Miss Morgan

Fifty-Four

July 1899
-Arthur-

Strange dreams plague my sleep and when I wake up, I see my bedroom on the second floor at Shady Belle and just like that, I've forgotten the dreams that still have my heart racing.

The sun shines in through my window and makes my head ache. It's so hot and humid, it makes me nauseous and lightheaded when I stand up. This weather is awful and I miss the dry air we felt back up north.

"You slept in late." Ivy smirks at me when I sit down at the table outside.

"Did I?" I ignore her jabs. She's happy that Abigail and I are... well, I don't exactly know what we are quite yet. But Ivy is just happy because she got Marston back and happy that I'm seeing a woman that isn't Mary Gillis. I suppose she's right to be happy about that. "How's the shoulder?" I change the subject.

"Sore, but I'm fine." She lights a cigarette in her mouth then offers it to me as she blows out smoke.

"Good." I nod. I want to tell her to rest and take it easy for a few days but I know if I do, she'll go out and work some job and hurt herself more. It's better to just leave it be and she'll be more likely to rest on her own. Stubborn little thing. I have no idea where she gets it from.

"Mornin' Arthur." Abigail presses a quick kiss to my cheek as she places a bowl of stew in front of me. Ivy grins. "Or should I say, afternoon."

"Hello Abigail." I greet, while shaking my head at my sister.

I've never been one to date women in the gang, I think it tends to cause too much drama if things go south and god knows we've got enough drama going on right now as it is. I'm not even too sure on how this all happened, but I guess amongst all the chaos of the last few weeks something just changed.

She confided in me, shortly after I got Ivy back from Blackwater, that John wasn't Jack's father. She told me everything and how awful she's felt the last couple years but just couldn't figure out how to come back from the web of lies she'd spun. She told me how much it meant to her when I took Jack fishing. I guess things really just fell into place in a way.

And now we're here. Abigail and Jack sleep in my room every night now and part of me thinks it's a bit too much too soon, but then again, I've seen how quickly it could all end. I guess I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy their company. It's almost like a piece of me that I didn't know was broken is being fixed. I just don't have it in me to push her away.

I sit at the table stirring my stew around, realizing I'm not all that hungry. This damn humidity has really been getting to me. Or maybe it's from that damn debtor, Thomas Downes. I beat the man within an inch of his life over thirty bucks for Leopold Strauss and the opinionated little do-gooder coughed blood in my face shortly before he died.

I quickly push that thought back out of my mind and rise from the table. I need to get out of my head. I decide to go find Lenny and see what he's up to because I need to keep myself busy and distracted.

I find Lenny hunched over, polishing his rifle on the table inside the house. "What you doin'?" I ask him.

"Nothin'." He answers a little too loudly, leaning a little further over his gun.

"Ahh, I don't believe you." I narrow my eyes at him.

He lets out a huff and sets down the weapon. "It's just a little robbery, alright, nothin' serious."

"Good." I plant my palms on the table and lean over him, lowering my voice. "What're you robbin'?"

"A stage." He answers shortly, irritated with me for nosing my way into his business. I just gesture for him to explain. He rolls his eyes.  "There's a stage comin' through. According to the feller I met, it'll have a bunch of money aboard and no security whatsoever as it comes up the river trail between here and Catfish Jacksons." He points to a hand drawn map.