...I'm sorry for not writing to you before, but I've been busy. You know why and I must say, you were right. This whole situation is driving me crazy. The Dutchman made a mess in Valentine and know we're camped near Rhodes, in the south. You can imagine how things are here.

There are two big families and He thinks they have some gold hidden somewhere. If it's true, I'm gonna get my part and then I'll come back to you. Hopefully, the money I've already collected will be enough. We will be fine. I miss you...I hope you're okay and that your illness didn't get worse. If so, please let me know. I need you to stay with me. You're my only anchor and you know that.

Yours J.

Julia read the letter she had just finished writing over and over again, thinking if she should've written about Nathan. But he was her problem, not D's so in the end, she closed the envelope after she put in it all the money she had collected in those past few days.

While she tidied up the few things in her tent, she saw the bar gold Arthur had given to her. She took it and stared at it for a while thinking if she had to sell it or give it back to the man, feeling guilty for even accepting it.

She huffed and put it back in her hiding-place in her tent before she came out of it and noticed the dark sky above her.

She had skipped lunch and now she was hungry. So, she walked towards the pot where there was left a little bit of stew and took it. She walked across the camp, avoiding everyone's gaze and headed to the secondary fire where the only one seated there was Kieran.

"May I sit?" she asked.

"O-of course" said the man surprised by her question.

No one else would've asked him but instead, they would have chased him away.

Julia sat and said nothing while she started to eat, feeling Kieran's eyes on her for a while before the man continued to eat.

She knew he suspected something was wrong; that same day she had got down from Wind Catcher with a pale face and wide-crazy eyes and asked him to take care of her horse. He accepted and asked nothing about what had happened, thinking it was none of his business.

Julia appreciated it.

"Thank you for taking care of Wind Catcher every time I ask you. You don't have to say always yes though" she said breaking the silence and making the man turning her way.

"Oh, well...it's a pleasure. Sometimes I think only the horses like me" he said with an embarrassed smile.

"That's not true, I like you and it seems Mary-Beth does too" Julia answered trying to laugh when the man's cheeks flushed red.

"You...err..."

"Yeah, I heard you the other day. She didn't want to say those things. She just repeats everything the other say, but I believe she really likes you"

Kieran looked at her, his eyes full of hope.

"You think..."

Kieran couldn't continue what he was about to say that they heard some steps behind them and turning around they saw Morgan with a plate of stew and a beer in his hands.

He looked at them for a moment before he sat near the fire, in front of Julia who gazed at him before she exchanged a look with Kieran who got silent all of sudden.

"Am I interrupting something here?" asked the man noticing the tension.

"N-no" answered Kieran.

"How are you, Arthur?" asked soon after the man, Julia looked at him.

"What business is it of yours?" he asked stopping from eating for a moment.

"I was just asking" murmured Kieran lowering his gaze.

"Ask less then" Arthur replied.

Julia didn't say anything, even if she wanted to but she knew that if she had opened her mouth, she would have embarrassed Kieran.

The three of them remained silent until Kieran finished his stew and got up without saying anything.

Julia looked at him walking away and when she turned to Arthur, she noticed he was looking at her.

"How's the arm?" he asked.

"Fine" she quickly answered.

"And where did you get that?" asked again the man and Julia looked at him confused.

Arthur pointed at her other arm, where she was wearing the bracelet Hosea gave her.

"Hosea gave it to me. But I got it way before, even before I got in the gang"

"I never saw it" answered Arthur.

"That doesn't surprise me" whispered Julia, but he could hear her.

She raised his eyes on him finding him staring at her again.

After a moment he lowered his eyes and finished his stew.

"So, tomorrow I'll go talk with the Grays. You wanna come?"

"I thought you didn't enjoy my company" Julia said amused.

"Thinking you would have been with me when I'll find the gold"

"You really believe these idiots have gold?"

"They might. Unless you want to stay in the camp with Miss Grimshaw breathing on your neck"

Julia gave him a dirty look that made the man chuckle.

"I don't think it's a good idea. They might talk and the Pinkertons are so close right now"

"From what I saw they are criminals as much as we are" said Arthur trying to assure her.

Julia couldn't understand why he was insisting so much, but she smiled at the thought he wanted her with him.

"Alright, I'll come. Plus, someone will need to talk with them, and you are good with words as much as Bill is. And I need to go to town anyway" she said making the man snorted.

