By morning, almost everyone in the camp had a grizzly hangover. I stood by the cooking pot near Pearson's wagon drinking a cup of coffee, I was later joined by Hosea.
"How are you this morning dear?" He said, making himself some coffee.
"I'm doing just dandy, what about you?" I took one last sip of my of my coffee before placing on the ground next to the other dirty ones.
"Oh I'm not too bad" He chuckled "I hear you and Arthur are going out to have a little time to yourselves" He placed his empty cup near to mine and smiled at me.
"Yeah, he hasn't told me where we're goin' yet" I chortled.
"Yeah, he's like that. He'll probably ask you where you want to go. Well, you two have fun" Hosea tipped his hat and left me just as Arthur approached.
"Mornin'" He rasped, scratching the back of his head.
"Mornin'" I smiled at him "so, where're you takin' me this af'ernoon Mr Morgan?"
"Wherever you wish, Miss O'Cealleigh" Arthur mused. "Any errands you need to run first?" I nodded, I did need to run one errand before we went anywhere special. I had to pick up a package from the local post office. It was package, an item of my father's that was being sent over from Donegal. They were his brass knuckles, I'd always wanted 'em.
"I do hav'ta' pick up a package from the post office" Arthur and I started walking towards our horses, tying them up so they were ready to be saddled up.
"A'right, saddle up and we'll go from there" I started strapping Ama's saddle onto her back, packing the saddlebags. Arthur did the same with Boadicea. We mounted up and set on our way to the Valentine post office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I'd collected my package, being that I'd anticipated receiving it, dearly, I opened the brown parchment to reveal the brass knuckles.
"What in the hell are those?" Arthur pointed to the item nestled in the torn parchment. I looked at him, brass knuckles were pretty common to see in England and Ireland, don't even get me started on Scotland.
"Brass knuckles, these are me da's"
"They come from Ireland?" I nodded, confirming Arthur's question. We walked over to our horses, before mounting up, I slipped the brass knuckles into a saddlebag as to make sure I didn't lose them. "So, I was thinkin'" started Arthur. We both mounted our horses. "How's about we go down to Strawberry, there's some nice woodland down there" I nodded, before announcing my own idea.
"Yeah, then we could, perhaps, spend the night in Strawberry. I think I remember Karen telling me they had a very cosy hotel" My fellow gunslinger and I began riding out of Valentine. I feigned ignorance to his concerned facial expression. I turned to him and questioned his expression "what?" I chuckled.
"They've only got two or three rooms, it's unlikely they'll have a room for the both of us" I laughed and replied:
"I didn't say anythin' about us havin' separate rooms" Arthur's face only grew even more concerned "Don't worry, Arthur, I trust ya'" I winked at him as we rode west, towards Strawberry.
It wasn't too much of a long ride, the trip wasn't all bad. We'd managed to kill a couple of whitetail deer along the way, which we sold at the butchers.
Upon our arrival in the quiet little town, we hitched our horses near the hotel. Arthur lifted his leg over the horn of saddle and slumped off. I was just about to do the same when my fellow gunslinger walked to the side of my horse and extended his arms up to me.
"C'mon" He beckoned with his hands as I looked down at him in confusion. "If you're gonna be wi' me for tonight, I might as well treat you like a lady" I shook my head and laughed at his manners, before swinging my leg over the horn of the saddle and leaning down to rest my hands, firmly, on Arthur's shoulders. He took hold of my waist and slowly lowered me so that I could plant my feet on the ground. I smiled at Arthur, he returned the smile too.
"Why thank you, kind sir" I, badly, faked an American accent. Then I took Arthur's cheek in hand and placed a sweet kiss on his cheek in gratitude for his gentlemanly act.
"So where to first?" My date for the evening chirped, placing a secure arm around my waist.
"How's about we book the room? Then we've got the evening to ourselves" Arthur seemed to stiffen up, I rolled my eyes at him. "Arthur. Would'ya stop worryin' about tha'. I know you ain't gonna do anythin'. You're a good man." He smiled at me, and replied;
"You make me a better one" He chuckled. "They'll need to put our names down in the ledger, what are our names?" I thought for a moment, contemplative what our names should be.
"Albert and Bonnie Mason." I simply answered. Arthur, or should I say, Albert chuckled at the names. A thought sprung into my mind. The general store.
I excused myself from Arthur's company for a few moments. A respectable married couple on a short holiday would surely need some respectable clothing. I grabbed a few things from my saddlebag, knowing that the general store would have a changing room that I would be able to use. I pried the door open and politely greeted the shop keeper.
