Arthur agreed to meet Dutch and Lenny in town to rob the trolley station. He still had his doubts about it, but he trusted that Dutch had looked into it. After promises of getting closer to being free, Dutch led them into the station, shouting for everyone to hand over their valuables. Arthur robbed two women and a man sitting on the middle bench, but one woman seemed to be ignoring them, continuing to read her book.
"Hey you! Hand over everything you've-" Arthur stopped when he saw who it was. Grace looked up at him, frowning and disappointed. She held out a roll of bills to him and he hesitated.
"What are you doing? Take it!" Dutch yelled at him, not seeming to recognise Grace. Arthur reluctantly took the money and Grace went back to reading her book. His chest tightened with guilt, but he had no more time to think about it because Lenny shouted that he had the door open to the safe. Arthur emptied the safe, finding only a scant amount of money in it.
"We've been set up!" he said as lawmen started surrounded the station.
Seems those of us who thought Angelo Bronte was a lizard in a suit was right and them as thought he was a gentleman thief eager to help us on our merry way was wrong. Bastard sent us into a trap in town. Told us to rob a trolley station - no money but the entire police force was waiting for us. Dutch nearly died. Lenny fought real hard - the kid is good in a fight - and saved us.
"I'm taking Dutch back to camp, we'll see you later." Lenny drove off with Dutch who was still clutching his head.
Arthur took out the roll of cash he had taken from Grace. He needed to give it back to her. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. As usual, he didn't have long to wait for her to show.
"I told you it would be a set up!" she shouted, riding up on Tuula.
"Here," he handed her the money but she didn't take it.
"That's yours now," she said coolly.
"I don't want it," he said, still holding it out.
"Don't be stupid, just keep it," she insisted. "I don't need it. You do."
"But-"
"Just... use it to get your family to safety. Then live your life happy, however you want to. Goodbye, Arthur." She galloped away.
Arthur was left standing there, wanting to go after her but he didn't have his horse with him. He pocketed the money again and started the long walk back to Shady Belle. When he arrived, he managed to get out of talking to anyone on his way up to his room. He wasn't in the mood. He shut the door, and took out Grace's money.
After counting it all, he was astonished. Between that and the money she had left in his trunk - which was still there, he checked - he had enough money to get everyone to wherever they wanted to go in the world and probably have enough left over to do it again.
But he couldn't leave. Not yet. Not until he had reconciled with Grace. He hated that she was angry with him. She had good reason, of course, but he couldn't leave her like that. He had to find her. Again. And this time, set things straight.
He rode out the following day, knowing he had a few days while Dutch recovered from his head injury sustained in their escape from the Saint Denis law. He headed up towards Moonstone Pond to try to find her cabin.
When he reached the pond, he saw the cabin but it was nearly flattened by a fallen tree. He panicked and rushed over to it before realising the tree had fallen on this cabin a long time ago. Did she lie about where she lived? He wouldn't be surprised if she did, probably didn't want him to try to find and rob her or something. He dismounted to have a look around.
Then he heard the sound of wood being chopped and he spotted another cabin through the trees up a hill. He climbed the steep embankment to see Tuula grazing beside a small cabin. The appaloosa lifted her head and nickered quietly as Arthur approached and pet her nose. He walked around the side of the cabin and saw Grace chopping wood with her back towards Arthur. He stood there for a moment, watching her, trying to work out what he was going to say. When she set her axe down to pick up the wood, Arthur cleared his throat causing her to jump. She whirled around, saw who it was, then turned back without saying a word.
"Grace, look, I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm sure," she said icily, picking up some of the wood and piling it next to the cabin.
"Can I help?"
"No."
"Please, let me help." He picked up the rest of the wood and turned to see her go into the cabin, slamming the door. He piled it with the rest then knocked on her door.
"Go away, I don't want to talk to you," she yelled.
"C'mon, don't be like this," he moved to the window where she closed the curtains, "Grace, please talk to me." He walked around the cabin but she closed the curtains on of the windows. He could hear her moving about inside, but she didn't say anything. "Fine, I'll just sit here and wait until you're ready to talk."
Arthur sat on a chair just outside the door. He waited. And waited. And waited. He whistled for Smokey and untacked him to be more comfortable. Arthur didn't plan on going anywhere just yet. Dusk was starting to fall and still she hadn't said a word or come outside. Dark clouds were accumulating in the sky, indicating a storm was coming. Surely she wouldn't let him stay outside in a storm. She was far too nice to do that. It just started to rain when the door opened.
"Here," Grace handed him a bowl of stew, "You can sleep with the horses." She went back in and slammed the door.
"Goddamn woman!" Arthur cursed. He took the stew around the side of the cabin to the shelter Grace had built for her horse where Tuula and Smokey were already inside. He sat in the corner on a bale of hay and ate the stew.
