And all these dreams I saved for a rainy day

They're finally comin' true

I'll share them all with you

'Cause now we hold the future in our hands

"Almost Paradise" Sung by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson, written by Eric Carmen and Dean Pitchford

Chapter Eight

It was a beautiful morning for a wedding. It was sunny and unseasonably warm, and every last detail had gone perfectly from the moment she woke up. In a few minutes Kitty Russell would be Mrs. Matt Dillon.

"If anyone present knows any reason why these two should not be united in holy matrimony, let him speak now or forever hold his peace," the preacher intoned.

Suddenly, from the back of the church, a drunken voice belligerently declared, "Hold on, Marshal Big Fist! You can't marry this woman!"

Kitty closed her eyes. "Oh, no…" she moaned. That wretch was going to ruin everything! How did he even find out?

"Sir," the preacher said disdainfully, "please state your reason for interrupting this ceremony."

"Because she's already married to me! She's Mrs. Emmett Holly!"

The wedding guests let out audible gasps, and Kitty finally dared to look in his direction. It was even worse than she imagined. Sergeant Emmett Holly was making his way down the aisle toward the altar on his horse. She looked at Matt, standing in front of her. He looked ready to rip Holly in half.

She grabbed both of his hands. "Matt, calm down. I told you before, we were never married. There was no wedding, not even a fake one! Just let the other men handle him, please!"

"Like hell I will!" Matt said through gritted teeth. The preacher gasped and Kitty smiled at him apologetically. "Holly, I've had as much of you as I'm going to take in one lifetime!" He strode away from the altar and stood in front of Holly's horse. "Now get down from there and fight like a man!"

"Matt, please, he's not worth it!" Kitty cried.

Holly stayed on his horse. Both men drew their guns.

"I've come back to claim my bride!" Holly shouted gleefully. "You're coming home with me, Miss Kitty!"

"Miss Kitty?" Someone was knocking persistently. "Miss Kitty?"

Kitty sat up in bed with a gasp, looking around her bedroom, disoriented, her eyes finally falling on her wedding dress hanging in the corner.

"Oh, thank God!" she whispered, falling back against her pillows with relief.

"You all right, Miss Kitty?" It was one of the girls.

"What is it, Dorie?"

"You asked me to wake you up at eight o'clock," Dorie answered. "Are you ready to have your bath water brought up?"

"Oh! Yes, that's fine! Much obliged, Dorie!" Kitty said enthusiastically, for once grateful for having been woken from a sound sleep. Of all the dreams of interrupted weddings she'd had in the last two weeks, that had to have been the strangest one. And certainly the one she was most glad to have awoken from. Most of the dreams had Matt being called away for increasingly outlandish situations, and the night before last she had spent most of the night dreaming that she was looking for Festus all over town so she could have him cut the telegraph wires to prevent Matt from getting an order that could keep him away from their wedding. At least that dream actually made sense...

Kitty lay back in her lilac-scented bath, enjoying the last few minutes she had alone before the girls came in to help her get ready. In just two hours she and Matt would be standing in front of a church full of people saying their vows, then they would be surrounded by well-wishers afterwards at the party at the Long Branch. The next time she was alone...she wouldn't really be alone, she would be with Matt. Alone with Matt. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what Matt had planned for their honeymoon. She knew, of course, that the kind of honeymoon she had in mind when she first mentioned one to Matt was out of the question. Doc had seen to that. "Nothing further than a day's buggy ride away from Dodge," he declared, even though he admitted he was being over-protective. The truth was she really didn't want to spend half their honeymoon riding the stage or train. Nor would she truly enjoy the entertainment that drew her to the larger cities, knowing that Matt would only accompany her to make her happy. She could honestly say that any honeymoon which involved the two of them spending time together, away from the badge, would suit her just fine.

"Miss Kitty?" The girls were here. It was time to get ready. She quickly dried off and threw on her robe.

