With Emmeline and Arthur getting closer over the days they've spent together, Arthur decides to treat her a little bit.
"You wanna go for a ride with me?" Arthur asks as they eat breakfast early in the morning.
"A ride? Where to?"
"Don't know. Anywhere, I guess. You said you ain't left this land since you was a kid. Ain't ya bored of it?"
She shrugs. "I don't know. Isn't it dangerous out there?"
"Can be," he answers. "But it ain't so dangerous that you gotta stay cooped up here your whole life. 'Sides, I ain't gonna let anything happen to ya."
She thinks it over. Her lips pull up to a smile as she comes to her decision. "I think I would enjoy going for a ride with you."
"You got any pants to wear? I'd rather you ride with me and I don't want all that fabric from a dress gettin' in the way."
"Oh, uh... Me and Mama used to wear pants sometimes when we worked. I still got some in my chest." She goes into her room and finds a pair of brown pants and a gray blouse to put on. Since it's warm out, she doesn't bother to grab a coat to wear.
Arthur, on the other hand, gets dressed in his usual outfit, a blue everyday shirt, brown pants, and his leather jacket. Complete with hat, of course.
Not long after, they mount Sparrow with Arthur in the saddle and Emmeline behind him. She holds onto his waist as they head down the trail and onto the main road.
The trees give way to more open space, allowing Emmeline to look over all the land that she's never really seen before. Off to her left, deer graze in an expanse of grass. To her right, rocks jut out from the earth as the land rises into cliffs. She's examining the bluffs when Arthur gets her attention.
"Look over there," he throws his arm out to the left, pointing off to the soft rolling hills. A small herd of bison is grazing lazily in the warm sunshine.
"Oh, wow," Emmeline breathes out in wonder. "They're so big!"
"Yeah. We don't wanna get much closer. Don't want them to get spooked and stampede on us."
"No. That doesn't sound very good."
They continue on until they come to a river. Arthur follows it up stream a ways until good sized waterfall comes into view. He directs Sparrow to the shore then dismounts, helping Emmeline down after.
She looks up at the feature. "This is beautiful."
"Follow me up here, Miss Emmeline."
She turns to Arthur, seeing that he's moving along the rocks up toward the side of the falls. She goes to him, watching her steps as she climbs up the rocks to him. When she gets to a bigger one, Arthur holds his hand out to help her along. She gladly takes it and steps up closer to him.
"Are we going in the water?" she asks in confusion as they get close to the water rushing over the cliff.
"No." He holds his arm out, prompting her to go ahead of him. "Just trust me."
She nods and squeezes past him to step closer to the falls. She sees an opening behind the rushing water and moves forward into the small cave behind the waterfall.
"Oh my." She turns back to Arthur, who is now in the small space with her. "How did you know this was here?"
He chuckles a little. "A treasure map lead me here."
"A treasure!" she calls out excitedly.
"It was just the first part, I guess." He shrugs. "Only found another map and a few bucks."
"You have another treasure map?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let's find the next treasure!"
"I don't know, Miss Emmeline." He scratches the back of his neck. "That map could lead anywhere. Might even be a few day's ride from here."
"I suppose you're right." She shrugs a shoulder in concession. "It sounds very adventurous, though. Looking for buried treasure," she says with a smile.
"It's mostly trekking out to the middle of nowhere and almost falling off a mountain."
She giggles a little. "That doesn't exactly sound too fun, I suppose."
He sits down on the ground and starts to rummage in his satchel, producing some salted meat. "I like this place." He holds the food out to her and she takes it, sitting along side him. "I like the sound of the water," he mentions as he looks out through the falls.
She studies his face as he speaks then looks out as well. "I like it, too. I've read about mighty rivers carving the land, but I've never seen a waterfall before."
He chuckles a little. "This ain't exactly a mighty river, but it's still nice. Up north there's the tallest waterfall I ever seen."
"Really?" She looks over to him. "Will you take me there?"
He turns to her. "Someday, maybe. It's quite a ride."
She nods and takes a bite of the food in her hand. "Have you travelled all around here, Mr. Morgan?"
"Mostly, I guess. I've been sent around doing all sorts of things for all sorts of people."