The storm outside was becoming more intense. The thunder cracked so loudly and the horses became more agitated. The lightning was so frequent it made the sky look like daylight. The wind blew rain, leaves and debris all over the place, but luckily not too much inside the shelter.
When he awoke the next morning, the sun was just rising. He stood up and stretched, his body stiff and a bit sore from having to sleep on the ground of the shelter, then went outside. Tuula and Smokey were grazing on the damp grass while Grace was pumping water into a bucket.
"You going to talk to me now?" he asked, approaching her.
"No." She picked up the bucket and headed back to the cabin.
"Why not?"
"I don't want to."
"Well I want to talk to you."
"Then talk. Doesn't mean I'll listen."
"Goddammit, why are you being like this?"
"Leave me alone!" She stormed back into the cabin, slamming the door. Arthur sighed and sat down in the chair outside the door.
"I ain't leaving until we talk!" he yelled.
"Go to hell!"
"Oh, I'm sure I will!"
Arthur stayed outside all morning, only getting up to stretch his legs. He could hear Grace moving about in the cabin but she didn't open the door again. He knew he could easily just kick open the door, but he wasn't about to do that. Even if she was being unreasonable.
Noon came and went. Arthur ate some dried meat from his satchel. The sun started to set again and the cabin door finally opened.
"Why are you still here?" Grace asked angrily.
"I told you, I ain't leaving until we get this sorted out," he stood up.
"There's nothing to sort out," she went to shut the door but he blocked it with his hand.
"No, I'm done with this, we are going to talk whether you like it or not," Arthur said.
"Goddammit," Grace cursed. "Fine. Fine!" She went back inside, leaving the door open for Arthur to follow. He entered and took in the layout. A fireplace and stove was to the left with a kitchen table in front of him, a desk sat to the right of the door, and a bed covered by a quilt was in the far right corner. Leaning against the foot of the bed was her easel and a number of painting canvases. There were a few bookshelves, stuffed with books and journals, as well as a wardrobe along the walls.
Grace sat down at the desk, looking down at her journal in that writing Arthur couldn't read.
"Grace, I'm sorry about what happened," he said, "It... it wasn't supposed to go down like that."
"Well what did you think was going to happen?" she asked bitterly, "None of that would've happened if you had just taken the money and left!"
"But... it's yours," Arthur said stupidly.
"Oh for god's sake," she covered her face with her hands, "If we had never met, you would've gladly robbed me of that money and you'd all be gone now."
"Well-"
"I don't know what I expected. I don't even know why you're still here."
"I want to be here," he said.
"But why? After the way I treated you, I expected you to leave."
"I ain't going anywhere until we sort things out."
"For god's sake," she said to herself. "I just want you to get out while you still can. Get yourself and your family somewhere safe, somewhere you can all be happy and not have to worry about having enough money."
"I don't think that'll work," Arthur sighed, "We've lived the way we have for far too long."
"I know, but if you stay here and keep doing what you're doing, more people will die," Grace looked at him.
"You don't know that for sure."
"After all that nonsense in Saint Denis, I'm not sure if I can mislead the Pinkertons anymore."
Arthur sighed. "I'm sorry, but-"
"What about Mary? Why didn't you leave with her? I gave you the chance to leave then."
Arthur sighed. "I told her to take the money herself, and to go. What we had, it's done now."
"You should've gone with her."
"Why are you so concerned with me going with Mary?"
She suddenly stood up, causing her chair to fall over. "Because I love you and I want you to be happy!" Grace's eyes widened at her admission. "I mean, um, I just want you to be happy and I know you'll be happy with her."
"But I'm happy with you," Arthur said quietly.
She shook her head. "I shouldn't have let myself get too close," she said to herself as she picked up her chair.
"Would you be happy with me?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Why won't you let yourself be happy?"
"Because we can't-"
"We can't be together, yes, I know, but why not?"
"We just can't, okay?"
"Why won't you tell me?" he demanded.
"Because... because it's difficult."
"Try me."
"Maybe... maybe you'll find out, soon enough," she said quietly, gripping the back of her chair.
"Grace," he moved forward towards her but she backed away.
"Don't, just... don't."
Arthur nodded and sat down at the table. He didn't know what to do. He had felt his heart leap into his throat when she said she loved him, but why wouldn't she want to be with him? He watched her sit back down at her desk and start writing.
"I thought you were left-handed," he said after a few moments, frowning slightly.
"I'm ambidextrous," she said as she continued to write.
"Huh. You learn that in your world travels?"
"No. I was forced to learn."
Arthur frowned. "How can you be forced to learn to write with either hand?"
