Chapter 17 "Family Man vs. Lawman" (Part 3 Conclusion) As I said in the previous chapter, the basis of this story comes from parts from "Exodus 21:22." (Season 14)

"Here we go," said Matt.

Matt placed the three beers on the table, setting one in front of Kitty and one in front of Doc. They hadn't been drinking long, when two of the men that Frank was after walked into the Long Branch. They saw Matt sitting with Kitty and Doc at one of the tables. Neither of them got a chance to enjoy their beer, when two of the men that Frank was after, walked into the Long Branch. Doc saw them and got Matt's attention. Matt turned towards the door.

"Hey, Marshall. We just want to thank you for your hospitality," one of the men said.

"You said your piece, now get out of here," said Matt.

"We're fixin' to do that," said the same man.

The two men were about to leave, but the other man decided to speak. "I want to say something. Four men dead. Keith shot. Reardon may be dying. All of this for a squaw."

Without thinking, Matt stood up and backhanded the guy. "Get out of Dodge," he told the two men. The men left the bar, but had no intentions of leaving Dodge.

"I hope that's the end of everything," said Kitty.

"I'm afraid it's not, Kitty," said Matt. "It won't be over until either Frank kills those men or they kill him."

Kitty didn't know what to say. She knew Matt was right. It would take death to end this whole ordeal. Knowing that made Kitty want to see Frank even more. She feared this could be her last time.

"I think I'll go back over to the Dodge House to see if Frank is awake," said Kitty. "After that I'm going to get Ruby and head home. I don't want to be gone all day." Kitty then turned to Matt. "Will you be home tonight?"

"I don't know. I'd like to be. I'm hoping those men left Dodge and Frank stays in bed," replied Matt.

"If you can come home, that would be great," said Kitty. "Do you have your key?" Matt tapped his vest indicating he had his key. "Great."

Kitty left the Long Branch and went to the Dodge House. This time when she went to Frank's room and quietly opened the door, she could see that Frank was awake. She went over to him. She wanted to tell him that she was glad that he was going to make it. Kitty wasn't going to bring up Maria or the unborn child.

"Frank, I'm happy to see that you're alive," said Kitty. "I wanted to see you before I went home."

"Thank you for stopping by, Kitty," said Frank. You could hear the pain in his voice. "It does mean a lot to me."

"I have to get going," said Kitty. "I hope to see you again." Kitty left the room.

The men who were supposed to leave Dodge did not leave. They did have other plans. They wanted to get Frank out of his room, so he would chase them. The men knew Frank was weak and going after them would probably kill him. It would be a slow and agonizing death.

They climbed up onto the roof outside of Frank's room and got his attention. Frank gingerly got out of bed and left the Dodge House in search of the men who killed his wife and unborn child. While Frank was searching, he met up with Festus.

"Frank, what in tarnation are ya doing out here?" Festus asked. "You should be in bed."

"I can't," said Frank. "The men who killed Maria came to my window. I've got to get them."

"Ya must've been dreamin'" said Festus. "Matthew told them to get out of town."

"I wasn't dreamin'. I know what I heard," said Frank.

"I'm going to get Matthew and Doc," said Festus.

Frank did not want Matt or Doc involved. He knew he had to stop Festus, so he took his pistol and backhanded Festus with it. Frank was on a mission and nobody was going to stop him, not even Matt's deputy. With Festus out of the way, Frank continued his search for the two men.

Festus was only out for a minute or two. When he came to, he went to go and get Matt. Arriving at the jail, Festus could see that Matt was lying on one of the cots. Festus walked over to Matt. He could see that Matt was still awake.

"Matthew," he said.

"What is it, Festus?" Matt asked, getting up and putting his boots on. He had a feeling he was needed.

"Frank is out of bed, looking for those two yayhoos. He swears they were outside his window," said Festus. "He's bleedin' real bad."

