I'd just like to give a shout out to StrikeKT and Titoneitor2.0 for their reviews. Titon, thanks for the encouragement and I'm glad you like my effectiveness. StrikeKT, I'm glad you like Sam's vocabulary lol. She's a bit like me in that regard, especially when I'm mad.
Anyway, fav, follow, review, and thanks for reading, folks!
Chapter 13: Mr. Bear's First Winter
Sam kept staring at the man chopping wood and soon all the girls in camp surrounded Sam, joining her in watching the spectacle.
"Oh my goodness," Tilly said. "What is Arthur doin'?"
"I don't know, but I'm certainly enjoyin' it!" Karen said with a laugh.
The girls started giggling but Sam just kept on looking at the muscular man. She wanted to head right over and make out with him, among other things, but she could only keep her shocked hazel eyes on the man as he chopped wood. "Sam, put your tongue back in your head," Tilly said.
Sam instantly shut her mouth and looked away. The women started giggling again. "I wonder why he's doin' this?" Abigail asked. "Not that I'm complainin', of course."
Mary-Beth looked down at Sam who was now looking at the girls. "Sam, you and him snuck off earlier. What did you do?" she asked with a broad smile.
"Nothing!" Sam shrieked. She cleared her throat. "Nothing. We only went out to talk."
Karen burst into a hysterical fit of laughter. "Oh suuure. Just to talk."
Sam shook her head and went back to scrubbing clothes. "I'm not lying. We even got shot at by O'Driscolls."
"What?!"
Sam sighed. "It's fine, Arthur killed them all."
The memory of it sent a shiver down Sam's spine. This world she was in was not a world meant for her. "Well, what else happened?"
"Nothing. I...I took his shirt off to check his arm because I thought he'd been shot and...well...he caught me staring at him. So..."
"Wait, so he's doin' this for your attention?"
Sam blushed profusely as she eyed all the women standing around her. "...I was only joking about him finding more opportunities for me to oggle him."
That was a flat out lie. She had not been joking at all, and from where she was standing, Arthur hadn't taken it as a joke. The women burst into laughter and started teasing Sam, to which her response was more blushing. But then the girls started talking about Arthur and Sam found herself getting a little...jealous.
"Look at those arms," Karen said. "If I wasn't with Sean, I'd want those arms around me all night."
"And that chest full of hair, my goodness," Tilly exclaimed.
Sam made an low, inaudible growl at the girls and they all looked at her strangely. Well, that came out of nowhere.
"Sam, are you getting jealous?" Mary-Beth asked.
"Me?" Sam scoffed. "No, of course not!"
Karen sat down next to Sam with a mischevious grin. "So, if one of us girls were to hit on Arthur, you wouldn't have a problem with that?"
Just the thought of Arthur with another woman made Sam grind her teeth. "No."
Karen stood up. "Alright. Which one of you girls wants to go first?"
Sam stopped scrubbing and looked at all of them. "Go first doing what?"
"Hittin' on Arthur, of course."
Sam squeezed the wet cloth in her hands. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I'll go first!" Mary-Beth shouted and went scurrying about towards Arthur.
Sam watched her go and her eyes narrowed while she tightened the soaked fabric in her hands. The soapy water bubbled out and Sam tossed it into the bin. "You guys are being ridiculous, you know that?"
Karen and Tilly giggled. "Are you getting jealous?" Tilly asked Sam.
"No!"
"Sure seems like you are."
Sam went back to scrubbing and shook her head. "I'm not."
Mary-Beth came back with a smile on her face. "Alright, who is next?"
"I'll go!" Tilly said as she rushed past Mary-Beth.
