PT.16

"Joey? I'm waiting."

Tilting her head, fishing for her words. "Matty, I… I..."

His Jaw was tightening more. Grace just sat staring at the two, trying to figure what was the connection. She also wanted to know why would she do this to her momma and then why was she calling her poppa Matty.

Suddenly, Kitty began to stir.

"Poppa?" Joey was happy for the reprieve. "Poppa, she's waking up." Now Grace and Matt were by her side.

"Kit? Honey, I'm here."

"Me too, Momma."

Joey was about to take this as her opportunity to slip out.

"Stay right there. Don't you move." Matt told her.

"Oh, I just wanted to give you three a moment of uh… uh..."

"Stay put!" He said burning a look right through her.

Slowly Kitty opened her eyes trying to focus. "Matt?"

"Yeah, Kit, it's me. How do ya feel?"

"Tired." She was trying to take a deep breath. 'It hurts. Where am I?"

"Momma, you're in the hospital. Poppa and Uncle Festus found you and brought you here."

Squinting and still trying to focus. "Wait... Festus?"

"Uh huh. Don't you remember anything?"

"Not sure. "It's fuzzy."

"Well, Honey, just rest."

Matt turned and started to walk towards Joey, stopping when Kitty tightened her grip on his hand.

"Matt, where you going?"

"I… I… I'll be right back, Kit. I'll just be outside the door."

Furrowing her brow, "What? Why?" Then she spotted Joey and her mind went back to the night of the accident. The memory returned.

When she had went looking for where she'd heard the water, she had taken Mason's hat to use to carry some back. When she'd returned, Lane was standing over him. At first, she'd thought he'd drifted off to sleep but noticed his head was now bleeding. Looking past them, she saw Lane had fixed the wheel.

"What happened here?" She'd asked. As he turned to face her, he was holding a gun. "Hey, wait one minute." Looking at him, frightened, "You don't have to do this. Nothing's happened. It was just a carriage ride." Kitty was tilting her head and swaying slowly, stepping backwards.

"Nah, Lady, you know our names and our faces." A sudden snap of a twig startled him and the gun went off and she'd screamed.

With this memory, Kitty flinched. Matt grabbed her shoulder. Closing her eyes, Kitty yelled out, "NO!"

Both Matt and Grace grabbed her. "Kit."

"Momma, it's alright."

"Kit, what is it? Did you remember something?"

Nodding, "Yeah, I… I think so." Now rubbing her shoulder. "Owwwww!"

"Careful, Momma. You don't want to open that up."

Kitty now looked at Joey. "You were here. Here in the room. I heard you. You were saying something about…"

Now lowering her eyes, "Aw, Kitty, I'm so sorry. I never intended for you to get hurt."

"What? You were part of all this? That's why you came to our room. You helped them." Now in a disbelief. "WHY? I know you really don't know me but why would you do this to Matt? To your friendship?"

"Kitty, it wasn't supposed to be like this. See? Sam and I went to work for the railroad several years ago. When they wanted to expand out west, Harriman said there was a man who was leading a group of ranchers that was pretty powerful. He said that this man was standing in the way. And, well, come on, I mean the railroad is the progress of the future. Then when he found out Matt was someone we knew from our past, he hired us to come on board to help."

Pursing her lips together. "Oh and kidnapping me was part of that plan?" Kitty asked. She began coughing.

"Well, not kidnapping, just holding you so Matt would give in to Harriman's way and come to his side. Kitty you were never supposed to get hurt. Mason and Lane screwed up big. When Harriman investigated Matty, he found that well, you were..."

"WHAT?" Grace blurted out, standing with her hand balled on her hips.

"Well, his Achilles Heel and well..."

Grace was now steaming. "Are you... UGH!"

Kitty patted Grace's arm. "Grace, Sweetheart, calm down." She was again coughing.

"MOMMA?"

"Grace, please. It's alright. It's not the first time someone has..." Now she shifted her eyes to Matt.

Now standing in the doorway was Marc Jennings. 'Well, you just saved me the time of asking questions. Miss McKay? Will come with me, please?"

"Am I under arrest?"

"Yes."

Turning, she looked at Matt. "Matty?"

Matt just turned away. "Kit, honey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you just had to..."

"No, Matt, it needed to be done, needed to be said."

"Poppa, who is that woman? And… Matty?"

Matt just rolled his eyes. "Later, Gracie."

"Ok. Momma, I'm going to go find Dr. Boyd and let him know you're awake and you and Poppa can talk."

Once Grace left, Kitty looked at Matt. "Matt, when did Grace get here?"

"Yesterday. Festus called Dodge to let everyone know we found you and she insisted on being here to take care of you. Kit, you remembered what happened?"

"Yes, Matt. That man Lane. He killed the other man. Mason was his name. Did he shoot him?"

Shaking her head, "No, I think he pistol whipped him. Matt, he was already injured. He had a broken leg and was fevered. Why would Lane do such a thing? Then he wanted to kill me because I knew their names and faces. Something startled him and the gun went off. The bullet hit my shoulder and I ran down by the creek bank."

"But, Kit, two old men and Festus found you tangled in brush and wood pilings in the river."

"Yeah." Nodding, "Yeah. I was walking along the edge. The bleeding was getting bad. I tried to clean it up as best I could. The bullet went through and through. I think I hit a slippery spot and fell in. The current was stronger than I thought and the water was so cold. It was getting so hard to swim I grabbed onto a large tree branch to stay afloat but I was exhausted. Cowboy, I thought I was gonna die out there." She was now choking back tears.

Enveloping her in his large frame, "Shhhh, Honey, you're safe now. You're safe now."

"Cowboy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Cowboy, take me home."

"I will, Honey."

"No, Matt, I want to go home now. Please, Matt? Our home with our family. That's where I need to be. Please, Matt?"

TBC