He didn't know how long it was until Grace came out of the cabin. Arthur had moved to the ground in front of the log to have a quick nap and he awoke to her sitting beside him.

"You okay?" he asked, noting her reddened eyes.

"Yeah, it's just... it's been a long time since I've talked so much about him," she said, looking down at the ground.

"I understand," he put his arm around her and she leaned into him.

"How did you meet Mary?" she asked after a few moments.

"Heh, I was sent into town by Dutch and Hosea to scope out a place to rob, but ended up seeing a pretty girl and followed her around until I got the courage to talk to her," he chuckled.

"Then what happened?"

"Well, first Dutch and Hosea were annoyed I hadn't actually done anything about the robbery, but we pulled it off anyway. And I kept meeting Mary for a while without her knowing what I was until she saw me robbing a feller. Had my face covered but she recognised me."

"What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything at the time, but when I met her again..." Arthur whistled. "I don't know how I survived."

Grace smirked. "But she still stayed with you."

"Yes, God knows why."

"Because you loved each other."

"Yeah, but we were young and kinda foolish."

"Aren't we all?" There was a pause before she spoke again. "What do you think you'd be doing now if you had left with Mary back then?"

"I don't know, hard to imagine any other life than what I got now."

"Understandable. I can't imagine you doing much else." She then started giggling. "Imagine you working somewhere like a bank."

Arthur burst out laughing. "The only work I do in banks is robbing 'em."

"Well, you don't need to," she stood, "That money I gave you should be enough for a while."

"Yeah, but-"

"I can't stay with you and the rest of them," she said

"Why not?" he stood and followed her back to the cabin.

"There's not much privacy, is there? I mean, I can see that most of you leave each other alone when needed, but still. That's a lot of people to be up in your business. Besides, I highly doubt any of you are actually going to stop your nefarious ways and I'd rather be able to travel freely without any law on my tail."

"Yeah, you're probably right, as usual."

"Are you making fun of me?" she narrowed her eyes at him but couldn't help but smile a bit.

"No, you'd know when I make fun of you," he chuckled as he watched her pick up a hook to lift the lid off a large pot beside the fire place, revealing a number of baked rolls. She then used another hook to lift out the tray the rolls were on and set it aside before placing in another tray of unbaked rolls. She replaced the lid and covered it with burning embers from the fire.

"So we'll head back to Saint Denis tomorrow morning," she said, wiping her hands on her apron as she turned to him.

"Sure. So how long does this take?" Arthur gestured to the pot.

"Should be about thirty, forty minutes, but I need to turn it every ten."

He nodded then pulled her close and kissed her.

"I have to keep an eye on the rolls," she said, kissing him back.

"I know," he backed her against the table and lifted her up on it. She pushed him back slightly with her hand on his chest.

"No, I really do need to keep an eye on them," she smiled, "And I best not be too distracted. But," she leaned in and kissed him on his jaw line below his ear, "there will be plenty of time later."

"Heh, I suppose I can wait," he kissed her again and helped her off the table.

"Good, because you'll have to," she picked up a fire iron and stoked the fire.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I don't need anything done, thank you," she replaced the fire iron then turned to him. "Actually, could you fill this, please?" She handed him a large pot. "Not all the way, only about two-thirds."

"Sure," he took the pot and went outside to the water pump. Their horses were resting in the shade of the trees nearby, though it was somewhat cloudy that day. He filled up the pot to what he figured would be two-thirds and brought it back in. She thanked him, took the pot, and placed it on the stove, then started adding chopped vegetables and other things from jars.

He watched her for a few moments as she stirred the mixture. "What do you think you'd be doing now if-" he stopped.

"If what?"

"If William hadn't been killed." Grace stopped stirring. "Sorry, I was just curious, you don't have to answer."

"No, it's fine," she placed a lid on the stew pot. "I'm not sure I have an answer for you. I'd like to think we'd be together now, but I don't know."

"Funny how things work out."

"You think it's funny?" she frowned at him.

"No! No, I meant, well, I'm not sure what I meant." Arthur frowned as well, wishing he could take back what he said. He didn't mean it like that.

