Brother

Chapter Twenty

By the time we made it to our new camp we had been given a run down of how much danger we were still in, this area was claimed by a group of inbred people known as the Murfee brood. Just from the stench of our new home I could tell they weren't nice people, after unpacking everything and setting everything up I made my way to my sleeping quarters which was thankfully somewhat closed off by a wagon. Sitting myself down on my swag I ran a hand through my hair before slightly pulling my shirt off my shoulder to examine the graze, just from looking at it I could see infection had already begun to attack it and so standing up I made my way towards Strauss.

"Ahhh hello Grace, how are you doing?" He greeted with his cheery voice as usual, setting myself down on a stool I showed him my wound.

"I got it back in Lagras, thought you might have something for it, " I stated simply, with a nod he reached into his bag before pulling out some sort of ointment and began to apply it to the wound.

"How do you feel, any nausea or stomach pains?" He questioned softly as he began to patch up the wound, wincing slightly I shook my head.

"Thankfully not, I just hope nothing goes wrong, I don't want Dutch to find out just yet, maybe when we aren't being bothered by Pinkertons or maybe when I start showing but not now, I don't want to be babied yet I want to keep fighting for our freedom that we so badly desire, to be honest Strauss I agree with some of Authurs rambling, our time really is coming to an end, it's up to us how it ends and I would rather my child have a better life than what we have now, on the run and starving to death is not a life, " I sighed closing my eyes as I rested my hands on my lap, a gentle hand on my shoulder caused me to open my eyes again.

"I must say I agree with you, as much fun as it is meddling with debts and such I feel bad for the others, Micah, Bill, Javier, Dutch, they won't give up this life, I've heard talk from some of the girls of them leaving, perhaps you could stick with them and actually have a chance at raising your child, " he pointed out his voice soft and sympathetic, nodding at his words I stood.

"Thanks for listening to me Strauss, " I mumbled before making my way back towards my area, once I reached it I noticed Dutch making his way over with Authur.

"What do you think of the place Grace?" Dutch questioned as he glanced around, giving him a smile I shrugged as much as my newly patched shoulder would let me.

"It's not too bad, stinks like death but hey the previous owners didn't seem to mind, " I giggled, with a chuckle the boys nodded.

"I must agree, now Grace, I want you and Authur to go into a town not too far from here and gather some supplies, mostly ammo if you can but try not to raise any smoke just yet, we need time to recover from our last little incident with the Pinkertons, " Dutch ordered a rather cheerful smile on his face, glancing at Authur I nodded knowing very well I wanted him to know about my new secret.

"Alrighty Dutch, we should be back by sundown if we can, if not we will try and make it back tomorrow, " I stated with a smile, gesturing for Authur to follow me we headed for the horses and mounted up. Turning Ghost in the direction Dutch had pointed to I urged Ghost into a steady trot, once we were a decent distance from camp I slowed to a steady walk.

"I saw the look you gave me back there, what's got your mind in a muddle?" Authur questioned as he joined me by my side, with an anxious sigh I looked at the road ahead.

"I'm pregnant Authur, I don't want anyone else to know just yet but I know what you are like and if I said to keep ahold of a gold bar for a year you sure as hell would, but, to be fair Authur, I don't want to raise a child here, when shit starts to go down, promise me that if my child has already been born you will make sure he gets out and has a proper life, " I sighed rolling my shoulders slightly, for a few moments Authur was silent before he rested a hand on mine.

"I will do my best Grace, but to be fair I'm dying, tuberculosis is taking it's toll and it won't let me go, but don't you worry about me, you have a better chance at a new life than I do so all we can do is try and fix what we broke, when the time comes, like I've told John and Abigail, you run and don't look back, " he ordered his eyes holding that brotherly love I had grown so fond of, nodding my thanks we continued our ride in silence knowing no more words needed to be said. The longer we went on the more relaxing the peace felt, despite my relaxed state I knew we had to be careful especially with so many Pinkertons and so many other law out for our heads. Soon enough we would have to bail again but this time I could feel a change, something was going to go wrong and everyone else knew it too and so with a dreadful feeling in my chest I followed Authur into Van Horn to get the supplies we would need for the next few days.