"He may be bleeding, but he's not the kind of man who thinks he sees and hears things," said Matt. "Go and get Doc."

Matt and Festus left the jail. Matt went to see if he could track down Frank. Festus went to go and get Doc. With his gun drawn, Matt took off in the direction that Festus told him Frank most likely had gone. Matt thought he heard something, but it turned out to be a couple of horses. He looked around, but didn't see anyone. Matt heard Festus calling him. He walked back to the alley.

"Didja find anything?" asked Festus.

"No, just a couple of horses. Let's go this way," said Matt, pointing his finger the direction he wanted to go.

Meanwhile the two men continued making noises so Frank would follow them. They too were on a mission. They weren't going to stop until Frank was dead. That was the only way they were going to be free. They led Frank into a barn. Frank was now bleeding badly. He didn't know how much longer he would last. As he was looking around the barn, one of the men threw something from the loft, knocking Frank down. Frank dropped his gun and one of the men grabbed it. They rolled Frank over and pinned him down.

Matt, Doc, and Festus were still trying to track Frank down, when Doc found some blood on a wrought iron fence. "Matt, there's blood here."

Matt walked over to the fence and saw the blood. He knew they were on Frank's trail. They looked down and saw more blood. They knew the blood would lead them to Frank. Continuing on, the blood led them to a barn. Matt heard talking in the barn. He recognized the voices of the two men. From his view point, he could see the two men had Frank pinned down. Matt would've gone in and gotten the men off of Frank, but he didn't. Matt could hear the men confessing what happened. Matt needed to hear this. With this confession, he could arrest the men for the murder of Maria Reardon.

"You were right all along," said one of the men. "We did kill your wife, except for Keith. He wanted to help her. You shot a man that wanted to help her."

Matt heard what he needed to hear. "Hold it," he told the two men. They weren't expecting the Marshall. They slowly got to their feet with their hands up.

"They did it, Matt. They just told me. Keith wasn't part of it," said Frank, struggling to catch his breath. "It's over."

"I know they did. I heard everything. Yes, it's over," said Matt.

Matt and Festus took the men to the jail and then went back to the barn to help Doc get Frank back to his office. Doc cleaned the dirt off of Frank and then reexamined the wound. He cleaned that up and reapplied the stitches. Knowing that Frank was in good hands and Festus had things handled at the jail, Matt decided to go home.

Kitty was in bed when she heard the door open. A lump formed in her throat. She really wasn't expecting Matt to come home tonight. If he was home, then that meant it was over. If it was over, then that most likely meant death had occurred. She held her breath, waiting for Matt to come into the bedroom. When he opened the door, their eyes met.

"It's over," he simply said. Seeing Kitty's distressed look, he continued. "Nobody died. It's a long story, but the men confessed to murdering Maria. I arrested them and took them to jail. Frank should be fine."

Kitty let out the breath she had been holding. She was preparing herself to hear the news that Frank had been killed. Relief overwhelmed her. Kitty waited for Matt to strip out of his clothing and join her in bed. Once he was in bed with her, she asked him the question she had been wanting to ask him.

"Matt?" she said.

"Hmm," he responded.

"What would you have done?" Kitty quietly asked.

Matt knew exactly what Kitty was asking. He needed to collect his thoughts before he answered. "That's been going through my mind this entire time. You know I would've gone after those men, but you want to know if I would have gone after them as Matt Dillon the family man or Matt Dillon the lawman." Kitty nodded her head and Matt continued. "I think if I didn't see your reaction to how Frank was handling things, I would've taken off the badge and gone after the men as Matt Dillon, family man. I can understand where Frank was coming from. If that had happened to you while you were pregnant with Ruby, I would be beside myself. When you first told me you were pregnant, I was over the moon. The first few months it didn't seem real. The only evidence that you were pregnant was the morning sickness."

"Don't remind me," said Kitty, shaking her head at the unpleasant memory.

