Arthur Morgan did not intend to survive when he gave his hat to John Marston and stayed behind to gain his redemption. As he crawled towards his final resting place, he never intended to wake up again.
But he does wake up. Thanks to time travelers F...
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1885
Dear Arthur,
I can't tell you how glad I am to hear from you again. At best, I thought you didn't want anything to do with me, and at worst, I figured someone might have shot you dead or hanged you by now. I guess that's a worry which will never leave me. In any case, I am still yet to marry, although my father has threatened to disown me again if I choose anyone other than Barry Linton and his money.
Jamie still talks about you a lot. Daddy thought he'd put a stop to it by telling Jamie the truth about how you make your money, but I don't think that's deterred him much. He still idolizes you, Arthur, and he misses you. Maybe you can call on the farm sometime and come to see him.
In any case, I have decided to take you up on your offer to visit you in Bear Glen. I should arrive by the Wednesday stagecoach in a week's time. I look forward to hearing your long story about why you could not find the time to write, and I think about you often. I miss you badly, Arthur, and I cannot wait to see you again at last.
Love,
Mary
Eliza stopped reading the letter and crossed her arms. "Would you stop inviting people out here without talking to me first?"
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "You're the one that wanted to meet her in the first place, and if she meets you in person rather than hearing about you in some letter, maybe she won't be as angry at me."
Eliza threw up her hands and turned away from Arthur. "You are without a doubt the most selfish man I know. I said that before I pushed a whole entire human out of my body. I've never had a baby before, Arthur! I didn't know how much it would hurt and how long it would take me to recover! You've known she agreed to come out here for two weeks now, and you wait until the goddamn day she arrives to say anything!"
At her yelling, Isaac began to cry.
Irked by the loud, shrill noise of the baby's wails, Eliza came unhinged. "GODDAMN IT!" she shrieked, grabbing an empty whiskey bottle on the kitchen cabinet and throwing it at Arthur.
He ducked just in time for it to shatter against the wall, exactly where his head had been. "For chrissakes, Eliza, calm down!" he implored her. "Isaac don't like the noise, and now there's glass everywhere to clean up."
Eliza picked Isaac up and hugged him to her, rocking him as she did so. "I wish that bottle had hit you," she said coldly. "You put Dutch and your love life before me and Isaac constantly, and I'm sick of it. Even if I be damned, you have a son now, Arthur. Who cares if Mary is angry at you? You should have just told her about us in a letter and been done with it. Not invited her out here to spring us on her by complete surprise. What if she's angry? I don't trust an angry, jealous woman around my baby."
Arthur had stopped listening after the first part of her rant. "I do not always put Dutch before you two," he protested, beginning to get angry himself. "I'm goin' back to him because I owe him too damn much. He and Hosea saved me when I was just a kid! I'll be loyal to him 'till the day I die because of what he did for me." He paused a moment. "And anyway, I figure our way of life is comin' to an end soon. Dutch is thinkin' about buyin' land somewhere near here, or out in Reno if what I been told is correct. He wants to settle down, Eliza! Then I can be around a lot more, and be a good father to Isaac. I just got... I just got to help him get some money first. There's a train with a bank car he wants to rob on the way to Denver in a few days, and he needs me to do it. After that, I'll have enough money to disappear. I can marry Mary good and proper like I meant to, and then move out here to be near you and the boy. It'll all work out!"
