The Course of True Love - Book l

Beaver Hollow - Honor, Amongst Thieves

"Are you okay?" Minnie asked as she noticed Arthur's clothing and skin to be stained with soot and dirt. Her worst assumption came to mind as he and John both looked worn to their very core.

"Just about got splattered by a-"

"Nothing. We just fell." Arthur corrected, seeing Minnie arch her brow at him, knowing immediately that he had been caught in a lie.

"Uh huh. Fell when? When the train almost plastered your asses?" She accused, knowing her accusation was right due to Arthur's broken eye contact and expression hidden by the brim of his hat. "What happened? Wait, I'll ask John because he seems to be the only truthful one." She scoffed.

"No, we were planting the charges and a train was coming by the time we got back to the handcar, so we had to jump." Arthur explained.

"Uh huh," Minnie nodded in suspicion. "Did y'all even blow up the bridge?"

"Yeah... After we almost got run over." John chuckled.

Minnie arched her brow and looked over at Abigail, who shared the same look of worry, "Hmm." She said enthusiastically.

"What's hmm for? What're you hmming about?" John poked.

"Nothing of your concern, John Marston." Abigail barked.

John held his hands up in surrender, "Alright, fine."

"Darlin', look, we got the bridge job done. Now remember what I told you before I left?"

"I do." She nodded.

"Okay then, we all need to have a chat." Arthur nodded as he glanced around camp to see that the flaps on Dutch's tent were closed, indicating that he was either sleeping or in deep conversation while Bill, Javier, and Micah were sitting along a small fire toying with their hunting knives and the women keeping an eye on Jack as he had offered a small portion of his help to Pearson as he was genuinely intrigued to learn how to prepare meals.

"Let's all go to our tent," Abigail suggested. "It's more private."

Arthur nodded before placing his hand on the small of Minnie's back, using his body language to tell her to move forwards in front of him as the outlaws made their way to the privacy of John's tent for the most important discussion of their entire lives. "Arthur and I have an idea of how to get out of this mess..." John started. "We have an idea on where to go."

"And where's that, John?" Abigail sighed as she crossed her arms.

"We were thinkin' somewhere out west for sure this time. Somewhere like Colorado or Idaho." John explained.

"And when do you plan to do that?"

"Once we get some money. We'll all leave, together. You even said yourself that you think you might know where some of that money is."

"Yeah, but what if it doesn't exist?" Abigail frowned. "I don't want to be made false promises."

"You ain't," John sighed. "This is all pretty much done. Me and Arthur talked about it during that job today. We find out where Dutch is keeping the money, take some of it, and high-tail it outta here and start making a decent life for ourselves."

"We aren't taking the money. That's not honest." Minnie added.

"Since when have you cared about being honest?" John sighed, sincerely meaning no hatred towards her, although he didn't realize his mistake until after the words slithered from his mouth and the glare he received from Arthur.

"Now you got a problem." Minnie chuckled as she watched Arthur step closer to the younger man.

"What did you just say?"