Miss Orléans / Arthur Morgan x OC

11: Life

"How long will you be gone?" Elizabeth hesitantly asked as she hid her anxiety of her shaking hand by shoving them into the pockets of her dress. Black hair loose for once, falling down her back in soft curls, the dim light provided from the several lanterns illuminated her face, making her seem ghostly.

Arthur stood in front of her, leaning against the counter with his arms hooked under James knees, holding him securely. The younger boys cheeks were squished against his shoulders as his soft snores could be heard. They were playing moments ago together with Rosie, Arthur chasing them around while Rosie and James yelled with delight when they thought Arthur was going to get them. James had ended up getting tired and fallen asleep when Arthur carried him when he all but passed out due to joyful exhaustion. It was an odd but cute sight as James was roughly half of Arthur's height, slightly shorter.

Rosie was off with Liliana in her laps, eating stew as Charles sat next to her, telling her stories.

It's been two days since the meeting and Elizabeth has been busy with Cornwall trying to mess with her business. It left little time with her kids which she felt guilty about, but Liliana reassured that they weren't angry at her. Thomas has been accompanying her on her business trip instead of Arthur as he knew more then this then the Outlaw did. Most of the time the gang would see Elizabeth for a few minutes in the morning as she made sure her kids ate before leaving and returning to put her kids to sleep.

Today Elizabeth finally had a chance to breath as Cornwall turned his attention to another business man in Saint Denis, Angelo Bronte. She made it up to her kids by taking them swimming in the pool she had in the back of her yard much to gangs amazement. Of course Elizabeth stayed out of the water as her kids splashed around and ended up dragging Arthur into the water, the Outlaw didn't put much of a fight and only laughed as Rosie thought she was stronger then him.

Now with the sun set and her children exhausted, Elizabeth and Arthur finally had a chance to talk. Arthur was explaining how Dutch and a few others would be going to Valentines for a few days to try to scope things out and see if they could make some more money. Leopard Strauss would be coming as he wanted Arthur to collect some debts for him, much to the Outlaws displeasure.

"Few days, week or two maybe," Arthur spoke, blue eyes intently only Elizabeth, "Dutch don't want us causing trouble in Saint Denis," it was still odd talking to her after not doing so in years. However, it felt natural taking to her and just being near her.

Nodding, Elizabeth hummed slightly as she walked near Arthur and stood next to him to brush James' hair out of his face. A warm smile was on her lips as her fingers were warm and comforting causing James to sigh in contentment, "He looks a lot like you," she mused lightly.

"Rosie is just as pretty as you," Arthur said before he could think and inwardly cursed for saying something like that.

Elizabeth didn't say anything, her reddening cheeks hidden from the dim light.

She ended up grabbing Rosie from Liliana and she and Arthur walked to where their rooms were. They tucked them both in with Arthur being more brave and staying by Elizabeth's side in which the women also didn't comment in. Once James was finally tucked in and the two adults stood outside of Elizabeth's room, Arthur didn't say anything. The last time he did it ended up with her crying.

"Stay here," Elizabeth said as she disappeared into her room for a few moments before reappearing with a black journal in her hands. Hesitantly, she offered it to Arthur who took it with a raised brow, "It's my journal, this one starts when I just left the gang up till Rosie and James were 2."

"Why give me this?" To most it would have been something rather plain to give someone, but this was Elizabeth's journal. He remembered James telling him she often wrote in it and Arthur knew how personal journals can be. It was saying something big if Elizabeth was giving it to him to read.