What on earth are you doing, Da? He turned to find his daughter towering over him, a look of disapproval on her face. Mandy, watch out! Youve got Esmeralda almost in the fire!
What on earth are you doing, Da? He turned to find his daughter towering over him, a look of disapproval on her face. Mandy, watch out! Youve got Esmeralda almost in the fire!
Only teaching the wee lassies a bit o cookery, he said airily, and, handing her the pot lifter, bowed and left, the music of girls laughter in his ears.
It was a good time to go; supper would be ready soon, and the light was going. Hed been looking out for Jenny, meaning to take her aside and prepare her a bit before she met Roger Mac.
Prepare her, how? he wondered. Say, Dye mind a man who came to Lallybroch forty years ago, lookin for his son? Ye dont? Oh. Well, hes here only
Maybe she would remember. Shed been a young lass and Roger Mac was no bad-looking. And from what Roger Mac had told him, Da had spent a good bit of time in helping him to search, so perhaps
The realization that hed thought about Da so casually, thinking of him as still alive, made him feel as though hed missed the last stair and come down staggering.
Eh? He became aware that Claire had asked him something and was waiting for an answer. Sorry, Sassenach, I was thinking. What did ye say?
She raised a brow at him, but smiled and handed him a bottle.
I said, would you please open that? It was a bottle of last years muscat wine that Jimmy Robertson had given Claire in thanks for her setting his youngest sons broken arm.
Ye think itll be worth drinking? he asked, taking the bottle and examining it critically. The cork was tight in the bottle-neck, but dry and brittle; Claire had evidently tried to pull it and the greater part had broken off, crumbling in her hand.
No, she said, but since when has that consideration ever stopped a Scot from drinking anything?
It hasna stopped any Englishmen I know, either. Maybe a Frenchman would be more choosy. He held the brown glass bottle up to the light, to see the level of the wine inside, then drew his dirk and struck the neck of the bottle with a ringing tap of the blade. The glass broke cleanly, though at an angle, and he handed it back to her. It doesna smell corked, at least.
Oh, good. Illis that Oggy? Or a catamount?
It sounds like a catamount havin the griping farts, so its likely Oggy.
She laughed, which made him feel momentarily happy. He took a sip of the wine, made a face, and gave it back to her.
Who are ye planning to serve that to?
Nobody, she replied, sniffing gingerly. Im going to soak a very tough-looking chunk of elk in it overnight with the last of the ramps and then boil it with beans and rice. What are they ever going to name that childand when, do you think?
Theres nay rush about it, is there? No ones going to confuse him wi any other bairn on the Ridge. No one would. Rachels wee man had the best lungs Jamie had ever heard, and seldom stopped using them. Right now, he didnt seem upset, just bellowing for the fun of it.
Ill go meet them, he said. I want to talk to Jenny before she sees Roger Mac.
Claires face went blank for an instant and then she turned her head quickly toward the trees, where Jamie saw Brianna and Roger Mac standing in close conversation. Is he telling her what he told me? he wondered, with a resurgence of the falling off a staircase feeling in his wame.
Goodness, Claire said, a look of intense interest coming into her eyes like the one she had when she saw the tinkers anal warts that looked like a fleshy cauliflower growing out of his bum. I hadnt thought of that.
Well, I dinna think shell faint, because she never does, he said. But ye might have a dram of something ready, just in case.
AS IT WAS, his sister wasnt with Ian and Rachel; Rachel said Jenny had gone aside to thig a wee bit of mother of vinegar from Morag MacAuley, but would be down right after them. That was a bit of luck, and he thanked her, pausing to rub the top of Oggys head briskly with his palm, an attention that usually made the bairn laugh. It did this time, too, and he set off up the trail feeling just that wee bit more settled in himself.
He found Jenny sitting on a stump beside the trail, shaking a stone out of her shoe. She heard his step and, looking up to see him, leapt to her feet and flung herself into his arms, ignoring the shoe.
Jamie, a chuisle! Your bonnie lass! Im fit to burst wi joy for ye! She let go of his ribs and looked up, eyes brimming, and he felt his own sting, too, though he couldnt help laughing through it, her joy reminding him of his own.
Aye, me, too, he said. He wiped his eyes briefly on his sleeve and set her cap straight for her. How long ago was it that ye met Brianna? She said shed gone to Lallybroch looking for her mother and me. And met you and Ian and all. And Laoghaire, he added, remembering.
Jenny crossed herself at mention of the name, and laughed, too.
Blessed Mother, the look on Laoghaires face when she saw the lass! And then the one when she tried to claim Mams pearls and Brianna shut her up like a writing desk!
Did she? He regretted not seeing that, but then forgot it, recalling why hed come looking for Jenny.
