Arthur stood across from Karen, the dining table between them. Her face was flushed and her chest heaved as if she'd finished running to the river and back.

He was taken aback at her admission, sure, but it confused him more than anything. "You killed Molly? Molly O'Shea?"

Annoyed, Karen snapped, "Of course Molly O'Shea. How many goddamn Mollys you know?"

Ruffled, Arthur retorted, "You ain't killed her. Susan shot her."

"I'm the reason she's dead. It's the same damn thing."

Tears sported an appearance and she turned away, covering her face. Arthur could handle a yelling match, but crying always had him uncomfortable.

To make matters worse for him, Charlotte chose that moment to stand up and say, "This appears to be a private matter between the two of you. I think I shall lie down so you can talk this through."

Arthur raised his hand and opened his mouth to stop her, but she'd already reached the bedroom. She spared him an encouraging look before she shut the door and left him to fend for himself. Why did Charlotte have it in her head that he'd find the right words to say? She knew better than anyone he wasn't any good in these sorts of situations.

Arthur scratched the side of his head, cleared his throat and turned to Karen again. "What you mean, saying you're the reason Molly's dead?"

Karen told him, "Dutch treated Molly like shit those last few months, but she never ratted us out."

"We figured that out." Too late though. Unless Karen meant there had been another rat and Molly had taken the fall. He never thought Karen as a snitch, but she hadn't exactly been in the right mindset at the end of everything. "Don't tell me you talked?"

She scowled fiercely, offended. "'Course I didn't, idiot."

"Then you best start speakin' clearer 'cause I ain't takin' your meaning."

"Molly came to me, before we left Shady Belle." Karen rubbed her arms, avoiding his eyes again. "Before you boys got yourselves stuck on that island."

"And?" he prompted because she seemed to need it.

"I took her drinking in Saint Denis."

"You took Molly drinking? I thought you two hated each other."

"We did." She smiled at a memory. "Only, a little bit of brandy sure turned her into a fun drunk. Wished I'd known sooner she could party with the best of us."

"Then what happened? What did she come to you for?"

"She wanted advice." Karen's smile fell. "She begged me to help get Dutch to pay her some attention."

Arthur had been a witness to Dutch's callous disregard for Molly. He didn't know what had led to the change between the two. He supposed Dutch lost interest while Molly was too disillusioned to see they weren't a match no more. Happened to the best of them. But he still didn't see how Karen fit into it.

"I told her..." Karen hesitated.

"You told her...?"

"I told her she needed to do something big. I told her she should find something he cares about and break it."

"Okay..." Not exactly the way he'd go about it.

"But then ya'll got lost. When we moved to Lakay, Molly didn't come with us. I was kinda miffed about it actually since I was just starting to like her. I thought she finally left us for good. Thought she'd found some other fool to hook her claws into. Maybe she would have if you boys hadn't come back."

"Sorry to disappoint," Arthur said. "But I still ain't seein' why you blame yourself."

Karen's tone changed to defensive. "When I gave her advice, I thought...I thought she'd burn Dutch's books or break his goddamn phonograph when he came back. You know what she did instead?" She laughed humorlessly. "Arthur, what does Dutch care about above all else?"

Loyalty, the word came to Arthur's mind automatically and he realized what it meant. Besides himself, Molly had broken the one thing Dutch loved. "That's why she said that shit? She had to know it would piss him off."

"That's what she was counting on because I told her she needed to get him angry." Karen said bitterly, "Who knew Grimshaw would be the one to go all killer on us?"

To be fair, Susan seemed to have doubts over her actions afterwards. Once Molly died, it had unsettled everyone and they'd already been on edge. The girls didn't feel safe no more and the rest of them struggled to find reason to stay. It'd been more shit added to the pile. Eventually, it had to all collapse, what with them losing gang members left and right and Dutch losing his mind.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like that. I shoulda been there to stop it, but I was..."

"Drinking?" Arthur suggested.

