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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Francis tapped his foot impatiently. He waited near the road that led to the mine, praying Jackson would walk down it at any moment. He'd learned something that day that would be of interest to the whole group, but most of his anxiousness came from the fact that Jackson would be done with his work in the mines soon, and witnessing Jackson sweaty and dirty and covered in grime was one of his favorite ways to see him.
It had only been a few weeks, but work in the mines had been good for Jackson. He'd lost quite a bit of weight already, and his muscles grew larger and harder by the day from the back-breaking work. It was good for him, and Francis noticed Jackson seemed happier now that he had hard work to do. Francis also wasn't complaining about the new physique Jackson seemed to be developing, nor the attitude. On the contrary, he'd never been more attracted to him, and the thought of finally marrying the man once they were home made him deliriously happy, more so than he'd been since his mother and sisters passed, if he was honest.
He didn't have to wait long. Francis' face broke out in a huge grin as he recognized Jackson walking down the road with his helmet on his head and a pickaxe slung casually over his shoulder. However, he wasn't alone. He walked with a tall, lanky, dark-haired boy who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, and Francis immediately assumed the kid must be Archie Downes.
"Hello, Jackson!" Francis called as the two approached him. He wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around Jackson and kiss him, but he knew if he did so publicly, he might be arrested again, or worse. Not to mention what Archie might think.
"Hey!" Jackson replied, breaking into a wide grin of his own. "Kid, this is Dr. Sinclair, the man I was telling you about. Dr. Sinclair, this is Archie Downes. We're on the same detail down there, and we like working on the same seams together. The other miners don't really like the pair of us all that much."
"Pleased to meet you, Dr. Sinclair," said Archie with a smile, holding out a gloved hand for Francis to shake.
The kid's grip was firm and confident, and Francis decided immediately that he liked Archie. His eyes were kind, and the coal dust on his face split into lines along his mouth and eyes, telling Francis that he smiled often. As often as any young man who'd recently lost his father and watched his mother turn to prostitution could smile, anyway.
"Jackson's told me a lot about you," Archie added as he released Francis' hand. "He's a good man, so I guess that makes you one as well."
"Most of the time," Francis replied. "No one's perfect." His heart sank with a pang as he remembered that the reason they were here in the first place, shaking Archie's hand outside a coal mine in 1899, was because of his own arrogance and hubris and pride.
Sensing Francis' inner turmoil, Archie's smile dropped somewhat and he sighed. "Nobody's one hundred percent perfect, mister. Only perfect person that ever lived was the Good Lord Jesus, and I don't think any of us are him."