Julia took leave and headed to her tent where she couldn't stop smiling, even when she felt the tiredness overcome her and she fell asleep.

The next morning, Arthur was awakened by Molly's screams against Dutch.

He sat up rubbing his beard that had grown a little bit too much and yawned a couple of times before he got up and headed to Pearson's wagon where he took a cup of coffee and ate some cookies, greeting the ones who passed by.

"G'morning, Arthur"

"Sadie"

"Have you seen Julia?" the woman asked.

"No, why?" asked the man.

"I wanted to talk to her. When you see her can you please tell her I need a word with her?" asked the woman walking away.

"Yeah, sure" answered the man before he came back to his tent.

There he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt before he stepped in front of the little mirror on the barrel near his tent and started to shave.

Julia opened her eyes hearing the other voices outside her tent. She felt relaxed and rested and after a moment she sat up yawning and rubbing her eyes. She fixed her suspenders on her shoulder and then she did to get out her tent, but when she opened the flaps and stuck out her head, she found Arthur in front of her.

She yelled falling back while the man chuckled a "sorry".

"What were you doing?" she asked once she got out.

"My intention was to wake you up since we got work to do and it's almost half-past ten" answered the man looking at her.

Her hair was messy, and her cheeks were pink because of the heat in her tent.

Julia took sight of him too, noticing he had shaved and changed his clothes. Now he was wearing a khakis shirt, a green waistcoat and brown pants.

"I'll have some coffee and then we can go" she answered.

After she quickly drunk some coffee and stole an apple from the wagon, she headed towards the horses where Arthur was waiting for her.

"Ready?" he asked turning to her and Julia nodded.

After they got on the road, Julia asked if they could stop at the post office before going to Caliga Hall.

"Why?" asked the man.

"I've to send a letter" answered Julia.

"Pinkertons?"

"Not really. A friend"

Arthur turned to look at her and Julia looked at him by the corner of her eye.

"What?"

"Never thought you had...a friend" he said but Julia could catch the hint in his voice.

She smiled amused.

"He's not..." she began but stopped with a chuckle.

Arthur watched her closely.

"Never mind" she cut short and Arthur lowered his eyes a little bit disappointed.

He waited for her while she got inside the post office and sent the letter, trying not to stare at her while she got on Wind Catcher again.

"Okay, we can go"

He nodded and led the way while Julia followed him.

"So, what we do when we arrive?" asked Julia on the way.

"I'm deputy now, so I believe we'll get in without any problem. Then we find someone to talk with, the dumbest the better and try to convince him to tell us where they keep the money or the gold" he explained.

"Okay. Easy enough"

Once they reached Caliga Hall, Julia stopped Wind Catcher and Arthur noticing her did the same. He looked at her while she got down her horse and tied it to a near tree.

"What are you doing?"

"You're deputy, I'm nothing. If I get there with my horse they'd probably make me wait outside and I have no intention of staying here waiting for you otherwise, I wouldn't have come" explained Julia and then drew closer to him.

"Help me up" she said stretching her arm to Arthur who grabbed and pulled her up.

She enlaced her arms around his waist and settled behind him.

"You...err...you're good?" asked the man embarrassed.

Julia noticed and smiled.

"Fine" she answered.

Arthur nodded and then spurred Tundra towards the entry of Caliga Hall where there were two armed men on the watch.

"What you want?" asked the one on the right of the wall.

"This here the Gray plantation?" asked Arthur.

"Yeah. Caliga Hall. And that's as close as you're getting into it" said the man pointing his rifle to them.

Julia looked at him and her arms tightened around Arthur's waist.

"Sheriff's orders. He wanted me to have a word with some folk on the property. I'm recently deputized, you see" replied Arthur with a calm voice, showing his badge.

"Deputized? And I suppose Leight was drunk when he did it. Look, you can come in, but the girl ain't coming with you"

"Why not?" asked Julia.

"I don't see any badge on you" answered the man.

"So, you keep a woman out in the sun, waiting for her man, is that it?" replied Julia and Arthur peered at her from his shoulder.

"Well, maybe your man shouldn't have let you come while in service" countered the man.

Julia smirked at the man while sticking her front to Arthur's back.

"Oh, he wasn't in service ten minutes ago" she said nibbling his earlobe.