"We're not supposed to shoot our own, Arthur," she returned, instead of admitting to her problem.

"Except traitors."

"Molly weren't no traitor," Karen argued. "Just a heart-broken woman who'd been the first to see Dutch for what he was."

Arthur remembered an interrupted conversation he'd started with Molly in Clemens Point before Uncle pulled him away to rob a payroll wagon founded on a bad tip. It'd been before Molly had started acting paranoid. Now, he thought maybe she hadn't been so paranoid, least where Dutch was concerned. "She tried to tell me a few times, I reckon. About Dutch."

"She didn't deserve to be shot, Arthur."

Arthur sighed. "You're right, but it ain't something we can fix now."

Karen looked away, staring at the fireplace, as forlorn as can be. Arthur didn't understand fully why it had her crestfallen, like she really had shot Molly herself. Nothing could be done about Molly, but he had Karen in front of him, finally reaching out. Somehow, he had to conjure up the right words.

"It ain't your fault."

She replied with disgust, "Keep your damn pity, Arthur."

"It ain't that. Molly shouldn't have been with us in the first place. Everyone knew she wasn't cut out for the life, but Dutch kept her on anyway. If you want someone to blame, it's Dutch who really killed her."

Karen didn't appear convinced of that perspective.

Arthur insisted, "You seen it. Anyone who stays with him long enough eventually gets themselves killed for his fool ideas." The memories flooded him now, of Dutch's decision after decision that only served to sink them. Of all the reckless, unnecessary choices that put them in the middle of shit they shouldn't have participated in. "It wasn't just us he affected. Rains Fall and his people? There weren't no reason to get involved in any of them. The chief's son died to save me, when Dutch coulda done it himself."

"Okay, Arthur. I get it. Dutch is an asshole. Shit. You don't got to get so worked up about it."

Arthur realized then how much he'd raised his voice. His hands were balled in fists, clenched tight and trembling. He was getting worked up about it. The deaths of Eagle Flies and the rest of the tribe who'd gotten involved in Dutch's nonsense hadn't been forgiven in his mind. Arthur didn't know if it ever could be. It's why he pushed Dutch from thoughts whenever memories of the man tried to crop up.

"All I'm sayin' is, it ain't on you what happened to Molly. I don't think any of it is. You were tryin' to help in a helpless situation."

She returned to her chair, but didn't say anything. He didn't know if she'd take his words seriously, but he spoke honestly on the matter. There wasn't much else he could say to comfort her. She was one of the lucky ones, even if she didn't believe it.

Mac, Davey, Jenny, Sean, Hosea, Lenny, Kieran, Molly, Eagle Flies, Susan. All that wasted time, all them wasted lives. Shit, he blamed himself for some of them too.

"We both live with guilt, Karen. Some things you just can't change and the past is one of them."

Tears were welling in her eyes again, but she seemed determined not to shed them. "What do we got to do to move on?"

"Take comfort in what you got to live for."

"And what's that?" she asked, bitterness creeping in her tone.

Arthur shrugged. "That's something you got to figure out for yourself."

She looked dissatisfied at that answer so he found himself adding, "For me, when shit started going wrong with Dutch, this place here always felt like it was far away from it all." Charlotte had always been kind to him, even when he hadn't deserved kindness.

Karen looked around the room. "Is this where you were always running off to?"

"Nah," Arthur replied. "Only met Charlotte after we got back from Guarma."

"And you ended up here. How'd you know this was it for you?"

"I got a feeling."

Karen stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

His mind went back to the day he'd finally decided he'd stay with Charlotte, to give up on vengeance and not look back. "I started walkin' to the house with her and it felt...right, like I was finally coming home."

Karen was quiet a moment before she told him, "I ain't never had a feeling like that, Arthur."

"The gang was home for me for a long time, when life was good. But what it was..." He shook his head. "It ain't close to the real thing. Charlotte is real and she's good."

"But, can we be good, Arthur?"