"I'm naturally left-handed, but that wasn't considered socially appropriate, so I was forced to use my right hand."
"How?"
"First they tied my left hand behind my back. And when that didn't work, they broke my fingers."
"Jesus!" Arthur was horrified, "Who the hell did that to you?"
"My parents," Grace said quietly, "Or rather, my parents had the servants do it." She held up her left hand and he noticed that her fore and middle fingers were slightly crooked. "My teachers also had a switch with which they used to hit my knuckles if I used my left hand. After all these years, it still gets stiff so I have to use my right hand."
Arthur felt anger rush up inside. "How could anyone do that to their kid?"
Grace shrugged. "It was the norm then."
"Christ. What kind of childhood did you have?"
She sighed. "One of wealth and privilege and bullshit."
"Jesus."
"Yeah. But, that was a long time ago." She stopped writing and looked over at him for a moment. Then she stood, went over to the stove, and removed the lid from a rectangular dish. Arthur couldn't see what she was doing, but when she turned around, she placed a dish in front of him containing some sliced meat with some sort of red-brown sauce and what looked like crispy mashed potatoes.
"What's this?" he asked as she returned to her desk.
"Brisket and kugel."
"Oh." He picked up his fork and poked at it.
"I didn't poison it, if you're wondering," she smirked.
"No, it's just..."
"Kugel is potato pudding. At least, that one is."
"Oh." Arthur tried a bit and was almost surprised how delicious it was. It tasted even better when eaten with the brisket and he ate it all up in no time. "You ain't hungry?"
"I already ate."
"Oh." He watched her write for a few minutes. "So where'd you learn to cook?"
"Here and there. But I sort of learned to cook brisket and kugel at home," she stopped writing. "My mother would serve brisket, potato kugel, latkes, and soup for Shabbat and say she did all the cooking. It was a complete lie, of course, since she only ever stepped into the kitchen to tell the servants what to cook."
"For what?" Arthur had never heard some of those words before.
"Oh, Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest on Saturdays."
"Wait, you're Jewish?"
"Yes. Well, half Jewish, I suppose. Is that a problem?"
"No, of course not, it's just... you said you didn't believe in God."
"I don't. I don't consider myself Jewish in the religious sense, but more as my heritage." She paused. "My mother was Jewish, but my father wasn't. He converted when he married my mother. We weren't strictly religious, but we still kept up with some traditions."
"Oh. It's not Saturday," Arthur pointed out.
"I know that, but I can have brisket and kugel any day I want," she laughed, "I won't be struck down or anything. Besides, I don't really observe anymore. I just like the food."
"Heh, it is pretty good."
"There's more if you want."
Arthur declined and she returned to writing. He watched her, curious what she was writing so much about. Was it about him? Or maybe she wrote stories like Mary-Beth did in camp. Grace could certainly write tales based on her own adventures. He took out his own journal and drew a few sketches of Grace and her cabin. He couldn't quite bring himself to write anything just yet, his mind was still reeling from when she said she loved him. And he loved her, how could he not? But he just didn't understand why she keeps saying they couldn't be together and he didn't understand why she wouldn't tell him. What could possibly be so serious?
"You okay?"
He glanced up to see her looking at him, concerned.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because you look angry."
"I was just thinking," he said, tapping his pencil on the open pages of his journal.
"Oh." She paused. "Well, it's getting late. You can take the bed, I'm sure it's far more comfortable than the horse's shelter."
"What about you?"
"I'm staying up tonight."
"Why?"
"It's private."
"Oh." Arthur couldn't help but be curious about what she could be doing in the middle of the night. He watched her continue writing before reluctantly turning in. It had been a long day, especially since he didn't get much sleep the night before, and he fell asleep not long after lying down.
Arthur woke to the sound of something being dragged outside. He got up and peeked out the window to see Grace wearing a nightgown and dragging a large tin bath near the water pump. Then she started filling a bucket of water and dumping it in the bath.
When it was full to her satisfaction, she pulled off her nightgown revealing that she had been completely naked underneath and stepped in. Arthur pulled back from the window, feeling slightly guilty for watching. He was about to sit down at her desk to wait for her to finish, but he looked out the window again in time to see her slip below the rim of the bath, presumably to wet her hair. But she didn't come back up right away.
After what felt like an absurdly long time, he panicked and ran outside. She was completely submerged in the water, her eyes closed. He grabbed her and pulled her up. She gasped in surprise, coughing up some of the water she had swallowed.
"What the hell?" she yelled.
"I thought you was drowning!"
"I was fine!"
"Oh, well, uh, sorry," he stammered as he suddenly realised she was still naked. "I'll... I'll go back in."
"You may as well stay."
"Why?"
"You'll see in a little bit," she said, settling into the bath.
