This chapter is still set in the past (for the most part), I hope you're still enjoying!
It had been a few days since the attack at the Indian's camp, Sara had been at home with her family, and everyone had noticed how despondent she'd become, but no one asked her questions as she mourned for Klaus, the brother she had never had and the one she was so excited to have.
They knew that he had died, King had brought the body back to town to have a proper burial, but no one asked questions. She was thankful for that.
One night Sara was tired of being at home, tired of being away from King, so after getting dressed she walked the mile and a half to the Schultz home and knocked on the door.
She could hear King inside, but he didn't come to the door, so she knocked again.
"Go Away!" he barked from inside and she sighed before opening the door and stepping in.
"It's me," she said as she stepped into the house, surprised by what she saw when she was in there. King sat at the table, unshaven, his eyes red, a bottle of liquor in front of him, wearing the same clothes he had come home in.
"No, no, I don't want you here," he told her, waving a hand and she frowned, trying not to let his drunken comment hurt her too much.
"Well," she said, her voice wavering. "I think you're being incredibly selfish." he looked up at her, eyes unfocused as he stood, holding onto the table for support.
"He was my brother," he said as she walked further into the room.
"He was my brother too," she replied and he stared down at her. "He called me his sister."
"He was nothing to you," he said, slurring his words and she stared up at him, her jaw clenching as she tried to keep her voice under control.
"He was my family," she told him as she looked up at him. "How dare you say he was nothing to me, I loved him too! I held him as he died!"
"Yes, and what did you do while he died?" he snapped before his face softened. "Oh-" her face began to crumple and he shook his head. "No, Sara-"
"If that's the way you feel, then this marriage is doomed before it begins," she said as she wretched the ring from her finger and threw it at him, it hit King's chest and clattered to the floor as she turned and stormed towards the door.
King moved behind her, unsteadily because of how drunk he was, but he caught her as she threw the door open to storm out of the house. Gripping her by the elbow he pulled her back into the house and slammed the door before he turned her to him, pressing her against the now closed door.
He stepped in, wrapping his arms around her and pulled her in for a long kiss, his lips were chapped and tasted of liquor, and she struggled against his arms before she gave in, relaxing against him and accepting the kiss. When he let go of her finally he pressed his forehead to hers.
"I'm sorry," he whispered and she turned her head, hating the feeling of his alcohol stained breath against her. "I'm so sorry," she couldn't keep up her hard exterior as he started to cry, dropping his head to her shoulder, he sobbed openly and she sighed before wrapping her arms around him.
"I know," she replied before she walked him over to the table again. "Sit down," she sighed and he did as he was told before Sara looked down at him with a sigh. "Okay, no more of this," she picked up the bottle of whiskey and took it with her to the door, pouring the contents out off of the porch. King looked a little chagrined as she did and ran a hand over his face before nodding. "And you need a bath," she looked at him through the open door. "Just- stay there for a moment,"
She went to the well and lowered the bucket into it before she pulled up the bucketful of water and brought it into the house to dump into the tub. She did that a few more times before lighting a fire in the fireplace in the bathroom and then closed the door to let the room heat up. While she worked King sat at the table, hiccupping and swaying slightly before he lurched to his feet at one point.
Sara looked over to him as he staggered out the open front door to the porch and gripped the railing of the porch before he threw up, emptying the contents of his stomach harshly. She stood in the doorway to the house before she sighed and walked over to him, placing a hand on his back as he threw up again.
"I'm sorry," he said between heaves. "Oh god, I'm so sorry Sara,"
"It's okay," she told him softly. "You'll be okay."
He nodded before leaning over to throw up again and she sighed before going to the well again and getting another bucket of water, this time only half full, she walked back up the porch and over to King who looked at her warily. "Sara-" It was all the time he had to say before she threw the water at the man who let out a shout, saying something that sounded suspiciously like a swear word in German. "Okay, okay!" he held his hands up in surrender. "I'm okay!"
"Are you sure?" she asked and he nodded quickly.
"Yes! Yes, I'm okay," he told her, shivering slightly as he started to strip out of the jacket he was wearing.
