Someone shook Kitty’s shoulder as she lay on the hard,
unforgiving ground. Slowly she opened
her eyes, squinting against the late afternoon sunlight slanting through the
trees. Virgil Ware’s face apprehensively
gazed down at her. “Kitty, can you hear
me? Are you alright?” He was crouching beside her, where she’d
apparently been lying since she fainted.
She laid her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes again
for a moment, murmuring quietly, “I think so...” Cautiously raising up on her elbows, she scanned
her surroundings uneasily. “Where are
the others?”
“Others?” His voice
sounded alarmed. “Someone else was with
you? Where’s Matt?”
“Oh,” she replied, chagrined. “Matt didn’t come. Virgil, I’m so glad you’re here! I…I made the trip by myself.”
“Alone?” Virgil’s expression
changed to dismay. “Kitty, that’s
dangerous. You shouldn’t have come…”
“Yeah, Virgil, I know, I know. Matt is gonna kill me when he hears what
happened. He didn’t want me coming by
myself either.”
“But you said there were others…” His eyes anxiously strayed to her ripped
bodice, and she hurried to tug it modestly closed without benefit of the
buttons that Carter Graves had torn off.
She tried to sit up, but she felt dizzy.
Virgil put his arm around her shoulders to support her.
Squinting against the fading sunlight, her eyes searched for
the spot where she had watched Titus Crow die a horrible death. His corpse was not there. “He’s gone!” she exclaimed. “They’re all gone…”
“Who, Kitty? Did they
hurt you?” He quickly glanced over her body, searching for injuries.
“No, not really.” She
gingerly touched the back of her tender skull where the half-breed had nearly
torn her hair out by the roots. “Nothing
permanent anyhow.”
“Who were they?” he repeated anxiously.
“Carter Groves seemed to be the leader of the three.”
“Carter Groves? He’s
a gunrunner. Sells Spencer repeating
rifles to the Indians.”
Kitty continued, “Titus Crow was the one they killed. He was a half-breed Indian. The full-blooded Indian was the one who
killed him. Name of… Kotori, I think it
was.” Kitty’s face paled and her blue
eyes widened as she looked at her friend.
“Oh, Virgil, it was so awful.
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she wrapped her arms around Virgil’s neck. Gently he held her, patting her back
comfortingly. When at last her shivering
had stopped and she released him, he softly questioned her, “What did they
want, Kitty?”
She wiped a stray tear with the back of her hand. “I don’t think they really wanted me. That’s why they left me here, I
suppose.” Suddenly she remembered
something they’d said, and she exclaimed excitedly, “They were after Matt! We’ve got to warn him, Virgil!”
“Matt?” Virgil sat on
the ground beside her.
“Yes, when they were arguing, Titus Crow said that Matt was
supposed to be with me. They knew our
plans, and he was angry when they found out I was by myself.”
“Maybe they wanted Matt out of the way. He’s kept the gunrunners out of this part of
the countryside for quite a while now.
With the U.S. Marshal out of the way, they’d be able to make a lot more
money.”
Kitty’s brows knitted together fretfully. “Shouldn’t we wire him in Hays? That’s where he’s headed. He should be there in another day or so. We need to warn him!”
He reassured her, “I’ll send Matt a wire when I go to
Cimarron.”
“Virgil, I remember something else.” She touched his arm anxiously. “They said Carter Groves’ friend worked for
Western Union. That’s how they knew we
were traveling today. The telegraph
operator either in Dodge or in Cimarron must’ve told him about the wire we sent
informing you we were coming.”
“That explains a lot.”
He glanced down at her hand on his sleeve, then back up into her
eyes. “I’ll look into the matter, for sure. I’ll find out who the operators were on both
ends of that wire. We’ll get to the
bottom of this.”
Suddenly remembering Matt’s words about Virgil being sweet
on her, she pulled her hand away self-consciously. She murmured quietly, “Oh, Virgil, I hope
Matt’s alright.”
“Well, I think he’s fine because he’s far away from
here. If he’d been with you, it might
have been a different story altogether.”
She traced a well-manicured fingernail over a tall blade of
grass. “So it’s a good thing he changed
his plans and wouldn’t come with me, huh?”
He watched her, intuiting her initial disappointment that Matt
hadn’t accompanied her. “Yeah, Kitty, it
is. But what we need to do now is get
you to my house so you can get rested up plus have some of Isom’s fine home
cooking. How’s that sound?”
“Wonderful, Virgil.” She sighed deeply. “That sounds just wonderful.”
Standing, he extended his hand. She accepted it, but when she rose to her
feet, her head began to swim and she felt faint again. “Oh…” she whispered, as her knees started to
buckle.
“Kitty…!” Virgil exclaimed as he caught her in his
arms.
“I’m alright, really…” she murmured. “I think I just got up too quickly.”
“Well, I’m not taking any chances. You’re riding with me. We need to get you back to the house
quickly. I may wire Doc Adams to come
take a look at you.”
“Oh, Virgil, don’t do that.
I’m fine, really. He was going on
a fishing trip for a couple of days. I
don’t want to interrupt him. See, I’m
standing up by myself now. You can let
go of me, I promise.”
Virgil eyed her warily.
“Well, alright, you stand right here and don’t move. I’ll get the horses. But you’re still riding with me. I won’t have you fainting and falling off the
horse. Matt would never forgive me if I
let you break your neck.” He raised a
brow at her drily.
“Okay, I’ll stand right here. I can’t wait to get back to the house. It seems like it’s been ages since I’ve been
there.”
Virgil brought the horses over and mounted his
stallion. He reached down and pulled her
up by the hand effortlessly to ride in front of him, locking one arm securely
around her slim waist. He replied, “It’s
been a whole year. Way too long in my
opinion, too.”
Kitty patted his hand contentedly and settled against her
friend comfortably. She had to admit,
she was exhausted and her head was pounding.
She wanted nothing more than a bath and a soft bed. She smiled.
“I can’t wait to see Isom and Big Sam.
How are they doing?”
He spurred his horse and they headed downriver, in the
direction of the ranch house. “Just
fine, Miss Kitty, and they will be very happy indeed to see you, I assure you.”
She looked down at Virgil’s strong hands holding the
reins. She said quietly, “I hope Matt is
able to join us soon. I miss him already.”
“I know you do, Kitty.
I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as he’s able.” Virgil cleared his throat. “And…uh…I have someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Oh?” she asked curiously.
“Yes…”
“Well, who is it?”
“Uh… Her name is Miss Lillie Mae.”
“Oh!” Kitty answered happily. “I can’t wait to meet her, Virgil.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet her, Miss Kitty.” He paused, and she was sure he was smiling in
spite of the fact that she was unable to see his face. “I surely can’t.”
tbc
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