Partner (Micah Bell)

40. Pretty Damn Good

A few months have passed now and not much has seemed to change. The camp was still living comfortably at Clemens point, it seemed that the Pinkertons hadn't found them or had decided not to bother them anyway. Nobody knew but everyone tried to ignore it and just enjoy being able to live freely

"Ashley! Can you come over here and help us for a moment?" Tilly called, waving over to Ashley who sat at the campfire beside Micah.

Ashley nodded at the other women, letting her know that she would be over in a moment. "See, people expect things from you when you are just too nice" Micah shook his head with a small smirk as Ashley stood up.

"Oh shut up. If I wasn't so 'nice', we would have never happened" Ashley laughed and shook her head, Micah rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. She just smiled in amusement and shook her head again, she leaned down and kissed him gently. Micah lifted his hand, holding the back of her head to hold her still for a little longer, letting the kiss linger for a moment before Ashley pulled away.

Ashley winked at Micah, making him chuckle to himself, before she walked away from him and towards the women at the edge of the camp.

"What do you need help with?" Ashley asked as she approached Tilly, following her over to the water edge.

"Mrs Grimshaw insists that we work faster but is too busy to help us. I hope you don't mind, everyone else seems busy" Tilly explained as Ashley followed her down to the water where Mary-Beth and Karen were washing the gang's clothes.

"Well I can't say I have much practice washing clothes but I'll help in anyway I can" Ashley smiled, making Tilly laugh slight.

The two women joined the other two and began to wash the clothes. They all worked in silence but the inevitable chatter started. Ashley liked all of the women in camp but knew that they were famous for their gossip, she knew this and she also knew that their favourite topic of gossip was her and Micah for quite some time. Ashley couldn't blame them for gossiping, it was probably their only form of entertainment around here.

"I still don't know what you see in him, he's a rotten man" Karen spoke up, breaking the silence. Ashley sighed slightly, knowing that she was talking about Micah. Even after all this time she found herself defending him.

"Nah, he ain't that bad once you give him a chance" Ashley shook her head as she continued to work.

"We gave him enough of a chance letting him stay here, he still can't behave himself" Karen scoffed. Ashley knew that Karen would never taking a liking to Micah but she didn't care, Ashley liked him and that's all that mattered. She didn't care about what Karen thought.

"You're right Karen, he ain't a good man but he wouldn't harm anyone in the camp without good reason" Ashley nodded, tired of the conversation already.

"Anyway, Mr MacGuire isn't exactly a catch" Tilly smirked, looking up at Karen, knowing how to get on her nerves.

"I ain't got nothing to do with Sean MacGuire" Karen denied but was just met with unconvinced hums from the three other women, causing her to rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you ask me, you both have awful taste in men" Mary-Beth shrugged, deciding to join in with the conversation.

"Oh right, like any of the men in camp are anything to look twice at" Karen laughed to herself.

"Oh c'mon, they ain't that bad" Ashley defended them, there were a few good men in the gang, she had to admit that.

"Arthur is a good man, I would say that he is worth some time. I bet he is a secret romantic as well" Mary-Beth smiled and Ashley smiled back at her, the young woman had always been a romantic and Ashley had always found it sweet rather than naive.