She smiles at him. "You're a jack of all trades."
He gets a little bashful. "I don't know about that. Mostly I'm just good for-" he stops himself from saying 'shooting folk', "-heavy lifting," he settles on.
"I don't doubt you're good at that, Mr. Morgan." She chuckles. "Not with all those muscles," she adds innocently.
"Aw..." He looks away and scratches at the back of his neck as he feels his cheeks heat up.
"But I don't think that's all you're good for, Mr. Morgan. Surely."
He looks at her for a moment, meeting her friendly gaze before looking away. He had never been good at taking a compliment. "We should get going." He starts to stand, helping Emmeline up after.
They get back on Sparrow and follow the main road until they see a road sign pointing in the direction they're headed.
Emmeline reads the faded word painted on the wood. "We're headed to Valentine?"
"Yep. I'm gon' show you there's nothing to be afraid of there."
"Oh. Okay," she replies nervously.
"You ever been to the theater?"
"No. I've read some plays before, though."
"I meant like a... like a moving picture show."
"Oh no, Mr. Morgan. Nothing like that."
"They got a theater tent in Valentine. We can see what's playing when we get there."
That brings a smile to her face. "That sounds wonderful, Mr. Morgan."
As they come upon the town, Arthur slows Sparrow to a trot. Emmeline takes in the sights of people going about their days. They pass a couple of women leaving the doctor's office. The gunsmith is on the other side of the road with men having a conversation on the porch. There are voices from the saloon drifting out into the streets, signifying the boisterous atmosphere contained inside. Further down on the corner, several men are working to build what looks like a new store.
The town is bustling with life, the people seemingly content to go about their lives. It's in contrast with how Emmeline's mother had described it. She had made it seem that it would be likely that you'd get attacked just by walking on the street. But Emmeline doesn't have much time to think of that because Arthur hitches Sparrow after dismounting and holds his arms out to help Emmeline down.
"Theater's down the road," he says as he sets her on her feet and turns in that direction.
She follows along closely, not wanting to get too far away from him. A kindly older man walks past them and nods a greeting.
"Mister," Arthur greets back with a tip of his hat.
"This place isn't so bad, I guess," Emmeline comments, though she still wouldn't want to wander around alone.
Arthur walks up to the ticket man in front of the theater tent. "Can I get two tickets?" he asks.
"Sure," the man replies. "But the next show ain't for twenty minutes yet."
"That's fine." Arthur pays the money and turns back to Emmeline. "Looks like we got some time to kill. Come on." He leads her back into town and to the general store.
The clerk nods his head at the pair. "Afternoon, mister. Nice to see you again," he greets. "This your lady?"
Arthur looks back to Emmeline and then to the clerk, unsure of what to say. "I work for her father." He catches his mistake the second he says it. "I mean her uncle."
The clerk doesn't seem to care either way. "Alright. Well, the catalog's here if you wanna look through it."
Thankfully for Arthur, Emmeline doesn't notice the exchange; she's too busy looking at the chocolates. "Can I get one of these?"
Arthur goes over to her and grabs two, along with some oat cakes for the horses. After paying, they walk back outside and sit on the porch to wait for the show to start.
"You know," Emmeline starts, "we ain't never had much money for things like these." She points to the chocolate. "Even when my pa was alive. He worked hard to grow our food. And he'd go out every day to hunt animals for meat, too. We only had a little bit of money for anything else and we mostly saved that for medicine we'd need when we was sick. When pa died, things got even worse. Mama didn't know how to hunt, so we just ate what we grew for a while. We got pretty skinny then." She hangs her head as she remembers. "But then mama said she found us some money. That's when she started buying meat for supper. Things was better after that."
Arthur nods at her story, putting it together that the money that her mother had "found" must've been what Dutch had left them. It makes him realize that Emmeline and her mother were actually pretty dependent on that money and that they may have starved without it.
He comes to the realization that he might have to do more for Emmeline to get her ready to live on her own when he leaves. Unless Dutch is willing to come up with some story to keep leaving her money without telling her he's her father.
After wasting a little bit more time, they go back over to the theater tent and take their seats. As they watch "Manflight," they eat their chocolates.
