Liars And Thieves

Chapter 4

Grace walks away from Pearson's wagon after handing him over the buck pronghorn to get skinned and cut up. Pearson was very pleased with both Charles and Grace, thanking them both repeatedly. Grace braced herself as she noticed Karen was marching over to her.

"Where's Arthur?" Karen demanded. Her face scrunched furiously. 

"He's in Valentine with Lenny. Is there a problem?" Grace asked. Maybe it could be something she could help with. Karen too a deep breath in, calming herself down.

"I was telling him about the guy I tried robbing in Valentine but things turned ugly. He was talking about the bank and I wanted to have a chat with Arthur about it," Karen explained. She sighed, turning her back to Grace. "But of course he is out, again."

"He should be back soon... if he don't get drunk," Grace sighed. Karen turned back around, a grin on her face.

"Yep, you can count on Arthur with that," the blonde woman joked. Grace chuckled at Karen's joke. 

"How are things with you and Sean?" Grace asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman. Karen's face fell as her cheeks slightly grew red.

"What you mean?" Karen demanded, trying to hide her embarrassment about the Irish man. Grace grinned.

"You know what I mean. I see the way he looks at you and the way you look at him," Grace pointed out. Karen frowned, her hands resting on her hips.

"Now that ain't true," Karen argued. Grace chuckled, Karen would never admit she loved him.

"You missed him, didn't you?"

"I...I thought he was gone," Karen spoke out truthfully. Grace nodded, understanding the woman. Karen looked away for a moment, her hands clasped together in front of her. "Anyway, enough of that! I should go do my chores before Miss Grimshaw catches me," Karen chuckled, her mood changing quickly. Grace watched as Karen hurried off towards Mary-Beth and Tilly. Those three women were close, really good friends. They always had each others backs. Grace found Hosea sitting alone at the round table where the gang would either eat, sing, drink or gamble at. Grace approached the old man, noticing he was reading a novel.

"How are you liking it here? It's a nice spot you found," Grace interrupted. Hosea looked up from his book, watching as Grace sat down in one of the chairs.

"It's one of our best spots in a while. I'm glad everyone likes it as much as I do," Hosea praised himself, folding the corner of his page before closing it. Grace looked down at his book before signalling to it.

"Good book?" She asked. Hosea nodded eagerly, a grin growing on his face.

"It's fantastic! Evelyn Miller is the author, his books are always well-written. Never disappointed," Hosea boasted happily. Grace grinned, she loved seeing everyone happy and enjoying life. "Have you read a book of his?" Hosea asked. Grace shook her head, she wasn't much of a reader but if she had the time, she would love to sit down and read. Hosea jumped out of his seat, waving at the woman to follow him. "Come," he ordered. Grace pushed herself out of her seat, following Hosea. Hosea walked over to his book collection, browsing through his collection before handing Grace a book by Evelyn Miller. "Please, read it. It's amazing," Hosea grinned. Grace accepted the book, scanning the cover.

"Thank you, that's very generous of you," Grace thanked. Hosea shrugged.

"We all need some sort of escape for at least an hour," Hosea sighed. He was right, Grace was so caught up with this life that she had hardly even thought about doing things that would benefit herself. "It's about one of his journeys down south in the 'untamed' parts. According to him, sounds like things are bad down there compared to here," Hosea explained, placing a hand on the book cover.

"That so?" Grace frowned. Things up here seemed tense enough, she had never been down south though so all she could do was take the old man's word for it. Hosea nodded.

"Apparently. Anyway, excuse me. I must get back to my book," Hosea pardoned himself. Grace nodded at him, understanding the old man as he hurried back to the table to continue his book. Grace decided to go leave her book by her cot when Dutch called out to her.

"Grace! Is Arthur back yet?" Dutch asked. Grace shook her head, stopping and turning to look at the leader. Dutch frowned, growing annoyed.

"There is talk of hanging Micah," Dutch muttered before marching back into his tent. Grace could understand why Dutch was growing frustrated, after losing Jenny, Davey and possibly Mac. He didn't want more of us to die, even if Micah was a bad man in Grace's eyes. Grace sighed, continuing her way to her cot, interested to read the book Hosea had lent to her.