CHAPTER 52
The journey back to Fraser's Ridge from River Run was uncomfortable, to say the least. Jamie and Claire rode their horses while Brianna and Roger drove the wagon. Roger led the horses while Bree sat next to him and held their baby, whose name, they finally decided, was Jeremiah, after Roger's father, though they made the choice to call him Jemmy for short. Murtagh had been hidden in the back under piles of blankets and with bags surrounding him on all sides. After receiving Tryon's order for Murtagh's hunt that Jamie was to lead, Jamie thought that last place he would be searched for would be with him. But he was extra cautious to make sure his godfather was totally out of sight the entire ride home, even when they would need to stop during the night.
Skylar was in back, as well, but she sat at edge of wagon, staring emptily at the road behind them.
She didn't speak at all the whole way. She kept hold on her stomach and barely looked up from ground, only giving small noises as answers when directly spoken to, or one word if the person asking was lucky. Jamie, Claire and Bree tried to interact with her as much as they could, even when she wouldn't respond. But the only time she showed any sort of emotion was when Bree would have her hold Jemmy. She would give the baby boy a tiny smile and try to be happy. Try as she might, along with the intense love she felt for her nephew, one or two tears would fall and then she would quickly give Jemmy back and return to her numb state.
She was also still keeping as much distance from Roger as possible. She would not speak to, look at, or sit or stand near him. Roger would always attempt to engage with her, but despite his efforts, she rebuffed him every time. Bree understood that she was in a cruel amount of pain and it would take an extremely long time to recover with almost no chance at ever fully healing, but she wanted so badly for Skylar and Roger to be friends. She loved both dearly and she didn't want this tension and animosity to stay between them forever, or God forbid, get worse. So she kept pushing Roger to approach her. And though he always knew what the outcome would be, he kept trying because he felt the same. He knew how important Skylar was to Brianna and he wanted a good relationship with who would, one day very soon, become his sister-in-law. But he, as did the others, were clear on the fact that they were going to have to be patient with her for any progress to be made.
Bree had told Jamie when he and Claire got to River Run that Fergus and Marsali had moved to the Ridge while they were gone, so Jamie had sent them a letter explaining all that had happened with the Mohawk. Because of that, when they at last returned home, the two of them were outside the cabin waiting for them. Fergus ran to wagon to help Skylar out, and once her feet were on ground, he pulled her into him and held her in his arms, taking care not to squeeze her too tight because of the baby. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. She fought against more tears that were begging to be released, but Fergus could hear her sniffling against him. He held her like that until she was ready to pull away, and when she did, Marsali was right next to her to bring her into another loving sisterly hug for however long she needed. Neither of them mentioned anything to her about Ian, nor did she.
All she said when she separated from Marsali was, in a half whisper, "I'm very tired. I going to sleep."
"Take our bed, sweetheart," Claire told her. "You can't sleep in your tiny one when you're this pregnant. We'll make do in the shelters."
"Okay," was her only response, then walked into cabin.
She never left the bed. Claire, Bree and Marsali took turns bringing in food for her to eat. She would try to refuse it, but was always reminded that she needed to eat for her child if nothing else. She then would very slowly pick at the food until it was gone. The three woman hardly spoke while she ate, unsure of what to say and afraid of upsetting her even more. But they each would sit with her the entire time to just let her know they were there.
For dinner that night, Fergus wanted to be the one to bring her her meal.
He opened the door and looked to the bed. He could see the silhouette of Skylar on her side, facing away from him and under the blankets.
"Ma soeur?" he called out softly. No answer. He continued to bed and sat in the chair placed next to it. "I've brought you dinner."
"I suppose you're gonna tell me I need to eat it for the baby." Her voice was raspy from her continuous crying.
"It seems I do not have to since you already know."
She made her way onto her back and Fergus helped her to sit up. She took the plate and blankly stared at meat and vegetables laid on it before picking up one of the tiny pieces it had already been cut into.
It felt like a knife was being stabbed in Fergus' gut as he watched his sister who was usually so bright and full of joyful energy, now act as an empty shell walking around with no life in it. She was ghostly pale and dark circles under laid under her eyes. Her mouth was in permanent frown, and he would do anything, he would go to ends of earth and back again, to make her happy and to see her smile and laugh once more.
