The knocking of metal against wood caused a slow methodic beat which chimed in tune with the clacking hooves on the ground. A caravan with three carts, a carriage lead by a bull and a few horses were slowly travelling across the western frontier. At the point of the Caravan was Arthur Morgan scouting ahead as they moved down the moonlight path. He was atop of his beautiful the white Arabian Princess who huffed and puffed walking at a slow pace. The look of sleep on his face as his eyes fluttered to stay open, he drifted a bit but shook his head awake when he heard a voice behind him. "Arthur... Let's stop." An older woman with long grey hair braided into a bun. She was driving the carriage with a sleeping boy laid across her lap tucked in a blanket and curled up like a cat. She was a gentle looking woman with wise eyes and a soothing voice. Her dress was a simple design made in yellow and brown.

"I agree with you there Ms Honey," Arthur said and turned Princess round and headed to the side of the carriage to speak with her more directly.

"Thank you for guiding us out of town Mr Callaghan. It's a shame things unfolded the way they did I wish I had been alerted to the goings-on. I could have done something." She said with a thick country accent.

"It's alright mam' things are just complicated that's all. I'm very sorry about Isabella." He said, and she reached her hand out to him. He reluctantly handed it to her, and she held it tight.

"No need to apologise, Isabella is a woman who does what she does do not blame yourself for her. You have to protect yourself my dear we all have too. Your a good lad sticking with us this long but, you are staying here with us tonight to get some sleep. You can't go riding off on your own tired enough to fall from yer horse. Come on. I'll cook some of my stew, and you can get Rosalyn out of her Carriage and join us for dinner. WE'RE CAMPING OUT EVERYBODY" The woman hollered at the end, and everyone who had been dozing off in the carts jumped awake. Tired and confused most of the group was women who were quick to take orders and started to set up a small camp for them on the side of the road. The few men around were riding the horses and looked too young and innocent to be fighters.

"How on earth did you make it this far with this lot?" Arthur asked surprised a group, with so few men survived.

"People like whores Mr Callaghan." Honey said and lifted her breasts to him giving them a jiggle before walking off to bark orders to start a campfire.

"I won't argue that." He muttered to himself with a chuckle and looked to the carriage door. The image of Isabella soaked in the mud with a hateful glare flashed in his eyes standing in front of it. He sighed deeply and dismounted his horse and approached the door. Inside he could hear the soft feminine voice of the bean lady muttering inside. He pressed his ear up to the door and silently listened before noticing he could peek through a gap.

Inside the carriage, which was stuffed full of hastily packed things. Rosalyn was hiding amongst the blankets, boxes of jars, clothes and other things you would find in a ladies bedroom.

"What am I going to do..." She was talking to a picture she held in her lap.

"I missed the Festival, I don't know where I'm going, and I'm pretty sure my brothers can't find me out here. If I go back to St Denis? Oh Daddy no I don't want to see 'him' anymore..." She was struggling to speak through her tears. As Arthur leaned in closer to see what the picture of daddy looked like he snapped the wireframe ornament on the carriage making a loud snap. Her head spun round to him, and he saw her bloodshot eyes and tangled blonde hair.

"Who's there!" She scrambled for the gun at her side.

"Whoa, there tiger it's just me," Arthur shouted nervously.

"Were... were you eavesdropping on me?" She asked as Arthur opened the door.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" He asked.

"Go away." She said and tried to pull the door close, which Arthur did not let happen.

"We're setting up camp, you must be hungry," Arthur said as she struggled against him. He clearly was much stronger than her, but she really did try. Even as far as putting her bare foot against his chest and tried to push him away. "Rose..." He said and had to start pushing back against her to make her stop.

"Don't call me that! and I said go away!" She yelled and huffed not able to make him budge, and she slapped him in the face with a pillow. "This is all your fault!" She yelled

"My fault?" He barked back offended by the insinuation and grabbed the pillow from her. "If you just minded your own business I would have left y'all alone you were the one who chased after me," Arthur snarled. She tried to grab the pillow but he and pulled it back away from her, but she wasn't going for the pillow, she hugged him instead.

"I don't want to be a whore anymore!" Rosalyn yelled in sorrow as Arthur froze for a moment. He could see her shoulder start to shake and he gently patted her back as she cried once more.

"I never knew you were, I thought you made beans and delicious jams," Arthur said trying to redirect the conversation.

"You... you thought they were delicious?" She asked.

"Yes I do, is there more?" he asked as he could see her calm down a bit at the change of topics.

"Yeah." She said rubbing her eyes which were soaked leaving black make up smudged down her cheeks. Arthur pulled the torn bandana from his pocket and handed it to her. Which she used to wipe her face dry.

"Let's open one. A snack before dinner?" Arthur climbed into the cluttered carriage and sat next to her, leaning back against the pile of clothes.

"You have too much stuff." He said and watched as Rosalyn pulled out a jar of jam from the pile and handed it to Arthur. She did not respond, she didn't even look at him. It was like she was a different woman. Whatever relationship Rosalyn had with Isabella, it was much more than a business one. She was clearly mourning heavily. So, Arthur grabbed her by the wrist and eased her back to sit down next to him, once she sat down he pulled her close to his side wrapping his arm around her and held her. "It's going to be alright Ms Rosalyn." He said softly giving her a squeeze.

Rosalyn cuddled up into Arthur, his strong arms around her as she buried her face into his chest. Arthur took a deep long breath as she continued to sob this time with his company as he cracked open the jar and drank the jam from it. This one was of blueberries, it tasted overly sweet with a tart aftertaste, much like Rosalyn herself, but was good none the less.