Sara set the bucket down and moved forward to start unbuttoning his shirt and he looked down at her with a small chuckle. "You are the most vicious woman I've ever known," he said with a playful edge to his voice.
"You've sat around drinking long enough," she told him and he nodded.
"Of course," he agreed and unbuttoned the wrist buttons of his shirt before he let her slip it over his shoulders. She hung the shirt over the railing and he slipped off his shoes and socks before taking off his pants and doing the same, hanging it over the railing and then slid his underclothes off and hung them up as well. "Come here," he held his arm out to her and she moved under it, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned against her, walking into the house with her support.
When they got inside she brought him to the bathroom and opened the door, it was warm in there because of the fire and he walked over to the tub, it hadn't quite heated up to a comfortable warm, but it wasn't as cold as it had been before, and apparently that's all King needed because he climbed into the tub and dropped down into the water.
Sara jumped back as the water sloshed over the edge but he scooped up water and rubbed it over his face. "Will you be okay?" she asked as she watched him and he nodded.
"Yes, I'll be alright," he told her and she nodded before she left the room and closed the door. After getting to the kitchen she gathered the bottles she could find and put them on the shelf before picking up whatever plates and cups he'd used and put them in the wash basin. She then took up the basket for eggs and the bucket for milk and walked out to the barn where the animals were restless in their stalls.
"I know," she said as she collected the eggs from the chickens. "He didn't mean to be gone for so long, but he's sad," she told them all and then set the basket near the door to the barn. She looked over at the empty stall that had once held Ranger and sighed sadly, Ranger had been lost the night of the attack, she was sure the man whose horse she had shot had taken him, he was such a friendly horse anyone would take him.
She didn't want to think about that though so she busied herself by feeding all of the horses and the cow before she got the stool and walked into the cow's stall while she was eating. She set the stool down and doing as Klaus had shown her once she began to milk the cow who seemed relieved and pleased to be milked.
After filling the bucket she brought it to the door and put it down with the basket of eggs and picked up the shovel Klaus had always used for the chores. After shoveling out the stalls of the animals she piled the mess up and set her mind to having King take care of it in the morning, and put the shovel away before she walked back to the porch with the bucket of milk and basket of eggs and left that on the porch before she took up the well bucket and filled it at the well before bringing it back to the barn and emptying the old water from the animals water troughs. It was hard to do, they were heavy wood, made heavier by the water inside, but she managed to push them over onto the ground, spilling the water everywhere. She sighed and then picked them up and filled the troughs, having to make several trips to the well before she was finished and when she was she brought the bucket back to the well and set it down before she picked up the bucket of milk and the eggs and brought them into the house. She brought them down to the cool cellar and left them there- she'd skim the milk tomorrow.
After closing the hatch to the cellar she walked to the door to the bathroom and knocked on it before cracking it open. King was staring at the water, but looked up when she walked in. "I thought you left," he admitted as he sniffled, tears rolling down his face.
"I didn't leave," she walked over to the metal tub and knelt down so she was facing him and he reached out to touch her face.
"Where did you go?"
"I went to take care of the animals," she told him and a look of realization crossed his face.
"Oh- Oh the animals," he sighed. "Oh goodness-"
"They're okay," she told him soothingly. "I gave them a little extra food and I changed their water,"
"You?" he asked as he looked at her with a small smile. "How did you manage?"
"I tipped the troughs over," she admitted. "I know it's not the best way to do it, but I-"
"No no, Darling, you did amazingly," he took her hand and kissed her knuckles before noticing her ringless hand and looked at her with a small sigh. "I'm sorry," he whispered and she nodded.
"Klaus, he wouldn't want you to go to pieces like this," she told him softly and he nodded.
"You're right," he agreed before he stood up. She moved over to the shelf and got him a bath sheet, he accepted it before he started to dry himself off and she moved out of the room to go light the stove, he needed some food in his system. After lighting the stove and lighting a fire in the main fireplace she found her ring on the floor and picked it up before setting it on the table and then got to work making some food for the two of them so he might feel a little better and hopefully they'd be able to talk.
