"What's yer name, lass?" Dougal inquired, moving from his spot to circle around me.
As he walked, I let my eyes wander to the back of the room, where I knew Jamie would be.
I tried to keep my face void of any sign that might review that to me he was not just another man in that cottage.
I'd expected Jamie to keep staring at the floor, but suddenly he lifted his face, our eyes meeting for a split second before I quickly diverted to stare at a very interesting point on the wall, afraid my glass face might show anything it shouldn't.
"Claire?" A voice I'd be able to recognize anywhere came from the end of the room.
My heart stopped for a second, freezing me on the spot, before I could react.
Being again in 1743, Jamie couldn't possibly know who I was. Yet again, the single word that had escaped his mouth indicated differently.
"Jamie." I muttered before I could stop myself, looking again in his direction.
"Ye ken the lass?" Dougal asked confusedly.
"Aye." He answered decidedly, his eyes shining with tears. "That's my wife."
My own eyes filled with tears as well, realizing Jamie knew exactly who I was, and more specifically, who we were to each other.
"Wife?" Murtagh intervened, perplexed, directing his gaze at me.
I froze, knowing fully well I had no idea how to come up with a believable explanation for anything. And even if I could, I doubted I'd be able to form a coherent sentence.
"How did we no' know about it, lad?" Dougal intervened, looking suspiciously between Jamie and me.
"In happened while I was in France." Jamie spoke with a certainty no one dared to rebut. "We met about a year and a half ago. She was collecting her wee herbs just outside Versailles. Claire is a healer, ye ken. The moment I saw her I knew she was the one. I started courting her then, and we married soon after in a kirk near Compiène."
I was once again mesmerized by Jamie's ability to build a story from scratch without blinking an eye.
"I didn't write about it because I thought it'd be best to tell ye the news in person, after arriving at Leoch. Wasna expecting Claire to appear in Scotland, though." He added with a smirk.
"And why didn't the lass come with ye in the first place?" Murtagh probed.
"I dinna want to bring my wife with me while I had a price in my head. We got separated about a year ago, and I thought I'd be able to return to Claire before coming to Scotland. But clearly I'd been wrong." Jamie stated matter of factly. "I've never missed anyone so badly in my life".
Jamie might've been creating the whole story on the spot, the intensity of the emotion poured on his last sentence was not lost on me.
Murtagh only replied with a "Mmphm" noise, seeming satisfied with the story for now.
"And how did ye end up here, lass?" He directed me.
While Jamie had been weaving his part of the story, I knew I'd have to explain how I'd ended up in Scotland soon.
I was very much aware of lack of ability to build a creative believable scenario like Jamie. However, I could start with the truth, and only change slight details as they came.
"I thought Jamie was dead." I started with the a lite truth. "I heard he was dead. I spend months thinking he was dead, the worst months of my life."
My eyes started tearing up with how strong the pain of thinking Jamie dead for so long had been.
"Then I heard word that he lived. And even if I had no proof of him being alive, I had to be sure." I continued after a breath. "So I made arrangements to travel as soon as I could. I knew Jamie had family near Broch Mordha. So I figured if I made it there, I might find some information of his whereabouts."
Dougal was the only one still looking suspicious about the whole thing. If Murtagh had anything to say, it seemed like he'd wait until there was no audience within earshot.
At that precise moment, Brianna, who had been quietly resting against my shoulder, decided to make her presence known by emitting loud a whimper.
"I'm sorry, she must be getting hungry." I explained. "We didn't stop for a feeding since before our encounter with Black Jack Randall."
"Let's fix Jamie's shoulder, we canna do much before that." Dougal stated. "We've got a good distance to go tonight. Even with Randall dead we canna be safe until we're in MacKenzie territory."
Dougal moved to Jamie's side, muttering quietly in Gaelic.
"Aye, it's out o' joint, poor bugger." He kneeled in front of him.
"There's no help for it then." Angus, who was standing near Jamie, spoke. "I'll have to force the joint back."
"You'll do no such thing!" I intervened quickly, coming to my senses despite Brianna's fussing.
Brianna was in need of a feeding, and soon, before her whimpers would turn into loud wails.
But I couldn't possibly let Angus break Jamie's arm, which was exactly what would happen if someone tried to put the joint in its place without any medical knowledge.
"Wife or not, we need to fix the lad's shoulder." Angus annoyingly spoke in my direction me.
"Hold him." Angus commanded Rupert, who immediately moved towards Jamie's back.
"No, ye won't." Jamie interrupted. "Claire is a healer, she ken well enough who to do this."
I quickly walked the distance to Jamie's side, instantly feeling warm simply by being close to him.
Exactly like the first time, he was dirty, dressed in ragged clothes and injured.
But I couldn't love him any less.
"Could you hold her for a second, please?" I gently placed Brianna in Murtagh's arms before he could protest.
Murtagh rocked her awkwardly, clearly not used to holding an infant, and turned the baby towards him, taking a more attentive look at her.
"Christ, the bairn is the spitting image of ye, Jamie."
Upset from having been ignored for so long, and upon realizing she was in a stranger's arms, Brianna took one look at Murtagh's bearded face and emitted a loud scream, crying her heart out.
"Some nice lungs ye got, lassie." He made a hilarious attempt to coo at her, trying to get her to calm down.
