CHAPTER 32
When Skylar got back into the main part of the house, she followed the sounds of chaos and Claire's voice to the dining room. She ran in and stood next to Jamie as Claire gave Ian instructions. Skylar looked at the patient on the table who was writhing and groaning in pain. She paled and felt extremely lightheaded, but not just from the giant hook in the man's abdomen that Jamie was holding steady.
Claire glanced briefly at her and said, "Skylar, it's only going to get a hell of a lot bloodier, so I highly suggest you wait elsewhere."
"I know him," Skylar stated, not hearing what Claire had just said. "I know him. This is Rufus. He helped with Rollo's bath our first day here." She looked at Claire and asked, "What happened?"
"You don't want to know," was all she said back. Turning to Ian again, she directed, "Find the laudanum. I need to sedate him."
He found it very quickly and handed it off. "Here, Auntie."
Claire then said to Rufus, "Here, this will help ease the pain." She tilted his head up enough to get him to drink it. "A little bit more. A little bit more." When he had gotten down what Claire deemed was an acceptable amount, she carefully rested his head back down and set the bottle aside. She had Ian hand her the scissors that had been soaking in whiskey.
She cut the bandage that was holding the hook in place, then warned Skylar again, "You should leave now. I'm about to cut into him and there's going to be a lot of blood."
Skylar didn't react. She couldn't take her eyes off of the young man laid out in front of her. The already visible blood was making her dizzy and nauseas, but the thought of how he may have gotten into this situation made it so much worse. She tried to convince herself it could have just been an innocent accident, but she knew that was likely not true.
When Claire took out the hook and blood started gushing from the wound, everything went black for a moment. But she came right back to when she felt Jamie catch her and pick her up, though her vision was still very blurry.
She heard Jamie say to Ian, "She's alright, lad. Ye ken how she is around this sort'a thing." She couldn't see Ian's face but Jamie saw Ian have a look of such high panic and concern when she went down. "I'll take her to the parlor," Jamie announced. Ian, intending to follow them, hadn't even taken two steps when Jamie stopped him. "No. Ye stay and help yer aunt. I have her. She'll be fine. Dinna fash."
He walked across the hall with Skylar in his arms to the other room and laid her on the couch. He touched her forehead and cheeks.
"Christ. Yer sweatin' like ye have a fever, though yer chilled." He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed it on her face. Starting to see straight again, Skylar tried to sit up, but Jamie gently pushed her back down. "No, no, no. Ye need te stay layin' down right now or ye might faint again."
Skylar asked again, needing to know, "What happened to him? How did Rufus get that hook in him?" Before he could answer, Jocasta walked in with Ulysses.
She immediately asked Jamie, "Will ye please tell me why on Earth yer wife is tryin' te heal the negro? Did she not intend te aid Byrnes?"
Jamie stood up and crossed to her. "Byrnes and his men wrongfully impaled the lad. His wounds dinna compare te what was done te Rufus."
Skylar forced herself to sit up and said, "So someone really did hurt him with the hook. On purpose." She felt rage start to build in her very quickly.
"It is…regrettable that he was treated wi' such violence. Byrnes and his men will have a price te pay fer their savage deeds," Jocasta commented. "But Jamie, he must be hangit."
"Are you shitting me?!" Skylar exploded, forgetting about how lightheaded she still was. "Those assholes tried to murder this poor man and he's the one who has to die for it?! Please, someone explain to me how that makes any sense!"
Jamie rushed back to her and tried to get her to lay back down. "Skylar, ye mustn't work yerself up." But she pushed his hands off her.
"No! I am not going to calm down! This is outrageous! How are you not screaming right now?!"
Phaedra only added more chaos by running in and announcing, "Mistress, Lieutenant Wolff and Mr. Campbell have arrived. They wish te speak wi' ye and Mr. Fraser."
Jocasta took a moment to collect her thoughts and plan out her next move, then took a breath and told Phaedra, "Jamie and I will receive them in here." Phaedra then ran off as quickly as she came. Jocasta turned her head in Skylar's direction and said, "I apologize dear, but ye must leave us."