He thought that he might be the one to be able to get her to talk back in a conversation. He had been able to help her through many difficult and challenging events in time he knew her, he wanted to see if he could again. He talked to her about Germain and the cabin he and Marsali were living in that Jamie had built for them the year before. He said how he'd been telling Germain he had a cousin coming, and even though at one year old he didn't understand, Fergus knew they would be the best of friends, along with Jemmy. He brought up many subjects, all joyful and all avoiding the elephant in room, but with no luck. She didn't give a single word in response. She didn't even look at him. He continued, however, also talking to the baby without touching her. He introduced himself as Uncle Fergus and told them all about the family they'll be joining that couldn't wait to meet them, that he or she was the luckiest child in the world to have a mother as wonderful as Skylar. He kept going until she was finished eating.
As she he stood up, he asked, "Can I get you anything else? Something to drink? More food? Is the bed warm enough? Do you need another blanket or pillow?" She just shook her head without looking at him. "I will leave you to rest then." He kissed her head. "Je t'aime, ma soeur. Bon nuit."
Before he walked out the door, he heard a small, "Thank you for talking to me." He turned back to her and she was looking at him. Her sadness still heavily enveloped her, but her frown was not as deep. "Claire, Bree and Marsali, they barely made a sound when they would come in today. Thank you for talking to us." She put her hands over stomach. "He was kicking like crazy, he liked it too."
Hearing her simply speak made him tear up. "You are very welcome, Skylar. I will continue talking to you, and him, in the morning." He turned to leave again but she stopped him once more.
"Could you maybe sleep in here tonight? I don't wanna be by myself." Fergus heard her voice breaking at the request and his heart cracked.
"Of course. Whatever will make you happy."
"Thank you, mon frere." She gave him a half smile.
He swallowed back tears and told her, "I just need to fetch some things and tell Marsali. Then I will return at once."
She nodded. "Okay."
He gave a kind smile and left, so he could hurry back.
When he was gone, she looked down at her belly and spoke to it. "I love you so much, my little one. You are my reason for living. I will never leave you. You will never be without me. I love you with more than all of my heart and soul. Mo aon agus a-mhàin, mo bheannachd, solas mo bheatha."
Over the next two weeks, Skylar pushed herself to stay busy. Claire pleaded with her to stay off her feet as much as possible as she was approaching the end of her ninth month, but she refused. The continuous activity forced her mind to focus on other things, even for just mere minutes at a time.
Despite her restlessness, her depression never lessened. She was still only eating the bare minimum, she went to bed early and slept late, and she would hardly talk or engage anyway with anyone other than Fergus. She clung to Fergus when he was around and he tried to be as much as he could. He slept almost every night in the cabin with her and when he did have to be at home, he would come back very early the next day to be there well before she woke up. Marsali would come with him when she could, but more often stayed at their own cabin to take care of Germain. Fergus felt guilty leaving her so much but she understood well that his sister needed him more than she did at this time, and that his being there would help her begin to move past this, practically, time of grief faster than if he wasn't.
Skylar still wouldn't respond much when he would talk to her, but he never let up since he knew she was listening. The rest of the family wouldn't interfere when they were together. As much as they wanted to help her as well, they needed to follow her pace, and if Fergus was the one that made her feel the most comfortable, they wouldn't dare get in the middle of it. He also assisted her on all the chores that she insisted she do, including grooming the horses, like they were doing at this particular moment.
Skylar was brushing Jamie's horse when she suddenly let out a groan. She closed her eyes and put hand on stomach. This had been happening on and off all day and they were getting harder to hide as they got stronger.
Fergus, who was working on Claire's horse, heard it and whipped his head around to her. "Are you alright, Skylar? Are you hurt?"
"Fine," she told him, so hushed that he only knew she spoke because he saw her lips move. She then went back to brushing like nothing happened.
"Is it the baby? Are your pains beginning?"
She shook her head, then dropped her brush and went to grab the feed for the horses.
Roger saw her cross and called out to offer, "Let me help ye wi' that, Skylar." He put down the bucket of scraps he was throwing to the pigs and goats, and jogged to her. But before he could touch one of feeds, she picked up both pails of it and turned sharp on her heel, going back to the horses and not giving him a glance.
Roger watched her go and sighed in frustration. He turned to Brianna who was sitting by the fire pit holding Jemmy, and gave her a look that he didn't know what to do anymore.
"We need to get some more water from the stream, we're nearly out," Claire stated from her garden. She had been in the middle of weeding and watering it when she realized there was only a half bucket left.
"I'll go get more," Skylar said. Everyone's head turned to her. That was the most they had all heard her speak one time since they got home.