Rosalyn however finally settled down once Arthur presented himself as the new pillow. After an hour she was off to sleep leaving Arthur alone in the carriage. It was a cluttered mess since most of the belongings in her room were hastily thrown into the wagon when they packed up. Not much in money or coin, mostly clothes and cookware. Within the mess, Arthur did notice jammed under a suitcase there was a book. One of the only books in sight. It was going to be a long night camping out on the road, and he wanted to stay awake as he refused to sleep with the nagging feeling that the O'Driscolls would sneak up on them in the night. A book would help with that, and he carefully slid it out of the pile trying not to knock everything else over. With the book successfully removed he checked each cover to see what it was. There was no title on it except for the letter M pressed into the leather binding.

"Hm... what this." He muttered to himself before opening it up to a random page. It was handwritten, and Arthur took a gander.

"Baked Beans with Maple Sauce

dried navy beans, soaked overnight and drained,

water

salted pork

onion

pure maple syrup

ketchup

apple cider vinegar

dry mustard

salt

pepper

Method.

In a large, ovenproof pot, add beans and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add pork, onion, maple syrup, ketchup, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove lid. Cook another 45 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature."

It was a simple recipe, straight forward and simple but just reading the ingredients made him hungry again.

"What are you doing with that?" A soft whisper came from in front, and he looked up to see the little boy sleeping earlier standing there with two bowls of stew.

"Just looking for something to read," Arthur whispered and pointed to Rosalyn who was sleeping on his lap.

"That's the Miss' Diary sir, you should not read that." He said and gave Arthur a nasty glare.

"What's your name?" Arthur asked closing the book and putting it down.

"Felix." He said

"How old are you Felix?"

"I'm fourteen Sir." Felix walked up to the carriage and handed the bowls of stew to Arthur.

"Sir, oh I'm no sir. You can call me Arthur." He replied before taking one of the bowls from the boy trying not to move too much to wake the blonde. "I also don't think Rosalyn is going to be eating right now, why don't you save it for her when she wakes up."

"Okay, are you replacing Miss Isabella?" Felix asked.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that."

"Who's going to protect us on the road then?" Felix asked.

"You ask too many questions," Arthur said giving him a look.

"Adults who don't have answers are hiding things," Felix said and ran off back to the campfire.

"Clever kid." Arthur huffed before leaning back. He ate his meal quickly and quietly. Tossing the bowl and spoon onto the ground outside before grabbing the book again. Not before checking to make sure Rosalyn was still sleeping, which she was.

"Does she just write recipes in here?" Talking to himself quietly Arthur opened the diary and started on the first page this time. The book mostly contained recipes, random numbers, and names. One page was simply a list of names with various dollar amounts next to each name. After flipping through, he came across a long paragraph hastily written and had blood drops stained into the paper.

"Dear Thomas and David Bush,

I'm sorry, I cannot keep doing this anymore. We came to America because Father believed this was the land where dreams came true. That was a lie, ever since we got here, I have been mistreated by my clients, by the townsfolk and even by both of you. I did not come to America to be the whore that you bleed when you need money. I leave all my belongings to Isabella Morningstar and Marionetta 'Honey' Brown. I hate you both.

Rosalyn Bush"

Arthur read it a few times, blinking confused a bit as his mind tried to figure out the missing details flipping to the reverse side to see more bloodstained in the book.

"Oh Shit." He said rather loud causing Rosalyn to stir. He jumped in surprise and dropped the book, and it landed on her face.

"Ow!" Rosalyn shot up after being smacked with a book and looked at Arthur who sat there pale face and panicked. She blinked a few times still groggy from just waking up but focused on the open book on the ground. The page he was reading from still open to them.

"That's my diary," Rosalyn said.

"I... okay to be fair you read mine," Arthur said noticing her chest puff out as if she was about to yell at him.

"What that makes it okay to rummage through my things!" Rosalyn scrambled to pick up the book, but Arthur put his hand on it. "Hold on, explain this to me." He said sternly. "You're not my husband! Your not even my employee. I don't have to explain anything to you!" She yelled and snatched the diary and closed it before hugging it to her chest. "Get out!" She screamed at him. Before he could say anything, Felix and Honey approached the carriage with shocked looks on their faces hearing the mistress yell.

"Oh no! Out out out! Felix go grab Daniel." She said, and the boy took off again. "Whoa hold your horses! I'm leaving alright." He said and climbed out of the carriage. This time being shoved out by Rosalyn who pushed him the last of the way. "I never want to see your face again!" Rosalyn screamed again and slammed the door of the carriage closed.

"Rose," Arthur complained but the door was shut, and Honey grabbed him by the ear and started to drag him off. "Ow ow ow."

"You have some nerve trying to take advantage of a lady after she lost her sister. Shame on you!" Honey scolded him and pushed him off letting go of his ear. "Whoa whoa whoa! That's not what happened! I was just reading her diary." Arthur defended himself. "Rifling through a ladies personals, that's even lower, you intend to steal from her?" Honey put her hands on her hips. "No!" "You plan to steal from us?" She asked "No!" Arthur repeated. He meant it too. "I... read something strange in her diary. It... ugh... it looked like a suicide note. I don't know" He said and looked to the carriage worried.

"Yeah so? You've never been that depressed? Consider yourself lucky. That poor girl has seen more terror then you can imagine. I may have been a whore all my life, but I choose that path, she didn't. It takes a certain type of person to handle cowboys like you. Greedy, selfish, take all and leave nothing behind frontiersmen who kill and destroy everything in their path. I think it's time you told me what happened. In detail." Honey said just as two of the boys approached. Arthur could feel the sweat drip down his neck as now the entire caravan was paying attention to them. "Okay, I'll tell you everything," Arthur said and raised his hands up seeing the two young boys take out their guns while giving him a dirty look.