Julia could feel Arthur stiffening around her arms, but he didn't flinch and instead he stared at the two men who chuckled while exchanging a look.

"Alright, I don't want to hear it...off you go" said the man still amused.

"Thank you, sir" smiled Julia while Arthur spurred Tundra.

He stopped in front of the house, where there was a man sweeping up the porch.

"What the hell was that?" he asked when they both got down.

"Err...a solution?"

"The only one you could think of?" asked again Arthur and Julia caught the note of discomfort in his voice.

Maybe she had gone too far.

"Sorry if it bothered you. I won't do it again" she apologized.

Arthur shook his head. He felt hot and sweaty and embarrassed.

"Let's get this done" he said walking towards the man on the porch.

Julia followed him, staying particularly far from him.

"Sorry mister...I'm very interested in the history of the property..." he begun but soon the man stopped him.

"I'm not the one you should talk with. Try Beau Gray, he's out by the storehouses. Man won't lift a hand, but sure can move his lips" said the man continuing his work.

"Okay, thank you" said Arthur and without looking at Julia he headed to the back of the house.

They walked for a while, looking around at the big property when they saw a young boy leaned against a small building writing in a diary.

"Let me do the talking" said Arthur going ahead.

"Alright" whispered Julia.

Once they got closer, Arthur hummed.

"I see you at the Sheriff's Office?" he said.

The boy lowered his diary and looked at him confused.

"Excuse me, friend"

"We friends?"

"Not yet, but here's hoping" answered the young man.

"I guess"

Julia noticed the young man odd expression like he wasn't actually there talking with them.

"We don't get a lot of traveling men here and suddenly there's a whole phalanx of mysterious but strangely helpful Yankees about the place" he said without any hint of accusation, but Julia could tell he was more than aware of what kind of people they were.

She glanced at Arthur who seemed not to catch the look she gave him.

"Is there?" he simply said.

"What're you doing here?" asked Beau.

"I'm just looking for work" answered Arthur.

"And the lady? Is she looking for work too?" the boy looked at her and again Julia could catch that hint on knowledge.

She shrugged.

"Why ignore an opportunity?" she replied making the young man chuckle.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me" he assured.

Arthur looked at Julia who knew something was up.

The boy surely looked like an idiot in the clouds, but she realized he was smarter than he showed.

"What secret?" asked Arthur, not abandoning his friendly attitude.

"I've got a secret of my own" said Beau ignoring his question and closing his diary that he left on the woodshed on his side.

"Are you secretly normal?" asked Arthur looking at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind"

Julia tried to stop a chuckle, catching Arthur glaze and what seemed to be a small smile.

"The thing is, I don't care if you kill the whole of us and the Braithwaites" said Beau peering from the building.

"I don't wanna kill anyone" defended Arthur.

"I love her, you know" said the boy changing the subject.

God, it's impossible to keep up with his mind, thought Julia rubbing her forehead and suddenly realized she hadn't had her hat.

"Love who?" asked impatiently Arthur.

"Penelope. But's it's impossible" answered Beau.

"Well, love tend to be complicated" murmured Arthur scratching his neck.

"She's a..." Julia started.

"Braithwaite! And I'm Beau Gray, son of Travish Gray. Nephew of Leight Gray the sheriff, grandson of old Murdo Gray" he said walking past Arthur like he was ready to leave.

Julia stepped close to Arthur who nodded repeatedly and quite bored.

"Didn't you want to learn more about the history of the family?" she mocked.

"He's giving us all the goddamn family tree" he whispered making Julia giggling.

Beau suddenly turned to look at them.

"We Grays have been loyal to the State and murders to the Braithwaites for so long now no one can even quite explain why. Beyond blind loyalty and stupidity"

Julia looked at the frustrated boy in front of her and suddenly his words made her think of Dutch and the others' blind faith they had on him, only because he once said something that made them feel special and gave them a place where to sleep and eat. Not thinking that maybe he wasn't so much of a genius after all.

"I'm supposed to be loyal to some nonsense, while she...she's amazing! She's like a woman from the future" continued Beau and Julia could not stop a smile seeing how excited he was when he talked about her.

Turning on her left she saw Arthur smiling and nodding absently and for a moment Julia wondered if he was thinking about Mary.

The thought made her stomach twitch while she looked at Beau again.

