Miss Morgan

Forty-Nine

⚠️ Warning- violence with eyes? 😅
I also got a bit excited to write this one and stayed up way too late working on it so I'm sure I missed one or two typos 😂 but I'm having fun.

July 1899
-John-

I wake up the next morning when the sun shines in through the windows of our room at the Hotel Grand. The events of last night flood my memory when Ivy plants a soft kiss to my chest. She's mine again. My heart flutters at the thought. Last night felt like a dream come true and now that I'm waking up with her curled up in my arms, I smile to myself because it's real. I've wished for this moment for so incredibly long.

We spend the rest of the morning in this bed enjoying each other with the passion we've been deprived of for six years before we get dressed and head back to camp. I could stay in this room with her for the rest of my life, happily, but we both know we're needed at camp.

We get a few knowing glances from strangers in the hotel on our way out and it only makes me laugh to myself. Ivy blushes with embarrassment and keeps her eyes pinned to the ground, practically dragging me out the doors.

When we ride back into camp, we're met by Mary-Beth, her eyes full of concern. "Hey you two, have you seen Kieran? I haven't seen him since the party last night and it's not like him to just leave."

"No, we just came from Saint Denis, didn't see him there." I answer.

"We haven't seen him since last night either. He probably ran off to go back to Colm." Ivy jokes.

"Ivy..." Mary-Beth rolls her eyes. "He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't just up and leave camp without tellin' anyone either. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

"Maybe he's out fishing, did you check out back by the swamp?" Ivy asks. "Maybe he got eaten by a gator."

"Ivy!" Mary-Beth hisses. "That ain't funny. I'm worried about him. He ain't out back, I've looked everywhere. Will you two go out and look for him, please?"

Ivy sighs behind me, still on Old Boy's back.

"We'll go." I tell Mary-Beth. "We'll go find him and bring him back to ya, alright?"

"Unless he's with Colm, then he's a dead man." Ivy adds and I reach behind me to nudge her side. "Sorry, sorry." Ivy mutters, hopping off my horse to mount up on her own. Apparently since Sean died, Ennis is Ivy's horse now. My back feels cool in her absence since she's not sharing saddle with me and it makes me a bit sad. I like having her wrapped around me when we ride together.

"Thank you both, please be careful." Mary-Beth waves us as we turn our horses back down the trail away from camp. As we ride, we find Arthur riding back toward camp on a different horse than his own. This one is a leopard Appaloosa with bold black dots covering its body.

"Hey Arthur, have you seen Kieran?" I ask.

"No, not since the party last night." Arthur answers. "Susan said the same thing. You two goin' out to look for him?"

"Yeah, any idea where he might have gone?"

"I don't know. I'll join ya." He turns the horse to ride with us.

"Where'd you get that horse?" Ivy asks. I know she loves Ennis, but I also know it's not Sparrow. She misses her horse more than she cares to admit.

"Oh, those Foreman boys kidnapped Tilly so Susan and I dealt with them. She's safe and I took their horse. Figured they didn't need it anymore and I needed a ride back to camp.

"Jesus, another one of us kidnapped? What the hell is goin' on? I'm glad Tilly's safe though." Ivy shakes her head. "It's a real beautiful appaloosa." She admires the horse.