Dutch's Daughter [[RDR2 Arthur Morgan x OC]]

chapter 13; widow adler

"...cold wind whistles through me, blowing away the broken pieces of me I can't hold onto. I feel like I'm melting, slowly disappearing. Constant fear and pain has turned me into a shell of the woman I once was - dry eyed and weak limbed. My sense of determination and fierce strength is missing. There was a time where I took great pride in being a Van der Linde... but three days have passed since I sought my father's protection from Micah and three days of unimaginable pain have passed with it. I don't know who Dutch is anymore..."
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"If I don't get out of here soon, I'm going to kill someone!"

Charlotte looks up from her journal to see Mrs. Adler threatening Simon Pearson with a kitchen knife. She tosses a cutting board full of chopped vegetables to the dirt, earning a gnarly growl from the camp cook. He lunges forward, ready to brawl with a lady over a ruined meal. Arthur forcibly steps in, splitting the two hot heads apart.

"I'm sorry, madam, there ain't enough feathers in your pillow?" Arthur mocks the upset, wild haired woman, only fueling her angry fire.

"I ain't lazy, Mr. Morgan, I'll work but not like this. My husband and I shared the work, all of it. I can hunt, use a knife and carry a gun... but you make me stay here, I'll skin this fat old coot and serve him for supper!" The small blade jabs from her hand again, teeth bared threateningly.

"Watch your damn mouth you goddamn tishwife!" Pearson squeals, keeping the table as a solid separation between he and Adler but his attempts fail as the crazy widow leaps over it in one fell swoop like a cat chasing an overweight mouse.

"Enough, both of you!" Arthur's attempts to keep them distanced fails as he chases them around the table.

Charlotte stands from her seat, inserting herself into the comical situation. She grabs Sadie by the collar of her dirt stained top, pulling her to a complete stop. With one yank, she's got her eyes locked on her own, staring her down with a fierce intensity.

"You wanna head out there? Run with the men? So be it. But we do more than just hunting... we are hunted. And the people hunting us have guns of they're own." The words come out violently, threatening.

Sadie smirks, curiosity peeked at the thought of potential danger. "I ain't afraid of dying."

Charlotte leans back, satisfied by the answer, detecting the level of strength a woman need to make it in this gang. "Boys... me and Mrs. Adler are gonna take a little ride." Her boots turn in the dirt, striding away with a newfound swagger to her step.

Sadie skips after Charlotte, darting a teasing look at the two dumbfounded men left behind to do the chores. Sheriff waits anxiously at the hitching post, kicking his feet at the sight of his rider approaching. It's been days since their last ride and he was growing restless. He'll be pleasantly surprised at the long walk to Rhodes, maybe even a run if he's lucky enough.

"What's the plan? I'll shoot the shopkeeper while you..." Sadie asks excitedly, hips swaying in the saddle of her young Turkoman, Hera.

"You insane?"

"I thought you was gonna teach me how to be an outlaw!"

"Outlaw, not idiot." Charlotte grunts, watching the outline of the town of Rhodes come into sight ahead.

"We're just getting out of camp for awhile, buy us some food to eat. Go on in there and see what you can find." She points to the small general store. Sadie rolls her eyes but does as she's told, hitching her horse and heading inside.

"Mrs. Adler." Charlotte calls, stopping the woman just before she swings the stores door open. "No guns."

After several spent cigarettes, it's decided that Mrs. Adler will be taking her sweet time in the store. Growing bored, Charlotte makes her way to the local train station, heading inside to make a quick stop at the post office. A polite man behind the barred window looks at her expectedly, asking for a name.

"Tacitus Kilgore."

His gloved fingers wonder through carefully sorted stacks of packages and letters, selecting a single cream colored envelope. Before handing it to her, he hesitates for a moment, unsure she really looks like somebody who would be named Tacitus. Her hand resting on a holstered revolver tells him to not think about it too much. Reluctantly, he hands her the letter.

With a short thank you, she heads back out to Sheriff, Spurs clicking rhythmically as she turns the letter over in her hands. The alias was Dutch's idea many years ago. Whenever they set up in a new town, Strauss tells the local post to start expecting mail for a Tacitus Kilgore. The name is shared by all gang members, the sender's name being the only telltale sign of who the package is intended for. Charlotte's finger runs over the sender's address.

Mary Linton.

It was undoubtedly for Arthur. Her blood boils at the sight of that awful woman's name. For years she has strung Arthur along, using him for tasks she's not strong enough for and abusing him emotionally. For a moment, she contemplates shredding the paper into a million unfindable pieces. Instead, she settles with burying it deep in a saddle bag, praying she forgets about it before her unfortunately good nature betrays her and hands it right over to the man that supposedly belongs to her.

"I've birthed foals with more strength than you! Hell, my sister's newborn came out stronger than you and he was a bright blue!" Sadies voice chastises the store clerk struggling to pull a full to the brim sack of supplies out of the storefront.

"Ms. Van der Linde, good! Help split this up between us, loads probably too heavy for my Hera alone." She takes over the supplies from the clerk, diving inside to begin loading up the horses. Her new outfit, a choice of dark pants and a fancy yellow top, make the task that much easier for her to complete. Once their finished, Charlotte tosses a tip to the overworked and slightly insulted man before they roll back out of town towards home.

For a long time the ride is silent but the ever determined Adler isn't quiet for too long. "I don't want no pity from the lot of you. Just treat me equal and know that nobody's taking nothing from me ever again."

"Alright. Just... don't kill the camp cook, please." Charlotte chuckles weakly.

"There she is."

"Hm?"

"There's the Charlotte we've been missing for weeks now!"

"What are you on about, princess?"

"It's Sadie." The widow growls, rolling her eyes. "All I mean is you haven't been actin' yourself ever since you came back from that job in Strawberry and you've been even worse since you had that talk with Dutch. I don't know what went down between you two but I can gather he must have hurt you. Badly."

"My father wouldn't lay a hand on me."Charlotte bites, nipping at her rude accusation. She's still a newcomer to this group, what the hell does she know.

"Hey now, I ain't meaning he hit you or nothing. I just got a sense that he was real angry with you and you with him. I've only been running with y'all for a few months now and it ain't hard to tell Dutch ain't the mighty leader you all worship and praise him to be." She pauses, hesitating before she crosses to far over the line. "I have had more than my fair share of pain. I know a suffering woman when I see one, Ms. Van der Linde."

Charlotte winces silently at the painfully true words the widow spoke. She isn't ready to admit out loud that her father is disappointing more people than just her. She'd already condemned herself in confiding in Arthur, she certainly wasn't about to spill the truth to Sadie.

"Have some goddamn faith, Mrs. Adler." She snaps the reigns, charging Sheriff into a sprint towards camp, leaving Sadie to find her own way home.