"Let me get Skylar te her room, and then I will rejoin ye," Jamie said to his aunt. But Skylar disagreed.
"I am not hiding in my room. I'll leave, but I want to stay as close to them as possible." She pointed across the hall to Claire and Ian still operating on Rufus.
Jamie couldn't waste time arguing with her, so he allowed her to sit on a chair outside the dining room.
"Do not leave this spot, I beg of ye," he entreated her, then walked right back into the parlor to wait for Wolff and Campbell.
Ulysses started to close the doors to the dining room, but Skylar stopped him. She asked him to keep one open just enough so she could at least hear what was happening. He didn't like it, but he kept the door closest to her open an inch. He then waited outside the parlor until Wolff and Campbell came stalking down the hall into the room, not even noticing Skylar as they passed. Ulysses followed them in and closed the doors completely, leaving Skylar alone.
Sitting still was the worst thing she could do right now. Her mind was racing and she couldn't slow it down. She was so angry over what happened to Rufus and Jocasta's reaction to it. She kept saying in her head over and over that this is just how life is in this century. This was the law and everyone was just following what they knew. But that didn't make her feel any better. It only made everything worse.
She didn't know how long she sat in that chair, but it had been so long that it had grown dark outside. She wanted so bad to split herself in two so she could know what was happening in each room. She tried to listen to every sound coming from the dining room, but her focus kept drifting to the sealed off parlor. She was itching to know what was being discussed and the plans being made; though she had a strong sense that it couldn't be anything that would help Rufus.
Unable to handle not knowing, she stood up and walked to the parlor doors. She put her ear up to the wood to try to listen, but she couldn't make anything out. It was just sounds of loud and dangerously differing opinions.
She had been concentrating so hard on trying to hear what anyone was saying that she didn't realize all the sounds coming from the dining room had stopped.
"Yank?" she heard come from behind her.
She turned and saw Ian. She ran to him and hugged him, so happy for this momentary comfort. He held her tight for a while, then pulled back from her and tenderly ran a hand over her hair.
"He's alive," he told her. "Auntie Claire was able te save him."
"Omigod," she sighed out shakily, grabbing onto his arms for fear her legs would give out from the relief. But the relief was too fleeting as she remembered what was happening in the other room. "He's not safe, Ian. Jocasta and Wolff and Campbell…they-they're…they're saying he has to be hanged for hurting Byrnes. They're gonna kill him! They want to kill him! They can't! They can't kill him! We can't let them kill him!" The room started spinning around her again and she found it incredibly difficult to take a breath.
Ian had witnessed her have a couple panic attacks during their trek from Georgia to North Carolina, as well during this past week. He was able to now see the warning signs of one and had figured out a way to help soothe her to stop it before it took over.
He gently, but securely, took hold of her face with both hands and had her face him, looking directly into her eyes.
"Hey, hey, look at me. Look at only me. Hear my voice. Right now, we are the only people in the world. I'm here with ye. Yer safe. Yer alright." He took her hand and held it on his chest. "Feel me heart. Can ye feel it?" She nodded. Her breathing was slowly starting to calm. "Focus on its beatin', and only that. There's nothin' else around ye right now. No other distractions. It's just ye and me."
They kept their eyes locked on each other, both barely blinking. Each beat she felt of Ian's heart helped ground her until she was breathing normal again and could see straight.
When she could speak, she said, "I want to see him."
Ian right away started to disagree. "Skylar, ye just-"
"Ian, please. I need to see for myself that's he's alive and okay. I'll be fine." Neither of them believed that statement, but Ian knew too well that when Skylar decided on something, there was no changing her mind. He just nodded and put an arm around her waist and held her hand with his other, then led her inside.
The sight was like something out of a nightmare. The hook was still in its bowl that was now also filled and overflowing with blood soaked strips of cloth. Another bowl full of what was once clean water had been dyed red and bloodstains of various sized were spattered all over the white tablecloth. Claire's terrifying looking tools were spread on the table; some of which she was cleaning.