Sam shook her head and did her best to ignore the girls and Arthur, but she couldn't help but give the occasional glance at Arthur. She saw Tilly touch Arthur's arm and she snarled to herself. Oh, she seriously hated Tilly right now. And Karen. And Mary-Beth. Damn them all to hell. Sam took out the clothing she was working on, rinsed it, then put it in a basket. She grabbed the next item of clothing and began scrubbing it in the soapy water. Another glance at Arthur and he was now being hounded by Karen. Oh for fuck's sake. Sam lowered her head, concentrating on her work, trying not to let her anger get the best of her. Still, she couldn't help but glance at Arthur over and over to watch him work. He was a mesmerizing individual, with or without his clothes on. The thought made Sam's cheeks redden furiously.
"Your turn," Karen said.
Sam stopped what she was doing and stole Karen a glance. "What?"
Karen smiled. "Your turn to go hit on Arthur."
Sam chuckled and went back to work. "I will do no such thing."
"Oh come on, you know you want to."
Sam licked her dry lips and spotted Arthur who was now looking at her as if waiting for her. Sam sighed, got up with a grumble and made her way across camp towards Arthur. When she reached him, she made eye contact with him and he tipped his hat to her.
"Miss Burke," he spoke.
"Mr. Morgan," Sam replied with a smile. "So, this your idea of an opportunity, huh?"
"I have no idea what you mean," Arthur said with a teasing tone, a small smile etched on his face.
Sam scoffed at him with both humor and outrage. "You're so full of shit."
Arthur laughed and put the axe down. "I might be. So, was it your idea to send the girls over to try and woo me?"
Sam ground her teeth and tightened her knuckles as she crossed her arms. "Hell no. That was Karen's idea."
Arthur studied her quietly for a moment. "I take it you didn't like that idea? The girls said you got upset."
"I most certainly did not."
Arthur laughed. "Now who's full of shit?"
Sam chortled and moved closer to Arthur. "I might very well be, Mr. Morgan."
Arthur put the axe on his shoulder and closed the gap between them. "I would like to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"There's a little theater in Valentine. And...well...I was wonderin' if I could take you there tonight."
Sam blinked a few times and her face bloomed with a slow smile. "Are...are you asking me out on a date?"
"What's a date?"
Oh boy. Sam chuckled and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a...geez, um, how do I explain this?"
"Take your time."
"It's like a...okay, uh...it's when two people who are interested in each other go out and do something fun together, to spend time together." Sam felt her cheeks blush and she averted her to anything but the shirtless Arthur Morgan. She didn't want to say what could happen after a date, if the date were to go well.
"Then yes. I'm askin' you out on a date."
Sam stared at him in amazement. "I'd love to."
Arthur smiled, grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Good. Meet me in Valentine tonight, outside the train station, seven o'clock."
"Okay."
Sam blushed even more, nodded, and turned to walk back to the girls who were all smiling from ear to ear. "What just happened?" Karen asked.
"I uh...I have an engagement with Mr. Morgan tonight. At the theatre in town," Sam replied with a bashful voice.
"Oh! We need to get you a dress! C'mon girls!"
"Wait, there aren't any dresses in town that are my si-" Karen and the other girls went behind the girls cart and came back with a red and black polka dotted loose collared shirtwaist with a black constance skirt with brown trimming. Karen also had a pair of red verity stocking shoes. Sam blinked and looked at the outfit. "Where'd you guys get this?"
"We tailored it for you," Mary-Beth said.
Sam put a hand over her heart and smiled. "Girls, I...thank you so much. It's so pretty."
"You're welcome. Now, we need to go get you fit for a corset," Karen said. "Let's go into town for that."
Sam backed up. "Woa, now. I...I don't think I need one of those, do I?"
"Yes, you do. Now c'mon!"
Karen grabbed Sam by the hand and dragged her while Mary-Beth rolled up the dress and put it under her arm. "Okay, if you say so!" Sam said with a laugh.