"Someone get me some whisky." I demanded, frustrated.
Immediately a flask materialized in front of me.
"Take a good swig, this is going to hurt." I gave Jamie the flask.
"No. I won't have ye so close to me for the first time in a year only to be intoxicated." He refused. "I'll bear the pain."
Knowing fully well how stupidly stubborn he could be, I simply acquiesced, rolling my eyes.
"Hold him steady." I asked Rupert. "You have to get the bone of the upper arm in the correct position before it slips back into joint."
I bent down at Jamie's height, looking him in the eye.
"Ready?" I asked in a murmur.
He nodded, pursing his lips.
"This is the worst part." I said, trying to concentrate through Brianna's crying.
I pulled Jamie's wrist up and the elbow in, his arm heavy in my hands. Cupping his elbow, I got ready to whip it upward and in.
The shoulder gave a soft crunching noise and the joint was back in place.
Again, Jamie looked amazed.
"It doesn't hurt anymore." He smiled in incredulity. Exactly as he'd done before.
"It will." I snorted. "It will be tender for about a week. You'll need a sling."
I looked around the room, searching for what I'd need.
"Can someone fetch me a long piece of cloth, or a belt?" I requested.
"'Fetch me,' she says. Do ye hear that, lads?" Angus rised his eyebrows in disbelief. "The lad not only married a Sassenach, but a bossy one."
"Give her yer belt." Dougal ordered solemnly.
Angus looked at him, but complied without another word.
I fixed the belt around Jamie's shoulder, making sure it was placed correctly.
"I think the wee lass needs her mam." Murtagh spoke, clearly disconcerted from all the crying, and handed me a squirming Brianna.
"Let's give them some privacy so she can feed the bairn." Dougal said in a commanding tone, and motioned to go outside, everyone quickly following him.
I sat on a chair by the hearth and started fumbling with the laces in the front of my dress, desperate to calm Brianna, knowing she would sooth the moment she had her food source within reach.
"Do you mind?" I looked up at Jamie, nodding at the baby.
I'd been so used to Frank's repulse towards breastfeeding that I'd felt the need to make sure Jamie wouldn't be uncomfortable with the action.
"You feeding the bairn?" He answered in confusion.
I nodded, timidly.
"Claire, of course not."
I resumed working the laces and after some difficulty dealing with them along with a squirming Brianna in my arms, I finally freed a breast.
Brianna, locating it, immediately latched on, greedily, and started to nurse.
"She's a greedy wee thing, is she no'?" A voice a few inches from my face startled me.
So focused on calming Brianna I hadn't noticed Jamie moving from his spot.
He pulled another chair and sat in front of us.
My eyes immediately filled with tears, and I reached to touch his face.
"Jamie..." I spoke in a choked voice.
"I thought I'd never see ye again, Sassenach." He spoke, tears reflecting on his eyes as well.
"How?" I murmured.
"I dinna ken." He reached his hand to touch my cheek. "But whatever reason I ended up here again, I'm grateful."
I moved forward, mindful of the baby between us, and touched my forehead to his, breathing in his scent, tears roaming freely through both of our faces.
"The child." Jamie moved back an inch, staring at Brianna intently. "It's a girl, then?"
"Yes." I spoke through a snivel. "This is your daughter. Brianna."
His eyes filled with more tears.
"Brianna?" He laughed. "What an awful name for a wee lassie!"
"It's not awful." I laughed along. "I named her after your father. Brian."
Jamie touched Brianna's tiny elbow, his eyes full of emotion.
She abandoned the breast she'd been latching on to see what was touching her, and upon seeing Jamie's face, gave a coo, followed by a smile.
"Brianna." Jamie spoke for the first time. "You are the most beautiful child I've ever seen."
She squirmed to take a better look at him, reaching her pudgy hand towards his face and grabbing his nose.
"Do you mind?" He asked, motioning to pick her up.
I hesitated, aware of Brianna's stranger danger. She would always smile, coo, and even touch people she didn't know, but she second someone tried to pick her up she would scream bloody murder.
Frightened of her having the same reaction towards Jamie and rejecting him, I handed her over, carefully placing her in his lap, mindful of his injured shoulder.
"She might cry, usually she's really upset when people pick her up..."
A loud giggle interrupted me.
Brianna was happily giggling in Jamie's arms, touching his mouth, eyes and nose.
"She is a smart lassie. She kens who her father is." He spoke through his tears, a smile in his face.
"She does." I smiled back, feeling warm inside.
We stayed like that for several minutes, touching every part of the other we could reach, mouth, forehead, hands.
Brianna soon settled into a slumber, warmly tucked against Jamie's good shoulder.
The air got charged as he looked at me.
"Mo nighean donn..." he spoke, reaching to tuck a loose curl behind my ear.
Then he kissed me gently, mindful of the baby between us, mindful as well of his injured shoulder.
But the kiss was everything I'd hoped for.
I tried to pour every word, every emotion into it as our lips moved together, the first time after so long.
A "mmphm" noise sounded from the door, announcing Murtagh followed by Dougal and the others.
"Can you ride, lad?" Dougal asked after taking a few hesitant steps in our little family's direction.
"Aye." Jamie answered, moving back and facing his uncle.
"Good. We're leaving." He spoke decisively. "The two of ye will have time to catch up on the road."