Claire looked up at them when they walked in, but went right back to wiping her instruments. There was no point in asking Skylar how she was feeling. The answer was so clear in her face and body.
Skylar dropped Ian's hand when she got to the table, stopping at the end of it. Ian went on, looking back at her with concern. But he didn't say anything and began helping Claire clean up.
Skylar stared at Rufus as he laid unconscious. Claire had wrapped his wounds neatly, and she knew the 20th Century surgeon had done the very best she could with her 18th Century materials. Tears formed in her eyes though as she thought about how this never should have happened to him. He had had his whole life ahead of him in Africa and he had been robbed of that. Now his fate was out of his control and being decided by people who already had their minds made up.
She saw his head start to move and he moaned softly. Ian saw it too.
"He's stirrin', Auntie," he informed Claire. Both Claire and Ian stopped what they were doing and put all their attention on Rufus.
He tried to sit up but went too fast and grunted in pain. Claire caught him and laid him back down slowly.
"Here, drink some water," she told him. She tilted his head to help him drink, like with the laudanum. "It's alright, it's alright," she whispered to him kindly as he let her pour the water in his mouth.
When he was done drinking, he looked back and forth between Claire and Ian. "Where am I?" he asked.
"Yer in the main house," Ian answered.
"I shouldn't be here."
"It's alright, Rufus. My husband is heir to this estate, and he and I brought you from the timber camp," Claire explained. "I removed the hook and I've tended to your injuries."
"Why did you heal me, Mistress?"
Skylar felt her heart break at how seriously he asked that question, and it was obvious Claire and Ian felt the same.
"Why wouldn't I?" Claire asked back, just as serious.
"You was there. You know why I was put on that hook."
"That doesn't mean what they did to you was right."
"I shed a white man's blood. Broke the law."
"And we'll sort that out later. From what I can tell, that Byrnes is a son of a bitch. I'm sure you had good reason to do what you did."
From where she was, Skylar could see a look of slight shock and confusion come over Rufus. Claire noticed it too.
"What?" she questioned.
"I never heard a lady speak like you before."
Claire bit back a grin at the comment, but Ian let himself laugh and said, "Ye'll no encounter many ladies like my Auntie Claire. I've heard her speak words fit te make a sailor blush." Claire just rolled her eyes at that. Ian looked at Skylar who was still frozen at the end of the table and added, "Even the most beautiful woman in the world doesna have the purest mouth."
Skylar moved her gaze to Ian and saw him give her a smile that was small but so full of unconditional adoration, and she couldn't believe that even in this moment of unthinkable tragedy and horror, he still could have that calming effect on her and give her butterflies.
Claire's words, however, brought her back to the reality of the situation.
"Tell me, is there anyone you'd like to see? Do you have family here?"
"My…my family is Adjumako…Africa. Far, far from here."
"Ye were taken from them?" Ian asked.
"My sister too. Abena. Men forced us from the trees where we played. Parted us on the beach. Forced us to ships larger than anything I had seen before."
Claire could tell that talking was using too much of the little energy he had and said, "Shhh, you need your rest."
Skylar had been fighting the urge to cry since she walked into the room. But hearing Rufus tell his story of him and his sister made a sob come out. She covered her mouth to hold the rest in.
Ian went next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. He gave a long kiss to her head which she laid against him while gritting her teeth so hard to where they might break to keep from crying anymore.
"You both need rest as well," Claire told them.
Ian nodded and looked back at Skylar, her being his first concern over going to bed himself.
Claire walked to them and said to Ian, "Before you turn in, have someone come down and help me bring Rufus to my bedroom. He'll be more comfortable there."
"I will, Auntie."
Claire touched his arm, silently thanking him for all of his help. She looked at Skylar, still staring at Rufus and her face hard from holding back so many emotions.
Claire tried to reassure her, saying, "I promise you, Skylar. Jamie is doing everything he can to help. You know he won't go down without a fight." Skylar just nodded. Claire then turned back to Ian. "Make sure she sleeps, and don't leave her alone."
"I wasna goin' te. Goodnight, Auntie."