"Oh, you mean how I was with someone who was good and kind and generous and now I'm with you, a degenerate outlaw."

"I suppose that's what I meant."

"Joke's on you because you are good and kind and somewhat generous yourself," she smiled, "Maybe not as much as William, but more than you think you are."

"I don't know about that."

She shrugged and moved over to the fire, using a folded towel to pick up the baking pot, turned it, then stoked the fire again. Arthur looked around the cabin, trying to find something useful to do. But everything was neat and tidy, apart from her painting canvases at the foot of her bed. He moved towards them.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Was going to tidy up your paintings, but I won't if you don't want me to," he said, "Just want to help."

"Okay." She turned back to the stew pot.

Arthur hesitated then moved her easel so he could move the paintings. He'd only seen her painting of Emerald Ranch, but these were far more interesting. They were very colourful but not gaudy like Charles Châtenay's paintings and certainly not as revealing. The first one was of two mountain rams about to butt heads, the next one was of a bear snarling at a wolf. Then there was one of a group of people playing hockey on a frozen lake or river he didn't recognise. He smiled to himself, wondering when he and Grace could return to the mountains to play hockey again.

There were a couple others of some mountain scenery, but he picked up the next one to have a better look. It was of an elephant, which was certainly not common around these parts.

"Where'd you paint this one?" he asked, showing her.

"Oh, that was a year or two ago. I went to the circus," she then laughed, "That's sort of how I got that scar on my shoulder. They had a lady who could do a backflip on a cantering horse, and while I can't do any sort of flips, I thought I'd try just standing on Tuula's back. Let's just say she didn't like it very much."

Arthur laughed, "Guess you ain't got a career in circus performing, huh?"

"Not in acrobatic riding, but maybe I could be a clown," she grinned. "You could be lion tamer."

"Heh, I don't think it went so well with the last lion I met," he put the painting down with the others as he sorted them carefully by canvas size. It wasn't much, but it looked a little tidier. Grace was busy with cooking so he took a moment to peruse her books. Some looked very old, their spines cracked and the titles so worn he couldn't read them.

When she had removed the baking pot from beside the fire, Arthur was about to sit down to let her finish up but then she grabbed him by his shirt collar and kissed him. He couldn't help but smile as he kissed her back, letting her push him back towards her bed.


The following morning, Grace packed up some clothes along with the rolls she had baked, explaining to Arthur that she was going to stay at the farm outside of Saint Denis. Arthur asked her to come back to camp and stay with him, but she declined.

"You need your space," she said as they rode out, "And I don't know about you, but I think I'd like to keep us to ourselves for now."

"Yeah, I think so too," he smiled at her.

The ride to Saint Denis was uneventful, with the exception of a lunch break that ended with them making love in the woods. They were nearly caught when a passing rider had stopped to relieve himself only a short distance away. Grace had started giggling, only stopping when Arthur covered her mouth with his hand.

"That was close," she said when he removed his hand.

"Hm," he kissed her vigourously.

"You in a rush or something?" she asked softly as he moved down her neck.

"Or something," he mumbled against her collarbone and she tightened her hold on him.


It was early evening when they arrived at Saint Denis. They stopped at the church orphanage first to deliver the small basket of rolls.

"Well, I suppose you'll be wanting to get back," Grace said, mounting her horse.

"Hm?"

"The others? You haven't been back at camp for a while, they're probably wondering where you'd gone."

"Oh, right."

He rode with her to the farm outside of the city where she greeted a stablehand.

"Here to stay the night, Miss?" the stablehand said, tentatively holding his hand out for Tuula to sniff.

"Yes, and no, he's not staying too," Grace gestured to Arthur.

"Oh, good, you know how Mrs. Price thinks of that," the stablehand smirked slightly as he nodded at Arthur.

"So," she turned to Arthur, "Meet me at the park tomorrow morning?"

"Of course." He moved his horse closer, leaned over and kissed her.

"Until then," she smiled before dismounting and leading Tuula into the stable followed by the stablehand.

