Outlander: Short Story Dreaming Chapter 2 Lallybroch
All characters are not mine and belong to D. Gabaldon. I am just tweaking them.
"Jenny," I screamed. "Ian. Mrs. Crook. Help," I shouted. "I need help. Jamie's hurt." Jenny and Mrs. Crook came flying out the front door. Little Jamie and wee Maggie not far behind. Fergus came running around the corner of the house. Moments later Ian came into the yard from the same direction as Fergus.
Duncan McLeod hopped off the wagon and helped me excavate my husband. I was throwing hay everywhere in an effort to find him. I had climbed over the seat of the wagon into the bed before it had even come to a stop. I found his beautiful face. I brushed the few stray pieces from it and said, "We're here Jamie. Home. Lallybroch." He opened those beautiful baby blues and smiled. A weak smile, but a smile none the less. Home.
I kissed him. Hard. He was never leaving my sight again. Ever. Never. Not while I had breath still in me. His smile was still weak but got a little bigger as his hand cupped my face. I don't think he was going to let me out of his sight any time soon either.
I turned to Murtagh as he popped up from under the hay on the other side of me, "Do you need help getting down or can you manage?" I asked him.
"Aye. Fergus, lend us a hand here," he grumbled but gave me a smile as he worked is way to the end of the wagon where the tail gate had been lowered and Fergus was waiting to help him. Happy to be alive, I think. Weren't we all? He was glad to be back as well.
Two days ago Mr. McLeod, while still driving the wagon, had asked over our meal of shared bread and ale, where I was headed.
"An estate North of here," I had sadly replied. "Broch Tuarach. Some call it Lallybroch. It is my husband's home. His family is there." My head hung low and tears started to roll down my cheeks.
"Your husband would be James Fraser then?" he asked.
"How do you know that name?" I replied wiping the tears from my face with my extremely dirty sleeve so I could see the man's face more clearly. I looked hard at the face. I did not recognize it. I did not know this man nor the name he given me.
"Red Jamie, he's fair famous 'round here. What with the posters 'n all, it's hard no' to ken him," he stated. "You say'n your his wife? You don'na sound Scots," he added. A small smile was starting to forming on his lips.
"I'm not. I'm English. We've been married two years now. I went back to Colluden, to the battlefield, to try and find him. I walked the whole field. Tried to scare away those awful black crows too. I could not find Jamie nor his Godfather, Murtagh Fraser," I sniffed in reply and tears started to stream down my face. My husband was dead. I just wanted to crawl away somewhere and die. Then I would be with my Jamie forever. I couldn't though, Jamie had made me promise to live, to survive for the sake of our unborn child. His living legacy. "I am going home to inform Jenny and Ian. It will break their hearts to hear Jamie is dead."
That's when Mr. McLeod turned the horse and wagon off the road and stopped near a small stream. "I need to water the horse and give it a wee rest," he'd said.
I must say, I was starting to get a little nervous until Mr. McLeod reached under the wagon seat and removed a bucket. I was always nervous around men when on my own since my dealings with Jamie's Uncle Dougal. I never felt in control around men any more. Mr. McLeod had seemed nice enough when he offered me the ride. I had been so tired. And he had, after all, shared his food. This stopping, however, made me uncomfortable. He hopped down off the bench and walked around to my side of the wagon. He placed an hand on the bench next to me and asked, "Would ya mind check'n on your husband while I look after the horse. He and his godfather are buried under the hay in the wagon bed." He winked at me then turned and walked away toward the stream to fill the bucket with water taking the lantern with him.
Whhhaaattt? That damned man had known who I was when he picked me up off the side of the road. He knew he had Jamie and Murtagh in the back and had said nothing to me until now. Not very funny. Not very funny at all. But I had a huge grin on my face as I scrambled over the bench seat's back and into the bed of the wagon.
"Jamie's the one that needs tend'n," Murtagh said shaking his head when he appeared out of nowhere in the back covered with hay. "He's got a nasty wound from an English Soldier's bayonet. I'll do for now. God Lass, you're a sight for sore eyes. Jamie said you were gone, through the Stones, but I ken better. The Lad will be over the moon to see ya. Let's see if we can find 'em, aye?"
I buried my hands and arms in the hay feeling for my husband. I found him quickly. I uncovered his face and spent the next several minutes covering it with kisses. "You're alive," I kept repeating over and over again. Jamie got his arms around me and pulled me into a bear hug, stroking my hair and whispering "How?" I just kept kissing and petting my husbands face as I held it in my hands and he kept hugging me and stroking my hair; we simply could not keep from touching each other.