"Goodnight."
He carefully turned Skylar around and led her to her room. She felt like a zombie, just letting Ian guide her to wherever they were going. She hardly noticed when they stopped as they passed another of Jocasta's houseslaves and Ian sent him to Claire.
When Ian opened the door to her room and brought them inside, she suddenly returned to her body. He closed the door behind them and when he turned back to her, she let out all of the emotion she had been holding in for the last few hours. She was so far past the feeling of angry that she started crying hysterically. She sobbed so hard she couldn't keep herself upright. Ian went to her and held her against him.
"Sky, ye have te try te calm down. Yer goin' te make yerself sick." He tried to get her to sit on the edge of her bed, but she immediately stood back up.
She started screaming, "I already am! I'm fucking disgusted by these racist-ass bastards! I don't understand! I don't understand why these goddamn assholes think they're so high and mighty and better than anyone else!" She paused to try to catch her breath. She then went on, not as loud but still boiling with rage. "He is a person. That man is a human being and they just treat him like an animal. Worse than an animal. How someone can actually believe owning another human like property, acting like they're just wastes of space and their lives have no worth, is at all okay is so far beyond my realm of understanding."
Ian, who was still sitting on the bed just listening to her, responded with, "I agree absolutely with eveythin' ye sayin'. It isna right in the least how these people are bein' treated, and hopefully one day everyone will see that and it will change. But this is how the world is, Yank. It's the same thinkin' everywhere and there's naught we can do about that. People dinna ken any different."
"I do! I know different! In my time, slavery is gone! Dead and gone for 200 years!" She turned her back to him and crossed her arms.
"What are ye talkin' about, 200 years? What do ye mean 'yer time'?"
Skylar froze and her stomach went into her throat. In her fury, she didn't think and hadn't heard what she had said until after she said it. She felt herself get very cold and she was certain she was about to throw up.
She closed her eyes, whispering, "Shit." She didn't say anything for an uncomfortable amount of time, thinking that maybe if she didn't acknowledge it, he would forget it. He didn't.
"Skylar, what do ye mean 'in yer time'?" he asked again.
After debating with herself for another long silent beat, she slowly turned to face him. He was now standing and staring at her with no idea whatsoever of what she was about to say. She felt very dizzy and her vision was slightly hazy.
"Ian, um…" She cleared her throat and swallowed hard. She looked down at the floor, too scared to look him in the eye to explain this. She felt her hands shaking and held them together in front of her.
This is it. You can't get out of this. You've known you needed to tell him and now is the time.
She licked her lips, trying to plan out the words in her head, and took a large slow breath.
"Ian…I-I…I'm…I'm not, from here."
"I ken that. Ye told me yer from further north."
"I don't mean North Carolina. I'm from up north, but not the north of this time."
He still didn't grasp what she was trying to get out. "What are ye sayin'?"
"I'm not from this…century. I was born December 9, 2003, in the 21st Century. And I came here from the year 2019."
She still was very hesitant to look at him. She assumed that he was afraid of her or angry and she couldn't bear to see him look at her like that. She kept her gaze to the floor, just waiting to hear him walk out. But when that didn't happen, she made herself look up.
His face was as white as a ghost and his eyes were so wide they could have fallen out of his face. She could tell his thoughts were racing and he was trying to wrap his mind around what she had just told him. But there was no hint of fear or anger.
She didn't want to say anything else until he spoke, so she waited.
He finally asked, "How?"
She was confused. "What?"
"How did it happen?"
Skylar could've been knocked over if someone just coughed in her direction at hearing his question.
"Are you…a-are you say…do you believe me?"
"What reason would ye have te lie about this?"
"But you-you don't think I'm, um, that I'm insane and need to be locked up? Or that I'm a witch or something?"
Ian gave her a comforting small smile. "I know ye too well te not have figured out if yer mad by now. And though ye do things like jump off of ships inte the open ocean, yer not mad. And there's no chance of ye bein' a witch, because if ye were, I would hope ye would've used a spell to find me in Jamaica faster than ye actually did." He chuckled lightly.