"Skylar, you're going to give birth any day now. You should be on bedrest."
"I can do it. I'll be fine." She spoke very monotone and went to pick up two of the water buckets.
"Well, yer no goin' alone," Jamie said. He looked at Fergus, meaning for him to go with her. Fergus understood and nodded, putting his brush down and moved to join Skylar.
But Brianna spoke up quickly. "Roger will go with her." She stood and looked at Roger, her eyes begging him to do it. He looked at Skylar and saw her back was to him.
"Aye, I don't mind at all. I'd be happy te," he agreed.
"I'll be fine on my own," Skylar responded towards Jamie, very sternly.
Jamie looked between Roger and the girl, knowing what Bree was trying to do.
"Roger will accompany you. That's that," he concluded. He, too, was not the biggest fan of Roger, but he wanted his daughter and future son-in-law to get along for Brianna's sake.
Skylar let out an angry sigh. She waited for Roger to get the third bucket, then stormed off, leaving Roger to speed walk to catch up.
They walked to the stream in a very uncomfortable silence.
"Yer verra fast fer bein' the size ye are," Roger said to her, trying to make some sort of conversation. "I-I mean, fer bein' nine months pregnant. It's impressive. I didna mean te imply yer fat or…"
Christ, shut up, man, he scolded himself. Change the bloody subject.
"I can carry those for you." He reached to take one of her buckets closest to him, but she moved it to her other hand to carry both.
"I'm pregnant, not missing an arm. I can carry a goddamn empty bucket."
She sped up her walking to get ahead of him and neither spoke the rest of the way.
At the stream, she lowered herself by the water and filled her two while Roger stood a number of feet back from her with his. She turned to him to say, "I need the third one."
He just looked at her for a second then said, "Are you ever goin' te give me a chance?"
"Excuse me?"
"Ever since I came back ye've just been givin' me the cold shoulder, refusin' te acknowledge my presence and avoidin' me every time ye can."
"Omigod," she muttered under her breath and turned back to the water.
Roger went off, clearly wanting to say this for a long time and he couldn't stop it now that he started. "I understand that ye were hurt when Ian left ye and that ye'd rather have him here and not me. But you cannot change what has happened. It's not my fault that he decided te trade himself te the Mohawk. He made that decision on his own. I did not tell him te do it. Ye need to accept that he's made his choice and pretendin' I don't exist is not going te bring him back."
She was biting her lip so hard to keep from attacking him, out of Brianna's love for him, it could have split in half. The fists she was making to keep herself under control were so tight they were shaking and all she could see was red. "Shut up!" she finally screamed, not able to take it anymore. She took a moment to breathe before standing and facing him. She struggled not to yell because that would have just made her start sobbing. So she gritted her teeth and pressed one, though a few tears managed to escape. "I'm well aware that it was his own choice. I know all too well that he is gone and is never coming back. But just because I do know that, does not mean I am anywhere close to being the least bit okay with it. I don't blame you, specifically you, Roger, as a person, for what he did. But you are why he's gone. And I already think about him every second of every fucking day, wondering what he's doing, is he okay, is he being treated well, is he hurt." She paused to breathe again and swallowed to stop her voice kept cracking more. "I think about how I'm carrying his child and he will never know that. And whenever I see you, it's just shoved in my face again and again where he is and why, and that you will get everything he should've had also. So, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. But I am not sorry for being angry that you get to raise your child with your wife, and I'm alone." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, then went to reach for the buckets. But she stopped and her eyes went wide. She shook her head, saying, "Oh no, no, no. Not now. Please God, not right now."
Roger took a couple steps towards her. "Are you alright?"
She lifted up her skirt just enough to see a large wet spot made in the dirt beneath her. "My water broke. Ahhhh!" A contraction hit her and she doubled over, gripping her stomach.
"Oh, Jesus Christ," Roger murmured to himself. "Uhhhh…" He looked over his shoulder, hoping somehow someone would be there.
"AHHH!" she cried again.
"Okay, we need te get ye te Claire. Can ye walk?" She looked up at him almost to say 'are you serious?' "Stupid question, right." He decided he needed to pick her up and he held tight around his neck, still crying out in agony. He went as fast as he could carrying her back to the cabin. "Claire!" he cried when they got close. "Claire!"
"What happened?" Jamie exclaimed when they got onto the land.
"She's in labor."
"Get her inside, on the bed, now! We need all the blankets we can find," Claire ordered. Everyone did as they were told and Claire went inside with Roger.
