Dolce Vita - Arthur Morgan

Chapter Five

This chapter will reference the death of Arthur's son.

Hallie rolled her eyes for what seemed like the tenth time as she turned her back to Sean and Karen. The two continuously whispered and chuckled to each other. She was seated beside them, the big log in front of the campfire. Sean had been shooting vulgar innuendoes at her all night, and even though Karen had been turning him down, she finally seemed to give in to him. Sadly that resulted in displays of affections that were too public for Hallie's liking. The fact that she was heavily intoxicated didn't help her annoyance at all.

She gave Tilly a look across the fire, who responded with an unamused expression a slight shrug of her shoulders. Yeah, what was there to do?

People were scattered all over the camp, and only a few were left at the fire. The party for Sean's return was at its peak. Over the last hours, everyone had become drunker and drunker. The previous months had been hard on them, and as any good leader, Dutch knew when the troops needed some uplifting. And for this bunch, that meant whiskey and beer.

Javier was strumming a slow melody on his guitar, but it still wasn't enough for Hallie to relax.

Deciding it was better to take her frustration elsewhere, she rose to her feet but immediately felt dizzy and nauseous. As soon as she was out of sight of the others, she collapsed on the ground. The small droplets of dew on the grass wettened her dress slightly, relieving her body of some of its tension. She exhaled loudly, alone at last.

The trees framed her view of the starlit sky as she unsuccessfully tried to identify some of the constellations. Something always seemed so overwhelming about looking into the night sky. It made everything else seem so unimportant. She liked that.

"Are you alright?" a recognizable voice drew her out of her drunken reflections. She kept her eyes on the stars.

"I'm fine."

"You're drunk," his statement made her turn her head to meet his bluish eyes. The darkness of the night made them indistinctive but dark. He was right, though. She was drunk and had never been anywhere near this drunk before.

"Yes. You know Arthur, you're not as dumb as you look," Hallie teased as she pulled her gaze from his, trying to ignore the warm feeling in her belly.

Arthur laid down beside her, leaving an appropriate amount of space between them.

A minute went by without any of them saying anything. Arthur wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words. Or actually, he had plenty of words, but saying them out loud seemed almost inappropriate.

"Do you think there is life on the other side of this gang?" Hallie blurted, taking Arthur by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

She rolled to her front, resting on her elbows so she could make eye-contact with him and making the space between them smaller. His brows were furrowed in wonder.

"I mean, do you think you will ever have a family? Or is it all there ever will be?"

"This gang is my family."

"I know it is. But I mean on the other side of this. A blood related one."

A conflicted look spread on Arthur's face, though he tried to hide it, he didn't know if he should share the thing he wanted to. But something about the way Hallie's innocent eyes explored his made him want to tell her everything about himself.

"I had a son once."

Hallie couldn't offer anything but an empathetic smile. The young woman knew no words would mend him, so she stayed quiet.