Seeing his real reaction be so drastically different than what she was so sure it was going to be, the thousand pound weight that had been on her chest was lifted. The vast feeling of relief made her start crying all over again and she fell to the floor. Ian rushed to her and knelt in front of her.
He held her upper arms and asked, very worriedly, "Are ye alright? What's the matter? Why are ye cryin'?"
"I was so scared."
"Of what?"
"Of telling you the truth. I thought that if you knew I'm from the future, you'd be so afraid of me or think I'm so completely out of my mind, and you'd want nothing to do with me and you'd leave me."
He gave a dry laugh. "I ken now why ye were so upset wi' me fer thinkin' I'd lose ye if I told ye about Geillis. Because the idea that there is anythin' ye could do that would make me not want ye with a burnin' in me soul is the most absurd string of words that anyone to ever exist has uttered. We discussed this earlier teday and yet ye still thought that a small thing like bein' from a time 200 years from now would stop me from lovin' ye?" She let out a quick laugh at the comment. "Why didn't ye tell me before?"
"There was never a right time, and I don't think saying you're a time traveler is the best way to make a good first impression."
"I do really want te know how ye came te be here, if ye don't mind tellin' it."
"I don't mind." She let him help her stand and they sat back on the bed. "Well, a bit over a year ago, I went on a trip to Scotland with my history class." As she told her story, Ian listened intently and took in every word she said. It was unbelievable, yet he never doubted a single thing she told him. He had heard similar tales growing up of people disappearing and ending up in different lands or worlds. He had always thought they were fascinating. But he never expected to ever meet someone who had actually lived through one of those tales.
"And ye didna want te go back?" he asked when she had finished.
"No. I had felt, and still do feel, more at home here than I ever did in the 21st Century. And then after meeting you, I knew even more that it was the right choice and that I belonged here." She smiled at him and he smiled back, taking her hand and holding it on his thigh.
"So, yer parents. They werena killed by Redcoats then?"
She shook her head. "My mom died when I was 14. She was very sick. She did give me my necklace though, for my birthday right before." She touched the charm.
"And yer Da?"
"I don't even feel like I had one. He left me and my mom when I was very little and I barely saw him after that. Jamie is ten times more my father than the man who helped make me, and I love Jamie as though he were. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"Ye dinna have te apologize fer anythin'. I'm verra happy ye did though. I just canna believe the woman I love is a fairy straight out of a fairy tale." She laughed heartily at that. "And now we both know that we can tell each other everythin'. We dinna need te hide anythin'. I love ye unconditionally."
"And I, you." Ian leaned in to kiss her and she, of course, returned it. They let themselves enjoy this moment, but they jumped apart when they heard the loud sound of glass shattering.
"What was that?" she questioned nervously. They had nearly forgotten what was happening outside the room, and it all suddenly came rushing back.
Ian jumped up and went to the window with Skylar right behind him. They looked out and saw an angry mob gathered in front of the house. They could see the men were armed with torches, guns, pitchforks, and some carried nooses.
Skylar took Ian's hand, trying to find some escape from her fear. Not fear for herself, but for the man she knew they were here for.
She turned her head to Ian and asked, "Claire brought Rufus to her room, right?"
"She did."
"I should help Claire. There must be something we can do." She started for the door, but Ian grabbed her hand to stop her.
"Sky, there's nothin' we can do. It's out of our hands. We can only hope that Uncle Jamie and Great-Aunt Jocasta were able to come te some sort of agreement with Wolff and Campbell."
Suddenly, the mob quieted and they heard the muffled voice of Jocasta. They hurried back to the window and opened it to hear what she was saying.
"My nephew, Jamie," she spoke, "is preparin' te deliver him te ye. I assure ye, Rufus will pay fer his crimes. Lawlessness willna be tolerated at River Run."
"His crimes?" Skylar exclaimed. "He wasn't the one who tried to murder someone. The only lawlessness here is the group of idiotic hate-filled morons in front of her." She continued to listen as Jocasta went on.
