From Beginning to End

… A Gunsmoke story

FBTE FBTE FTBE FBTE FBTE FBTE

Author's note: Thanks for the continued support! As always, your reviews mean a lot to me. Hope you enjoy the next installment.

FBTE FBTE FTBE FBTE FBTE FBTE

The next few years went by almost as fast as they came. Matty, now aged 16, had reached his full height and was every bit as tall as Matt, maybe a hair shorter. He inherited his father's curls too, brown with more than a hint of red. Gracie, now 13, was considerably more petite but was a little spitfire, just like her mama. She had long, flowy curly hair was was as red as her mama's.

One morning before the crack of dawn, Matt has gotten up to get ready for work. He tried to get dressed as quietly as possible, but he heard Kitty stirring in the bed.

"Good morning, Matt.." she yawned.

"Morning, Kit. Sorry for waking you." he replied sadly.

"I'm used to it by now." She said dryly, as she got up and put on her robe. "I'll put some coffee on."

While she was in the kitchen putting the pot of coffee on the stove, she noticed Matt in the other room standing in front of the mirror. She watched out of the corner of her eye in curiosity, but noticed that he just continued to stare at himself.

When the coffee was finished, she poured them both a cup and walked into the living room. "What's the matter, Matt?" she asked, sitting the cups down on the living room table and walking over to him.

"Oh, nothing.." he said quietly.

"Something's troubling you. So what is it?" she asked.

"Really. Its nothing. Nothing at all."

"Cowboy," Kitty looked at him and raised her eyebrow and then stood beside him and looked at him through the mirror, putting an arm around him. "I know you better than that. I can see it on your face."

"Well, I….I noticed just now.. I'm getting old, Kit."

Matt, now closer to 50 than he'd care to admit, had put on a little weight and thanks to the Kansas sun, his face looked more weathered and worn. His hairline had started to recede a little and his hair itself began lighten and was now dotted with grays. But he was still very fit, his muscles strong and in top condition, he still had those dashing curls, and so he had matured into a very handsome man.

"Cowboy.. yes, we're a lot older than we used to be, but.." she spoke softly as she looked up at him with a smile. "You're still a very handsome man."

"Oh stop that." He replied, his ears flushing at the compliment. Still, in all his years, he never did know how to take compliments from women well.

"Say, lets have that coffee before it gets cold." She replied as they went and sat down to enjoy their cups as the first signs of light began to shine through the window.

FBTE FBTE FTBE FBTE FBTE FBTE

The weekend had finally arrived and the Dillons had planned to take a small weekend getaway with the Millers out at a cabin on the Arkansas River. Matty was looking forward to the trip. In exchange for watching over the girls while the adults got some time to relax amongst themselves, Matt had promised to let him shoot his gun and that he and Mr. Miller would also take him fishing. Gracie and Sophia had become the best of friends and were most of all looking forward to going swimming. Kitty and Mrs. Miller were just looking forward to sitting around outside, gossiping and cooking whatever dinner that the men had caught.

It was early afternoon the day after their arrival that everyone headed outdoors. The girls had wanted to go exploring along the riverbank and collect some of the shiny rocks that had been polished by the water.

They each had asked their ma if they could go exploring, and they agreed, so long as Matty went with them. Matty agreed, not minding too terribly to spending time with his little sister and her friend. He would teach them how to skip rocks if they came across water calm enough. The girls headed off excitedly towards the river with Matty in tow.

"Be careful, you guys. Don't head off too far."

"Yes, Pa." Gracie acknowled. "Yes, Marshal," Sophia said behind her.

"And be back before lunch time!" Kitty called out.

The adults laughed and shook their heads, getting back to their conversation over their cups of coffee.

The trio had been off exploring the river when they came across a dirt road that lead up an embankment to an old abandoned wooden bridge.

"Stay here a minute, let me go check it out first." Matty said, knowing the girls would want to go up on the bridge and look over the edge.

Matty climbed up the embankment and looked at the wooden planks. The water was flowing pretty fast beneath them, but he deemed the bridge safe enough for them to climb up on. He went back down to where the girls were. "Let's get some rocks and see how far we can throw them." The two had always been in awe with how much stronger Matty was than they were.

