Traveler trilogy Book 2, updates every Friday!
Five years after killing Levi Cornwall, Arthur Morgan is happy. He has a wife who loves him, an honest job he enjoys, and two beautiful children named Sadie and Hiram. All of it is turned on its head, h...
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A couple of weeks had passed since Arthur and the others had arrived in 1899. The weather finally managed to settle, and time was once again ticking. Though he had been gone from this time period for more than five years, it had begun to feel as though Arthur never left. He fit seamlessly back into society quite well, and felt perfectly at home here. He only wished he could say the same for the others.
Jackson seemed to be doing okay, seeing as he had a history degree, and Francis adjusted excellently alongside Charles, since both of them had experienced this time as well. Tori, on the other hand, was having trouble.
Part of it was her pregnancy. It made her very tired, and for the first time in her life, she was experiencing morning sickness.
Arthur remembered Eliza's morning sickness when she was pregnant with Isaac and thus knew a bit about how to help Tori deal with it, but experiencing it with Tori was entirely different. She had not suffered from early-pregnancy nausea with either Sadie or Hiram, but for some reason, this most recent baby seemed adamant that she not keep anything down.
He tried to be supportive, but it seemed nothing worked except a tea Francis prescribed that was made from ginseng root and mint leaves. Fortunately, both plants were abundant in New Hanover's wilderness, and Arthur had no trouble gathering them for her every day.
Tori's continued less-than-optimal health only served to exacerbate the wedge in their marriage that had been growing for some time, however. All the vomiting made her head hurt, and the pain affected her mood quite substantially. Arthur found himself out hunting more and more to take some time away from her, and he used the money from the game he sold to the town butcher to spend his nights at the poker table downstairs. There was nothing more he could do, and no better way to bide his time while they waited for Dutch and the others to arrive in Valentine from Colter.
And so, the animosity between him and his wife continued growing. He told himself there was nothing more he could do with her. That spending more time away from her meant less arguments and therefore was better for them, but deep down, he knew it was all bullshit. Truthfully, he had a lot on his plate at the moment, and without Tori around to yell at him, it was just one less thing to worry about. This was all about making sure reality was safe for her and the rest of his family, after all. Her feelings on the matter be damned.
He sighed and rolled over in bed to look at her. It was chilly because the fire in the small, wood-burning stove near their bed had died away to nothing but embers, though the early morning light had begun to stream through the curtains. Tori would be up soon, and she would likely need to throw up when she awoke. She'd eaten a healthy supper of venison stew over rice the night before, but it seemed that lately the only thing she kept down was peanut butter smeared over bread with a little cinnamon.
At least when she slept she looked peaceful and happy. And in spite of all their recent arguments, Arthur still loved her. She was absolutely incredible, and the fact that she could use her body to grow his child was absolutely awe-inducing to him. He'd have loved her either way, but she always looked particularly beautiful when she was pregnant or holding one of their children. Tori had shown him what it was to truly be a family man, and it was a lifestyle he found suited him, even if it bred hostility between them occasionally.