"I'll be right out. Don't start without me." She opened the door to her bedroom and walked over and sat at her vanity table. After trying several times, unsuccessfully, to pick up her hairbrush, she gave up. "It's a good thing you girls are here to help me," she said. "My hands are shaking so bad, Heaven knows what my face and hair would look like if I had to do them myself. I don't know why I'm so nervous."

"It's your wedding day!" Melody, the youngest Long Branch girl exclaimed. "You're supposed to feel that way."

"I wish someone had told me that sooner. I could have avoided this and eloped," she tried to joke.

"You'd still be nervous," said Alice, the oldest of the three girls. Suddenly she and Melody grabbed Kitty by the shoulders and turned her around, facing away from the mirror.

"What-what are you girls up to?"

"Now, Kitty," Alice said. "Just let us take care of you. We don't want you to worry about a thing. You just relax and think about the look on the Marshal's face when he sees you. Now let's start with your nails." Alice and Melody each took a hand while Dorie went to work curling her hair.

She tried to think of Matt, which only made her more nervous. "I wonder how he's doing. We should send someone to check on him."

"Oh, I guarantee you he's twice as nervous as you are," Dorie said. "But Festus, Doc and Newly are with him, so I wouldn't worry too much about him."

"Kitty, you take such good care of your nails. We don't have to do a thing to them," Alice said, rubbing some lotion into her hands soothingly. "The way he was putting them away last night, I would guess he's probably still pretty calm."

"What are you talking about?" This was not something Kitty cared to hear. Every woman she had talked to in the last week made a point to remind her that it was bad luck for them to see each other before the ceremony on their wedding day, so they had parted well before midnight the night before. Festus and Doc were buying him a drink when she went up to bed. She was beginning to wish she had asked him to stay anyway.

"Well, Kitty, he is the Marshal, so every man in the Long Branch wanted to buy him a beer last night to celebrate. Of course, he didn't drink all of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has a hangover."

"Alice, that's so disrespectful! And you sure aren't helping Miss Kitty's nerves any, telling her a thing like that."

"It's all right, Melody," Kitty said. She'd never seen Matt drunk even once in twenty years, much less hung over, so she was just going to have to hope for the best with that piece of gossip. With that, the girls changed the subject and got to work in earnest on Kitty's hair and makeup. She tried to relax, only half listening to their talk. She was beginning to question just a little her decision to put three saloon girls in charge of getting her ready for a church wedding, but she trusted them. And she as well as everyone else knew that she had been a saloon girl when Matt fell in love with her, and he would still love her, no matter how much or how little "paint" she had on when she walked into the church. No one else mattered.

"There! All finished!" Dorie announced. Kitty tried to look around at the mirror but Alice blocked her view.

"No, wait until you're dressed!" Melody said excitedly. The girls turned their backs and busied themselves while she put on her underthings and then Melody came over to help her with her corset. Kitty gasped when she pulled the strings a little too hard. "I'm sorry, Miss Kitty! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"It's all right, just loosen it up a little bit." The girl looked near tears and she tried to put her at ease. "I guess I'm not the only one who's nervous."

"Well, now let's get the dress on you," Alice said. The three girls carefully brought the dress to Kitty and held it in front of her while she stepped into it. She waited as patiently as she could while they pulled the sleeves of the dress up her arms, then buttoned and fastened, pulled and arranged until they were satisfied with the way it looked. Then had to wait a little longer while they fussed with and pinned her headpiece until it was just right.

"What jewelry are you wearing, Kitty?" Alice asked, looking around.

"Jewelry? I hadn't even thought about it!" The three looked at her in amazement; they couldn't remember ever seeing her not wearing any. "I guess all I care about today is the ring. Did I tell you girls it's his mother's wedding ring?" She smiled at the memory of Matt presenting it to her.

"That's so romantic!" Dorie sighed.

"Yes, that's exactly what it was," Kitty agreed. "But I still can't believe I didn't think of any other jewelry. We don't have time now."

"She doesn't need any. She's already too beautiful." Melody said, looking at Kitty in awe.

