Lorn nodded.  "Very good." 

Then he looked overhearing a child call for her.  He was smiling until he heard the man's comment and frowned.  He finished the egg and gave Karen a look.  "Who is that?"  He asked his voice a tone she had likely never heard from him before.

"Twas me old neighbor," she said quietly, sticking the last piece of egg into her mouth as if unbothered when her eyes said otherwise, for they had dropped to the ground. "It doesn't matter."

"But papa--" said the child. "We don't associate with rubbish," said the father.

Karen flinched visibly that time.

Lorn dusted his fingers off with a swish of his hands together and then he moved over to where the man was with the young boy.  "I am sure Mrs. Calloway would love to visit with you while I speak to your father, young man."  He said with a quiet tone for the boy but his eyes were not so calm.  "I would like to visit with you about your rudeness to my fiance."

She blinked as he started moving off toward her ex-neighbor, her eyes widening. The little boy blinked and started off toward Karen but his father put his hand on his shoulder. "Hah, then she goes through fiances it seems." His brows lifted as he watched the white haired man approach. "Why are you with her?" He covered his son's ears and said, "She is a loose skirt, don't you know? The whole neighborhood saw her with the clockmaker."

[cw:fight]



Lorn's eyes got very dark under the rim of his hat.  He put his arm around the man's shoulder as if he were an old friend.  "Well, sir, if the lady had a conversation with the gent, I figure that is her business not yours nor mine.  However, the insult, now that I do have something to say about.  The lady is my fiance, and where I come from when someone insults a man's lady, it is something that needs to be dealt with."

It had seemed he was just going to talk to the man, but then suddenly with a very strong and powerful thrust, his fist hit right in the man's diaphragm.  "I think you should be a better example to your son while talking about ladies."  He said pulling away from the man with his face stern and serious.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd around them and Karen looked on with awe and shock, even as she watched the man stagger back for a moment, wheezing. The neighbor man then launched himself toward Lorn and swung with a left hook. She covered her mouth in horror and moved to reach for the boy, putting him behind her and out of the way of any flying fists. "Stay behind me, Nathan," she said to the boy.

Lorn being more athletic and used to getting out of the way of hooves when breaking horses, and wrestling cows/bulls at rodeos, took the hit without much problem as he moved in such a way that the hit didn't do much damage.  He reached a boot out to trip the man as the guy came through with the hit aiming to let the man fall in the dirt.  He had likely been in more fistfights back home than this guy had here in town.  Lorn's cowboy had had not even fallen off his head yet.

The man sprawled on the ground. "Oof." And, deciding he was humiliated enough, he wheezed and pointed a finger up at the man, "This isn't over." And then he got to his feet, didn't bother to dust off, grabbed his son and was gone with a sneer directed at Karen and a low mutter, "Bitch." But he and the boy were rushing off before another attack could happen.

Karen closed her eyes and sighed. She felt rather small at the moment, wanting to shrink into the ground. People were still staring. She pressed her lips together tightly.

Lorn's anger was still bubbling as he watched the man leave, and he moved closer to Karen in case the man was planning to do her harm.  Glancing around, he smoothed his expression from anger to calm as soon as he could to calm anyone around.  He glared at a few that were still giving the couple a look to get them going on.  Then looking down at Karen, he gave a softer look of concern.  "Are you okay?" 

He would have a bruise on his face, but he'd gotten worse from the horses.  "Let's find go to a jeweler first, then the seamstress.  I want you to have that ring on your hand."  He glanced around.  Making it official publically might help, he thought.

"I am alright," she said softly... almost too softly. She wasn't really. She'd known someone would recognize her and call her out. Her cheeks were stained red with more than a mere amount of chagrin. Her mouth managed to curl up into a sad smile and she nodded when it came to the ring. Perhaps if she had that ring on her finger, nobody would treat her as that man had. She frowned then and said, "I knew it would happen." Not that it made it any easier, she thought bitterly.

Her eyes met his then and she sighed.