Arthur was in a white button down shirt, a black opulent vest, light brown fancy pants, and black classic roper boots. He was without his hat and was clean shaven. He'd cut his hair a little short and had it parted to the left with pomade. He was nervous as he looked at his pocketwatch. It was almost seven. Arthur hoped Sam would show up. Just then he spotted Sam on Orion in a shirt and dress he hadn't seen her wear before. Her long blonde hair was done up in a loose braid to the side and Sam smiled when she caught Arthur in her line of sight. Sam dismounted from her horse and walked over to him. She was even wearing makeup, he noticed, as she got closer. Arthur thought she looked beautiful. Hell, she was beautiful anyway. He grasped her hand, bent down at the waist a little and pressed his mouth to her fingers.
"You look beautiful, Miss Burke," he said, standing up and offering his arm.
Sam was merely staring at him. "Thank you, Mr. Morgan. You...you clean up real nice yourself."
Arthur chuckled a little as Sam took his arm. "Well, thank you. I tried."
The two walked, arms linked, to the theatre. Arthur paid for both their tickets and they walked inside. There were plenty of places to sit but Arthur chose the back seats and Sam sat down while Arthur took the aisle seat. Soon the show started. There was a narrator for the moving pictures and he was telling a tale about Bear and Old Man Wind. Sam giggled at the part where Bear found a den and started snoring. It was a very short film, Arthur found, and he had expected more, but as the little tented theater cleared, Arthur frowned at Sam.
"I'm sorry, I honestly thought it was going to be a longer show," he said.
Sam grinned at him. "It's alright. I enjoyed it, even if it was short," she replied.
"Well, what should we do now? Are you hungry?"
Sam nodded. "I could eat."
They two left the tent, arm in arm once again, and went down the road. "So, do you got films like that in your own time?"
"Oh, better ones. And much longer ones, too."
"How so?"
"Well, we call them movies. And real people play in them, but they're called actors. They portray characters in the movie."
Arthur stopped her. "So...people's likenesses are seen on a screen? Not drawings like we just saw?"
"Exactly, although we have those too. Those are called cartoons."
"I'll be damned," Arthur said with a chortle. "That sounds, well...far beyond me, Miss Burke. Do you have a favorite movie?"
They resumed walking. "Tombstone. It's about Wyatt Earp."
"Wyatt Earp? The lawman?"
"Uh huh. As a kid, I idolized him...although as an adult, I idolized Doc Holliday a lot more."
Arthur burst into laughter. "Doc Holliday, huh?"
"Oh yes." Sam cleared her throat. "I'm your huckleberry," she said in a southern accent and an octave lower than normal.
Arthur laughed again. "What's that?"
"Oh, just something he said in the movie. He was played by Val Kilmer."
"Uh huh. And who played Wyatt Earp?"
"Kurt Russell."
"So, was there any gunfightin' in the movie?"
"Oh, there was plenty! They even did the famous O.K. Corral gunfight."
Arthur nodded with a sad smile. "So, you like lawmen, huh?"
Sam blushed a little. "Well, as a kid, I guess Wyatt Earp gave me a good sense of right and wrong, but he also showed me that life isn't just black and white, you know? Like, take your gang, for example. Yes, you guys kill and steal and all that shit, but you're not really bad people. You just...do bad things, sometimes, and you do it for...well, if I daresay, honorable reasons. And you don't hurt innocent people, either. So really, you guys are..." Sam paused and made a face as if she was thinking. "...well, you're somewhere in between good and bad. You're...human."
Arthur smiled at her trying to justify his own life. It was very sweet if her, really, and that was plenty more than what he ever got from Mary. Which made him want this woman even more than he was willing to let on. She was starting to accept him for who he was and he never had that with a woman before, besides Eliza, but then again him and Eliza had never been in love. They just had a kid together. The thought pained him and it must have shown on his face.
"Did I say something wrong?" Sam asked.
"Hmm? Oh, no. I was just thinkin' about somethin' else, I'm sorry."
