𝔴𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔰𝔲𝔫 ⟡ ʀɖʀ2

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟹𝟿

Dawn rolls through the next morning and just as usual, right sharp at six in the morning, I'm up to feed the animals around our ranch. I lean over and place a kiss to Selina's cheek, she wasn't much for the mornings anymore. She'd sleep as long as she could before getting up with the kids to feed them. "Hey---"
I hear her mutter as I'm getting my things on, I come around to her side of the bed. "What's goin' on, darlin'?"
"Can you stop into town and get the mail today, my mother said something about sending something for Andrew for his birthday. You too. We also need some more meat, think you can go to the butcher?"
"I most certainly can, my love. Should I take one of the boys with me?"
"If you want, not sure how exciting that is for either of them but--- Guess Arthur is more for the adventure."
"Just like his ma."
"Yeah.... Just like me. But will you?"
"Already said yes, Sel. Get back to sleep now, I'll go wake the boy and get him dressed. Feed him some breakfast in town."
"Thank you, Asher. Love you, you silly man."
"Love you too, my sweet Selina and you too little one." I place my hand upon her abdomen before I lean in and kiss her once more. "Sleep more, see ya soon."

She nods slightly and turns herself to face the other side of the bed. I sigh deeply as I put my hat upon my head. Sleeves are all rolled up before I head into the boys' room. "Arthur... Hey son, get up." I whisper as the boy looks at me all confused like. "Wanna come help me with some stuff in town?" He rubs his eyes before he nods his head. "I'll get ya some nice food there too okay? Come on."
He gets up rather quickly as he's getting all dressed up to head out with me. We get upon Luka and we're off. My poor horse, he's about twelve now. Can see him slowly but surely aging. Probably gonna need to retire him in a few years to come. Not sure if I could bear it though, I'd rather walk than not have Luka as my horse. He loves Arthur though. Andrew too, never seen him so gentle with children. Same with Rain, speaking of her, we actually bred her not too long ago. Not with Luka or Spookey, just with a stallion from a richer folk out near Saint Denis. She gave birth to a cute little black and brown foul, male, we chose to name him Thunder 'cause god, that night was rough when he was born. Had myself and Nathan up trying to make sure it all went smooth, Selina too since Rain is her horse. Thunder is growing up though, hoping to teach Arthur to ride him by the time he's mature enough. Should be when Arthur is about twelve or thirteen. "Can't believe you got up this early with me, boy. Usually you're sleeping till the rooster wakes up the ranch."
"I just thought it would be fun to come with you, pa. Never seen Strawberry before."
"Yeah, I know you ain't."

The usual happened within town, the mail had come and Selina's mom had sent something for Andrew. Some expensive metal toy and she sent me a cover for the butt of my shotgun. Had an image place into it too with my initials and pretty cool wolf upon it. Thank god for that, the knock back on the newer semi-automatics was killer to the shoulder. I had scars on either one too, hurt like a mother when that knock back hit. Arthur is as curious as ever and I can see it as he's looking around everywhere. Not a big fan of all the mud on the ground though. He's a bit upset, too polished up to get his actual feet dirty. "You think you're too good for dirt, Arthur Sanders?" I couldn't help but comment. "No. Just--- The dirt is gross."
"You're just like your ma when I first met her. All polished, you ain't know what dirt is." With that he gives me a look and I just chuckle. "Wanna see real dirty work, boy? Come with me to the butcher real quick, gonna get some meat for ya ma to cook."
I requested some mature meat as well as some of the cheaper stuff. Selina wasn't too picky and neither were the boys or me thankfully. Arthur couldn't even look for the better half of the older gentleman chopping up the meat and all the blood. "Don't like it huh?"
"It's just so--- Bloody."
"It's animal, Arthur. It's gonna bleed, just like you, when you cut yourself on my knife a couple months back. You remember all the blood?"
"Yes! Momma was so mad!"
"She was, 'cause you shouldn't have been touchin' the thing, don't worry 'bout that. But just like us son, you know animals bleed. Gonna teach you how to hunt here in a couple years. You'll need to be over the blood issue."
He looks down in a bit of a disgusted manner but I knew he'd let it go by then. He always did like to learn new things and he wouldn't sit there and give up the opportunity. He does nod though in his own understanding and I just pat him gently on the shoulder. "Come on, lets get some food and head home." I mutter as I'm placing the wrapped up meat within my saddle bag. We walk up to the saloon, I leave the boy outside for a moment before coming back out with some good eggs and bacon for us both. We sit down on the steps before he looks over at me. "Pa, why don't you and ma like to talk about when you two were gunslingers?"
I clear my throat for a moment, kid never did run out of questions and I knew he couldn't till he got some sort of answers. "Well son, your ma and I did meet that way. Your mother wasn't always a gunslinger though. She was a very respectable woman. Did a lot of photography as you can see back home. I--- Met her at a saloon. We hit it off... The--- The life was mine if that makes sense. But--- Love makes you do crazy things I guess. Your ma came with me and that's how our life started together."
"Did you know you loved ma from the moment you met her?"
"I---- I don't know. I--- I suppose y'know? Had this hunch I guess."

The boy nods his head shortly after and I didn't know what else to say really, he seemed satisfied but I knew he'd have more questions to come.
"Do you think your life would be different right now if you hadn't met, momma?"
"I really do, Arthur. I do. Your mother--- She changed my life forever when I met her. She's an extraordinary woman. She truly is. Very smart, strong, everything you'll want in a girl someday. Know you will."
"Momma is very extraord---- extra--- She's very pretty!"
"Yes, your momma is very pretty and it's extraordinary, son. All you gotta say is extra, then ordinary. Extraordinary."
He shakes his head for the moment.
"Extra--- Ordinary. Extraordinary."
"There ya go!"
I chuckle before I wrap up eating my breakfast and soon after he does, I head back in to give the bartender the plates before I come back out. "Ready to go home?" He doesn't hesitate to nod before I pick him up to get him on the back of my horse. My eyes wander for a moment till I see a man with a hat on, mustache almost like Micah's. I swallow harshly and he turns away, I was thinking I had to be going crazy over what Nathan had said.
I clear my throat before I get upon my horse and take off, trying my best not to do it quickly so my boy didn't figure anything out.