Epilogue-Two Months Later
Kitty drove the buggy down Front Street, a smile on her face as she looked around at Dodge City's main business district. It had been two weeks since Matt moved them out to the farm and many months since she'd been allowed to drive herself and, though content with her new life, she was glad for the chance to regain some of her independence. Passing her former saloon with barely a glance, she looked in that direction when she heard a male voice shouting her name.
"Kitty Russell! Hold up, there, Miss Kitty!" A stocky grey-haired man in a US Cavalry sergeant's uniform was flagging her down. Resignedly, she slowed her horse and turned into the alley next to Doc's office. This should be an interesting conversation, to say the least.
"Sergeant Holly. What are you doing back in Dodge?"
"Why, come to see my blushing bride, of course," Sergeant Holly said jovially as he tipped his hat and winked at her. "Of course, that's before I found out there was a new Madame Long Branch."
"So you've, uh, been over there already, have you?" Kitty stood to exit the buggy and Holly helped her down, releasing her and stepping back once she was safely on the ground.
"Been over there? Why, I nearly died of fright before I figured out that prune-faced old crone wasn't you." Holly gave an exaggerated shiver. "Almost enough to put me off drinkin'."
"Oh, Holly! You're still impossible!" Kitty shook her head with an exasperated sigh.
"Well, now, since you're retired from the saloon business, does that mean old Holly can come courtin' you proper?" He looked at her with the same pleading look on his face that had convinced her to loan him money to follow the payroll-stealing Jeeter to Blister Canyon.
"I'm afraid you're too late for that, Sergeant Holly." The man never gave up; though after nearly five years' absence from Dodge, it was hard to believe he meant a word of it.
"Don't tell me Big Fist went and stole my girl again! Say, is he in town? I got something of an official nature to talk with him about."
"Well, Matt retired a few months ago, but I'm sure Marshal O'Brien would be glad-"
"Well, if that don't frost my chevrons! Big Fist retired, you're retired...the two of you going into business together?"
"You might say that. There's someone I'd like you to meet." Kitty turned and reached into a deep basket on the floor of the buggy. Whatever Holly had been expecting, the infant in her arms when she turned back around certainly wasn't it.
"Well, isn't he a cute little dickens. Junior Big Fist. He looks just like his papa."
"She's a girl!"Kitty gasped with mock indignation. "Sergeant Holly, this is Miss Madeleine Rebecca Dillon, and her father says she looks just like me. Maddy, say hello to mama's old friend, Sergeant Emmett Holly." Holly reached out and chucked little Madeleine under the chin, and she let out a shriek that made him jump back a foot.
"Well, Miss Long Branch, you do have a resemblance to your mama after all!"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't call her that! There, there, Maddy." Kitty had the baby on her shoulder, patting her back gently. "Don't be afraid of him. He talks loud, but he's just a big old softie." Maddy wailed, grasping a handful of Kitty's hair and pulling it toward her mouth. Holly watched, fascinated, as Kitty continued to soothe her. "Shh, Maddy, I know you're hungry. We'll take care of that as soon as we get up to Grandpa Doc's." She disentangled her hair from the baby's grip and Maddy calmed down as she chewed on her own fist.
"Sergeant Holly, she needs changed and she's overdue for a feeding, so I'm afraid you're going to have to excuse us." Kitty turned toward Doc's office and Holly put a hand on her arm to stop her.
"Kitty, I'll be in town until tomorrow," he said with almost no trace of his usual joking bluster. "Have your husband stop by the Long Branch tonight and I'll buy the proud papa a drink."
"We've already made plans for tonight, but I'll let him know you offered." She smiled, wondering if it was genuine disappointment she saw in his face, or something else. "It's been a real pleasure, Sergeant Holly."
Holly stood watching her carry the baby up the stairs and into Doc Adams' office, then turned around and, singing off-key and making the words up as he went along, he headed for the Long Branch to find out how far he had to go to get Hannah Cobb's goat.
EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE
Kitty hadn't intended to mention running into Sergeant Holly, at least not tonight, but somehow his name slipped out during their conversation at supper. Matt was tired and not in the best mood after spending the day fixing the barn roof with Chester, and reacted about the way she'd expected.
"Kitty, I don't even want to hear that man's name right now. The last thing in the world I plan on doing is having a drink with him, tonight or any other night. As a matter of fact, I was planning to turn in when we get done eating. I've got to get up before daylight tomorrow so we can-" He stopped in the middle of the sentence when he saw that Kitty was looking at him intently. She had on her best poker face and he had no idea what, if anything, she was upset about. There was only one way to find out. "Something wrong?" he asked casually.
"You tell me," she said softly, not taking her eyes off of him. Matt looked back at her, finally noticing she was wearing his favorite green dress, something he hadn't seen her in in quite a while. He looked down at the table, at the remnants of what he belatedly noticed were one of her special suppers, with food he couldn't pronounce. Oh, no. Proceed carefully.
"Kitty, how did the visit with Doc go?"