Arthur stood where he was for a moment, then went to sit on the chair outside of the cabin. He tried to look everywhere else but at Grace as she washed up. When she finished, she turned to Arthur.
"Are you going to be fine with me being naked for a bit longer, or do you want me to put my nightgown on?" she asked.
"Um, well," he was unprepared for that question.
"I'll put my nightgown back on," she said with a smile. She stood up as Arthur averted his gaze. When he looked again, she had her nightgown back on and was now sitting on a blanket on the ground, drying her hair with a towel. She looked over at him, smiled again, and patted the ground next to her. Arthur sat on the blanket next to her.
"So why do you bathe out in the open, in the middle of the night, with cold water?" he asked.
"Because I like it," she replied. "Bathing in cold water is good for you, and doing it in the middle of the night is peaceful. Tuula's usually on guard to let me know if anything or anyone is around who shouldn't be," she added, pointing over to her horse who was grazing not too far away along with Arthur's horse.
"Oh. And then you just stay naked?"
"While I dry off, yes. The cool air feels nice, especially this time of year. I haven't dumped out the bath yet, if you want to wash up too," she said. "I can heat it up if you want."
"Sounds good," he said, now realizing he probably smelled awful. Grace stood up and went inside, soon returning with a pot of hot water which had been heated up on the stove, as well as another towel. She poured it in the bath, swishing it around to even out the temperature.
"There you go," she said. "I'll be over here. I won't look." She sat back down on the blanket and started braiding her damp hair as Arthur went over to the bath.
He undressed and stepped into the warm water. He lay back and closed his eyes. She was right, it was peaceful. He wasn't so sure about bathing in cold water, though. At least it was warm enough. He opened his eyes and looked over at Grace who was now lying down with one arm under her head and the other across her stomach, looking up at the sky. He washed up, dried off, and got dressed again.
"So you're just looking up at the sky?" he sat down next to her.
"Yep."
"Looking at what?" he looked up.
"The stars, for now."
"What do you mean, 'for now'?"
"You'll see," she said. "It'll be better if you lie down too. Your neck won't get so stiff."
Arthur lay down next to her. They were silent for a few minutes.
"Y'know, Pearson told us that if we ever got lost, all we had to do was follow one of them stars," Arthur gestured towards the sky.
"He was probably talking about Polaris," she said.
"So he was telling the truth?"
"In a way. Polaris is usually the brightest star in the sky and it's the most constant," she took his hand in hers, pointing it towards the sky. "See? That's it there. The orientation of the stars and constellations change, depending on the time of day and year, but Polaris remains exactly where it is. You can find it easily by the Ursa Major constellation there." She guided his hand along the stars.
"Huh." He lowered his hand, still hanging onto hers. "You ever meet that blind beggar man?"
"A few times, yes. Why?"
"This reminds me of something he said to me and I ain't sure what to make of it. 'Your whole life you've been following the wrong star'."
"Could mean a lot of things, I suppose."
"Has he said anything to you?"
"'The end you seek is coming, but perhaps it is not the end you wish it to be.'"
"'The end'?"
"Probably just a bunch of nonsense," she shrugged.
He then saw something streak across the sky. "Did ya see that?"
"Just wait."
Arthur watched as another light streaked across the sky. Then another. More and more filled the sky. He couldn't recall if he'd ever seen anything like it. He'd seen meteor showers before, but not as much as this one. Grace squeezed his hand, making him aware that he was still holding hers. He looked over at her. She was still watching the sky in amazement. He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it.
"Arthur?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you mean what you said earlier?" she turned her head to him, "That you're happy when you're with me?"
"Yes. Did you mean it earlier? What you said?"
She hesitated, looked back up at the sky, then leaned over and kissed him.
"Is that a yes?"
Grace smiled and nodded. They kissed again so intensely as if to make up for all the lost time, and he rolled her over onto her back, the meteor shower forgotten above them. She started unbuttoning his shirt and he broke away long enough to remove it while she pulled off her nightgown. She wasted no time in yanking him back to her.
Everything inside him was exploding, like the fireworks from the mayor's party. It was all happening so fast but also so slow. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. The way she gripped him so tightly, the sounds she made, and how they just fit so right together.
And when she cried out his name, the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard, he looked into her eyes and there was no hint of the sadness he'd always seen in them. Now they were vibrant and full of love and happiness. And for the first time in a very long time, perhaps even ever, he was happy too.
"You okay?" he asked quietly as they caught their breath. She nodded euphorically and kissed his forehead as he lowered his head to her chest. He listened to her still pounding heartbeat as she gently combed her fingers through his hair.
Arthur wondered how he got so lucky. What did he ever do to have her in his life? He didn't deserve her, but he needed her.
