Boyer argued that she actually lived with Behan. Boyer warns readers of "her ‘little-old-lady’ attempts to tell only the decorous and proper." Along with her own past, Josephine was sensitive about what others might think if they learned about Wyatt's common-law wife, Mattie Blaylock. Blaylock suffered from severe headaches and was addicted to laudanum, an opiate-based pain reliever in common use at the time. After the Earp Vendetta Ride, she joined the rest of the Earp family in Colton, California where she expected Earp to call for her. When Wyatt failed to contact her, she returned to prostitution and later committed suicide. Wyatt may have still been living with Blaylock when Josephine and Wyatt began their relationship.