"It went fine." she answered tightly. "Madeleine's gained a pound since last month. Doc says that's good."
"Well, good, that's fine. And what about you?" Fool that he was, he'd forgotten the importance of this particular doctor's visit.
Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away. "Everything's fine."
Matt wanted to kick himself. Tonight depended on how Kitty's visit with Doc went. Everything was fine, only now it wasn't. "Look, Kitty, I-" He was interrupted by Madeleine, crying insistently from her cradle in the other room.
"She's probably hungry," Kitty said, getting up quickly. "I should go change out of this dress before something happens to it."
Matt rose with her. "I'll go get her while you get ready. We'll talk afterwards, all right?" He put his arms around her and she nodded silently.
Kitty sat in the rocker in their bedroom, nursing Maddy and trying not to cry. After years of the badge taking Matt away at the most inopportune times, and that one time he fell asleep across her bed when she stepped out of the room for two minutes, she shouldn't have been surprised or have been so upset. Except that this was different. It wasn't like him to just forget a special night for no apparent reason. She'd missed him, and she thought he'd missed her, and that they were both looking forward to tonight. Well, maybe he wasn't looking forward to it after all, and now, the more she thought about it, neither was she. The last few months, she'd come to think of her body as something to carry and feed a child and not much more. Matt had been patiently waiting all that time, or so she'd thought. Maybe that's all he thought of her body now, too. Something to bear and take care of his child. Maybe he just didn't want her any more. Even to talk about it-we'll talk afterwards, he'd said. Well, she could talk and feed the baby at the same time, couldn't she? Where was he? Why couldn't they talk right now?
She woke to find Matt taking the baby from her arms. "Honey, you both fell asleep. I'll go put her to bed." Kitty yawned and started putting herself back together.
"I'll go take care of the dishes and you can get to bed," she said, surprised that he wasn't already stretched out on his side of the bed, snoring.
"The dishes are done."
Well. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that. She appreciated that he didn't always leave all the housework for her, the way she heard most husbands did. But she was still upset with him for forgetting. She stood at the bedroom window looking out at the twilight until Matt came back.
"She's all tucked in," he said as he came to stand behind her. He rested his hands at her waist. "You think she'll sleep all night?"
"Will it matter if she does?" she asked him shakily, continuing to look out the window and not at him.
"Look, Kitty, I'm sorry for being stupid." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him. "I was so busy today I forgot all about tonight and I don't have any other excuse. And then your dress and the supper should have made me remember, but I was so tired and hungry I barely noticed, and that's no excuse, either. We've been waiting so long for tonight, and I'm sorry I disappointed you, honey."
Kitty stood there, thinking about all he'd said and done that night. She was starting to feel a little better about things, but she still wasn't convinced he wanted her.
Matt sighed in frustration and suddenly pulled her the rest of the way to him and began kissing the back of her neck. "You, know, Kitty, I kinda thought I had some influence with the lady of the house."
"You do." That old "'influence" line still had power over her. She was slightly more convinced.
"You don't want to show me how it works?" He moved his hands from her waist to her ribcage and kissed his way along her shoulder and collarbone.
"'Show you how it works?' You sure you want to see it, Matt? Nothing is where it used to be."
"It's still there, isn't it?"
"Oh, it's still there all right, and a little extra besides." she said ruefully.
Matt's hands slid further up her ribcage and he looked down over her shoulder appreciatively. "I kind of like the 'little extra," he murmured softly against her ear. Why was she so worried, anyway? Hadn't Matt shown her, in every other way possible the last few months, how much he loved her? And he was making it quite obvious he still wanted her as well.
She looked up at him. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the view, Matt. I was beginning to think you'd stopped looking at me."
"Oh, I'm planning on doing a lot more than just looking. Now that we can finally have a proper wedding night."
The words "wedding night" finally convinced her. Of course. She loved and wanted him, too, and they had a lot of catching up to do. She turned around to face him. Giving him her most dazzling smile, she shook her head slowly.
"Proper? Tonight? Not on your life, Cowboy."
Cowboy take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue
Set me free
Oh, I pray
Closer to heaven above and closer to you, closer to you
"Cowboy Take Me Away" sung by Dixie Chicks, written by Marcus Hummon and Martha Seidel
END
A/N Thank you again to all the readers who stuck with the story as I attempted to portray my idea of what should have happened in season twenty (and hopefully beyond). As we all know, in fan fiction good series are never really cancelled….
Also thanks to everyone who left reviews, it's nice to know my story is enjoyed and appreciated by so many people. I tried to respond to as many reviews as I could, but occasionally life happened and I got behind, so extra thanks go out to those of you I never got back to. Thanks to Singerme for your encouragement and input while I worked out my longest fanfic (so far). I hope I didn't cause you to tear too much of your hair out.
And now, since my vanity will not allow me to complete the story without pointing this out, I started chapter 27 with the date March 30, and I would just love to know if anyone noticed or understood why I did that. No prizes to be awarded, but bragging rights go to anyone who figured it out.