They ended up at Smithfield's Saloon and went to the bar. They had a choice between berf stew and lamb's fry. Seeing as how they always had stew at camp, they both ordered the lamb's fry as well as two beers. They sat down and ate while Sam explained how cars ran on gasoline, oil and electricity, although Arthur could tell she wasn't a huge expert on the subject.
"I believe they're called "horseless carriages" in this time," Sam said.
Arthur nearly choked on his food. "You mean those things really are the future of travel?"
"Oh yeah. Although they are starting to become a problem."
"What you mean?"
"Well, they're causing pollution and all that. Very bad for the environment."
As Sam started to explain the effects of global warming, a drunken man came stumbling up to them. "Excuse me, miss, can I buy you a drink?"
Sam rolled her eyes and Arthur's own snapped at attention towards the stranger, and not in a good way. "What're you doin', boy?" Arthur asked. "Can't you see the lady and I are talkin'?"
The drunk man laughed and it made Arthur feel all the more irritable. Especially when the stranger tried to caress Sam's face...but Sam, being the amazing, hotheaded woman Arthur knew she was, grabbed the man's pinky finger and bent it back so much that Arthur heard bone crunch. The man cried out and fell to a knee. Sam leaned in close to the man's ear and chuckled.
"Touch me again and I'll cut your fucking balls off and make you eat them raw. You hear me, boy?" she hissed, adding a southern drawl at the last sentence.
The man nodded and Sam shoved his head away, making the man collapse and he slowly got up, nursing his now broken finger. Sam took a drink of beer without missing a beat and Arthur started laughing. "Remind me never to touch you without permission, Miss Burke."
Sam eyed him and licked her lips. Uh oh. There was a gleam in her eye that suggested something was about to be said that would blow him away, for sure. "And what makes you think you don't have permission now, Mr. Morgan?"
There it was. Arthur chuckled and leaned in close to her face. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me if I do?" he asked with a smile.
Sam and Arthur's hands intertwined without him realizing it, and he went in to kiss her when a bottle was thrown their way. They both backed off and looked around to see a bar fight had started. Arthur sighed and stood up. "Guess we should leave now, hug?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Arthur said with a groan. How many times was he going to be interrupted when trying to kiss this woman?
They left the bar and decided to head to the other saloon, Keane's Saloon, that was down the street and to the right. Hopefully it was more quiet in there. They walked in and ordered some beer, and they began drinking the night away, chatting about her life in the big city of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the year 2020. At some point, Sam had mentioned what her father had really died from and this saddened Arthur, but Sam seemed perfectly fine with it. It had been her Uncle Frank's death that had hit her the hardest, it seemed, as it was so sudden when it happened.
"Car crash," Sam mentioned sadly. "Some drunk driver hit him on the wrong side of the road and he was killed instantly."
Arthur nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah. I was just a teenager at the time, so it was a pretty tough time for both my mom and I."
"So she raised you all on her own?"
"Not all on her own, but...well, Uncle Frank helped, obviously. He was like a father to me, you know. He lived with us for a while when I was just a baby so he helped often."
"I see."
Arthur took a drink of beer and Sam did as well. "What about your parents?"
"Well, my momma got real sick when I was just a kid, I hardly remember her. And my daddy, well...I watched him die, and if I'm bein' honest, he should've died instead of my momma. He was a bad man."
Sam frowned and grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry, Arthur."
Arthur gripped her hand in his and looked at her. "It's fine. Anyway, if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have ended up with Dutch and Hosea. They raised me."
"How long have you been with them?"
"Oh, twenty years now."
"Wow," she said. "So they're like fathers to you."
"Yes ma'am, they are."
Sam nodded and fingered the opening of her beer bottle before looking out the window. "It's getting late."
Arthur looked out the window as well. "Yes. You wanna head back to camp?"
Sam looked at Arthur mischievously. "I'm not sure I want our date to end just yet."
Arthur leaned back with a smile. "Miss Burke, are you enjoyin' your time with me?"
