Chapter 1: One : The First Decade Is Always Easy
Chapter Text
Chapter One : The First Decade Is Always Easy
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May 17, 1881
May hadn't always been a bad month, in fact Hosea had always liked that with the new month usually came warmer weather and more job opportunities, but now it was a chilling reminder of what he had lost. On May 17, 1880 Hosea had become a new father as well as a new widower. Bessie even becoming pregnant in the first place was a shock to both of them. After three years of marriage and a few pre-marital beddings the couple had given up hope of their own child and had decided that Arthur was the only child they would ever have and they would have to share him with Dutch. So when the doctor gave them the news they didn't get too excited, not expecting it to last and neither of them were actually expecting it to result in a squalling baby girl entering the world.
Bessie's labor was long and hard, she wasn't exactly a spring chicken and the doctor had pulled Hosea aside and told him the chances of coming out of this with both his wife and child were slim, Hosea told the man to save his wife, but in the end Hosea was left holding a baby as his wife wasted away in front of him. Bessie managed to hang on for a few days; she named the baby, and was even able to feed her a few times before she passed. Dutch, Arthur, Susan, and Annabelle had all arrived right before she had passed and were all able to say their goodbyes. Arthur held Hazel as Dutch dug a hole and the women helped pack and sell things from around the house, Hosea was coming back to the group. The last day before the new owners of the homestead were set to arrive Hosea and Dutch sat outside on the porch as Hosea drowned his sorrows in a bottle and mourned the life he had fought to get, even if he wasn't totally out of the outlaw life, he had given Bessie a normal one, and he knew he wouldn't be able to live it anymore, living your life split between two ideals was hard.
Dutch was scouting a lead up north when Hosea's letter arrived and now they were heading back that way, Hosea was not in the right mind space to help Dutch, but when he did manage to crawl out of his bottle he was always greeted with the sight of his teenage son trying to control his daughter. Hazel was a long baby and Arthur was still trying to get the hang of his long limbs, the boy hit all the teenage milestones later than normal it seemed. Annabelle and Susan would always correct Arthur or gently encourage him if his resolve wavered when it came to the infant. Hosea knew he would never have to worry about Hazel growing up without a mother figure, or even not having love, she was going to be luckier than most of them were as children, that's why Hosea never questioned his decision to bring his daughter into this outlaw life. Then when she was older she could decide if she wanted to stay in or not.
All of those emotions were still a bit raw this year, but things were better. Bessie was a year gone, but Hazel was a year older and she now had a head full of hair that was the exact color of Bessie's and it always caught bright in the sun and got in her eyes when it was windy, it grew as fast as Bessie's had too, Annabelle and Susan always fought about if it needed to be cut or not several times a month. Right now the toddler who was slowly mastering walking was trying to chase after Copper who was running around her in circles after his own tail. Arthur was by the fire, splitting his time between stirring breakfast and drawing in his journal, Dutch and Annabelle had yet to emerge from their tent, Susan was looking over the supplies, she was going to head into town later on today because once he and Dutch hit the warehouse tomorrow they would have to leave, so they needed to be prepared for their journey towards the Dakotas.
A disgruntled squeak and a thump had Hosea turning back towards his daughter who had fallen on her bottom for the third time in what seemed like the same amount of minuets. He smiled as he watched her try to push herself back up, but her arm had gotten stuck under her leg and she couldn't seem to be able to figure out how to free herself and she started getting frustrated and Copper who had deciding to keep licking her face wasn't helping anything. He put his bottle on the ground, he was planning on nursing it all day, and walked over to his daughter and scooped her up and tossed her in the air so she wouldn't start crying and upset the calm morning they were having. "Papa's gottcha!" he says as he tosses her a second time before he settles her on his hip and walks over towards the fire, Arthur was too caught up in his drawing and the oatmeal was sticking to the side of the old pot, they really needed a new one. Arthur let out a huff and rubbed at the paper with the side of his hand. "What's the matter son?"
"I was trying to draw Hazel and Copper but they never do what I need them too long enough to finish it. So I have to make up the rest." He grumbles, Hosea just shook his head as the teenager pulled his legs closer to his chin and with a look of concentration went back to his work.
"I'm sure whatever you make will be amazing, not like you let the rest of us see your drawings too often, but they are always amazing." Hosea says as he leans over the fire to look at the white goop in the pan, it wasn't looking too shabby, maybe they had some fruit they could toss in it-
"Mr. Matthews!" a loud shriek from across the camp made him jump and drop the spoon into the pot, hot oatmeal flew up and hit him in the hand, making him jump more and his curse joined Arthur's curse as the boy tossed his journal to the ground beside him, Susan's yelling obviously messing his drawing up again. The woman storms across the camp, "You're going to catch that child on fire if you get her that close to the fire!" Hazel let out a little whimper at the commotion, but brightened at the sight of her aunt walking towards her; Hosea handed her over without an argument and shook his burnt hand out. Dutch and Annabelle popped their heads out of his tent with a worried expression, obviously trying to figure out what caused such a loud outburst when the morning had been so quiet.
Later on that night Hosea and Dutch sat with their heads over a map, double checking all the planning for their job, Susan and Annabelle were playing dominoes and were getting a bit too drunk to actually play right, while Arthur, Hazel, and Copper were sitting in the tall grass watching the lighting bugs dance in the night. Hazel was easily amused and distracted by the flashing lights and Arthur was trying to get Copper to understand how to sit, but the puppy was having more fun trying to catch the flashing bugs than his master. Hosea missed Bessie, but as he and Dutch laughed over memories of their first time hitting a warehouse and he noticed his bottle was still half-full that time did help painful things heal, and if this is how much this day had improved in a year, he had hope for all the months of May that followed.
1886
*CAMP*
"Ow damn it!" a very tiny voice squeaked and Hosea looked up to see a grey-white shirt sail a small way across the air, Hosea just shook his head and didn't bother to scold his daughter since Susan's shrill voice filled the air soon after.
"Miss Hazel! What is the matter with you? That ain't no way for a young lady to act!" The camp mother hen was soon in front of the somber 6-year-old pointing her finger at the discarded shirt, "We might live in the woods but you are not an animal."
"But Miss Grimshaw-," Hazel tried to argue,
"No buts, you know better, and you need to learn how to fix a hole in a shirt. Now pick it up and let's see what made you decide you could get away with that."