Matt chuckled and continued. "When you started to show, the pregnancy became more real. Then feeling the baby kick, watching your stomach ripple as the baby moved, and hearing that little heartbeat really made me aware that a baby was coming and I was going to be a father. I look at you and Ruby and I can't imagine life without you. I can't imagine someone taking the chance of having a life with the two of you away from me. Knowing what I could've missed out on would make me want revenge. I would have gone out and killed every man involved and nobody would stop me. I would want to tear out their throats with my bare hands. But like I said before, your reaction to what Frank was doing would have made me go after the men in accordance with the law. It would have taken a lot of willpower, but I would want to do it your way. I would honor you by doing it your way."

"That's all I wanted to know, Cowboy. I just pray that you never have to face a situation like that," said Kitty.

"I pray that everyday, " said Matt as he wrapped his arms around her a little tighter.

A week later Matt, Kitty, and Ruby were at home eating lunch. Matt had planned on going into town to see how Frank was doing. He had gone a few days ago, and Frank was on the mend. Matt wanted to go today to make sure that Frank was still mending. He would go while Ruby took her nap.

"Kitty, I'm going to go into town and see how Frank is doing," said Matt.

"If he's well enough, ask if he would like to come by the house. I'm sure Ruby would love to see Uncle Frank," said Kitty.

"Yay! I want to see Unca Frank. Is Aunt Maria coming too?" Ruby innocently asked.

Matt and Kitty looked at each other. They didn't tell Ruby about Maria. How do you explain something like that to a four year old child? They knew they had to say something to her to explain Maria's absence.

"Ruby, honey, Aunt Maria won't be coming. She was hurt and now she's in Heaven with Jesus," said Kitty.

Ruby didn't quite understand. "When I hurt my arm, I didn't go to Heaven with Jesus. Why did Aunt Maria go?"

Matt now spoke. "We were lucky that Grandpa Doc fixed your arm. Nobody could fix Aunt Maria."

"Oh, I'm glad Grandpa Doc fixed me. I would miss you and momma if I went to Heaven," said Ruby.

"Your daddy and I would miss you so much," said Kitty.

They finished lunch and Kitty got Ruby ready for her nap. After Ruby was settled down for the afternoon, Matt headed for town to see Frank. He went to Doc's office and saw Frank lying in bed. He looked even better than he did a few days ago. Doc had just finished listening to his heart.

"Is his heart still beating, Doc?" Matt teased.

"It is. Frank, I expect you to make a full recovery," said Doc.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Frank. "I have land up in Montana that needs tending to. I've put it off long enough."

"That sounds like a plan, Frank," said Matt. "Before you go, stop by the house. Ruby wants to see her Uncle Frank and I know Kitty wants to see you before you leave."

"I'll do just that. I kinda want to see how big that little girl of yours has gotten," said Frank. "Maybe you can bring Kitty and Ruby to Montana someday soon. We can do some fishing up there. Doc, you can come too."

"By golly, you can count on that," said Doc. "Just don't let Festus know."

"Don't let Festus know about what?" asked Festus as he walked in Doc's office.

"Nothing," said Doc. "Stop eavesdropping."

"I wasn't doin' no eavesdropping. I was fixin' to come up and see Frank, and I heard my name," explained Festus.

"Fine, if you must know, Frank invited me up to his place in Montana to do some fishin'" , said Doc.

"Golly bill, Doc. You should have me come along. Who's going to get dig up your worms for ya? Who's going to bait your hook?" asked Festus.

"I'm perfectly capable of doing that," said Doc.

Matt looked at Frank, smiled, and shook his head. While Doc and Festus continued arguing, Matt took the opportunity to leave. He went home to tell Kitty that Frank would be stopping over and how Frank invited them to his place in Montana. Kitty looked forward to a trip to Montana with Matt and Ruby. She was already planning it in the back of her mind.

(The end of "Family Man vs Lawman.")

TBC