When the Strength of Men Wavers - A Tombstone Fanfiction

Chapter One - To Lose a Brother

Ida Marlene Earp did her best to be a lady, but her brothers taught her that character was not found in how well one adhered to societal norms. Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, Adelia, and Ida were born to Nicholas and Virginia Earp in Monmouth, Illinois. She, Morgan, and her sisters spent their formative years in the imposing shadow of their older brothers whose careers in law took them to places Ida could only long to see. Morgan and Wyatt would frequently return to visit—they told extravagant tales of their heroism on the frontier and lovingly teased Ida and her sisters about their prospective courtships with the young men in town. Virgil seldom visited, but when he did, he came bearing gifts for the women in the family; the latest in French fashion was the usual favorite. Ida loved each of her brothers, but her closest confidant among them emerged in Wyatt as she grew to be a young lady. He would hold his little sister in his arms as she wept over young men, and he would laugh boisterously as she explained the most recent shenanigans she and Adelia fell into when they ventured to the edge of town to race their mares. She shared what she learned about herbalism and nursing from their mother in hopes it would someday keep Wyatt alive.

When their mother passed from the consumption, though, Morgan was the one who stayed. The cruel irony, Ida thought, God took a woman who had saved so many lives. Their father fell behind in his work as the town's clerk and Ida and Adelia were more than distraught. Morgan took it upon himself to help keep the family afloat in the wake of his mother's death, and he soon grew close with his sisters.

It was early January when Morgan left for the west again. he explained with restrained regret in his eyes that Wyatt and Virgil both needed him in a new mining town in Arizona. He would be back soon enough, and with a small fortune in tow. He would shake his father's hand and kiss both his sisters on the cheek, and then he would be gone.

As they watched the carriage disappear down the road, Ida felt as though she would never see him again.

Before the May flowers could spring from the ground, there came a telephone call from Tombstone, Arizona. Someone spoke gravely over the line to Nicolas, "Morgan passed last night." Ida watched as her father's face paled.
"What is it, Pa? What did they say?" Adelia laid her hand on their father's arm to gain his attention. He lowered the phone slightly.
"Morgan's gone."
Ida felt her gut twist cruelly. "W-what? Morgan? Pa, what--"
Adelia's eyes were wide as she covered her mouth in disbelief.
"Wyatt telephoned because—," he faltered. "Because Morgan passed away last night." Their father set his jaw, holding back tears only a father would have for a lost child.
"That can't be true," Adelia breathed. Ida remembered that feeling that pricked her as she watched Morgan leave, and she broke.
"Oh, Pa," Ida's voice felt strangled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed. Adelia appeared to sway before sinking down into the parlor chair. As Nicolas tried his best to comfort his daughters, Wyatt's voice sounded from the telephone.
"Pa, there will be a procession before the week's end. Tell the girls if they try and come down here, I'll send Mattie and the women right back with 'em." He paused a moment, then spoke solemnly, "There's trouble here."

That night, Ida counted the small tiles fixed on the bedroom ceiling over and over again, silent tears streaking down her face. Adelia sat against the headboard in the other bed and pretended the evening was just as any evening should have been. Both sisters were desperate to reach out, but Morgan wasn't there. Morgan, who had grieved with them and loved them through the worst of missing their mother, was himself missing from the picture. What does one do when the person who taught you how to live past grief is the one you have to grieve?

Ida counted another two hundred tiles before an awful thought forced its way into her head. It crawled from the depths of both reason and irrationality, stirring a wild fear in her. Wyatt said there was trouble in the town. He hadn't meant something trivial; Morgan was dead because of it. She thought about Wyatt and Virgil in that cursed town. What had killed Morgan? Had he been shot? Will the same men who killed him kill more of her family?