Hosea shook his head again and watched as his scolded daughter slipped off the stool that was still too tall for her, pick up the shirt from the ground, and go back to her seat. Hosea guessed she had stabbed herself with the needle again since she kept sticking her middle finger in her mouth as she did, and she probably lost her temper at the pricks she seemed to always give herself. Hosea and Dutch both thought Susan was in denial when it came to Hazel being a seamstress, the girl just didn't have the knack for anything related to fabric. Hosea doubted Dutch would ever let the girl near his clothes again since his red vest turned into a pink and green one a few weeks ago, But since Annabelle had passed Susan needed help keeping the men clothed and they couldn't afford new ones every time a hole appeared or buttons were ripped off.
"I'm sorry Miss Grimshaw." Hazel says after they looked over the shirt a few times, even Hazel knew she wasn't good at this sewing stuff.
"It's okay child," Susan says with a softer tone in her voice, "We can always say John was attacked by an animal if anyone asks why his shirt looks like this." They both laugh at this, since John always looked like he had been attacked by a small angry animal, all wild hair and ratty clothes.
"I really don't think I'm ever gonna be good at this stuff." The child says putting the needle back in the cushion and rubbing at her finger again.
"It just takes practice, now go on, get outta here and enjoy your birthday; the boys are over yonder at the river." Susan shoos the child away who doesn't need to be told twice as she leaps off the stool and takes off in a dead run towards where her "brothers" were and the older woman sat at the table and started pulling the tread from John's shirt and fix the hole properly. "Hosea, I hate to tell you think but your daughter is going to be more like a boy than a girl, she couldn't sew her way out of wet paper."
"You keep giving her leave to play than finish her work none of the kids are going to be afraid of you anymore, that tough exterior isn't going to work on them."
"Don't be silly, even Arthur still asks how high when I say jump."
*SALOON*
Dutch had woken up that morning before most of camp and had headed towards town and the saloon, Hosea had told him on and off for the last six months that time would heal all wounds, and that the pain from Annabelle's murder would one day be bearable, Dutch was doubting that day would be today as he downed another shot of whiskey, he was thinking of leaving the glass alone and just downing the bottle, but he was also supposed to be looking for leads so he couldn't. Or he wouldn't, knowing no one at camp would begrudge him if he sank into the bottle for the day. It was also Hazel's 6th birthday and he didn't want to be too drunk when they ate dinner and exchanged gifts. Hosea and Dutch always tried to have the birthdays of the young ones be days of joy, and Dutch wasn't going to screw it up no matter how bad he wanted too. He'd just finish the bottle, dunk his head in a river, and go back to camp.
The ring on his pinky caught his eye as he poured another shot, normally Dutch was able to bury his pain under his rage, but today he just couldn't. Hosea had woken up with a bottle in his hand, his own grief for Bessie always crept up on this day, and Dutch just couldn't deal with both of their grief and Hosea hadn't said a word as the younger man rode off. Annabelle had given him that ring; she had smiled so bright, her brown eyes flashing with joy, her dark skin streaked darker with the mud they had fallen into during the stage robbery, Annabelle's first stage with Dutch. She had found it on the seat and gave it to him. He rotated the ring around his finger a few times and then froze all movement when the familiar and hated voice of an O'Driscoll filled the bar.
Dutch hadn't heard much of his former friend's gang in months, after they killed Annabelle they had disappeared from sight, or it could be that Colm had to regroup after Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur had killed a whole camp after Annabelle's death. Dutch hated the man, but he always seemed to have good information and his boys were loud, especially when drunk. He pulled his hat down and leaned back into the shadows his back table afforded him. Most of the start of the conversation was pointless drivel and Dutch almost gave up, but after a few shots the 2 man at the bar started to wag their tongues.
"So the big man is coming this way?" the smaller of the two asked, he had red hair and a very thick accent.
"That's what I heard, Bart told me that he caught word that Van der Linde was down this way." The other man said back, Dutch was pretty sure he had met this one before, few of Colm's men had short hair, even fewer were clean shaved, Dutch's brain was giving him the name Peter, but he had no way of knowing if that was right or not.
"Who?" asked the redhead, motioning for another beer.
"Some arrogant prick that used'a run with us last few years, he and Colm had a minor disagreement and some blood was spilled. Dutch is his name, great shot but a real shit with a big head. Always picking up brats and using up supplies on lost causes."
"He picks up kids? Some kinda sick fuck?"
"Nah, or at least I doubt it, just likes to pick of strays, had three of them with him last I saw him, and had a few girls too."
"Women and kids? Idiot." They both order another beer and they click the bottles together and Dutch feels his blood boil, Dutch looked at Possibly Peter trying to figure out who he was. If he knew about Arthur, John, and Hazel he was probably one of James's men, since Dutch kept most of his group away from Colm and James had actually shown up where they were camping a few times before he had to put a bullet in his head.
The men take a drink before continuing on, "So what's Colm's plan?"
"No clue, guess we'll find out when he gets here in a few days, unless he takes a train, it's a bit of a ride from where he is. But if it involves Van der Linde it's gonna be good and it's gonna be bloody." The door to the saloon swings open and Peter motions the guys over, yelling Bart as he does so. Dutch clenches his jaw as he recognized Bart O'Driscoll walk towards the other man, Bart is one of Colm's cousins that came over on the boat with him.
"Boys!" Bart says as he orders a beer as well, "wanna get back on Colm's good side with me?"
"Why? You found a good score?" Probably Peter asks,
"A moonshing whorehouse?" Redhead says with a laugh. Dutch though his eyes were going to roll out of his head.
"Better, I found Van der Linde's brats." Bart says with a sick smile and Dutch clutched the sides of the table to stop him from reaching for his gun, he needed to know just what this man knew and if he had told anyone else before he risked shooting a man in the middle of a saloon and being chased out of town by the law.
"Bullshit," Probably Peter says, "even if you did know for sure where they are I know for a fact they are never alone, and never anywhere they can just be snatched without causing a fuss."
"They are alone now, down at the river bend. All of them, even Matthew's little girl. All alone."
"No way, even if we could get close-," Probably Peter started
"But if Colm hates this Van der whoever person so much," Dutch bristled at his name being forgotten by this nameless O'Driscoll kid, "just think how happy he would be with us, three helpless kids, easy pickings." Redhead says.
"But they're not that helpless, that older one, Arthur I think, he's a pretty good shot if I remember right, what makes you think we can even get close to grab them?"