He placed her on the bed and stepped back. Claire helped get Skylar out of her dress, keeping her in her shift.
"Skylar, you're going to be alright. I know it hurts a lot, but trust me, you're going to be fine," she was saying to the screaming soon to be mother, trying to calm her.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck!" she screamed. "Why aren't epidurals a thing yet?! I want a needle in my spine now!"
Jamie, Bree and Fergus rushed in with the blankets and Claire prepared the bed for the delivery.
Every second of her labor seemed to last an hour, so the eight full hours of it felt like an eternity.
Everyone around her was doing everything they could to make her as comfortable as possible. Brianna offered herself as the one for her to lean against as Skylar had been for her and led her through the same breathing and exercises she had done when she was giving birth. Jamie and Fergus took turns as her punching bag, not flinching when she would hit or squeeze them to work through each contraction that were only getting more intense. Roger just stood silently off to the side, knowing that anything he tried to do would not be appreciated or wanted by her.
But through the seemingly never ending blinding pain, the only thing on Skylar's mind was that Ian wasn't there, and that knowledge hurt more than the contractions.
"Alright, Skylar, you have to start pushing," Claire announced when, at last, it was time. Brianna and Fergus brought her to the bed and stood on her sides to helped her sit up. They held onto her back and arms to support her. "On three, 1, 2, 3."
Skylar pushed as long and as hard as she could, screaming all the while. She fell back, trying to catch her breath. When the next contraction came, Fergus and Bree helped her back up. "Again," Claire said. "1, 2, 3." She felt like her lower region was on fire and she was going to be torn in two. Again, she tried to breathe. "You're doing fantastic, Sky. But we need to go again, 1, 2, 3, push." She pushed for 45 minutes before she wanted to give up. She felt hot and exhausted. Large tears were flowing endlessly down her face, but not just from the pain of the delivery.
"I can't do it anymore. I can't. I can't do this," she said almost indistinctly through sobs.
"You can, Skylar. You can do this. I did it, remember? You're almost there. Just think about your baby. You're going to meet your baby so soon," Bree said, trying to encourage her.
"I can't, I can't do this. I can't without Ian. I can't do this without him. I can't raise this baby alone. I can't. I need Ian. I need him. I need Ian here with me." Everyone was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say. Suddenly, Roger came forward from the wall where he was with Jamie. He took Fergus' spot and knelt next to her, holding her hand tight.
"Ye are not alone," he told her, firmly. "Ye will never be alone, ye hear me? Ye are surrounded by people who love ye and care about ye and will do whatever they can te help ye raise this baby. We are all here for ye and yer child, whatever you need. Ye are not doing this alone. We're all here and goin' nowhere, I promise ye."
She stared at him and the look he gave her told her he meant every word. Still crying heavily, she looked at Claire and nodded.
"Alright," Claire said. "Just a few more. On three, 1, 2, 3. Now!"
After close to two hours of pushing, Skylar and Ian's son was born. Claire cleaned him and wrapped him, then brought him back to Skylar.
"Congratulations, Mum," she told her with a huge smile. "You have a beautiful healthy little boy."
Skylar took her baby in her arms and looked at him. She could already see some of Ian's features in him as well as tiny tufts red hair on his head, which only made fresh tears sting her tired eyes. But they were mixed with tears of utter joy and powerful love for this human she had only just met. She was laughing and crying at the same time, staring down at her child with a smile of complete adoration.
"He's so sweet," Brianna commented.
"He's perfect," she said back. She looked up when she heard footsteps and saw Roger about to walk out the door. "Where are you going?" she called to him.
He froze for a moment and slowly turned back to her. "I, uh, I-I thought ye wouldn't want me here right now, so I was goin' te-"
"You promised me that you all would be there for me and support me. You meant that, right? All of you?"
He gave her a small smile. "Aye, I did."
"Then you're not going anywhere." She looked back at her son and Roger walked back to the group. Brianna smiled at him as he stood next to her, holding her hand.
Claire sat next to her on the bed and asked, "What are you going to name him?"
"Um," she looked up at Bree, remembering their discussion, "I think I'm gonna go with Oliver." She looked at everyone around her. "Oliver Ian Murray."
"That's a lovely name, darling," Claire told her, running her fingers through Skylar's hair.
"And ye want te give him the surname Murray?" Jamie wanted to confirm.