Briannas man, he said to the top of her head as she bent to put her shoe back on. Roger MacKenzie.
Aye, what sort of man is he, then? Ye said ye liked him fine, in your letters.
I still do, he assured her. Its just dye recall when Claire and I came to Scotland to bury Simon the General at Balnain?
Im no likely to forget it, she said, her face darkening. Nor would she; that had been during Ians long dying, a terrible time for them all, but worst by far for her. He hated to bring it back to her, even for a moment, but couldnt think how else to begin.
Yell remember, then, what Claire told ye allabout where she came from.
Jenny looked blankly at him, her mind clearly still shadowed by memories, but then she blinked, frowning.
Aye she said cautiously. Some taradiddle about stone circles and faeries, as I recall.
Aye, thats the bit. Nowcan ye maybe cast your mind back a bit further, toto the time I was away in Paris, just before Da died?
I can, she said tersely, glaring up at him. But I dinna want to. Why are ye plaguing me wi that, of all things?
He patted the air with his palm, urging her to hear him out.
There was a man came to Lallybroch, looking for his kidnapped son. A dark-haired man, called Roger MacKenzie, from Lochalsh, he said. Do ye remember him?
The sun was coming down, but there was plenty of light left to show him the blood draining from her face. She swallowed visibly and nodded, once.
His wee lad was named Jeremiah, she said. I remember, because Da got a wee bawbee sent him from the garrison commanderher lips compressed, and he kent she was thinking of Jack Randalland when the dark-haired man came back, Da gave it to him, and I heard Mr. MacKenzie talking to his friend later, and saying that it must have belonged to his own father, who was named Jeremiah, like Jemmy. His sons name was Jeremiah and they called him Jemmy. She stopped talking and stared at him, her eyes round as three-penny bits. Yere tellin me your grandson is that Jemmy, and the dark-haired man is
I am, he said, and let his breath out.
She sat down again, very slowly.
He let her alone, remembering all too well the mix of incredulity, bewilderment, and fear that hed felt when Claire, battered and hysterical after hed rescued her from the witch trial in Cranesmuir, had finally told him what she was.
He also remembered vividly what hed said at the time. It would ha been easier if yed only been a witch. That made him smile, and he squatted down in front of his sister.
Aye, I ken, he said to her. But its no really different than if theyd come from Spain, maybe. Or Timbuktu, say.
She darted a sharp look at him and snorted, but her handsclenched in her laprelaxed.
So the way of it is that Roger Mac and Brianna were each of them at Lallybrochthen. Ye met Brianna when she came to find us. But yed met Roger Mac years earlier, looking for his wee lad. Brianna came again a bit later wi the bairns, looking for Roger. Ye didna meet her then, but she saw Da.
He paused for a moment, waiting. Jennys look changed suddenly and she sat up straighter.
She met Da? But he was already dead Her voice trailed off as she tried to juggle it all in her head.
She did, he said, and swallowed the lump in his throat. And Roger Mac spent some time with Da, too, searching. Hetold me things about Da. See for the two o them, it was nay more than a few months ago that they saw him, he said softly, and took her hand, holding it tight. To hear Roger Mac speak of him soit was as though Da stood beside me.
She let out her breath in a small sob, and squeezed his hand tight between her own. The tears were in her eyes again, but she wasnt afraid, and she blinked them back, sniffing.
Its maybe easier if ye think of it as a miracle, he said, trying to be helpful. I meanit is, no?
She gave him a look, took out a hankie, and blew her nose.
Fag mi, she said. Dont try me.
Come, he said, and stood, pulling her up. Yeve a new nephew to meet. Again.
ROGER SAW JAMIE first, stepping out from the shadow of the chimney, a shadow himself, dark against darkand behind him, another shadow, so insubstantial that for a moment he wasnt sure she was there at all. Then he found himself on his feet, moving to meet her on the edge of the firelight, the flicker of the flames behind him bright in her eyes and the lovely girl he had known shining out at him.
Miss Fraser, he said softly, and took her hand in both of his, light-boned and firm as a birds foot. Well met.
She breathed a laugh, lines creasing round her eyes.
Last time we met, she said, I thought Id like it if ye kissed my hand, but ye didnt.
He could see the rapid beat of her pulse at the side of her throat, but her hand was steady in his, and he raised it and kissed it with a tenderness that was not at all assumed.
I thought your father might take it amiss, he said, smiling. A slightly startled expression crossed her face, and her hand tightened on his.
Its true, she whispered, staring up at him. Ye saw Da, talked to himonly a few months ago? Your voice doesna sound like Ye dinna talk like ye think hes dead. Her voice was filled with wonderment.