"My guess is that big brother Arthur is supposed to be babysitting, but he's not paying attention beyond making sure the other two don't drown. I hid in the woods and watched them for almost 10 minutes and they didn't look my way no matter what I did, I even coughed a few times and nothing. Not even the dog noticed I was there, it will be easy to grab them, just grab the girl and don't think the other two will give us any problem."
"I say we go." Says Redhead
"I don't know, Dutch and Hosea would track us down and if they ever found us….neither of you was there when they burned camp after Colm killed that woman. I was, and I have no wish to live through something like that again." Probably Peter said.
"There won't be another burning like that, Dutch was only that reckless since the woman was dead, he wouldn't set fire to a camp if his kids were there and alive." Bart said as he downed his last drops of beer. "Do what you want Gerry, but I would like to have top supplies this year." Bart says and Dutch does in fact know the man he was incorrectly calling Peter, he was James' right hand, he had been right there when Dutch had killed James O'Driscoll and apparently had escaped his wrath the night Dutch burned the camp they had all had been at after Annabelle had passed. Gerry Quinn was his name; he had a drinking problem and a loud mouth even back then.
Dutch took another show of his own bottle as the three men stood from the bar, Gerry swooning a little as they did so, Dutch watched as they headed towards the horses hitched outside and when they were a bit down the road he followed them. There was a river a few bits from camp, not close enough that camp was in danger, and not close enough for Hosea to be of any use, Dutch mounted his new stallion that he named The Count since he was very slim and stubborn and a little snobby when it came to his feed and who he allowed near him. Poor Arthur had almost broken his arm when the horse threw him not long after Dutch had brought him back to camp. John had dared him to ride the horse, and Arthur, not wanting to be upstaged by his little brother had followed through with it.
The O'Driscoll boys were not hard to follow; they weren't exactly trying to be subtle as they went. Thinking they were on their way to an easy job, Dutch waited until they were a good few miles away from town before he shot the Redhead off his horse, causing the other two to slow as their horses reared up at the sound. Dutch soon shot at the ground by the horses and it didn't take long for the drunken men to fall off the panicking horses. Dutch rode up to them and slipped off his saddle, kicking the guns away from the flailing men. "Hello boys, going somewhere?"
"Van der Linde!" Bart huffed out as he tried to push himself off the ground, only to get a boot to his face for his trouble; Gerry just looked at him like a fish out of water.
"I suggest you both make you're peace." Dutch said before pulling the hammer back and ending Bart's worthless life. He then looked at Gerry, "You really should have followed your gut and stayed at the bar. But you never were very smart." Another shot and another O'Driscoll was gone from the world. Dutch looted their bodies and quickly drug them deeper into the woods and far away from the road. He dropped a few bits of predator bait on them for good measure, hoping the wolves would rip them apart. He whistled The Count back over and kicked the horse in the flanks as he kept in the direction of the river. If everything the O'Driscoll's had said, if the kids were not paying attention than they were going to get an earful from Dutch. He had buried the love of him life and their unborn child and he wasn't looking to bury anymore of his family. Especially not his children.
*RIVER*
John was sitting in the river, the water just brushing the sides of his legs, he still refused to learn to swim, no matter how much he was pestered to do so. Some people were made to swim and John had decided a long time ago he was not one of them. But he still liked to sit in the cool water and play with Hazel and annoy Arthur by tossing smooth river rocks at him. They had gone fishing and when Hazel came crashing through the trees they had abandoned their poles and just enjoyed the cool water.
Arthur was chasing Hazel around close to the shore, the water moving too fast in the deeper areas and Hazel being too young a swimmer for Arthur to allow her much breathing room, every time she got too deep he would scoop her up and toss her towards John who would splash her and trip her making her crash into the water again. She was giggling and yelling fairly loud, but it was just too much fun to really get onto her for it, it was her birthday after all and they all deserved a bit of a break from Annabelle's death that still seemed to haunt the group. Copper was munching away at a fish he had snuck from the bag that held the rest of their catch.
"Hazel, if you go beyond that rock until I get back I'm going to drown you." Arthur says as he walks towards the shore to put the bag out of the dogs reach, if they came back empty handed and Copper with a full belly again he'd never hear the end of it. He tied the bag to a nearby tree and picked up a stick from the ground and called Copper's name who happily left his fish at the voice and the movement of the stick. He tossed it towards the water and the dog took off, moving so fast John had to fling himself to the left or he was going to get trampled by the dog, he came up coughing water out of his mouth.
"Arthur!" He complained
"If you wouldn't just sit on the shore like a wuss that wouldn't have happened now would it?" Arthur smiled at the mad look on John's face, the gangly 13-year-old was all legs and cracking voice and Arthur loved to annoy him since he was so funny to watch and listen to.
"You shouldn't have thrown the stick this way when there is a whole river that way!"
"Arthur! Look at this!" Hazel's voice broke the boys up and Arthur looked at where Hazel was kneels; her hands wrapped close around some poor animal the girl had managed to catch this time. She had always had an ability to capture random animals and Arthur always checked his boots after she stashed a snake she had found in one last year, and he had found three or four others since then.
"Hazel, whatever it is put it back, Miss Grimshaw will skin you alive if it's another snake." Arthur says walking over and shaking his head when a small frog popped his head out from between her fingers, the grey-green animal croaking his displeasure for being caught.
"It's not a snake, it's a frog! Think we can find a toad? Then it'll be like Uncle Dutch's book!"
"Dutch is not going to let you keep a frog and a toad around camp." Arthur says trying to figure out which she even had in her hand; it was hard to tell the difference sometimes.
"Why not, you have Copper?"
"Copper also helps with hunting and watching the camp, what are your frog and toad gonna do?"
"Scare Miss Grimshaw!" John says as he makes his way over, shaking his head to remove the excess water as he did.
"And then we'll all be in trouble, I'm sorry Hazel, let it go, he probably has a home around here anyways and you wouldn't want to take him away from his home would you?"
"I guess not." The girl says as she gently lets the animal go and they all watch it hop frantically away. "Think I could have a pet one day?" she asks, looking at Arthur, "I don't even have my own horse yet. I'd like to have one."
"One day I'm sure you will, I didn't get my first horse until I was fifteen." Arthur says ruffling Hazel's wet and tangled hair.
"But John has one and he's not that old."
"That's because I'm the favorite!" John says with a smile.