"A few months ago, I didn't think so. Thought I was already too far gone from the life I've led, but Charlotte gave me a chance to prove that wrong."

Karen stared at her hands, laced together on the table. "What am I going to do with my life?"

"If you find something that keeps you motivated and happy, it'll lead you down the right path eventually."

"It'd be good advice, Arthur," Karen said sourly, "except I don't know where the hell to start looking."

That was an opening if he ever heard one. Only half-joking, he asked, "What you got planned for the next nine months?"

She frowned and lifted his gaze. "Why?"

Arthur took the seat across from her, blew out a breath and confessed, "Charlotte's with child."

Karen's eyebrows rose. "You don't waste time, do you?"

He ignored her jab. "Do you got any interest in...I don't know...helpin' us through it?"

She crossed her arms and sat back in the chair, looking more like herself. "I don't know shit about childbirth, Arthur."

"It ain't something I know much about neither," he replied, some of his nervousness over the situation making his tone sharp. He took a second before continuing so he wouldn't snap at her again. "I reckon, Charlotte could use a woman around."

"But an outlaw for a nursemaid, Arthur?"

He shot back, "You ain't doin' much else right now, are you?"

Karen's brow furrowed at that, but she didn't comment.

"Look, I ain't askin' just for you." Arthur's eyes trailed to the bedroom door. Charlotte wasn't normally one for eavesdropping, but he said quietly, "It's also got to do with what I told you on the train, 'bout this illness. It's gonna take me."

"You seem fine right now."

"Some days I am, some days I ain't. Ain't tellin'..." He released a shaky breath. "Ain't tellin' what the situation will be this time next year, when the babe's born."

"You think you're dying?"

"I am dyin'." He'd been living on borrowed time for months. His luck couldn't hold forever, much as he'd like it to. "When it happens, if Charlotte had someone else with her for support, it'd be a weight off my mind."

"If you're so worried about your mortality, why'd you get her pregnant in the first place?"

"'Cause I'm a goddamn fool that don't think," he answered impatiently.

"So, let me get this straight, Arthur." Karen leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "You're asking me to stay on here, comfort your grieving widow when you die and help raise your fatherless kid?"

When she said it back to him like that, it sounded like too much. But the idea had sparked because of Karen's actions this morning and it'd been forming as a solution since the start of their conversation. He'd seen her. Arthur knew she'd been ready to bolt away to whoever the hell knows where. Yet, when Charlotte was struck with her sickness, Karen handled the situation better than he could have in her place. Not to mention, she'd had no problem being firm with Charlotte.

He offered, "You'll get a place to stay for a long while."

She pointed out, "This little cabin ain't got much room for the three of us."

"Better than the cold, hard ground."

"Barely."

Impatient, he asked, "Will you do it?"

Karen didn't answer him right away. She tilted her head back, her eyes lifting to the ceiling as she contemplated his proposition. At least she was putting real thought into it. That meant she was taking him seriously.

"If you stay, you gotta knock that shit with your drinking," he warned, to make sure the situation was clear. "Charlotte wants you here. I want you here. But you gotta keep yourself sober. Especially when the baby arrives."

Karen scowled at him. "That ain't gonna be easy."

"I mean, you got the two of us to help you with it."

Karen hesitated, but he could see in her eyes she might be more than a little persuaded. "You don't think I messed everything up in Annesburg?"

"Nah." Arthur shook his head, somewhat surprised she cared about that. "You ain't done nothin' too serious down there, 'cept maybe provide some fodder for gossip."

"And you're sure this arrangement is okay with your lady love?"

Arthur felt like he was on the last hurdle to convince Karen. Charlotte might resist having the assistance at first, but if she thought it would keep Karen on track, she'll be on board.

"'Course." Arthur crooked a grin at her. "So, what do you say, Miss Jones? You up for it?"

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask." All of the grief of earlier was erased and in its place, a glint of renewed life sparkled in her eyes. "But I sure as shit am ready for some change."