When the three got invited to the Cleopatra Club that night Sara arranged to leave Ilsa with the friend they were staying with in Mississippi, the wife of a man whom they had collected a bounty on, at her request. The woman had raised three children, so was used to taking care of babies. Sara had gotten dressed up for a night at the famous Cleopatra club, now that she was no longer pregnant and pretty much back to her usual dress size she was able to buy a new corset, Django remembered standing outside of the bedroom she was getting ready in with King as they listened to the missus helping Sara get ready.
When she emerged from the room she was walking stiffly, holding herself high, and while Django had to admit she had quite the small waist now that she wasn't pregnant and was able to show it off in quite a way, he could see the look of distaste on King's face.
"Why you don't like corsets?" Django asked him.
"I don't much care for anything that leaves marks on her in such a violent way." King replied. "She is known to having fainting spells when she pulls it too tight as well." King looked at Django. "And still she insists on wearing them."
"Maybe she likes how she looks."
"Of course she does, and I do as well, but that doesn't change the fact that one day someone will discover how bad they are for women and they'll not have to wear them anymore." He replied.
Sara was wearing a beautiful emerald green dress that went off her shoulders, exposing her freckled skin, with white lace trim around her neck. Her hair had been curled into tight, manageable curls and was swept into a tight, well managed bun held together by braids and had pears pinned into it, while only two curls hung at either side of her face. She carried a white lace shawl, and was holding Ilsa who was unhappily squirming.
"She'll be fine once you get her to calm down," Sara was telling the older woman.
"This is not my first child," Mrs. Hunt assured her.
"Okay, we shouldn't be back too late," Sara told her and she nodded.
"You three go on and have a good night."
They had not told her why they needed to go to the Cleopatra club that evening, leading her to believe it was a trip for pleasure rather than one for business.
"Why are we going here again?" Django asked as they approached the Cleopatra club.
"Because my character is that of a big money buyer from Düsseldorf here in Greenville to buy my way into Mandingo fighting, while your character is a Mandingo expert I hired to help me do it."
"And Sara?" Django looked to Sara.
"My character is the young trophy wife of said big spender who is uninterested in Mandingo fighting and many other things." Sara replied.
"Is that what you're going with?" King asked and Sara nodded.
"Women of the south hold very little interest in the interests of men." She replied.
"You are not from the south." He reminded her.
"But my character is from New Orleans." She replied and he sighed before nodding.
"Well here we are," King told them both before he took hold of the door knocker and rapped it three times. A moment later the door opened, a young black girl stood there in a short maid's dress, smiling a big overly excited smile.
"Bonjour." Sara practically flinched at the bad French accent.
"Bonjour, mon petite femme noire. We're here to see Calvin Candie." King smiled at the woman charmingly.
"Enter," she held the door open with a huge smile. The three entered the Cleopatra club and stood in the lobby. Sara looked at her husband who gave her a small reassuring look while the girl went to get who they came for.
If everything went as according to plan, by the end of the night, they would be one very large step closer to saving Django's Broomhilda.
After the two ate the food Sara had prepared, King took Sara into his arms and held her on his lap while he rested his head on her shoulder. "Will you stay the night?" he asked and she nodded as she reached up to stroke his hair.
"Of course," she told him and he nodded before he sighed and smiled at her softly, sadly. "King," she cupped his face, feeling the rough prickles of his unshaved face under her palms and he smiled softly. "I loved him too," He put a hand over her right hand and turned his face to kiss her palm before he settled her hand back against his cheek.
"I know you did," he told her gently. "And he loved you too, very much." he said softly. "You were the sister he always wanted. He was very excited we were to be married," Sara couldn't help but smile at that softly and she sighed before wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for him," she whispered and he shook his head.
"Oh- Oh no, Darling," he said softly as he moved his hands to her sides, running his hands up and down her sides gently. "You did everything you could," he kissed her arm gently and then her jaw and looked at her. "I know you did whatever you could, I'm so so sorry for lashing out like that."