"Of course. It's his father's name, and mine as well. I want te keep it. I want people to know me as Mistress Murray, not Miss Fraser. Ian is my husband, whether he's here or not. My name is Murray, and our son's is too. It'll also help make people believe he was born in wedlock." She looked back at her baby in her arms. "Hello, my love," she spoke to him. "Hi, sweet Oliver. I'm your mom. Oh, I'm so happy to finally meet you."
After Fergus had brought Marsali and Germain over, he went back out to stealthily bring Murtagh as well. Lizzie had also joined the crowd with Jemmy, and everyone was overly happy and delighted to welcome the newest member of the family to the Ridge.
After they each had a chance to hold Oliver, they decided it was time to let the new mother and son be on their own for a little while.
When they were alone, she said to him, "I know you're wondering where your dad is. He can't be here right now. But he loves you. My God, does he love you. And I can't wait to tell you all about him one day."
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With two new infants, space was running out at Fraser's Ridge, Brianna, Roger, and Jemmy were living in the cabin along with Skylar and Ollie, the name Skylar had taken to calling him. All the while Jamie and Claire had been staying in one of the shelters. "Cramped" was an understatement, so Jamie set to work on making blueprints for another much larger house he would build on another part of their land. Once he found perfect spot, he wasted no time breaking ground. But, thankfully, he wasn't alone in the construction.
Just in the three months since Ollie was born, word had kept spreading about Fraser's Ridge, and more and more people of all ages, be it individuals, pairs or families, were flocking to settle on it. From them, all the men able got hands dirty with building what Jamie was calling "The Big House," and he was optimistic that it would not take too long before it was able to be lived in.
The more settlers also meant a bigger audience to Ollie and Jemmy's baptism that Pastor Gottfried agreed to perform.
The day before it, Skylar was sitting on her bed watching Ollie nap when Bree and Roger came up to her.
"Skylar?" Bree spoke first. She looked up at them.
"We wanted te ask you somethin'," Roger followed.
"What is it?"
The couple look at each other, like they were nervous to ask whatever it was.
Roger continued, saying, "When we have Jemmy baptized, we're goin' te have te give him his full name, includin' his middle names."
"You wanted Alexander right?" Skylar said to Bree. "Are you not going with that anymore?"
"We still are," Bree told her. "But, um...we wanted to ask if you would be okay with it if we also gave him the middle name Ian as well."
"We thought that with everythin' he's done fer us te allow us te raise Jemmy tegether, we might honor him this way."
Skylar didn't answer right away, and Bree saw her sister's eyes start to water.
She started to backtrack. "Of course we know that that's also Ollie's middle name and if you want that special to him we absolutely understand. We would never want to disrespect or insult you or Ian in any-"
Skylar stopped her. "It's ok. You can give him Ian's name. I would really like that actually." She gave a small smile and chuckled. " He wanted so badly to have his child named after him, if he knew two babies were carrying on his name, God that would just make his head grow, wouldn't it?" Roger and Brianna laughed at the remark too. Skylar reached her hand out to Bree, and she took it. The two shared an affectionate smile, and Skylar turned it to Roger as well which he returned. The two had a silent conversation where Skylar cleared everything bad that had been between them and that she was ready to move past it.
The sun was warm and shining the next day for the event. Everyone gathered in the field outside the beginnings of the Big House to witness it. The ceremony came and went smoothly, and after, the guests came up to congratulate the parents and fawn over the babies. Just like she wanted, every new person who came onto the Ridge came to know her as Mistress Murray and no one had yet to question where her husband was. Though she could assume they all thought he was dead because when they approached her after the baptism, they would look at her and Ollie with a hint of sadness and pity. She would just give them a polite smile and say "Thank you" for their kind words.
She was still in a great deal of emotional pain and distress, and her heart was still nowhere near close to even beginning to heal, but she was no longer the empty numb shell of a person she had been a few months previous. Having all of her family around her, watching her home expand and fill with new friends, and of course and most important, having Ollie in her life who she loved more than she thought she could ever love anyone or anything, it all made her start to feel happiness again. The happiness started as a very small spark but as time went by, it grew until she was able to get through an entire day without wanting to curl in a ball and disappear. She hoped it would keep growing. She needed it to so she could give Ollie best life she possibly could.
During the baptism's reception, she was standing at a table, watching her baby boy as he slept in his bassinet. She smiled at him and stroked his cheek with her finger.