"'Scuse me sir, do you have a changing room I could use?" The keeper nods and ushers me to the changing room. I swiftly unfolded the items I had removed from my saddlebag. The items were pieces of clothing that Karen and Mary-Beth had leant me when I informed them I was spending the day with Arthur. I held out in front of me and flowing black prairie skirt, I tied up my hair before removing some of the clothing I was already wearing and replacing it with the prairie skirt and a deep green blouse that Miss Grimshaw had given me when I first got here. I folded up the clothes I had changed out of and hugged them to my chest as I walked out of the changing room.
"Ah, that's much better Miss. Trousers don't much suit a lady like yourself" I slowly turned around, angered at the man at the counter's words.
"What did you just fuckin' say to me?" I snarled in a thickened Irish drawl.
"Hey now, you can't fight properly Wearin' a pretty skirt like that"
"I'll cut your bollocks off whether I'm Wearin' a skirt'r not!" I fired back, taking a step towards him and unsheathing my knife. He backed away, raising his hands in surrender.
I exited the store, anger thundering through my body and walked over to Ama where I placed my old clothes back into the saddlebag. My emotions were reeled back by a familiar voice saying:
"You look very nice, Mrs. Mason" Arthur held his arm out for me to hold onto, like a true gentleman. I let out long sigh as we walked into the Hotel establishment where we were to stay the night.
It had taken us almost all day to get here, so by the time we had arrived it was sunset.
"Good evenin' Sir, Ma'am" the Hotel owner greeted.
"Evenin' We'd like to rent a room for the night" Arthur glanced down to me as he spoke to the owner.
"Of course, can I take a name?"
"Albert Mason"
"And? I need the names of everyone staying the the room"
"Albert and Bonnie Mason" The Hotelier jotted our "names" down in the book on the desk. He handed us the key to our room and told us which room it was.
Arthur unlocked the room, I walked further inside as he closed the door behind us.
I gazed at the room. It was practically perfect in every way, in the style of a cozy log cabin. A double bed with a wooden frame stood laden with beautifully patterned quilts and cushion.
"So, uh, not that I don't like it but-" Arthur started "what's with the get up?" I snorted and turned around to face him. He was stoking the log fire with a fire poker, crouched down.
"I'm wanted across the state for about 28 cases of murder, I'd doubt that the lawmen don't have my outfit memorised"
"That's a smart idea, I should try changin' my clothes sometime"
"I'll be back in my normal clothes soon, I promise". The thin blouse I was wearing didn't exactly provide the same warmth that my old clothes did, and I certainly preferred trousers. Arthur sat on the edge of the bed, kicking his boots off. He sighed, as if taking them off released all the pressures and released the heavy smoke that had settled around his shoulders.
"D'ya mind if I borrow a couple o' these quilts?" I cocked my head in confusion at Arthur. I leant against the sideboard and stared at him, waiting for him to explain. "Well, I am sleepin' on the floor, it'd be mighty cold if I wu's jus' gonna lay there" I tried to hold in my laughter, letting out a snort.
"Arthur, I didn't say anythin' 'bout you sleepin' on the floor" I sat down next him on the plush bed, he looked down to me with his forehead wrinkled in concern. "Oh, c'mon, someone's gotta keep me warm at night"
The later it got, the more exhausted I grew. Arthur was putting off coming to bed until the last second. I was huddled under the quilts in the smallest ball I could squeeze myself into. My underclothes barely provided the warmth that I needed to pry the slab of cold, numbness from my skin. Much to my appreciation, Arthur saw me shivering and decided to, finally join. Too busy being cold was I to look as to whether he took off any of his clothing, frankly I didn't mind either. After a few seconds of waiting, shivering, I finally felt the soft outlaw slink into the covers behind me. I slowly turned over to face Arthur. I shuffled into him, closer, until I was able to relish some of his warmth. He placed and arm around me, like he had done previously today, yet it was more careful. He pulled me closer as I rested my head against his chest. Softly hearing his heartbeat.
"Goodnight Arthur" I mumbled into the union suit he was wearing, making his chest rumble from within.
"Night, darlin'"
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The Dusty Shamrock ~ OC RDR2 fanfiction
FanfictionShe's strong, she's young, she's talented- and most importantly, she's Irish. A young girl, in her twenties, left for dead with her horse and weapons by the O'Driscolls. Her Father was all she had left when they moved to America from Ireland. Her mo...
