Festus. "You all don't know how glad I am to see you all."

"Not as glad as we are to see you." Doc hugged her again, kissing her cheek.

"Matthew," Festus practically roared. "Hand me down my nephew and you get your ownself out of that there stage."

"Your nephew?" Doc bellowed. "Who said he was your nephew?"

"Matthew did." Festus crowed. "Din't'ya, Matthew?"

"I sure did," Matt answered as he handed the precious bundle to Festus and climbed out of the stage.

Kitty reached over to Festus and reclaimed her baby and looked around happily at everyone there. "Our son is related to all of you." She told them. "He wasn't born here, but he's going to be raised here and all of you will be part of his family."

A cheer went up from crowd at that and Matt was the recipient of many pats on the shoulder as well as another cheer, all of which only served to give him a sore shoulder and wake up his son who was now crying loudly at being woken up.

"Now, there. Do you see what you did?" Doc grumbled at Festus. "You went and woke my grandson up. You just couldn't keep your mouth shut. I told you…"

"You told me?" Festus asked loudly. "Now, you looky here ya ol' quacky quack. I done…"

"You ain't done nothing but…"

Matt and Kitty grinned at the old familiar bantering of their family and shook their heads. "Come on." Matt whispered to her. "They won't even know we're gone for a while."

Kitty nodded and followed Matt into the Long Branch and up to her former rooms. Sure enough, neither Doc nor Festus, or anyone else watching, noticed them leave.

After getting into the room, Matt pulled his jacket off and took the baby from Kitty, so she too could get comfortable. "I'm gonna ride out to the old Clemmons ranch tomorrow," he told her as he rocked his son and got him to settle back down. "Don't know what kind of shape of it's in, so I need to see what needs to be done for us to move in."

Kitty nodded absently as she looked around the room that had been her home for so long. "Sam really did a nice of job of cleaning and airing out up here, didn't he?" She asked.

Matt nodded. "Yep. I suspect he wanted you to be comfortable." Matt said quietly as his son finally settled down and went back to sleep. "Sam'd do anything for you."

Kitty smiled up at her husband. "For us." She said, taking the baby from Matt and settling down on the settee.

"Guess so." Matt nodded. Sitting down beside her, he placed a hand on her arm. "Are you sure?" He asked her. "I mean after all, a lot of people here thought you were guilty of murder. Those people are still here."

Kitty smiled but shook her head. "They were here, before this all happened, too." She pointed out.

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "But they didn't quite seem so vicious then. What about the other? You know I can still…"

"Matt, please don't ask me again." Kitty stopped him. "I agree we should have a place for ourselves out of town and the Clemmons ranch will be perfect for us. But despite what happened to me, you love the law. And there is no one I know of that could tame that viciousness in people like you can. Besides, I know, as well as you do, you would never be completely happy as a rancher. And don't you think we've had enough unhappiness to last us for a while?"

Matt nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. I do. But I also think that the only important thing is what's best for you and what you want."

Kitty reached over and kissed him before laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and the baby. "I have what I want." She said. "A husband who loves me, a beautiful little boy, a home to call my own and my name cleared. There's only one other thing I could want."

"What's that?" Matt asked curiously.

Kitty giggled. "A daughter."

Matt chuckled and hugged her tight. "Well, Ma'am. Let's try for that too."

The End.