"You don't blame me?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No my Darling," he told her as he rubbed her back gently. "The only persons I blame are the evil men who attacked the camp,"
"I hate them," Sara felt tears well in her eyes and he nodded. "I know as a Christian, I shouldn't hate anyone, but I will never forgive them for what they did to Klaus, what they did to everyone."
"I know," King whispered. "Neither will I." He rested his cheek against the top of her head for a long moment, rubbing her sides gently before he looked at her. "Are you ready for bed?"
"Yes," she replied, and with that he sighed and then moved his arms, one stayed around her back and the other hooked under her knees and he lifted her, holding her to his chest as he walked across the living room and walked up the stairs. When they got up there he kicked open the door to his room and laid Sara on the bed.
When he let go of her he closed the door and then turned back to her. He had been wearing a simple felted shirt and he began to unbutton it as Sara sat up and leaned down to take her boots off.
The two undressed and then King moved to stand in front of her when she was only in her chemise and ran his fingers over the neckline of it before he looped his fingers into the arm loops of it and started to lift it up, Sara lifted her arms to help him slip it off and he tossed it to the floor before he gently ran his hands down her arms and ghosted them along her sides.
She felt her skin break out in goosebumps as she let out a small, involuntary shiver at the gentle touches, earning a small curl of the corner of King's mouth before he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her deeply, passionately and in a small way, it felt like he was kissing her urgently.
When they two laid together in bed afterwards Sara had a leg hooked over his and was snuggled into his side. He had his arms wrapped around her but was deep in thought making her look up at him. "What are you thinking about?" she asked softly as he stared at the ceiling.
"Klaus," he whispered and she sighed as she rested her head against his chest again. He looked down at her and stroked her hair softly, giving her a small smile before he kissed the top of her head. "Get some rest meine liebe," he whispered against her hair. "I'm not far behind you." Sara smiled and snuggled into his chest a little more, running her fingers over his chest hair before looking up at him.
"I love you," she told him and he smiled softly as he brought a hand up to cup her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.
"I have always, and will always love you," he told her gently. "No matter what happens, don't ever forget that."
"What's going to happen?" she asked and he chuckled softly.
"Life is life mein liebe, you never know what will happen," he told her and she nodded before settling against his chest and soon sleep took over.
When Sara woke up in the morning she was alone in bed and she wondered if maybe King had gone to take care of the animals. She sat up and looked around before finding her chemise where King had tossed it the night before and put it on. After getting dressed and walking downstairs she looked out the window and then turned to the stove, lighting it so she could make some coffee and breakfast for him before spotting an envelope on the table.
She walked over to the table and recognizing King's handwriting she frowned and opened the envelope, taking out the pages of his letter and sat down at the table to read it.
"Sara" the letter read
"I realize what bad form my current actions lay in, and for that, I apologize. But what I am doing, the choice I am making, I am making for Klaus. I have been in contact with the Sheriff and the Marshal and they have made it quite clear they do not intend to pursue his killer. The United States Government has made it quite clear that the attacks on the Indian people are nothing to concern themselves with considering they want them off of that land anyways; and because of that, I'm afraid I must take matters into my own hands.
Included in this envelope is some money, I know I have no right to ask this, but I ask you put some of it aside, if I come back to town in a wooden box, see to it that I am buried with my brother, and know that I died with my heart belonging to you. This house, the animals, and my office in town belong to you as well, I have sent word to town telling them of that, do with them all whatever you please.
Please do not mistake my actions in any way as a slight against you, for it pains me to leave you like this. I realize how unfair it would have been for me to ask you to join me, though the thought did cross my mind more than once as I packed, but the idea of asking you to leave your family, and to constantly put you in the line of peril for my own selfish reasons is just that. Selfish.
There will be peril, for when I find the man who killed my brother- I intend to kill him. I do realize the implications of my words and what effect they must have upon you, and for that, I am sorry. You are a fine woman Sara; the type of woman I have dreamed of marrying- the only woman I have dreamed of marrying. I of course realize I cannot ask you to wait for me, for to do so would be both selfish, and unfair. You must be free to make your own decisions and choices, so that I will not ask you. There is one thing I will ask of you, and while I have no right to ask it, all I ask is for your forgiveness. If I fail at my mission, I beg you to not think ill of the dead, if I succeed, perhaps we shall meet again. Perhaps by then you'll have a family of your own, by then perhaps you'll become a teacher again. I know whatever you do, you'll do it beautifully. I love you Sara, never forget that.