Arthur slowly rode through the city and back towards camp. He didn't want to be apart from her, not so soon. He had hoped she would return to camp with him, but as she said, it may be best to keep their affair to themselves for now.

"Who goes there?" Bill called out as Arthur rode in.

"It's me, you dumbass," Arthur yelled.

"Well, I hope you had a good time," Bill said sarcastically.

After dismounting his horse, Arthur crossed the foot bridge to be greeted by Jack.

"Hi, Uncle Arthur! Is Miss Grace here too?"

"Not today."

"Oh. I wanted to tell her I'm almost finished that book she gave me!"

"You did? Well that's real good. I'll tell her when I see her next."

"Okay! I hope she comes back to visit."

"I'm sure she will." Arthur smiled to himself as Jack ran off. He was then approached by Sadie.

"She not with you?"

"No, she's staying elsewhere."

Sadie looked at him for a few moments before her eyes widened. "Wait, are you two...?" Arthur smiled slightly. "I knew it!"

"Don't say anything," he lowered his voice, "It's... I don't want everyone to know yet."

"Of course," Sadie grinned, "Never had you as the romantic type, even though I heard about that Mary."

"Hah, I ain't."

"So what happened with Mary?"

"She didn't love me enough, or I wouldn't change."

"Well, she's a fool. But it worked out for Grace, I s'pose. I hope you bring her back, I like her."

"I can't believe she was there when we got you away from them O'Driscolls," Arthur said, noticing that Sadie kept fingering the locket now around her neck which Grace had given her.

"I'm glad she was," she replied quietly before walking away.

Arthur went in the house and upstairs to knock on Dutch's door to let him know he had returned.

"I told you I don't want to talk!" Dutch yelled from the other side.

"I just got here!" Arthur said.

"Oh! Arthur, come in."

Arthur opened the door and saw Dutch sitting up on the bed. "Expectin' someone else?"

"Yeah, Molly," Dutch shook his head, "All she wants to do is talk, talk, talk. Does she not realise I have more important things to think about?"

"Well, maybe you should talk to her, get it out of the way."

"Right, and then she'll just want to talk more."

"So how are you feeling now?" Arthur pointed to his head.

"Oh, much better, but I still have headaches," Dutch rubbed his temple, "So I been thinking. Before we are able to rob the bank in Saint Denis, we have to get rid of Bronte."

"Get rid of him?"

"He set us up, Arthur."

"You always said vengeance was a fool's game."

"Then let us be fools."

"So what's the plan then?"

"I'm still thinking about that. Just need more time."

"We don't have much time left."

"I know, Arthur. I know."

"What if... what if we don't have to rob the bank?" Arthur said cautiously.

Dutch frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if we can send someone to get the Blackwater money?"

"No. We can't risk that."

"But Grace could-"

"I said no. We'll go back for the money when it's clear."

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know," Dutch lay back down, "I need to rest more. I'll think about what we're going to do about Bronte."

Arthur nodded and left for his own room. He knew going after Bronte was just going to cause more trouble, but he had to admit he too was infuriated they had been set up.

He sat on his bed and looked at the picture of himself and Grace. He picked it up, running his fingers over her image. Was she thinking of him at that moment as well? He replaced the picture, and was about to lay back on his bed, when he noticed his trunk was slightly askew. He was sure he had left it sitting flat against the end of his bed.

He moved it back to where it was supposed to be and opened it. At first he didn't see anything wrong. But as he searched through the trunk, he realised that the money he had gotten from Grace was missing. But who would've taken it?

"Dammit!" he slammed the lid shut. He felt disappointed, but also strangely relieved. Now he didn't have to worry about trying to decide between the gang and Grace, at least, not yet. But all that money... He'd need to be careful about accusing anyone. If everyone found out he had been hiding that much money all this time...

He decided not to worry too much about it. Instead, he'll wait and see what happens. If someone announces they found or stole a lot of money, he'll know who took it from his trunk. But should he speak up and say it was his and it was stolen? Dutch wouldn't take too kindly about hiding all that money from him and the gang. What if the thief admits they took it from Arthur's trunk? How would he explain having that money? If he told them he got it from Grace, would they simply accept it and escape? Or would some of the others try to get more out of her?