Emmeline has never seen anything like this before, so she's transfixed by It. Arthur has unfortunately seen this particular movie before, but he doesn't let on to her. He rather enjoys seeing her smile and laugh at what is being projected on screen. More than once, she catches him looking at her instead of the screen, but she doesn't think much of it. She just smiles and puts her attention back on the movie.
As they exit and walk back into town side by side, Arthur asks, "Did you like it?"
"It was rather silly," she replies. "But very entertaining. I don't think anyone in their right mind would shoot themselves out of a canon as a means of travel, though."
"Probably not." He chuckles. "Why don't we get something to eat before we head home."
"Okay."
They head off to the saloon, which is already pretty rowdy, even though the sun has yet to set.
"Why don't you sit at that table," Arthur suggests as he points to the only empty table. "I'll get us both some stew."
She nods and sits down where he indicated. As Arthur leans against the bar, his back toward Emmeline, waiting for the food, she can't help but notice the form of his body. No other man in the bar is shaped quite like him. Some are just as big in the shoulders, but they're also big in the gut, too. The man directly to Arthur's left is so skinny he's absolutely dwarfed by Arthur. The man to his right is not much better, making it seem like Arthur is a giant. Emmeline can't help but compare the men and comes to the opinion that she much rather prefers Arthur's form to any other.
As Arthur turns back to her with the bowls in his hands, she suddenly feels guilty for looking at him like that. It's not polite to leer, especially for a young woman like herself.
"You okay, Miss Emmeline?" he asks as he sets the bowl in front of her and takes his own seat.
"Yes, Mr. Morgan." She takes a spoonful of the stew into her mouth as she avoids his gaze.
They get back on the road headed home just as the sun starts to set. With the sky darkening, the temperature drops and Emmeline finds herself cuddling more into Arthur for warmth.
"You okay back there," he throws over his shoulder when he feels her start to tense.
"I'm fine. Just cold."
He slows Sparrow then stops her. "Here." He leans forward and takes off his jacket, handing it back to her. "Put this on. I should've had you bring one yourself. Or not kept you out so late."
"Thank you." She puts on his coat and lets out a contented sigh at its warmth. "But won't you get cold."
"Aw, I'll be fine."
Before he can set off again, Emmeline opens the coat up and tries to put it around him as much as she can while she hugs onto his back and wraps her arms around his torso.
"There. It's not much, but maybe it'll keep you a little warm this way, too," she says.
He clears his throat at the contact. He can feel the warmth of her skin seeping in to his own through the two thin layers of their shirts. That warmth somehow travels to his chest and to his belly, awakening butterflies to flutter around in his stomach. It's not exactly a wanted feeling at this point in his life, so he shakes his head, trying to get rid of it and spurs Sparrow into a gallop.
When they get home it's starting to get late, so both of them say goodnight and turn in. Not too long after they both fall asleep, a storm erupts outside, waking them. Arthur listens for a minute or two, gaging whether or not he should be worried. The storm seems fairly bad, but not the worst he's been through. He had checked on the horses before he went to bed, so they should be good. And the house is in fairly good condition; it should weather the storm just fine. With nothing really to worry about, Arthur closes his eyes to go back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Emmeline sits bolt upright at the first thunderclap. She had always been afraid of storms, running into her parents' room as a kid to escape. Even after her father died, she'd still seek comfort in her mother whenever there was thunder and lightning. As she grew older, she realized that was childish. Even though she stopped running to her mother for comfort, the storms still made her anxious. Now that her mother is gone, though, that anxiety comes back tenfold.
After sitting there for several minutes, she gets out of bed, wraps herself in her blanket, and leaves her room. She walks up to Arthur's door and softly knocks.
"Arthur?" she calls out. When she doesn't get an answer, she starts to open his door.
The creaking of someone stepping into his room wakes him up. He opens his eyes and sees Emmeline walking towards him with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
"Miss Emmeline?" he croaks out and pulls his blanket up more to cover himself from her.
"It's storming," she says quietly.
"I know," he replies. That fact is obvious, so he's not sure what she's really doing.
"Can I sleep in here?"
He's confused. "You wanna sleep in here?"
A sudden loud thunderclap makes Emmeline jump and Arthur finally realizes what's going on.