"You're just Uncle Dutch's favorite, not THE favorite!" Hazel yells trying to give John a shove, neither child had notice when Arthur dunked both his hands deep in the river and pulled up two handfuls of river mud and splatted it down on both of their heads, more yelling and giggles resumed as the younger children tried to tackle their older brother to the ground and get mud in his hair as well.
BANG
A shot broke thought the air and Arthur was immediately at his feet, shoving John and Hazel behind him, his body was tight as his gaze went from the tree line where it sounded like the shot came from and the shoreline where is cattleman sat, useless to him. He slowly motioned for them to start making their way towards the shore, keeping the kids right behind him. He kept looking at the trees and Copper had dropped his stick and the fur on his back was sticking up as he barred his teeth, the animal as unhappy about the sound as Arthur was.
"I'm afraid that's you dead son." A familiar voice rang out from the left of where Arthur had been looking, and the 23-year-old relaxing a bit, but then tensed again at the implications of Dutch's words and the shot that rang out. The group froze in the water as the dark-haired man walked from the trees, a very unimpressed and slightly angry look on his face. Arthur wasn't surprised that neither John nor Hazel moved from their position behind them, even they knew that look on Dutch's face was not a good one and it probably was not going to bode well for them. Dutch had a tendency to be long winded when he yelled at them, and Hosea was not there to help them out of it. They were doomed to listen to the full speech.
*CAMP*
Hosea was happy he was an experienced drinker or the task of drinking sun-warmed whiskey would be a bit harder to bear, but he was so used to it the drink went down in throat to his belly smoothly and he picked back up where he was attempting to wrap Hazel's birthday gift. Normally Annabelle would wrap the gifts, but now it was up to him and Susan and neither was very good at this and she had left him a bit ago to fetch the laundry from the trees where they hung to dry. Hosea briefly wondered if his daughter would mind if the gifts were just handed to her instead of having to rip the brown paper off, but he would never do that, even Arthur smiled more when his gifts were wrapped than when they weren't.
Every once in a while the quiet of camp would be broken by a few loud pitched giggles and screams as Hosea listened to the sounds of his children playing not far from camp and it made him smile knowing nothing too serious was going on because Arthur's loud and bossy voice would also ring in the air almost as loud as the gleeful giggles. Hosea loved how Arthur was with Hazel and John, and he was amazed at how amazing of a man he had become. But he had always been like a sponge since Dutch and Hosea found him being tossed out a window in some town in the middle of nowhere. He had been caught trying to steal from the family that lived there and, as Arthur told them later, had a father who abused the family horses and hunting dogs. Arthur had always had a soft spot for animals, which is way Hosea thought he had taken so well with John.
John had been almost feral when he joined the group, but almost being hung at such a young age would probably do that to a boy. He had been more closed off than Arthur had been, but he also got over it faster, a few months in and he showed them all a carefree and curious side, but his curiosity always got him in trouble, he didn't seem to have a real sense of self-preservation that Arthur had. One time a herd of wild hogs had chased him up a tree when the boy had been trying to see the baby hogs that were in the middle of the group. Now he was like most 13-year-olds and just liked to cause mayhem for mayhem's sake. The only reason the boy needed to do anything was simply because he could.
Hosea often dreamed that one day Arthur and John would have a relationship like the one he shared with Dutch. The personalities were similar enough, and Arthur was already pretty protective of young John and John loved to torment the older man. Maybe when he and Dutch got too old for this life the boys could carry on. There would always be poor in the world, always corrupt wealth that could be taken and used for the betterment of the world. But they would both still need to grow up a bit more.
BANG
Hosea dropped the paper back to the table and shot to his feet, straining to hear anything in the silence of the woods. He quickly grabbed his rife from the gun wagon and took off towards where the kids were at, he quickly found the river and followed it west, that shot was close to camp, but sounded closer to where the kids would be playing, and the lack of noise from the three youths was doing nothing to help his worry. He froze in his steps as a voice hit his ears, "-all the stupid things you could do, you never let your guard down!" Hosea's grip loosened on the gun as Dutch's voice rang loud in his ears. But now his curiosity was peaked as he listened to the frantic tone in his friend's voice, the one too many cracks in his words that reflected how loud he was yelling. Dutch never admitted that his voice cracked, even though they all knew that it did, mostly when he was yelling or drunk. Dutch's tone wasn't giving off a danger vibe, simply a scared one. Dutch was using his dad voice.
A rare tone that Hosea had only heard on a handful of times since he often left the discipline of the boys to him and Dutch didn't like disciplining Hazel since she was a little girl. But he had heard it, on Arthur when he had been too busy helping scout a homestead that he hadn't eaten in a few days, John when he tried to climb a tree that had a bear trap under it, and Hazel when she tried to catch a rattlesnake. All of those times Hosea had been away and action needed to be taken at that moment. But Hosea wasn't sure Dutch had ever sounded like he was right now.
Hosea shouldered his rife as he walked around the edge of the river through the trees and found his wayward children and yelling friend. The youths were standing in the running river as Dutch was pacing at the river's edge, his arms waving wildly at his words. John was standing with his arms crossed and his fingers fiddling with a rock was still in his hand, yelling rarely worked with John, it just aggravated him and made him short tempered hours later. Hazel was griping the leg of Arthur's pants with tight fists as she tried not to cry, after John told her only babies cried she always tried not to. Arthur just stood ramrod straight with his hands clenched at his sides and his head hung down. Apparently this was directed at the poor boy and the other two were just casualties of being there at the time.
When Dutch took a breath, Hosea popped out from behind the trees, "You're going to yell yourself horse there Dutch." He walks closer to the group and scooped Hazel up when she ran from her place behind Arthur to her father's arms. Hosea flipped her up to his back and she wrapped her legs around his middle and buried her hands in the collar of his shirt, having learned a long time ago that if she grabbed his neck she would strangle him. He motioned John and Arthur towards him and he gently placed his hands at the bases of his boys' necks and steered them away from where Dutch was trying to argue his point.
"Hosea, I was just-," Dutch yelled out, his face red from his anger.
"I know what you were trying to 'just' Dutch, I think people in Mexico heard what you were trying to 'just', we all know since you were yelling so loud, and you should know by now that you never say anything good when you get like this." Hosea turns from his friend fully and gently leads the youths away from Dutch.