"I think you might be right," Dorie agreed.

"Well, maybe just some earrings." Alice suggested, and looked through the jewelry box on the vanity. "How about these?" she asked, holding up a simple pair of pearl earrings. The other two girls agreed, so Alice put them on for her. "Well, I think you're all ready now." The girls stood back to admire their handiwork.

"Kitty, you're so beautiful!"

"Perfect!"

"You look just like a queen."

"Girls, you're embarrassing me. Are you going to let me see what I look like?" They led her to the full-length mirror and stood behind her. Kitty stared at herself and had to admit that the girls might be right. She had never felt more beautiful or elegant in her life. Then the full realization hit her. I'm the bride. I'm getting married. Today. She could see the girls were waiting for her to say something, so she turned to face them. "It's just perfect. You did a really good job, and it was so nice being fussed over. Thank you, girls." She tried to hug them, but they wouldn't let her, saying she would spoil her dress.

"It was our pleasure, Miss Kitty," Melody said. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"That must be your escort." Dorie went to answer it. "Hello, Doc, she's all ready. We're going to head over there, if it's all right with you, Miss Kitty."

"Thank you again, girls. I'll see you later."

The three girls left and Doc stepped into the room. Kitty turned to look at him.

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." He rubbed a hand over his mustache.

"It is the most beautiful dress in the world, isn't it, Doc?"

"Made even more beautiful by the one wearing it."

She smiled at him. "Oh, you old flatterer! Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think you know the answer to that question."

"Doc, I-" She desperately needed to say something to him, but couldn't quite find the words. "I'm getting married."

"Well, if we get you over to that church, you are. Are you ready?" He held his arm out.

She picked up her cloak from the settee. "Can you help me with this?"

"Sure. We don't want anything to ruin that dress before we get there," he said, wrapping it around her shoulders and fastening it. "Now are we ready?" He held out his arm again.

"Thank you, Doc. For everything."

"That's all right. Now, I happen to know there's one very nervous public servant over at that church waiting to get a look at his bride."

She took his arm, finally, and they headed out the door. "Doc," she said again. He looked at her patiently. "He did get a new suit, didn't he?"

Doc chuckled and shook his head. "Well, as a matter of fact, he did."

"It's exactly like his old one, isn't it?"

Matt stood at the altar at the front of the church, wearing a new suit that looked just like his old one. He didn't know what was wrong with the old one, but Kitty said he needed a new one, so he got one. It wasn't until Doc started laughing this morning that Matt realized she meant a different suit. He hoped she wasn't going to be too upset about it. On the other hand, if she didn't get here soon, it wasn't going to matter because he was going to be passed out on the floor. The big, tough marshal, who had no problem dealing with a saloon full of drunken cowboys, was unnerved by a church full of wedding guests, all staring at him standing up there next to the preacher. If he could just hold out until Kitty got there, he knew all eyes would be on her and no one would be looking at him at all.

Reverend Paige, the new young preacher, patted his shoulder. "You gonna be all right, there, Marshal?" Matt gave him a half smile and nodded. "You want me to try to find out what's keeping them?" Matt was about to answer when he heard the outside door of the church open and the sound of muffled voices. Someone in the back pew got up and peeked out the sanctuary doors, returning and whispering to a person in the pew in front of his. The message traveled forward pew by pew until he could finally hear what they were saying.

"She's here."

A/N I would like to offer my deepest apologies for the lack of a description of Kitty's wedding dress. My writing talent is completely unequal to the task. Just trust me that the dress is, in fact, the most beautiful dress in the world. If you want to, feel free to replace that with your own idea of the most beautiful dress in the world.

A/N 2 Reverend Paige is the name of the pastor who taught my confirmation class when I was in the seventh grade. I decided the character needed a name other than "the preacher" and I used this name because my confirmation class was the same year as season 19 of Gunsmoke. (And now you all know how old I am.) Please note that I referred to him as the NEW preacher, not to be confused with the "pompous windbag" mentioned in a previous story of mine.