"Your nose, it's broken," I said when I finally broke from him. "I'll need to set it. It's best if I do it now before it starts to heal. Do you remember when it happened?"
"About three minutes after I last saw you. One of the soldiers I was fight'n at the cottage hit me with his sword hilt," was his reply. His eyes softened as he placed his hand on my belly. I nodded my head and he managed a little bigger smile.
Mr. McLeod return with the lantern and the bucket of water, which was for me, not for the horse. When I lifted Jamie's kilt and saw the wound on his leg I forgot any form of modesty and removed one of my petticoats. I tore several large pieces and then handed the rest to Mr. McLeod to start tearing into strips. The wound was at least 8 inches long, ran from his groin to mid-thigh. It would need stitches for sure. The best I could do now was clean it well, bandage it and hope it didn't fester on the trip home. Jenny and I could work our magic when we got him back to Lallybroch.
When I had finished with what I could do for Jamie, I turned my attention to Murtagh. He had several minor wounds but three that would require stitches. One in his side, one through his shoulder and one looked like a hatchet in his calf muscle. Looking at it I thought Murtagh might have a limp when the healing was done. I cleaned and bandaged them. The shoulder looked like a bullet wound but would not know for sure until we were home and I had better light. I did not want to be digging around in it now. It was not bleeding heavily. We needed to get going. Get back to Lallybroch as safely and as quickly as we could. I kissed them both and then Mr. McLeod and I buried them back under the hay and we continued our journey.
Now that we were here, we managed to get both men into the kitchen. Murtagh sat on a stool near the fire. Mrs. Crook had given him a bowl of porridge and he was all consumed with it. Jamie, I had them lay him on the table. It took several hours to clean and stitch his leg then clean and check the rest of his body. He required another couple of stitches for a sword wound through his arm. His leg hurt so much he had not even noticed it was there. I checked his nose and found it still set; the two black eye made him look like a raccoon though I don't mention this in front of Ian or Jenny as Scotland does not have any; they are native to North America. I discovered 2 broken fingers when I was washing the grim from his hands and splinted them. Jenny and I were so focused on Jamie that we had almost forgotten poor Murtagh. When I remembered, I turned and found him quite content. Seems he had made Mrs. Crook and the Widow MacNab very happy. Mrs. Crook was shoving food at him; he had eaten two bowls of porridge and was on his fifth bannock. Mary MacNab said she was cleaning Murtagh's wounds for Jenny and I; what it amounted to was a simple sponge bath. It had needed to be done. It is quite possibly the cleanest I have ever seen the man. He did not seem to mind either. I even caught a smile pass between the two of them.
We decide not to move Jamie tonight. He will sleep on the table with me beside him as I will not leave his side. I even give myself a quick wash in the kitchen. Jamie falls asleep almost immediately after we finish with him, which gives me a chance to drink some broth and take a couple of bits of a bannock.
Murtagh is fairly mobile and goes upstairs to sleep. Jenny finds him a bed. We three are beat; we have not had a decent nights sleep or meal in days, too many to count. We are home. All that would all change now. We were safe for a while but I knew the British would soon start searching the Highlands for traitors. Our time here was limited. We needed to sleep, eat, heal and plan our next move.
Mr. McLeod, it turns out is the Black Smith in Broch Mordha, only an hours travel from here. He will not stay but opts rather continue his journey home. His wagon at Lallybroch would cause a stir if he stayed too long. People would notice, questions would be asked. If asked he will say he was shoeing a horse, the big black one as he points to Donas. That's why he was at Colluden. Shoeing some British Officer's horse, a Lord Melton. Lord Melton was the same man that had paid him to smuggle Jamie back to Lallybroch. Who the hell is Lord Melton and why had he freed Jamie?
I was tired. I could hardly keep my eyes open as I covered my husband with a quilt Jenny had left before she whispered "Good Night" as she left the kitchen. I crawled under it as I laid down on the table beside Jamie. He was asleep on his back, hand folded across his chest. I pulled the arm closest to me loose and laid my head on his shoulder. His arm hugged me closer to him and he opened one eye and whispered, "I love ya Sassenach. I am so happy to have ya in my arms. I am too tired to hear why you are still here. You'll have to save it for morning, aye? But my heart is full from the gladness of ya be'n here. He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, set his other hand on my stomach and we fell sound asleep.