Whatever happens, he'll figure it out and he'll do everything he can to protect her if he needs to.


Arthur left early the next morning, unsure of when exactly he was to meet Grace. He didn't hurry, as much as he wanted to, keeping his horse at a slow jog into the city. He stabled his horse and wandered over to the park.

In the pond, there were a number of strange objects floating about. Some looked like large balls, others looked like toy boats but bigger. A flock of ducks had congregated at one end of the pond, seemingly annoyed at the foreign obstructions. As he headed to the pond's edge to wait for Grace, he could hear a man angrily shouting in a strange accent at the small dock.

"Bastards! Total bloody bastards!" The man was pacing beside a table with a strange contraption with levers and rods on it. "Why do I waste my time? Why?"

"You okay, buddy?" Arthur asked as he neared him.

The man jumped, startled, then frowned. "Ugh, fantastic. You Americans! Nothing but shysters, traitors, and slippery tongued ball suckers!"

"I'm inclined to agree," Arthur chuckled slightly.

"Here, help me, please," the man opened a box next to the table and took out what looked like a large unfinished boat. He handed it to Arthur.

"So, are you some sort of European toy maker?"

"No, I am a fucking genius with poker up the ass," the man stuck a couple of metal rods into the boat-like object. "Toy maker," he scoffed, "Do I look like I should entertain children?" He narrowed his eyes at Arthur.

"No."

"I am the saviour of the mankind, buddy," he took the boat from Arthur and placed it in the water. "Yes, you meet him, Professor Marko Dragic," he introduced himself.

"So, what's this toy about?" Arthur started to poke at the contraption on the table.

"It is not a toy!" Marko slapped his hands away, "It is demonstration of my genius, of my ideas about the source of life."

"Ah, it's a toy boat!" Arthur realised.

"It's a strange toy boat," Grace said as she walked up, wearing a plum-coloured skirt and jacket with a matching hat.

"Ugh, yes, it is a 'toy boat' that I can power remotely using electricity and waves you cannot see," Marko said angrily.

Arthur and Grace raised their eyebrows at each other as Marko was flipping switches on the contraption.

"Waves I can't see," scoffed Arthur.

"And still the investors will not come," Marko complained, "just a couple of old ladies and a moron."

"Investors?" asked Grace.

Marko was about to reply when he noticed a man and two women approaching. "Ah, ladies! Gentleman! Hello, yes, hello. My friends, you are about to witness history! A demonstration of my infinite insight!" He pushed Arthur and Grace to the side. "All of us, we feel old, you, you are old," he pointed to one of the ladies who looked offended. "But maybe I can make you immortal!"

"For god's sake, why?" Grace blurted out. Marko glared at her. "Why on earth would you want to be immortal? To live forever?"

"Ahem!" Marko cleared his throat, ignoring Grace, "Using waves you cannot see, I will power this boat-"

"You're a goddamn fraud," another man interrupted Marko, "And those two are his stoolies," he pointed at Arthur and Grace. "I watched them conspire, you morons."

"Oh, please," Grace sneered, "Like I would want anything to do with this nonsense."

"I-I-I never met them until two minutes ago!" Marko said to the investors, "Isn't that right?" he asked Arthur and Grace.

"Unfortunately," said Grace.

"Alright, Professor, show us your magical toy boat," said one of the investors, "only let one of them control it." He gestured to Arthur and Grace.

"I want nothing to do with this," Grace threw up her hands and went to sit on a nearby bench with her arms crossed.

"This ain't nothing to do with me," Arthur protested and was about to join Grace, but Marko grabbed his arm.

"Come, please, please," Marko pulled Arthur over to the contraption, "It is easy! Any moron could do it, and I am about to prove it." Before Arthur could feel insulted, Marko was showing him how to control the boat with the levers on the contraption. "Use these to steer, and this one to shoot torpedoes, okay? Now blow up the little battle ships and avoid the sea mines, they have magnets attached."