I love you more than any man has yet loved a woman, more than Adam loved Eve. More than Romeo, Juliette. And I will love you until the day I die.
Always be true to yourself and never let anyone treat you like any less then the goddess I know you are.
Love now, and until the end of time,
King"
Sara read and reread the letter more times then she could count until the words were memorized and she could recite them backwards if she so wished. She thought that tears would have come, she thought that she would be a mess, but instead she just sat at the table until there was a knock at the door.
She stood up and walked over to the door numbly, still clutching the letter and the envelope in her hand and opened it to see her father there, a letter was in his own hand and he looked at Sara sympathetically before stepping into the house and wrapping his arms around her. It was that simple action that made Sara's resolve fall and she collapsed against his chest, sobs wrenching out of her as she buried her face in his shoulder.
By summertime it was as if the town had forgotten about the Schultz brothers, no one talked about them, especially around Sara, and Sara herself had become sort of a name for herself in the town. People knew that she had gone to the Indian's camp, and they knew that she had been there when Klaus Shcultz died, they also knew that she had spent many nights with the Schultz brothers and rumors circulated around her, but the biggest hit to her reputation was the fact that she didn't seem to care about the hits to her reputation.
Any good community minded woman would be meek, she would not meet people's eyes, she would be horrified by what people said and tried desperately to get back on their good graces, but Sara held her head high as she walked down the street, she used the money that King had left her as seed money and had opened her own business doing bookkeeping for many of the businesses around town, and despite her reputation, as the best person in town with numbers, she soon had a growing business and was doing quite well for herself.
It was one morning before she went to open her shop in the old dentistry that a surprising turn came in Sara's life. She was in the store, buying ink when the door opened and she glanced up before looking back at what she was doing.
"Two of the black please," she requested of the shopkeeper as Mr. Shaw walked into the store and smiled at Sara.
"Miss Gallagher," he greeted her and she looked over at him and smiled back.
"Mr. Shaw," she nodded.
"I was just heading to your office," he explained as he held up a book and she looked at it curiously.
"Well, give me just a moment to buy my ink, and I'll be happy to help you Mr. Shaw,"
When the shopkeeper returned with the wells of ink and two new figures books Mr. Shaw put his hand on Sara's and then smiled at the shopkeeper. "Put that on my tab," he said and Sara gently but firmly pulled her hand from under his touch.
"No, thank you," she said as she looked at Mr. Shaw and then back to Mr. Greene. "I'll pay for my purchases." After doing just that and gathering them in her arms she looked at Mr. Shaw. "I appreciate the offer, but I prefer to keep my expenses to myself." she told him and he smiled at her for a moment before nodding.
"Of course," he agreed before he opened the door for her. "May I walk with you to your shop?" Sara found that to be rather senseless to ask as he was coming to her shop to hire her for her services anyways, but after a silent moment she nodded.
"You may," she said softly and he smiled at her, closing the door to the dry goods store behind them both and offering his arm as they stepped to the edge of the wooden plank sidewalk. She shifted her purchases and he chuckled softly.
"May I carry your purchases for you?" he asked and Sara looked up at him, a small frown on her face. Did he not hear the rumors, did he not know that she was a spoiled woman according to the town gossip?
Did he not think she might be mourning the end of her engagement- though sure it had been some months since King left, no man in town had offered her any such thing and now Rodney Shaw, one of the richest men in town by her reckoning, was offering her just that.
"You may," she said after another pause and he took the purchases from her before offering his elbow again. Sara slipped her hand under his arm, resting her hand in the crook of his elbow and letting him escort her across the street and to the shop that she was now running on her own. "So," she said as she unlocked the door to the shop and held it open for the two of them to step inside. "How can I help you Mr. Shaw?"
This chapter physically hurt to write