A few steps away and John wiggles himself free of Hosea's grip and angrily rubs at the back of his neck in irritation, he didn't like being herded anywhere by anyone. Hosea let him go and moved his grip from Arthur's neck to his shoulders, giving the boy an affectionate squeeze. His back was wet from where Hazel sat and he cringed a bit at the smell of the river that clung to them, it obviously wasn't the cleanest river or an animal had died in it not too far off. "When we get back all of you need to put on dry clothes, don't want you getting sick when the sun goes down."
When they found camp John ran off towards his and Arthur's shared tent and had his wet shirt flopping on the ground before Hosea pulled Hazel from his back, soon she ran off towards the tent they shared, and it was just him and Arthur left. Hosea looked at the boy, well, he was a man, but it was still hard for Hosea to accept just how old he was sometimes, especially when he looked like he did now. "Come on son, let's get you dry. I have something I need you to do for me when you change." Hosea walked towards his tent as Arthur walked away and found Hazel struggling to pull her wet dress over her head. "you know buttons exist for a reason?" he says as he pulls the wet fabric back down and pops open the few white buttons from around the top of the dress, helping her pull it from her body. He drops a towel on her head as he tosses the dress on his laundry pile that they would tackle tomorrow.
"Why is Uncle Dutch so mad?" she asks, as she rubs her arms and looking at her father.
"He's just sad Hazy, you're Uncle Dutch misses Auntie Anna very much and it's just making him worry about you and your brothers more. He didn't mean anything by it." Hosea says sitting on the ground and handing her a shirt and pants, as per the agreement they had made once she was old enough to argue about what clothes she would wear, she rotated from dresses to pants, it was the only way they'd ever get her in a dress.
"We miss her too and we aren't yelling." She says as her head pops from the hole in the shirt. "Aunty Anna wouldn't want him yelling like that anyways, she always yelled back at him."
"I know she would." Hosea helps pull her wet hair free of where it was catching on the shirt.
"He made Arthur sad, Arthur doesn't like it when Uncle Dutch yells, I mean, he really doesn't." she says as she sits and pulls that pants up.
"I know, I'll take care of it. I promise Arthur won't be sad for long."
Hazel pulls herself onto Hosea's lap and fiddles with the brass buttons on his vest. "I wanna help Uncle Dutch not be sad too. How can I do that?"
"Uncle Dutch is going to be sad for a while I'm afraid, he loved your Auntie very, very much. He probably always will, but he'll be okay."
"Do you think she's with momma?"
"I'm sure she is, and they are both watching us." Hosea presses a kiss to his daughter's head at her words; John's inquisitive side was rubbing off on her.
"Arthur and John's mommas are there too right?"
"Yep, they are all up there, making sure you are all okay."
"I wanna draw Uncle Dutch a picture." She says pulling away, "it always made Auntie Anna smile, and maybe it will help him too."
"You can color him one when you get back, I'm sending you and your brothers into town for a bit, I have something every important for you all to do for me."
Hazel quickly ran out of the tent in search for John and Miss Grimshaw to tell them that Hosea wanted them to go into town as Hosea sought out his oldest. He was sitting at the table petting Copper who was chewing on an old boot of Dutch's. Hosea sat across from him. "Arthur, don't take Dutch's bluster get to you. He's not quite himself right now."
"But he's still right Hosea, what if it wouldn't have been him in the trees watching us, what if it was a lawman or an O'Driscoll. I wasn't paying attention and John or Hazel could have been hurt. "Arthur's voice was low and rough, he was taking all Dutch said to heart.
"If it would have been a lawman you wouldn't have said anything to give camp away and if it would have been an O'Driscoll you would have done everything to keep the kids safe. You're smarter than you think you are and Colm's men are dumber than a box of rocks. So I have faith that you would have all been just fine in the end. You're just a kid Arthur," Hosea smiled at Arthur's annoyed look at that, he didn't want to be lumped in with John or Hazel's age bracket anymore, "and besides that you're human, none of us expect you to be on guard 24/7, especially not when you are enjoying a swim with your brother and sister. You did nothing wrong, and if it bugs you this much, just bare it in mind in the future. But it's okay to let loose and have fun. If it wasn't Dutch and I wouldn't have beer in the camp."
Seeing Arthur smile and nod Hosea moved on to the next step and that was sending the kids and Susan to town so he could yell at Dutch and try and figure out just what had the man yelling that loudly at the youths. If he was so worried about being aware of surroundings he should never have let Hosea sneak up on the group without being noticed. Dutch was angry, rightfully so, but he wasn't allowed to take it out on the kids, and especially not let his own insecurities weigh down on Arthur. Arthur was loyal to the man to a fault and Hosea was always on the lookout to make sure Dutch didn't cross that line from using utilizing Arthur to simply using him. The boy would jump off a cliff if Dutch asked him too.
An hour after the camp had been deserted minus Hosea the man went to look for Dutch who had yet to return to camp. Hosea found him by the river's edge, standing with his arms crossed looking across the water towards the mountains that rose above the landscape. Hosea pulled a cigar from his pocket and held it towards the man as a peace offering. Dutch lets out a sigh and grabs the smoke from Hosea, watching as he lit a match against the sole of his shoe, lighting Dutch's cigar and Hosea's cigarette. "I'm sorry." Dutch says after a few puffs. "I hate yelling at them, I was just so…..I don't know….angry I guess, but it wasn't at them, not really."
"What set you off? Even angry you don't usually act without reason." Dutch recounted running into the O'Driscoll's at the saloon, what all they had said, what he had done to them, and Hosea put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "It's good that you were there, you kept the kids safe, but I don't want you to live in this fear that we're all going to die by Colm's hand. It's okay to mourn her Dutch, but don't let your grief take over your life, it's not worth it, trust me. I've been there."
"I don't want to feel like this ever again Hosea, I don't know if I can handle it. I loved Annabelle, that real, honest to God love. And when I think about losing someone like that again….I don't think I could survive it again. I can't lose anyone else like that, I won't."
"And I understand that, that pain, it's suffocating, but you cannot take you're fear out on the boys or Hazel, they did nothing to deserve that from you."
"I won't stand for them to put themselves in danger for no reason, if Arthur was-."
"Arthur is still young Dutch, a young man who didn't have a childhood and he was playing with his siblings and enjoying a beautiful day. They are allowed to fun Dutch; they are allowed to let their guards down and just be for once. We don't live an easy life, always on the run, always looking over our shoulders, they deserve an afternoon."
