Miss Morgan

Fifteen

May 1890
-John-

"Come here, John." Dutch calls me to his tent. Bill scoffs and takes a drink from his bottle of rum as I stand from the campfire. Mac is going on some rant about his recent run-in with the law while Davey is seconds away from passing out because he's so drunk. Ivy sits between me and Mary-Beth with Karen and Tilly on their other side.

I step into Dutch's tent and he's sitting on the edge of the small cot he uses as his bed. "You gonna marry her?" He asks me. I wish people would stop making a fuss over it.

"Yeah." I answer.

"Well, ain't that fine." He smiles at me. "You got a ring yet?"

"No."

"Good." He puts a small pouch in my hand. "I want you to have this. It would..." he takes a shaky breath. "It would mean a lot to me."

I open the pouch and a ring falls into my hand. A gold band with an oval sapphire framed with diamonds. It's beautiful. I look at Dutch because I'm speechless.

"It was... for Annabelle." He explains. "I wanted to... but I never got the chance. Anyway, it should be worn proudly instead of sitting in my pocket forever."

I stare at the ring a moment longer, feeling the weight of it in my hand. I'm going to marry Ivy. It's the perfect ring for her and I know just how I wanna do it. "I don't know how to thank you." I mutter quietly to Dutch.

"You marrying that girl with it is thanks enough, son. I know she'll keep it safe." He shakes my hand and I put the ring back in the pouch, tucking it safely back inside the inner pocket of my coat.

I find Ivy still by the fire with Mary-Beth, Karen, and Tilly. I sit back down by the fire, feeling the weight of the ring in my pocket and fighting the urge to pull it out and stare at it. I don't hear the conversations going on around me because I'm so lost, playing it out in my head.

"You alright?" Ivy whispers to me, nudging my leg with her elbow.

"Yeah." I smile at her. "I think I'm gonna head to bed."

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." She squeezes my hand and I leave her by the fire.

She eventually comes to bed and I pretend to be asleep but I don't actually sleep a wink. I'm too excited.

I look at my pocket watch over and over again until I see that it's 4am decide to wake her up.

"What's wrong?" She asks me.

"Shhh." I whisper. "Let's go for a ride."

"Right now?" She scrunches her nose and it makes me laugh.

"Yeah. Come on." I pull on my coat and boots and she does the same before we step out of the tent and I saddle up Bourbon and Lune.

"You don't have to saddle up Lune, I'm riding with you." She pulls her coat tighter around her.

"Alright, I'm still bringing her with us though." I answer. This only makes her more confused. I mount up and help her up behind me. Lune follows along the path next to us.

We ride out to west to a beautiful canyon overlooking the hills for miles around and we climb off the horse and I sit against a large boulder. Ivy sits between my legs and leans back on my chest. We sit here and watch the sun start to rise over the horizon, casting beautiful shades of red and orange across the sky.

"Ivy..." I finally break our comfortable silence, nudging her forward so I can reach into my pocket and she sits up and turns slightly so she can look at me. "I was thinking. Well, we've talked about getting married for a while now, and I don't wanna wait a minute longer."