"Mistress Murray?" a voice came from behind her. She turned and saw a young man standing there. He didn't look much older than her and had straight dark brown hair pulled back into the same low ponytail every man wore. He was as tall as Jamie but slimmer, though he was the kind of slim that proved he was used to hard manual labor as opposed to just being skinny. "I wanted te take the time te introduce meself properly te ye." He spoke in a Scottish accent. "I've verra recently came te live on yer father's land and I am indebted te him fer the opportunity to make me way here."
"It's nice to meet you. But, I'm afraid you haven't given me your name."
He blushed and stuttered out, "Oh, um, excu-excuse me. My name is Benjamin Allaway, Mistress." He bowed to her and she curtsied in reply. "I hope that ye will come te think of me as a friend and should ye ever be in need of assistance, I hope ye will think ye call fer me."
"Thank you, Benjamin. That's very kind. I would be glad to have you as a friend."
A boyish grin crossed his face that he unsuccessfully tried to hide. "I'm honored." He stared at her for a beat longer, then said, "I will, uh, leave ye te enjoy the rest of the party." He bowed once more, then walked past her.
Skylar looked back to Ollie until Bree came up next to her. "I see you met the new stud of Fraser's Ridge?"
"Excuse me?"
"Benjamin Allaway. I've heard some of the girls giggling over him."
"God, this is gonna be like living in a high school, isn't it?"
Brianna laughed "It's sure as hell gonna be interesting."
"Bree, could you do me a favor?"
"Anything."
"Could you watch Ollie for a few minutes? I wanna go on a walk."
"Of course, but are you sure you want to go alone? I can go with you and have Lizzie watch him, or I'm sure Fergus or Marsali-"
"I really wanna be by myself for a bit. I'll be fine, I promise. I'm not going far."
"Okay, when Da and Mama start frantically looking for you, I'll let them know where you are?"
Skylar rolled her eyes, chuckling, knowing that was likely what would happen.
"I'll be back soon." She touched Ollie's head then went off.
She walked in direction of the cabin, but didn't stop at it. After ten minutes, she found the spot she was looking for. She recognized the tree by the moss covering exactly half of its trunk. She knelt on ground next to it and traced outline of I.M. + S.K. delicately with her finger.
"Happy anniversary, Youngin'," she said. "A year ago today you asked me to marry you that same night, and of course I said yes. I had been waiting for you to ask for so long. I wish..." she stopped to collect herself. She did not want to cry anymore. "I wish we had gotten to repeat our vows in front of a priest to make it forever, instead of letting that marriage end today. God, I'm talking like you're dead. You're not dead, you're just...not here." She pressed her hand flat against the carving. "Maybe you can come home one day. You can come home and we can be a family, you, me and Ollie. Please, Ian. Please come home." She sniffed and wiped away the single tear that fell down her face. She took her hand off tree and held her hands in her lap. "I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I love you, Ian Murray, and I will be madly deeply wholly completely in love with you for as long as we both shall live." She placed a kiss on her hand and touched his initials with it. She stared at it for another moment, then stood up and went back to rejoin everyone.
That night, when everyone was asleep, Skylar sat in the cabin's rocking chair with Ollie in her arms, and she sang softly to him, "Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green. When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen. Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so? ''Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so."
GAELIC
Mo aon agus a-mhàin – "My one and only"
Mo bheannachd – "My blessing"
Molas mo bheatha – "The light of my life"
Y'all…that's it. That is the last chapter of Yank, or the American Sassenach! I can't believe it! I know I've said this many many times before, but thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU times 100000000000 to all of you for sticking with me through this fic and my insane posting schedules.
15 months, 52 chapters…I could cry. But, I can't cry for too long because…
I HAVE TO START WORKING ON THE SEQUEL!
Yes! Skylar's story is faaaaaaaar from over. I have already started work on the sequel which will take place during seasons 5 and (the eventual) 6. I don't have a definitive date for when I'll post the first chapter, but I can say it'll be around mid to late April. I will post a update on this fic when it's up so you'll get a notification that way. Or if you follow me as an author, you'll get a notification when I post a new fic.
Also, it's a very teeny tiny change, but my updates will be on Sundays for the sequel, not Saturdays like for this one. I feel like that will keep my regular updates much more regular lol
I want to say thank you all again so much. Your lovely reviews and all the favorites, follows, and views really kept me going and motivated. I hope you all loved YotAS half as much as I loved writing it for all of you.
I love ye all verra verra verra much, and I hope to see you all soon with chapter one of the sequel [TITLE TBD] :)