Dutch and Hosea talked as the sun sank down lower in the sky, the two men made their way back to camp having decided tonight they would have the party like normal and tomorrow they would move camp, Dutch wasn't in the right mind to deal with Colm and Hosea didn't want to pick up the pieces if they ran into the man because they drug their feet when they knew he was coming this way. Dutch was admit they weren't running from the man, just avoiding a fight they weren't ready for, and Hosea agreed, even if he knew that running was what they were doing. Hosea wasn't about to head off into some revenge mission and risk leaving the youths without stability again.
The fire was high in the sky with several of the fish that the boys had caught earlier in the day roasting on it and Hosea had finally finished wrapping the gift he had been working on before the mess at the river had drug him away. Dutch was playing something a bit obnoxious on his gramophone when three horses came trotting up to camp, Susan barley getting a chance to fully stop her Saddler names Amos before Hazel was jumping down and running to where Hosea was, holding up a stuffed bear. "Look what John got me Papa!" she jumped onto Hosea's lap, the man bracing for the impact. "Now Peanut can have a friend!" Peanut was a stuffed Horse Dutch had given her on her first birthday and Susan had had to patch the threadbare stuffed animal several times over the years.
"That was very nice, did you say thank you?" Hosea asked holding Hazel's hand still so he could look at it better; it was white and would be stained in less than a week.
"Yes Papa! Didn't I say thank you John?" she asked as the teenager came closer to the fire.
"She did." John says sitting down on the log furthest away from Dutch, soon Arthur and Susan were joining them. Dutch gave an apology and Hazel crawled onto his lap and hugged him while Arthur and John just mumbled at him and stood up and walked over to the card table, they never knew how to react when Dutch admitted being wrong.
The rest of the night passed like normal. They ate dinner and spent the rest of the time playing cards, dominoes, horseshoes, telling stories. They gave hazel her gifts and she had beamed the brightest at Arthur who had gotten her a journal like his since she was always nicking blank pages from his. She wasn't the budding artist that Arthur was, but she liked to color and draw. Hazel spent most of the time asking Dutch what his favorite things were and Hosea figured it had something to do with the picture she was planning on drawing for him. The night ended with all of them playing poker, Hazel on Dutch's lap with orders to watch her father's hands and if she saw him pocketing an ace to tell on him. Hazel just smiled when she saw Hosea do just that and she held up two fingers signaling that Dutch had two cards that had the same number on them.
Dutch carried the now six year old to bed and gave her a kiss on her forehead when he covered her up. He wondered if his and Annabelle's child would have been a girl. He had wanted a little girl.
The following morning found just Dutch and Hazel at camp, John and Susan had gone to town to get supplies and Hosea and Arthur were going through with the homestead robbery they had been working on since they caught wind of it a few days ago. All of camp had been packed up except for the chair Dutch was sitting on. As soon as Susan and John got back they were going to head out, Hosea and Arthur would meet them on the road. Hazel was laying on the ground on her stomach, her face scrunched with concentration as she scribbled away in her journal, she reminded him of Arthur a lot in that moment as he watched her.
When he and Hosea set out on this journey all those years ago he was defiantly not planning on picking up three random kids or either of them to fall in love. Bessie hadn't been exactly straight when Hosea caught sight of her, but she wasn't quite the outlaw that Hosea was, and it had been a rocky relationship, but they had made it all work, if Bessie wouldn't have been as old as she was when she had Hazel she probably would have made it.
Annabelle had been running from a group of angry ranch hands when they found her in a cabin they were planning on using since Arthur decided he was going to try and get better that jumping onto his horse and got a kick in the shoulder for his trouble. They had all hit it off, Dutch falling for the woman faster than he was willing to admit. When she told him she was pregnant, it was a surprise since they tried to be careful, knowing a child was the last thing they needed, but it wasn't totally unwelcomed. Dutch had given her a ring the next town and they were going to get married. Then Dutch refused to let James O'Driscoll kill a child they had found hiding in a train car, shot the man instead, putting an end to the already strained relationship he had with Colm. And a week later Dutch and Hosea had ridden back to camp and found Annabelle in camp, beaten and dying. Susan and the kids had been a town over putting on a show to get them jobs at a ranch for the winter.
Dutch would never get to hold the child they were both so excited about and when he had put Annabelle in the ground he grabbed Hosea and Arthur and set Colm's camp ablaze, killing anyone he saw, but he didn't get to kill the man that had killed Annabelle.
A soft tug at his sleeve had his break out of his thoughts, and he noticed the wetness on his cheeks. He looked up at the serious face of the little girl who always sent his mind in the direction of sorrow because she was a symbol of something he would never get to have of his own. Dutch pulled the little girl up on his lap and gave her a small smile. "What's up Hazelnut?" he said, using the nickname he had given her the day she was born, she had been so small and had a light tone to her skin.
"I drawed this for you." She says handing him the ripped paper from her new journal, Dutch looked at the drawing that had six stick figured on the green grass and four stick figures with wings in the blue sky. "Papa said Aunty Anna is in heaven with my momma and Arthur's and John's. He said they are always watching us. This one is Aunty Anna." She said pointing to the second one, "that one is Momma," pointing to the one first one, "and those are Arthur and John's mommas." She finishes.
"Are these all of us?" Dutch asks with a smile when he saw the one that had to be him since it had black hair and a very large watch on the vest.
"Yep, and that's Copper." She says pointing at a brown blob that Dutch thought was a rock.
"Thank you, I'll always keep this." Dutch says giving the girl a hug and folding the picture up and putting it into his pocket.
"I love you Uncle Dutch." She says snuggling in his arms as her hand plays with the gold of his pocket watch that hung on his vest.
"I love you too Hazelnut, very much."
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
1890
* Journal*
May 17th, 1890
I wonder if my birthday month is cursed or something. Momma died, Aunty Anna was killed, Uncle Dutch got real sick, and now Arthur and Mary have broken up. I don't really care about that last bit, but I don't like seeing Arthur so sad. Papa says it will pass and Arthur will move on, but I'm annoyed that he's so quiet all the time. I asked dad if we could just move my birthday since no one really seems in the mood to celebrate, but it won't happen and even now I can hear Mr. Pearson fussing over the new spit that was bought a few days ago. Apparently it's different than others because he is having a hard time with it. Or maybe Uncle dropped it a few times when he brought it back to camp, who knows.