"My nephew, Jamie, is a man of his word. He will deliver the negro at midnight, and no a moment sooner, as was agreed upon by Lieutenant Wolff and Mr. Campbell. I intend te serve justice, as the law commands."
"What does that mean, 'deliver him at midnight'? That's any minute now," Skylar questioned. "She's just going to hand him over? They're going to rip him apart!"
Ian tried to assure her, saying, "Uncle Jamie would never let that happen. We just need te wait and see what he's-" But that was not what she wanted to hear.
"No! No more waiting! I'm sick of waiting for things to happen and being told I need to stay to the side." She turned and went towards the door again, but Ian caught her around the wrist, stopping her once more. "Let me go."
"What is it yer goin' te do, Sky? Tell me what yer plan is and I'll help in any way I can. But I need te know what yer thinkin' and what it is yer wantin' te do." She searched for the right words to say and wracked her brain for any ideas she could think of that would get him to let her go. But she couldn't find anything. "Ye canna just run inte this blind. I dinna ken how these things are dealt with in yer time, but here, it's too dangerous. If ye try te act on yer own against this, ye will get hurt or worse. And if anythin' were te happen te ye, it will kill me. So I'm beggin' ye, Yank. Please, wait fer Uncle Jamie. If not fer anythin' else, fer me. Please."
They just stared at each other, neither sure of what else to say to get the other to understand their position.
When they heard the clock start bonging, signaling that it was midnight, they instinctively looked towards the closed door, both of them feeling apprehensive about what was about to happen on the other side of it. When the last stroke went off, there were a few moments of silence that were absolutely deafening. But that silence was quickly filled with the anger from the crowd outside growing and the shattering of more glass.
Skylar looked back to Ian, pleading with him to let her go. He knew there was no talking her out of this. Though her willfulness could definitely be frustrating at times, it was one of the things he so admired about her and made her who she was. He let go of her wrist and took her hand, saying through the gesture that he was with her for whatever it was she was about to do.
They both walked to the door and opened it, but they didn't leave the doorway. They froze in their spots when they saw Jamie coming down the hall with Claire close behind him.
Skylar's eyes were locked on Rufus in Jamie's arms, his body completely limp and lifeless. She moved her gaze to Claire as she passed the door. Claire made eye contact with her but didn't stop. She kept going and held herself as tall and collected as she could while letting tears fall freely down her face.
Skylar didn't understand what had happened or what was going to happen, but she followed them with Ian still holding her hand.
Jamie and Claire led them outside to the porch where they were met with the mob of bloodthirsty men screaming at them.
As Jamie knelt down and placed before them the man who was once called Rufus, a son, brother, friend, and fellow living human being, Skylar looked to her right and saw Wolff and Campbell watching him and thinking only that order and balance had finally been restored. She had to restrain herself from grabbing one of their own guns and shooting them with it.
She shifted her eyes to Ulysses, as well as Phaedra and Mary who had come out on the porch as well. None of them looked away. They watched the law play out in front of them, keeping their faces neutral and unresponsive. But Skylar could see in their eyes the horror and fear knowing that it could easily have been one of them instead.
Skylar looked back to the action as one of the men put a noose around the already dead young man's neck and dragged him down the stairs and across the ground as everyone was yelling "String him up! Hang him! Make him swing!"
So desperate to be the victors, the men brought him to a tree in front of the house and proceeded to lynch him, cheering as they continued to defile him, even after his soul had left the Earth.
Skylar couldn't watch anymore. She pressed her body into Ian's and cried tears she didn't know she still had into his shoulder.
Ian, still looking straight ahead, wrapped an arm around her and put his other hand on the back of her head. He wanted to block her and shield her from the rest of the world and the terrors that came with it. She had come from another world that, as far as he was aware, was so different than this one. There, she had been safe from these dangers that she was being forced to face here. After what happened with Bonnet, Ian had made it his mission for the rest of his life that she would never be put in harm's way or hurt again. And watching the unthinkable acts being performed right now that he knew would be in her head forever, as well as in his, he held her tighter and made that promise all over again.
I love you all. Be safe. Be healthy.