It only takes me about five minutes to find the town bar; the mayor was right, it was more of a restaurant that served alcohol then an actual bar. Regardless of its official title, I all but fall into a chair and order the largest whiskey they'll give me at once.
I glanced around the establishment once the waitress left, checking it out along with its patrons hoping for a distraction. It was a small place that had probably been around for a while. The wooden walls looked old as well as much of the furniture. There wasn't a decoration in sight. The people weren't much better; they were mostly a group of tired looking men that I could tell weren't there for the food. Most of them seemed to be farmhands but two of them carried weapons categorizing them as low class hunters.
They didn't look to be a threat so I ignored them, having way too much on my mind to have to worry about strangers.
A daughter. I had a daughter. A cute, little, red-haired, red-eyed daughter. A daughter that I, through my own idiocy, have never met. If I hadn't trusted that letter to Ironwood, everything would have been different. So different.
It hurt to think of what those last five years would have been like, full of happiness and love that I would probably never know. Summer had already been my world, she was in my every thought; I had been certain that I would never love like that again. But after seeing Ruby and finding out she's mine, I know I would have loved her with just the same intensity.
I would have doted on her, probably spoiled her rotten. I would have played with her, no matter how silly they were. I would have taught her everything I knew until she surpassed me in every way possible. Best of all, when my missions where over, I would have had a home to go back to, family waiting for my return.
It could have been beautiful, but between Ironwood's betrayal and my own moronic stubbornness, it was never going to be.
"Um, are you alright?" The waitress asked as she set down my drink. "You look a little, lost."
"I'm fine."
