milliways_bar | EP: Kate Barlow | Outside, Stables / Main Bar

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EP: Kate Barlow | Outside, Stables / Main Bar

It's been a long time since Beaut's had the pleasure of startling the bar with her presence. The front door admits the five-foot cowgirl and her mount, obviously on their way someplace else, depositing them smack dab in the middle of the bar.

Beaut snorts.

"Oh, come now. S'good t'be back, ain't it?"

Kate wins an ear twitch for her trouble. With a chuckle, she sets about navigating the tables and chairs — and waitrats, we mustn't forget them. She'll get Beaut resettled out in the stables and check on the stock, and once she's done there she'll find a calendar. Once she knows the date and has stopped to look for messages in the stables, at the board, or with the Bar, she'll settle in for a while.

Then again, it's such a beautiful evening out. Maybe she'll take advantage of the lingering light and give Beaut a proper ride up the mountain path.

[ooc: I'm so sorry for inundating the bar! I did try to space everything out. ~sheepish~ Post open indefinitely; catch Kate anywhere you like, she'll be making her rounds and she's in a great humor.]

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"Um..."

Kate has that kind of effect you can't lie to.

"Well, I think you gathered from the scene Fern made at the ceremony that there was some doubt over the paternity of her little boy. And... he almost certainly is Will's. We did some blood group tests. Will's had something of a drink problem and... well let's just say when he's drunk he has difficulty keeping his trousers on."

She goes red as she says this.

"Anyway, we were concerned about Little William's safety and I managed to keep custody of him for a while as a circus ward, but we lost him back to her when she appealed. She hasn't let us have access to him since.

Will's doing better though. He's been going to Alcoholics Anonymous and he's been sober four months now."

"Oh. Oh, sugar."

Kate's frugal with her outward displays of affection. She can be drawn into an embrace, or convinced to touch somebody's bare hand. However, tonight she pulls Carlotta into a hug.

"That's awful, 'bout Li'l William. I'm so sorry. Has Will had any — recent indiscretions?"

"The last one was in November." Carlotta says, hugging back tight. "Remembrance Day. He disappeared for two days. The one before was the night before our vows renewal. Says he doesn't remember either of them.

Oh, and he's on a suspended sentence because we got into a fight with some court officials at the custody hearing after Fern announced in front of the whole court that she'd had Will followed by a private detective."

She sighs.

Loudly.

"I admire your patience."

Which is the nicest way she has of saying, I'm gonna shoot that boy next time I see him.

"Takin' on the law almost always ends poorly. Take it from me. Does he want custody of that boy? 'Cuz, if he does, he's gonna hafta make a lot of changes."

Carlotta throws up her hands.

"Lord knows, although in fairness he punched the guard because they'd rugby tackled me for leaping over the counter to shout at Fern, and I had a mighty bump on my head when I came to.

As for William, I think on one hand he feels horribly guilty for letting someone like Fern get him drunk and out of control, and on the other he feels he ought to do right by the child. I'm the one that's fought for custody more than him, because I think Fern is awfully dangerous and doesn't take good care of Little William.

He has been making changes since he got sober, I mean he's working on the business again while I'm running the circus, and he and his friends built us a log cabin to live in in the winter so we don't have to go between the caravan and his parents' house all the time. But that's more getting back to how he was before the war than changing.

He wasn't always like this." she sighs. "He was the one who was desperate to have kids in the first place. I love Mol to bits and I don't regret her, but I would much rather have waited a couple more years... but at the time she came around we weren't sure if we were even going to survive and didn't want to miss a possibly final chance to be together.

The war did something to his mind. He had to do a lot of things to innocent people on the other side that he doesn't like to talk about but haunt him. That's why I forgave him. Not for cheating, but for drinking so much he ended up cheating. But there has to be a line, so I told him if he cheats again I'm taking Molly and we're not coming back.

And if he thinks we're bringing any more children into this mess he can forget it. We barely managed to feed ourselves and Molly last winter because he'd drank half the cash box money, and he had to sell one of the colts to get us through."