"She's like tomorrow if tomorrow turns out fine" added Beau looking at a letter he had in his hands.

"Well, I'm sorry for your predicament" Julia heard Arthur say while he started to walk away.

He tapped her shoulder to catch her attention.

"Would you help?" asked Beau hopeful.

"I don't wanna get involved in gang feuds...it seems unseemly"

"And trying to take possession on something not yours isn't, right? Besides, we're already into this" talked back Julia catching both men's attention.

She moved her eyes to Beau and smiled at him.

"I can't talk for him, but I'll help" she said.

"What?" exclaimed Arthur getting closer to her.

"Oh, thank you! Here, can you deliver this to her? I know she loves to sit out in the gazebo on the edge of the Braithwaite property" he said giving her the letter.

"She ain't..." continued Arthur but they were not listening to him.

Julia took the letter and put it in her bag.

"And...this bracelet too" Beau added giving her a small, powder blue gift.

After Julia took it, she walked away, sneaking out of Arthur's hands when he tried to stop her.

They reached his horse, where Arthur caught her by her shoulders before she got on it.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm helping him" she said calmly.

"Without even being paid?"

"Money are not always the answer, Arthur"

"Funny, I thought you were the one obsessed by it" he said laughing bitterly.

"There are more important things"

"Yeah, like what?"

"Like love, kindness, faith and loyalty! What Dutch's taught you?" she snapped.

Arthur stared at her, not knowing what to answer.

"You should be the one sympathizing him. I saw you before, smiling like an idiot while he was talking about Penelope. You were thinking of Mary, weren't you?"

"That's nonsense..."

"No, it ain't. He's young and he's an opportunity. We don't have that luxury anymore"

"We?" he asked.

Julia stared at him, that damn big mouth of hers.

She turned around putting her arms on the saddle and closed her eyes, slowly breathing. Arthur was behind her, his eyes glued to her.

How many things he didn't know about her?

"Please, Arthur. Help him" she said in the end not turning around.

"Alright" he said moving her aside to get on Tundra before he helped her up.

This time she was careful not to touch him and grabbed the back of the saddle instead.

They left Caliga Hall in silence and in silence Julia got on Wind Catcher before they headed to the Braithwaite property.

When they reached the edge of the property, they stopped and looked around.

"I think it's better if they don't see us" Julia said ready to get down her horse.

"You're not coming. Give me the letter and the bracelet, I'll take care of it" said Arthur already with his feet on the ground.

Julia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why you want to do this now?"

"I don't want to, but if we both go, they'd have more chances to catch us" he simply said getting closer to her.

"Why don't you let me go?" she insisted.

"Because if they catch you, you won't be able to cover us no more, remember? Now give me the damn thing" he replied stretching out his arm.

Julia took the bracelet and the letter from her bag and gave them to Arthur before she watched him walk towards the big manor in the distance.

Those properties were really big.

She got down Wind Catcher, petting him and giving him a sugar cube. Soon after she felt something hitting her elbow and turning around, she saw Tundra moving her snout against her chest. She chuckled giving one to her too.

After what seemed an eternity, Julia saw Arthur coming out the fields with an annoyed look on his face.

"What happened?" asked Julia concerned.

Arthur didn't say a thing, he just showed her a new letter from Penelope to Beau.

Julia burst out into a loud laugh.

"That's nothing funny about it. These damn letters..." he whispered putting the letter away.

"They should call you Hermes" Julia laughed getting on Wind Catcher.

"I don't know who he is, but he must have been a poor bastard" he said getting on Tundra in turn.

"Did anyone saw you?"

"No. Come on let's get to camp. I'll give this damn thing to the boy tomorrow"

Julia nodded and with a wide smile on her face, she followed him towards the camp.

...

HI EVERYONE!

I want to start by THANK ALL OF YOU because this story almost reached the 4k views and I'm so happy! Thank you all for the support. I never thought this could happen so thank you!

Anyway, how are you? Here in my country things are a little bit better and I feel relieved. I hope you're doing well too, and remember to stay safe! ;)

Let me know if you liked this chapter, I'll post the new one next week.

KISSES!

...

P.S:

Beau: I've got a secret of my own

Arthur: •.•? Are you secretly normal?

Beau: Excuse me?

Arthur: Never mind -.-

I LOVE THIS PART! It's hilarious, okay I'm finished, BYE!