Post by dillonswoman19 on Aug 29, 2018 18:55:26 GMT -8
All Things Are Possible
By Julee
On the bank of the river, under the shade of an oak tree it was cool and quiet. “Well Kitty, I’ll be darned if you haven’t caught more fish than me.” Kitty smiled. She liked fishing with Doc. They were at ease with each other. They could sit quietly in silence, comfortable with each other as if they’d known each other forever. He, old and wizened and caring; and her young, having seen a little too much of life, yet not toughened by it. This older man who loved the young woman like a daughter. The young gal respecting him and admiring him like the father she never had.
Kitty was usually witty, funny and full of sunshine. Today she seemed very quiet as if her mind was somewhere else. “Kitty what’s on your mind?” Without looking at Doc she made an umm sound. There was a pause while she gathered her thoughts. “Matt. Matt is on my mind. Do you see him ever giving up that badge of his and settling down? You know, retiring one day.” Her question surprised Doc. He played with his ear lobe for a few seconds before he answered. “Maybe, some day.” She made the umm sound again. “Would you want him too? You know, it is a big part of who he is.” “I know. It’s just that women like to plan a head. Bad habit of ours.” She turned to him for the first time and smiled. “You know, he’d still be the same man without the badge.”
A frog hopped on the other side of the bank and a breeze gently moved wisps of Kitty’s hair. “When he is gone like now, I actually ache for him---I miss him and worry about him.” She shifted her weight on the log she was sitting on. She wasn’t used to talking so freely about her feelings. “I know riding off to catch bandits and bringing them in is a part of his job. Sometimes not knowing what is happening to him or if he is injured tears at my insides. Am I making any sense or am I talking like a silly woman?” She seemed slightly embarrassed by her confession. The cantankerous old man with a heart of gold swiped at his mustache a few times—not out of nervousness but out of habit. “You’re making sense.” Taking his time before saying more Doc reeled in his line and put another worm on it. “Kitty, he loves you. You know that?” Without hesitation she said, “I do.” Kitty tried to put a tendril of her hair back in place that had been loosened by the ride out to the river. “Do you think a gal who is part owner in a Saloon and a Marshall could ever make a life together?” Doc rubbed at his mustache again as he tried to think of the right answer. He knew what she was asking---could a law man, a well respected man in his community, find lasting love with a gal with her past. Over the last couple of years He had watched the Marshal and Kitty become a couple, though they tried to hide it, it was quite obvious to anyone who saw them together that they cared deeply for each other. “By golly young lady you have been thinking about an awful lot.” He paused and in a serious voice he said, “All things are possible. I think it is not for us to see into the future. I think things in life have a way of working themselves out. Appreciate now. Love each other now.” He truly meant what he said and with all his heart hoped that Matt and Kitty would still be together 20 years from now. Then in a less serious voice and with a twinkle in his eye he said, “You know I plan on delivering all of your and Matt’s babies.” Kitty turned to Doc, she smiled that smile that could light up a whole room. Right then a fish flopped around in the water on the end of Kitty’s line. She flung him up on the bank. She held up the fish and looked at Doc. She chuckled as she said, “Well, I’d say we had a good afternoon.” He got up and patted her on the back as she put the fish in the bucket. In a very upbeat voice she said, “I bet if we packed up now we could be back into Dodge early enough and I could fry these fish up for us for dinner.” He winked at her as he put his hat on his head. “Sounds good to me but we are gonna sneak back into town. I do not want Chester horning in on our catch of the day. For a lean man he sure can eat like a horse!” Kitty laughed that throaty laugh of hers and said “Oh, Doc!”