Arthur manoeuvred that boat around, amazed that he could do so without any wires or anything. He torpedoed the battleships and narrowly missed hitting one of the sea mines. Marko continued to talk to the investors.

"You see what he does? No wire like telegraph, no pulley system under water, only waves in the air!"

"This is remarkable," one of the investors said, impressed.

"Yes! See what he does! Bring boat back to dock," said Marko.

"Very impressive, but I'm not sure what, if anything, was proven here."

Arthur steered the boat back to the dock. He glanced over at Grace sitting on the bench, who looked interested, but not entirely impressed. He smirked to himself as Marko reached down to the boat.

"Let me just reload her!" he took out the boat and placed more mini torpedoes in it, "This is just a demonstration of my prowess, sir! The real miracles require investment." He placed the boat back in the water. "Now the dimwit will use invisible waves to destroy the little sailing boats before they get to other side of pond."

Arthur looked to see a couple of men in a rowboat place some small motorised sailboat toys in the water. "Or he'll try to, at least." He steered the boat towards them and torpedoed them easily.

"Fool proof!" Marko cheered, "Undeniable fool proof! But you are not fools. And unlike fools, not fools and their money are difficultly parted."

The investors clapped as Arthur brought the boat back to the dock, disappointed that it was over already. It was very fun.

"It's incredible!" he said, very impressed by the invention.

"No, no, no, incredible things are in my lab back at Doverhill that will astound all of you," Marko said excitedly to the investors. "Mr. Marcelle, can I count on your support?"

"Well, this is expensive," Mr. Marcelle hesitated.

"It is immortality! Sir, it is very cheap! Perhaps, over lunch?" Marko begged.

"I'm going to go," Arthur said, heading towards Grace.

"Oh! Of course, thank you, and if you are ever up at Doverhill, stop by and pay me a visit," Marko said, "there I will really amaze you."

He nodded and sat next to Grace on the bench. "So what did you think?"

"It's impressive, but I fail to see how invisible waves has anything to do with immortality," she said.

"I guess that's why he's the professor and we're not."

"They were right on one thing," she said quietly, "Immortality would be expensive."

"Yeah, sounds like it would cost a lot of money."

"I don't mean money. I mean, well, let's say immortality could be achieved, then what? Does that apply to everyone, or only a select few? And if it's only a select few, will they realise that they will outlive everyone? Will they have the option to die when they get tired of living? And if everyone can be immortal, what about having children? The population of the world will become too much because no one is dying."

"I never thought it that way."

"Well, you were having too much fun blowing up toy boats," she smiled.

"Hah, it was pretty fun," he stood and held his arm out to her. She took it and they walked out of the park. "So would you invest in that?"

"No. It's an interesting concept and impressive, but I'd rather see it demonstrating more beneficial uses. Like, maybe one day we can send telegraphs wirelessly."

"You really think that's possible?"

"After everything I've seen, I'm sure it will one day. Just not today."

"The way everything's changing, it feels like there won't be any use for folk like us."

"'Folk like us'?"

"I mean, me, Dutch, the others."

"Oh, outlaws, you mean," Grace paused. "I was going to say there wasn't any use for you at all, but I suppose there are benefits."

"Like?"

"Well, you're less likely to consider the legalities of helping out someone. Like, say someone kidnaps someone you know. You're not going to waste time going to the local sheriff. You're going to barge right in, fight, then burn the place down."

"Sounds like something we might do," Arthur laughed.

"Oh! You! Excuse me!" a man called to them.

"Uh, do I know you?" Arthur asked. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place him.

"I believe we've met, at that awful party."

"Oh, Evelyn Miller?' he realised.

"Unfortunately so, Mr.. uh?"

"Arthur Morgan, at least sometimes," he shook Evelyn Miller's hand, "And Grace M- I mean, Bellerose, all of the time," he gestured to Grace.

"Ah, yes, you were at that party too," Evelyn nodded politely at her then turned back to Arthur. "May I say something rude?"

"Wouldn't be the first."

"The mayor thinks you robbed him." Arthur and Grace looked at each other. "To be clear, he wasn't very upset about it."