Sam beamed at him. "Yes. But I...at the same time, I'm looking forward to what will happen at the end of our date."
Arthur moved closer to her, drinking more beer. "And why is that?"
"Well, at the end of a date, usually if it's going great...well..." she stopped herself and blushed, looking away. "No, I think I've had too much to drink. I shouldn't say."
Arthur reached for her chin and turned her head so they could meet at the eyes. "Tell me."
Sam bit her lower lip as her eyes went dark. For a moment, her eyes drifted to what Arthur knew was his mouth. "A kiss can happen. Or...something more."
"Somethin' more, huh?" Arthur chortled at her and took a deep breath in. "And that's what happens on dates in your time?"
"Yes. Not that I have a whole lot of personal experience, of course, but...it's the norm."
"And...has this date gone well so far?"
"Yes."
"I think so too," Arthur said with a smile. "But anyway, we should, hmm, head back to camp, I think. Maybe, uh...we can continue our date there."
"How?" Sam asked with a giggle.
"Well, maybe if Javier is playin' his guitar, we could have a dance?"
Sam smiled at Arthur happily. "I'd like that very much."
Arthur paid for their drinks and two walked out to head back to the station where they'd left their horses. Arthur saw Sam stare up at the sky and nudged her. "What'chu lookin' at?"
"Just the stars. There's just so many...it's so beautiful. And the moon is so bright, too."
"What, you don't got bright moons and many stars in your time?"
"Not in Minneapolis. City lights make it too hard to see. You'd have to go out to the country or go out on the ocean to see it like this, and even then it's...well, this is just different."
"Hmm, I see." The two got to their horses, mounted up and went on their way back to camp. Arthur watched Sam keep staring up at the sky and he smirked at her. "You best watch where you're ridin', Miss Burke."
Sam sighed and looked ahead of her. "Yeah, I know. But...it's just so pretty."
Arthur and Sam made it back to camp, still feeling buzzed from their date. Arthur helped Sam down from her horse and Sam held onto him as she went down. When they got into camp, they found that Javier was nowhere to be found.
"Well, shit."
Sam giggled and leaned on Arthur. "That's okay. Perhaps another time."
"Maybe for our next date?" Arthur asked, smiling at Sam.
Sam gave him a brisk, joyful nod and they both walked over to her tent. "Well, this is me. Where I sleep...and such."
Arthur chuckled awkwardly and the two just stood at her tent entrance, neither one daring to make a move. They both met eyes and as Sam went to look away, Arthur frowned. Why was this so difficult all of a sudden?
"Yes, well...I suppose good night is in order?"
"Yes. Good night, Mr. Morgan."
Sam went to turn away but Arthur suddenly grasped her arm and pulled her to him. "Wait..."
Sam stared at his mouth before looking into his eyes. "Yes?"
Arthur leaned in close and was about to press his lips on hers when he heard giggling from behind him. Sam groaned and looked over at someone, as did Arthur. It was Karen, Tilly and Mary-Beth poking their heads around the corner of their cart.
"Really, girls? You just ruined the moment," Sam scolded.
All three girls frowned. "Sorry, Sam," Tilly said.
"Oh hell, just kiss her anyway, Arthur!" Karen snapped.
"Shh! Keep it down!" Sam hissed.
Arthur laughed a little and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Burke, for the ladies. They ain't got much for entertainment."
Sam frowned and looked at them before looking back at Arthur. "I suppose you make a good point."
Arthur looked around and saw a crowd had started to gather. Son of a bitch. He couldn't very well kiss her now. Arthur looked at her sadly and took her hand in his, opting to kiss her hand instead. "Good night, Miss Burke."
Sam seemed to get the hint and smiled at him glumly. "Good night, Mr. Morgan."
Arthur watched Sam climb into her tent, his knuckles clenched tightly in frustration. Arthur was going to get this woman alone tomorrow and he was going to kiss the hell out of her, he decided, as he walked over to his gun cart.