We're still in northern Montana, but we won't be here too much longer since Uncle Dutch has his eye on that bank and obviously once they hit it we will have to go elsewhere. This sucks because I really like it here, especially now that it has gotten warmer and we can actually doings other than sit in camp. I think that they are up to six banks now, and we can't really hang around anymore like when they hit banks in the past. I know that Uncle Dutch can't really been seen quite as much since the price on his head is getting bigger, the last poster I took said $2,000.00 and so far he is still worth more than the ones I saw for dad and Arthur. I think next time I see a poster with any of their faces on them I am going to take it.
John has been driving everyone a little nuts since almost everyone chance he gets trying to talk Uncle Dutch and Hosea into letting him tag along with them on jobs. I hope they let him go soon, one so he will shut up, and also so I can use it for an argument point for when I start asking them to go with them. Now that I've hit the "double digits" as Uncle says, I hope I can start going out with them as well. The two jobs I've been one I don't think really counts since all I did was stand there with John and hold the horses. And that one time I helped John rob a store, that got the both of us in trouble and the few bucks we had walked away with were taken away from us.
I feel like when I write I ramble on a bit when I write, but Arthur says that's the point of having a journal, to just get all the words from your head on the paper. Sometimes I wish my journal looked like his, but I'm never going to be that big of a drawer, and when I do they don't look as good as his, so why try. But I guess-, *END JOURNAL*
"Hazel!"
The ten year old looked up at the sound of her name and looked down from the branch she was perched in, ducking back when a rock flew past her head and he names was called again.
"What the hell John!" she yelled, popping her head out again.
"Get down here, Miss Grimshaw wants you!" John yells back up at her, tossing another rock in his hands. Hazel closed her journal and tucked the pencil in her messy bun and made her way down the tree.
"What does she want? I did all my chores." She says as she drops to her feet in front of her brother.
"I don't know, I'm just the messenger. Let's go." He says grabbing Hazel's arm, Hazel digs her feet into the ground and refuses to budge.
"Let go of me, I'm a big girl John, I don't need a baby-sitter!"
"Damn it Hazel, stop being a brat and let's go." John says moving behind the girl and trying to push her forward. Hazel spins around and pushes John away from her.
"Stop being such a jerk! Just because you're moody doesn't mean the rest of us are. Leave me alone!" Hazel yells as she tries to walk away, only for a rock to bounce off her back. The blonde girl spins back around and runs full force at John, knocking him back a few steps, soon the two kids are wrestling on the ground, fists and legs flying as they shout their displeasure for all to hear.
"I swear I am going to tie the both of you to a tree if you don't stop this moment!" a loud shout came from behind the scuffle and Hazel felt herself being pulled off John and John was yanked to his feet as well, they stop struggling to find Hosea, Dutch, and Arthur had interrupted their argument. Hosea holding Hazel, Arthur holding John, and Dutch giving them both a stern dressing down as he stood between the two. "Can't leave you two alone for five minutes and you're at each other's throats! The past month it's been like this and I am sick of it! You two are family and you will not act like this anymore, do you both understand me!" neither of them answer, Hosea gives Hazel a light slap to the back of her head while Arthur pulls on John's ear. Both then mumble an answer to Dutch's questions and they are both shoved away from the people that were holding them back.
"Say you're both sorry, then Hazel get back to camp, John, you and Arthur go to town, you have business." Hosea says as she stomps away from the children. He was as sick of the tempers as Dutch was. John and Hazel hadn't been as close to each other as they both were with Arthur, but now that Arthur was away from camp more and more with Eliza and the baby or on jobs they had lost their older brother and were having to deal with each other more directly. And John being 17 going on 30 was not helping matters. Hosea sits roughly down at the fire across from Dutch and they both look at each other and shake their heads.
"What the hell has gotten into those two?" Dutch asks watching his sons ride off and Hazel stomp over to where Miss Grimshaw hands her a stack of shirts to mend. She might not be amazing at sewing, but she was much better than she was at six.
"I think Arthur being gone so much and John being more moody than normal is a part. Hazel isn't used to being left alone so much and John is a teenager who feels like he always has to match up to Arthur. Just kids being kids, hopefully they will get back to getting along, or we might have to tie them up until they at least pretend they still like each other." Hosea says as he rubs his hands over his eyes, feeling a headache from the yelling.
"Maybe we should have another, even them out." Dutch says with a laugh.
"I don't want another teenager Dutch, we're gonna be lucky if we get through John and Hazel being this close in age." Hosea smiles back and then rolls his eyes as Miss Grimshaw is soon stomping over to Hazel and taking the clothes from her and pointing to where Mr. Pearson, the washed out navy man who Dutch had found in the gutter of some failing town, who was now the camp cook, Hazel didn't grump as loud when she was helping him. They seemed to get on well enough too, the man loved to tell stories of his life on the sea and Hazel had always been a fish at heart.
"So little lady, what were you and John fighting about this time?" the man asks as he drops part of the wild game on the slab in front of her.
"He was being a jerk, kept tossing rocks at me and shoving me. I swear he needs to lock himself in an outhouse until he starts acting like my brother again." Hazel grumps as she chops up the vegetables and herbs.
"He's acting like most 17-year-olds I knew, I'm sure even Arthur acted like that-."
"Arthur was never a self-centered brat! Arthur loves me, even then he did. John just acts like I'm an inconvenience in his life. Not my fault papa and Uncle Dutch think that I'm a five year old who can't do anything alone."
"I'm sure John loves you too, but he's dealing with a lot ya know, with Arthur being gone all the time he has a lot more responsibilities that he hasn't had before."
"Well I'm not too happy with Arthur either. Both of them just need to leave me alone. And you need to stop acting like a know-it all housewife Mr. Pearson, you don't know anything." Hazel slams the knife down and storms away from camp. Hosea just looks at Dutch after the outburst.
"You still want another?" Hosea smiles when Dutch quickly shakes his head no. Neither man really knowing how to help a young girl. Hosea moves to stand up and follow his daughter, but Susan motions him to stay put as she walks after where the young girl had fled.
Hazel leaned against a tree that was just outside of camp and wiped her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. She stiffened when she heard steps getting closer to her spot. "No offense pops but I'm not really in the mood to talk about it." She says angrily.
