Captive Hearts 17

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Sometimes my soul desires
To take leave of this old world
To spread these golden wings and fly
To the city of angels

But then if I close my eyes
I can see you standing there
Your face in permanence smiles
Your lips a chalice

Seems like I've loved you all my life
Never thought I'd find you
One day the muse may lend these words wings
So I can touch you......The Captive Heart by Brendan Perry

Matt stood back as Doc carefully examined Kitty, worry clearly written on the lawman's face. "Doc?"

Doc tugged at his ear as he sat, pulling the cover up over his patient. "She just fainted, Matt." He told him. "The bastard had an awful tight hold of her throat. She's gonna have a heck of a bruise and a sore throat for a while but she'll be alright."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief. "Maybe you oughta go out and check on Newly." He suggested.

Doc suppressed his grin and nodded. "Think I will." He said.

Matt sat down beside Kitty and took her hand. Saying nothing, he was content, for the moment, just to watch her. Only a week prior, he had thought never to see her again. Now he was determined he would never be away from her.

Kitty took a deep breath and coughed slightly as she slowly regained her senses. Opening her eyes she saw Matt beside her, watching her closely, an unreadable expression on his face. "What happened?" she started to rise, thinking of the villain who had tried to destroy her.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Matt pressed her shoulders back to the pillow.

"Dawson," she whispered over sore vocal cords.

"He's dead, Kitty." Matt told her. "Newly shot him."

"Is Newly alright then?"

Matt grinned. "Yes. He is and you are and so is everybody else, thanks to you. You're completely safe now. You're safe and you're home."

Kitty looked down without replying. She wanted to believe that but…

Matt placed a finger under her chin and raised her eyes to his. "We have a lot of things to talk about and a lot of things to straighten out," he told her. "And we will do it. And I'm not wanting you to rush into anything but I want you to think about our future. Yours, Emma's and mine."

"Until the last few days," she said softly, suppressing a sob, "I didn't think Emma and I had a future."

Matt looked down, trying to find the right words to make her understand how he felt, a task that had always been difficult for stoic lawman. "You do with me," he said finally. "If you want it."

When Kitty didn't answer, Matt rose and ran a hand through his hair, pacing the room. "Kitty, I'm no good with words and you know that. I've always been more comfortable with doing rather than talking. But I need you to understand something here."

He turned to see she was watching him intently, waiting for him to say something that would make the past year go away and put their lives back on the right track. Placing a hand behind his neck he returned to pacing, the action of which calmed him and made it easier for him to say what he needed to.

"Kitty, for the past year you weren't the only one who was held captive here. While Dawson held your body, you held my heart. I couldn't go forward and I couldn't go back. Every day I just went through the motions because you weren't here."

Kitty ducked her head, unable any longer to look at him. She still felt guilty for taking her ill-fated trip. Matt understood and prayed he could say the right thing to take that unwarranted guilt away from her.

Sitting back down beside her he took her hand and held it tightly. "No matter what you think," he said quietly, "you are not to blame for what happened."

Kitty looked up. "But I am!" she insisted. "If I'd just stayed here. If…."

"Kitty, you can't shoulder the whole thing." He said rather sternly. "If you want to go in that direction than we all are to blame for Dawson taking you. Me for choosing this badge instead of you, Doc for not noticing you were pregnant and telling me, Festus for seeing you get on that stage but not trying to stop you. I'm sure if we look hard enough we can even find a reason for ol' Buck out there to share in the guilt."

Kitty smiled before she could stop herself.

Matt tugged on her hand. "You and I both made some decisions that, in retrospect, weren't good. I should've left this badge off and when I found out that you had left, I should've gone after you. When you realized you were pregnant you should've pinned me to the wall until I listened to you instead of taking off to think things over. But we can't do anything about that now, honey. It's water under the bridge. We can however, change the future. If you want to."

Tears, she swore she wouldn't shed, flowed down her cheeks as she looked at the man she loved more than life itself. She had wanted this for more than half her life but now she was unsure. Could he really be asking?

"Matt," she asked tentatively. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Matt answered softly. "I know my timing's not good and I don't expect you to say yes immediately. I expect we still got some more talking to do and some work to do between us, but when you're ready; I surely would like to marry you, Miss Kitty."

Kitty didn't answer immediately and Matt swallowed hard, afraid she would say no. "Kitty, please. Think about Emma. She deserves to have both of her parents in her life. I havn't had a chance to get to know her like you and I want that chance. Besides I'm kinda looking forward to spoiling her."

Kitty smiled mischievously. "She the only one?"

Matt grinned broadly. "Nope, I plan on spoiling her mama too, if she'll let me."

Kitty grinned. "Oh, I think she would."

"Then are you saying you'll marry me?" He swallowed hard, still fearful she might yet say no.

Pulling on the hand that still held hers, Kitty wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him tightly. "Yes," she whispered.

The End