"You afraid of the storm?"
She nods.
"Uh." He fiddles with his blanket in nervousness. "I ain't exactly dressed, Miss Emmeline."
There's another clap of thunder and Emmeline practically jumps into bed with Arthur on top of his blanket. She cuddles into his side and buries her face into his chest.
"Whoa there," he calls out, unsure of how to proceed with this. After a few moments, he wraps his arms around her. "It's gon' be fine," he coos as he rubs his hand over her arm.
His deep voice rumbles in his chest underneath her ear. She finds it soothing, as well as distracting against the storm raging outside.
"Will you keep talking?" she asks, hoping it will keep her calm.
"'Bout what?"
"Anything."
"Well..." He clears his throat trying to think of what to talk about. "I once found some sorta stone Viking burial in the ground up north. Got myself a fine helmet outta it."
"Keep talking," she whispers when he pauses.
"Up in the mountains, I found a woman's face carved into the rock," he starts. "And the man the did it," he mutters, not wanting to elaborate that the man had hung himself. "There's a lot of weird stuff out there if you start to look for it."
As he continues to talk about his non-criminal adventures, he feels her slowly relax. When her breaths turn deep and even, puffing across his chest, he knows she's asleep. He stays awake for a while, just enjoying the feel of sharing his bed with someone again. Not that he hasn't had women in his bed in a while, but it wasn't like this. It wasn't soft and tender or caring. It was just him relieving some stress with a willing participant every once in a while.
The next morning, Arthur awakes before Emmeline. During the night, she had gotten more comfortable, her arm is splayed across his torso and her leg is bent, resting atop his thighs. He manages to urge her away from him gently enough so she doesn't wake up and rises from the bed. Since he's stark naked, he gathers his clothes quickly and rushes out of the room to actually put them on in case she would wake up and see him.
He decides to go out hunting for the day. After leaving a note saying what he's doing, he heads out looking for some deer. Before he can get too involved in that, he takes a rest by a tree and pulls his journal out.
Took Miss Emmeline out yesterday. I figured she could use a change of scenery. I also wanted to show her that Valentine ain't such a scary place. When I go back to camp, she's gonna have to fend for herself and that means heading to the store and the butcher's on her own. I think I might try to teach her how to hunt so she won't have to buy the meat. Maybe I'll teach her to fish, too, though I ain't much good at it. That little creek just outside the house leads to a nice pond full of fish. I should buy Miss Emmeline a pole.
Before we went into town, I showed her that spot I like behind Cumberland Falls. She seemed to enjoy it, too. I mentioned the treasure map I found there and she wanted to go out searching for riches. I said maybe, though I'm not sure If I want to take her all across this country treasure hunting. This place can be dangerous and I'd never forgive myself for getting her hurt.
We saw a picture show in Valentine. I had seen it before, but I confess, I wasn't much watching it this time. I rather liked seeing Miss Emmeline enjoying herself as she watched the show. Silly as it was, she had a good time.
Got woken up last night by thunder, then by Miss Emmeline coming into my room. Seems she's afraid of storms. I comforted her as best I could, since she got right in bed with me and I had no choice, really. I told her I was naked, but it seems that wasn't much of a deterrent. She made me tell her stories until she fell asleep.
I must admit, maybe I enjoyed having her next to me in bed more than I should have. For a moment, I thought of what it might be like to make that permanent. To start up something with her. But I ain't a good man. Especially not good enough for her. She deserves a man like her father. Well, not her real father, not Dutch. But like Mr. Turner, the good, honest man who raised her even though he knew she wasn't blood. She don't need an outlaw like me.
Regardless, Emmeline needs someone right now, so it might as well be me. I don't trust nobody else not to take advantage of her, innocent as she is. She ain't got much that someone could swindle her out of, but any other man might do even worse than taking her money. Men like Micah. I would never let him anywhere near her.
He sketches the waterfall he took her to and then her smiling face. Once he's done, he closes his journal and puts it back in his satchel with a sigh. He goes back over to Sparrow and gives her a nice pat on the neck.
"I'm just an old fool, girl." he says to Sparrow before getting back in the saddle to find the deer to hunt.