"Well it's a good think I'm not your father because I don't care what kind of mood you are in." Susan says as she stops right behind the girl, "and if I ever hear you say anything that disrespectful about your father again you're going to be doing nothing but sitting on a sore backside with all the laundry at your feet do you understand me young lady?" Susan crosses her arms and gives the girl a scalding look, slightly pleased as the angry preteen wilts under the onslaught of the older woman.
"I'm sorry Miss Grimshaw." She says weakly.
"That's better, I know for a fact you were raised better than that, and you were raised to know better than to throw knifes and walk off in a huff."
"I didn't throw-," Hazel, started, but stopped full force at the look in Miss Grimshaw's eyes.
"Do you want to tell me what has been going through your head these last few weeks? You're acting like an animal and fighting with everyone, especially John any chance you get, slacking on your chores, going off by yourself all the time. It's not like you and I really would like Hazel Matthews back before she gets herself in some deep trouble."
The two stood in silence, both of them with arms crossed, but Hazel didn't have the ability to just stand and stare in silence, soon she let out a sigh and dropped her arms into her pockets and kicked at the dirt. "I'm really sorry, I just…..I just miss how things were."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…..Arthur is always gone now, he doesn't have time for me, now John is acting like he's my boss and not my brother. Like he cares more about telling me what to do than showing me like he used to, and Dad and Uncle Dutch are always gone too, always another job to do or score to settle, and I'm stuck here. I wanna be out there, helping out or something other than fixing clothes."
"Arthur is a father now Hazel, he has responsibilities, a son and a woman that need him, and he is needed just as bad here. He's has more on his shoulders than I think you realize, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love you any less. And John is doing what he thinks is best, he treats you like Arthur treated him because that was what he needed when John was brought here-,"
"But I don't need what John did!" Hazel loudly interrupts, "I always had papa and Uncle Dutch, I don't need another boss, I need my friend back, I just need John, the way he used to be." Hazel angrily wipes more tears from her eyes and wraps her arms back around her; Susan soon wraps her arms around the child and pulls her close to her chest.
"My sweet girl, gowning up isn't easy. One day you'll understand. I know it's hard, but we all still love you. Yes the boys are busy, yes your father and Dutch have been gone more than normal, but there is more of us now, we need more people out there getting us money and helping those that needed it."
"It's not fair; I just want things to be like they were before. I miss everyone." Hazel sniffles from where she is squeezed in Susan's grip.
"Things aren't all different girl; we're all here for your birthday aren't we? Just like we always are."
Hazel just nods but stays buried in Susan's hold. Susan doesn't let the girl go she remembers what it was like at 10, being the only girl in a sea of men and boys and watching everyone around her grow up and change while the world didn't seem to move for her. Susan also remembers what it was like when her world did change, and how it rocked her who perspective on life. Hazel would never be without someone who loved her, and soon Hazel would be big enough to join in on these "things" that everyone else was doing that she wasn't able to. And Hazel's hurts wouldn't be fixed with a strong hold and a few tears.
Soon Hazel's tears stopped and they headed back to camp and Hazel apologized to Pearson and resumed her post at his side and Susan smiled at Dutch and Hosea as she walked by them, muttering something about Hazel missing the boys before she was out of ear shot. Hosea was glad he wasn't totally off on his intuition, and decided that tomorrow he would send the kids off on a hunt or something, just the three of them like old times. They were all growing up, Arthur had already grown far outside the "kid range" but he was still Hosea's son and would always be his kid. Hosea wished he could turn the clock back a few years and lead a simpler life than what they were now.
But time marches on and soon the sun was sitting low in the sky, Hosea was playing poker with Pearson and Hazel, not really trying to win, but he was still beating the pants off them both, even though Hazel was getting harder to read, she had been taught to play by so many different people that she had no one tell like some of the others in camp. Hosea folded when he looked at a 10 and a 5 in his hand and nothing to fill it in what had dropped in the river yet, he knew Hazel had an ace in her hand and there was one on the table as well. But the game was interrupted when the sounds of horses broke the gently sounds in camp and three horses came through the trees. Hosea smiled at Hazel's confused look. He stood up and motioned for her to follow. Arthur and John hopped down from their horses and tied Boadicea and Old Boy to the posts, Arthur gripping the leather reigns of the very large grey horse with a black mane and tail.
"Happy Birthday!" the whole camp said as Arthur placed the reigns in Hazel's hand, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"He's an Ardennes war horse, a bit big, but you'll grow into him and he isn't skittish so you won't have to worry 'bout him bucking you off none." Arthur says with a smile, laughing at the girls still open mouth expression.
"He's mine? Like all mine?" Hazel asks, not taking her eyes off the horse.
"Sure, Hosea and I decided you were old enough and strong enough to have your own, so we all pitched in, who camp, new horse, tact, and grooming supplies."
Hazel dropped the reigns and jumped into Arthur's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She tries not to cry, but as Arthur wraps his arms around her she can't help it, just enjoying her big brother holding her again. Soon she lets go and makes her rounds, thanking them all, and her last stop is John who strode off while she was hugging everyone else. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier, and I wanted to thank you, ya know, for the horse."
"Didn't do much, only had a few bucks, it was Arthur's idea."
"But you still helped; you didn't have too, not after I've been so horrible to you lately."
"Well, I haven't been much better." John finally says looking at Hazel since he rode back to camp, "I'm sorry for pushing you, and for all the fighting, we didn't used to do it this much did we?"
"No, but Miss Grimshaw kinda explained it to me." Hazel wraps her arms around John's middle. "I love you John."
"I love you too kid."
Hazel's 10th birthday was very similar to the past birthdays, they all ate in fine style, and soon the camp was filled with loud singing and fake fights as dominoes and horseshoe games were played. Arthur, John, and Hazel took on Dutch, Hosea, and Uncle in a shoot completion around midnight and everything thinks it's because drinks had been flowing and one team had Uncle on it that the kids were able to win, since only John and Arthur were great shots, Hazel was still learning. But somehow the youths won and that put the elders on clean up duty the following morning.
Once everyone had settled down beside the fire and Uncle brought out his banjo did the atmosphere calm down, they were just a family tonight, not outlaws, not grown men with responsibilities or moody teenagers, just a family that was celebrating another year together. And as Hosea looked at the bottle of whiskey he opened every year in honor of Bessie, he was glad that so far his prediction of better Mays was still coming true. There had been fights and disagreements on all of their parts, but they were still a family, and Hosea couldn't be prouder of them all.