She goes a little red, after pouring all this out, feeling she's probably aired her laundry a little too much. But she's had it coming for months. All those warning signs she'd got from Will that things were going downhill, and tried to convey to the... older grown ups in her life. Too embarrassed to say it bluntly for once, too subtle for Teja or Demeter to pick up on when they were fighting, and now him being in the gooey mind of love. Her father and grandmother never around.

Sometimes it's hard for Kate to imagine this is the same girl she met so few years ago. How much more time has passed in her world, when she was only barely a woman when Kate met her. Still a child, still learning, eager to show off her acrobatics. And now so careworn.

That first admission surprises Kate, and she manages a wry laugh.

"Sounds like you might benefit from reinin' in somma your passions, too. Conductin' yourself as such in a courtroom might not make the best argument — not that I blame you, 'cuz I surely don't."

To the rest, she sighs. Silently she takes it all in, and once Carlotta has gotten it out of her system she pulls her into another gentle embrace.

"Oh, sweetheart. Y'know you've got my hand anytime y'have need of it. I have some spare coin I'd be happy t'give you, if you'll have it. But, more importantly, if I can help with Molly, or Will, I'll be glad to do it. If she needs mindnin', or he needs — motivatin'. My daddy didn't raise me lazy, an' I could try an' teach 'im some things if it'd help."

Pause.

"However — there's a fella here by the name of Dr. Malcolm Crowe. I met 'im not too long ago. He's, ah. He's what they call a psychiatrist, an' we get t'talkin' about what happened here, with the apocalypse, and ... anyhow. He seems t'know an awful lot 'bout dealin' with trauma. Maybe somebody like him'd be good for Will. Somebody he could talk to, maybe back in your world."

"Will's been seeing a psychiatrist at home." Carlotta says. "He told Will that he needed to 'get a grip' or he'd be locked up, so now Will's pretty much too afraid to tell him anything. He's getting better though. He's not performing in the circus or going in the ring, which seemed to be triggering him; he's working at the stables most of the week and joining us from Sunday to Tuesday. I offered to stay settled with him, but he wouldn't hear of it, said I'd got my dream of being a ringmaster and he'd never want to take that away.

He took me dancing tonight, even got a smile out of him."

She hugs back. In her heart, she still feels like a child, trying to deal with adult stuff. But in her early twenties, she knows society expects her to be a grown up, a mum, taking care of things on her own.

Small wry smile. "I haven't lost my temper that badly in a long time. You know when I was a teenager I shook my fist in my French teacher's face once and swore at her in Spanish... which unfortunately she understood. I slapped a few people back then too. Nothing so bad recently. I had just been told he'd cheated before our vows though, so I had fair provocation."

Kate looks absolutely flabbergasted, more so at Carlotta's first remarks than at her last. Granted, it's all a lot to bear.

"Lordy, that man don't sound at all like Dr. Crowe. How horrible!"

How much worse it must have made things!

She sighs, brow creased.

"I'm glad t'hear things're lookin' on the up, but it sure sounds like you've had more'n your share of tribulations. I only hope your family pulls through it relatively whole. Takin' you out dancin's a good start t'reform, though."

Attempting a smile, small and wan it may be, she gently cups Carlotta's cheek. She shakes her head, chuckling at the rest.

"I can't really judge; I know I had a temper on me when I was young myself. Well, I reckon I still do. But back then my daddy used t'call me his li'l dust devil, 'cuz I'd haul in ragin' 'bout one thing or another. I don't blame you for losin' your temper after a revelation like that. I might've done worse. However, it's good that you're growin' outta some'a your hellfire.

"Y'said Will had t'sell one'a your colts?"

"I met Dr Crowe once, he seemed kind." Carlotta nods. "I'm not sure we can afford any more doctor's fees though."

She nods again. "He's borrowed from his father to buy an unbroken one to train up for profit. He's been breaking horses since he was twelve, but this one has been with an inexperienced handler so has probably picked up some bad habits."

"What'd I tell you, sweetheart? Anythin' I can do t'help, I will."

That isn't to say she's going to volunteer Dr. Crowe's — or any other doctor's — time, but when you've got a magical bar at your disposal you can always explore other options. And she meant it when she offered to come straighten Will out herself.

"Mm, my daddy had a colt like that once. Listen, sugar, I could get you some horses if y'wanted 'em. It jus' so happens I'm in a place where that'd be simple as pie. An' I know a thing or two 'bout breakin' 'em myself, though it sounds like that's been good for Will's state, doin' it himself."

