The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [25]
He had risen, was standing over me. His shadow fell across my knees; surely that meant the cloud had broken; a shadow doesn’t fall without light.
“Claire, ”he whispered. “Please. Let me give ye comfort.”
“Comfort?” I said. “And how will you do that? Can you give me back my child?”
He sank to his knees before me, but I kept my head down, staring into my upturned hands, laid empty on my lap. I felt his movement as he reached to touch me, hesitated, drew back, reached again.
“No,” he said, his voice scarcely audible. “No, I canna do that. But … with the grace of God … I might give ye another?”
His hand hovered over mine, close enough that I felt the warmth of his skin. L felt other things as well: the grief that he held tight under rein, the anger and the fear that choked him, and the courage that made him speak in spite of it. I gathered my own courage around me, a flimsy substitute for the thick gray shroud. Then I took his hand and lifted my head, and looked full into the face of the sun.
A condition of Jamie’s freedom is that he must leave France. A pardon has been secured; he can return to Scotland. With Charles Stuart’s plans effectively thwarted, and with painful memories behind him, the Frasers are only too happy to leave—to go home, to Lallybroch.
The solitude of the Highlands and the peaceful, busy life of the farm are a refuge for both Jamie and Claire. They have succeeded, they think; Stuart is penniless, discredited with every banker in France and Italy—he has no hope of raising the money for an army. They are free to turn to each other, to rebuild their life together, to wrap themselves in the cloak of their love, warm against all future winds.
But fate—and Charles Stuart—is capricious. The peace of Lallybroch is shattered by the arrival of a letter. Stuart has landed at Glenfinnan to claim his throne, with no more than a few companions and a dozen casks of brandy. With these, he hopes to charm the Highland chiefs to join his cause. The letter holds far worse news, however; to strengthen his show of support, Charles has published the names of the Highland chieftains pledged to follow him—and blithely added Jamie’s name to the list, sure of his friend’s allegiance.
There is no choice. They have failed to stop Charles Stuart, and now, branded a traitor by Stuart’s list, Jamie finds himself with only one action open to him—to help Charles Stuart win.
With thirty men, Jamie and Claire march to join the Highland army near Preston. On the way, though, they encounter a stranger: a sixteen-year-old boy, a young English soldier who is also marching toward the meeting at Preston with his regiment. Jamie captures the boy, and befools him into giving away the number and position of his regiment’s artillery—which Jamie and his men neatly disable, under cover of darkness.
The boy—John William Grey—swears bitter vengeance on Jamie before being taken away to be safely returned to his companions. This mildly comic interlude is succeeded by one of deadly purpose; the Highland army faces its first test, against the vastly superior English force under General Jonathan Cope.
Claire waits in fear, with the other women who travel with their men in the army. Foresight is no reassurance; she knows that the Highlanders will win, with only thirty casualties—but which of those thirty will be men she knows—or a man she loves?
The battle is won, though, and Jamie survives. The victorious Highlanders march on to Edinburgh, where Charles Stuart is hailed a hero. The city celebrates with balls and parties at Holyrood Palace—despite the presence of an English garrison, safely ensconced behind the brooding walls of Edinburgh Castle. There is a brief and giddy excitement; several lords and chieftains are coming to Stuart’s side—foreign envoys are arriving, cautiously assessing the prospects of victory.
Among those who come to see for themselves is Colum MacKenzie, chief of the MacKenzies of Leoch. Meeting privately with Jamie, he asks his nephew bluntly