The three collected their rocks and got back on the road and walked out unto the bridge.

Gracie took a rock and threw it off the railing, and it barely went anywhere. Sophia was next and tried with her rock, but it didn't go much farther than Gracie's. The girls watched while Matty took a rock and winded up and threw it, going almost three times as far as their rocks went. They were both in awe. They took turns chucking rocks until Gracie heard a critter on the other shore and walked off from the pair, deciding to walk further over the bridge to see what was on the other side. She didn't notice the piece of wood that had turned brown with rot.

When she stepped on it unknowingly, the plank snapped and she began to scream as she fell. Matty's head snapped up and he ran over and grabbed her before she could fall any farther. The adults heard the faint scream of a girl off in the distance. Both men jumped up and ran into the cabin. They put on their gun belts, each grabbed a rifle, and took off running in the direction of the screams. The women followed as closely as they could keep up, neither of them knowing what they were going to come across.

Up on the bridge, Matty kept a firm grip on Gracie's one arm, but struggled to be able to pull her up through the crack. "Hold on Gracie," he called down to her. "Grab unto the wood and help me pull you up." She reached and reached with all her might but couldn't grab unto another board. "Matty, I can't reach it."

"I've got you, I won't let go." Matty reassured her as he continued to try to pull her up.

When the adults came within view of the bridge, Kitty was the first to notice them. "Oh my God, Matt, there they are. Up on the bridge!" She pointed.

Matt dropped his rifle and started to climb up the embankment to the bridge. Matty was starting to lose his grip when he spotted Matt. "Hold on just a little longer Gracie, Pa's almost here."

It was then that Gracie slipped from his grasp, screaming as she fell into the river. Kitty let out a blood curdling yell, "Oh my God, Matt! The water!" Matty fell back unto his butt, momentarily stunned by the fact that he couldn't hold on, and Sophia ran off the bridge crying to her dad as she was scared for her life.

Matt snatched off his gun belt and ripped off his shirt in case he needed to use it as a rope. As he went over to the railing, he searched frantically looking for any sign of Gracie. She surfaced and tried to swim but was easily carried away by the current. Matty stood up and saw her. "Look Pa, she's right there."

Matt then knew what he had to do. He tore the badge off his shirt and handed it to Matty. "Son, give this to your mama, in case something happens. I want you to know that I love you." And before Matty could even process what was about to happen, Matt rolled up the shirt into a make shift rope and hopped over the railing and jumped into the river.

Everyone made their way downstream as fast as they could. Matt was able to catch up to Gracie. "Pa!" she called out, struggling to stay afloat. Matt threw the shirt towards her. "Grab on to this!" he replied, and she grabbed the shirt. He treaded water to the best of his ability while simultaneously reeling the shirt. As a whitecap crashed over Gracie's head, she sputtered but managed to keep her head above water. Eventually Matt was able to reel her in close enough for him to wrap and arm around her and he pulled her close as he tried his best to get back to shore. Mr. Miller had caught up to the pair when they made it to shore and pulled Gracie out of the water. The women, Sophia in tow, ran over and they all huddled around Gracie to make sure that she was all right.

Meanwhile, Mr. Miller grabbed ahold of Matt's arm and pulled with all his might, trying to get Matt out of the water as well. He was halfway out of the water when he placed his hand on the ground and his knee on a rock to get some leverage to pull himself the rest of the way, but the rocks weren't stable and he slipped and fell back into the water. An undertow pulled him under.

Kitty fell to her knees and let out a blood curling scream.

"MATT!"

She crawled over to the shore and her eyes darted back and forth, back and forth, back and forth..

Sophia and Gracie fell to the ground holding each other crying.

Matty had caught up with the group by that time and went over to his mother who was on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

Matty was in complete shock and didn't know what to do or say. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Matt's badge that he had given him just before he jumped in the water.

He squeezed it as he looked downstream where the water was starting to calm, hoping, praying to see him emerge.

There was no sign of Matt.

TBC