Gentle smile.

"That's awfully sweet of you, but Will's parents don't know about the bar, and the tax man might have a few words to say about our books if horses start appearing. At the moment, it's giving him something to focus on. Part of the problem when he was on tour with me was that he wasn't performing - he'd come so late in the seasons - and didn't have enough to do but go down to the pub."

Looking up at Kate again she adds. "But we'd really appreciate your help with getting a doctor to help him. I'll pay you back, I promise. I... I have to warn you he's awfully cagey about it all. All I even know is that he was forced to do very bad things in the war or he'd have been shot for disobeying."

"Keepin' busy helps."

She nods, understanding well enough what that's like. If she didn't have her work in the stables here — which has lots of times involved her creating more work for herself than strictly necessary — she might not have come through a few bad turns. Books can be doctored, and aliases made; the Cullen-Whitlocks have taught her that much about traveling through different worlds. But she leaves the matter of their livelihood aside for now, concentrating instead on what Carlotta says as she continues.

"Don't you worry your head none, sugar; we can work out the details if an' when we find someone. I think I'll leave a note for Dr. Crowe tonight, an' see what he might say. Will's been through an awful lot, an' I think time more'n anythin' is gonna help him. Time an' patience. We'll see him through."

She draws her into another steadying hug.

Carlotta hugs back.

She needs hugs. And a few fewer things to worry about.

"Is it foolish to keep taking a man back who has cheated?" she asks quietly.

"Not any more foolish than hangin' on a prayer that a man who says y'weren't never right might come back someday."

Spoken softly, neutral, not drawing more than the necessary attention.

Menfolk are hard on the heart.

"D'you believe that he loves you?"

Carlotta squeezes her a litte harder.

"A man who thinks you're not right doesn't know what he's missing." she says.

A sigh. "I do. I think he loves me so much that he's terrified I'll leave if he tells me the extent of his problems."

She strokes her hair, lips pursed.

"So long as you've got love, you've got a foundation. Build on that however y'see fit."

She pulls back, expression serious.

"However, if the love fades, don't hold on to a hope. Y'both need respect an' honor t'keep it fit, or else all the love in the world can still hurt your heart."

"I promised God to stay with him forever." Carlotta says. "Now if he breaks that first, that's one thing, and if our daughter is at risk, that's another. But most people would look down on me greatly for deserting a man broken by the war because I was less in love. Even in the circus."

"I well know that, sugar."

She well, well knows that.

"But you've got scriptural means t'leave 'im based on his indiscretions. I ain't sayin' that's the best way t'go, I'm jus' sayin' if he continues t'hurt you you're well within your rights."

Carlotta thinks about this for a moment.

"If someone gets married in a non-religious ceremony is there a way they can get out of it?"

She shakes her head.

"I ain't certain. What is more, y'come from a different world than I do. I'm more concerned 'bout how folk look at you after the fact. Ain't nobody could say y'sinned 'gainst God. Sadly, Will's the one who's done that."

Carlotta nods. So if Teja marries Pyrrha, and she does something untoward to him, it sounds like he may not be able to get out of it.

But that's another one of her worries to deal with.

"As I travel part of the week without Will, people I meet assume he is on business at home, which is true. But that wouldn't hold for long."

Sigh. "It is not at that stage yet. I should worry about problems as they come."

"That's reasonable, darlin'. All y'hafta know right now is I'm here for you, no matter what happens."

She hesitates briefly.

"I'm here for both of you. For good or ill."

She gives her shoulder a squeeze.

Small smirk.

"A few minutes ago, I thought you might be going to beat him up." she teases.

She gives Kate an appreciative look, though.

"Say the word an' I will."

She's deadly serious. However, after a second she smiles a little.

"I jus' don't want t'see you taken advantage of, sugar. Y'deserve better'n that. If Will can reform, that's well an' good. But I won't be scared t'give 'im what for if he calls for it."

Carlotta laughs.

"I don't think we need to resort to physical violence just yet, but thank you."

[ooc: Fade here? Thanks for the thread :)]

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ikissdhimbck - 2013-04-09 22:46 (UTC) - Expand

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