"Okay," Arthur was unsure how to feel about it, even if he wasn't actually the one to rob the mayor. He looked over at Grace who merely looked slightly amused.

"Do you, uh, I mean to say, can you steal things?"

Grace smirked as Arthur frowned. "Is there a reason you're asking me to incriminate myself, Mr. Miller?"

"Well, I'm sorry," Evelyn turned to the two native men who had been standing patiently nearby, "Have you met? This is Rains Fall, a great chief, and his son, Eagle Flies."

"We saw you on the wagon train, crossing the river at Cumberland Falls, and upstairs at the party," Rains Fall said to Arthur. "And you," he turned to Grace, "You were at the party too."

"Yes, I was," she said.

"My people, if we are even a people anymore, we fought hard, we've made peace treaties, and those treaties were broken, and we've been moved and punished and punished and moved. And now I am told we are to be moved again."

"Clearly contravening the peace treaty signed three years ago," said Evelyn.

"It's bad business," said Arthur.

"It's do with oil, I know it is, but I need the proof," Evelyn said angrily. "I believe there were some prospectors who were on their land a few months ago who have filed reports with Leviticus Cornwall and the State Government claiming huge reserves of oil under their land."

"So, you want me to try and steal it?" Arthur shook his head.

"Well, obviously they can't," Evelyn gestured to Rains Fall and Eagle Flies, "and even more obviously, I would be useless. I realise that it is a ridiculous request, but we're very desperate."

"Of course," Grace agreed with certainty.

"Now, I'm no do-gooder, Mr. Miller, despite what she says. Gentlemen, I'm very sorry for your predicament, but I'm a working man, I got problems of my own."

"Arthur-"

"Don't you start with me," he frowned at her as he started to walk away.

"In that case, tell me where these reports are," Grace said.

"I-I'm not sure if we should have, well, uh-" Evelyn stuttered.

"You don't want a woman doing it? I'll have you know that Mr. Morgan here stole nothing from the mayor. That was my doing."

"This has nothing to do with us," Arthur tried taking her arm, but she slapped him away.

"And if you won't help, then I will," she stared at him hard.

"Fine, if only to keep you out of it," Arthur sighed.

"Pfft, like you could anyway."

"Uh, so you'll do it, Mr. Morgan?" asked Evelyn, seemingly unsure about the whole idea now.

"Sure."

"Thank you," said Rains Fall, "You meet my son in a couple of days near Citadel Rock just west of the oil fields. We are very grateful for your help."

"We'll do everything we can," said Grace.

Arthur and Grace walked away in silence. He was very annoyed having been roped into something he didn't want to get involved in, but he couldn't just let Grace try to do it herself. How often was she going to do this?

"What the hell was that about?" he asked her angrily after they'd walked a couple of blocks.

"You can't tell me you don't want to help."

"I don't!"

"Well, I do. You didn't have to step in, you know. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."

"And what exactly are you going to do? Walk right in and simply ask for those prospectors reports?"

"Yes."

Arthur burst out laughing. "Yeah, that right there is why I should go in."

"If you go in, they'll immediately be suspicious. For one, you'd have to sneak in and no offense, but sneaking is not your strong point."

"So what would your plan be?"

"Go in on the pretense of surprising my dear husband, the foreman, with lunch," she said, "It's very unlikely any of them would know what the foreman's wife, if he has one, looks like. And once I'm in, the foreman will obviously recognise I am not his wife and that's when I'll start crying about how my husband lied about where he was working, and if there's one thing that makes a man leave a room, it's a strange woman bawling her eyes out about her cheating husband."

"Huh, I suppose that could work," he said, "But what if he doesn't leave the room?"

"I'll think of something."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'll be fine."

"Until you get shot. Or nearly drowned. Or-"

"Yeah, yeah, point taken. But I'm still here, still alive."

"You ever think one day your luck will run out?"

"Oh, probably, but it has yet to happen," she sighed. "Let's go walk behind all those fancy mansions near the mayor's house."

"Why there?"

"It's quiet, mostly private," she smiled up at him.

"Sure," he smiled back.