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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Jenny had been up for hours. She still wasn't sleeping well, and not even Arthur lying next to her could make her feel secure enough to close her eyes these days. She only slept when pure exhaustion took her, and then only for a few hours. Every time she closed her eyes, there was Micah, watching her in her dreams with those cold, gray, evil eyes of his. She could feel his fingers on her skin, smell his disgusting breath in her face.
And then when she woke up and realized it was Arthur she felt, she'd calm down slightly, but not enough to go back to sleep.
This morning, though, she felt a little peaceful. The air was cool and crisp like it often was in early autumn, but not so cold that Arthur shivered next to her. His breathing felt a bit easier today, and the wheezes and crackles from deep inside him were not as frequent. It felt almost like it did before, when they'd wake up in each other's arms and be happy and in love, as opposed to run ragged and on edge.
Turning over, Jenny nestled into Arthur's body and snuggled her face into his neck, just below his chin. His arms tightened around her, and she felt him suck in a deep sigh, indicating he was awake now, too. His lips pressed gently into the top of her head, but it seemed to be more of an act to comfort himself than one to show romantic intent.
"Jenny," he whispered tiredly to her as his fingers stroked her back.
"Yes?" she muttered quietly in response.
"I'm glad you're here," he said simply. "I can tell you ain't been sleepin' well, and... and I'm with you, okay?"
Jenny kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "I'm with you too," she vowed. "Until the end. I swear it."
"I wish you weren't," he whispered. The hand stroking her back paused to cup her face instead, and his thumb stroked her cheek. "Please leave this place, Jenny. Run away and don't look back. It's what I told John and his family to do, and you should go with them. Start a new life away from all of this, with Mac or with the Indians. Don't waste your time on me."
Jenny sighed and looked sadly at his bloodshot eyes and the deep, purple bags beneath them. She rested her hand on his chest, over his heart, and said, "It's not wasted time, Arthur. None of it was." Biting her lip sadly, she continued, "I wish sometimes that things had been different. I wish we'd met each other before you met Mary and I met the Callanders, and before either of us met Dutch. We could have had something special, I think, but we're too caught up in this mess now, and in others we care for. My fondness for you is part of the reason I can't let you go, and the other part is that I..."
"What?" he whispered, kissing her forehead as her voice trailed off. "What is it?"
She looked up at him with an expression of pure exhaustion. She needed rest, and clearly this world could no longer provide the kind she needed. "I'm tired, Arthur. I... I need rest, even more than I need Mac. I love him, but he doesn't understand what it's like to undergo the things I have in my life. As long as I've lived, I never had a moment's peace, and... I'm tired. I should have pulled the trigger on the gun I held to my head the day Micah raped me."
