𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐞 | 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫 ✅

33 - Leaving Home

Jenny woke me the next morning before dawn, "I've told Ian to go with ye to Leoch. He's readying the horses now."

I blinked a few times to wake myself up and then yawned, sitting up in my bed, "ye didna. I told ye that I could make the journey alone -"
"Do ye think Jamie would be best pleased with me if I let his wife - his pregnant wife, at that - make the trip to Castle Leoch by herself?" She had a good point, "nay, I've told Ian he's to protect ye and the bairn with his life, and pose as yer husband on the road." She paused, "dinna go getting any ideas on the way, Eira, he's spoken for!"
I giggled despite myself and then frowned, "but how will ye mind here without Ian to do the chores?"

"Ye and me coped afore Ian came home, and I'll do so again. Ye just make sure ye care for yerself and the bairn when it comes -"

"I hope that by the time the bairn comes, I'll be back here with ye and Ian." I told her honestly, "but if I'm not -"

"Send for me if ye need me." She was putting my gowns into a suitcase that I had only used once before when I had first moved into Lallybroch, just after my mother had died. "I'll come at once."

I nodded, "aye, I'll send for ye."

She looked over her shoulder at me, "well get up, then! Ye need to get dressed and break yer fast before ye go!"

I got out of the bed and went over to the basin on the other side of the room to wash.

When my mother had been pregnant, she had told me that it was dangerous to pull the strings of your corset too tight so, with a sigh, I called Morag up to tie my strings instead of Theresa. She looked surprised, to say the least, but did it anyway. I didn't speak to her. I then went downstairs and saw Ian and Jenny locked in an embrace.

I blinked, looking away.

I wished that I could hold my Jamie, but then I made myself smile again because I knew that when I reached Leoch, I would be able to.

"Are ye ready, then?" Jenny asked, gesturing to my bag in my hand. I nodded. She reached into the pocket of her apron and brought out an envelope. "I've written this for ye to give to Colum MacKenzie when ye get to Leoch - he's the laird, and mine and Jamie's uncle. I reckon he'll be chuffed to have ye when he kens that ye're Jamie's wife, but if there's a problem, then ye're to ride straight home, ye hear?" I had no intention of coming back to Lallybroch without a free Jamie by my side, but I didn't tell her that. Instead, I nodded. "I've written about yer handfasting, and about the bairn. Just give Himself this and ye shouldn't have to explain anything if ye dinna want to." She handed it to me and I gave her a smile in return.

"Thanks, Jenny," I said in a quiet tone, "I really appreciate everything... especially ye giving me yer husband for a few weeks - ye're too kind -"
"Ye'd do the same for me, I ken," she smiled as she put a hand on my belly, "look after the wee bairn, aye?" I nodded, "and my brother too, when ye get to him... though ye must box his ears for me, ye ken, because he left without saying goodbye to me."

I giggled, "I will. He's got it coming."

She nodded in agreement and then took me into her arms, holding me tightly but making sure that I was not squashed against her.

"Ye my sister, ye ken, Eira," she said as she pulled away from me and smoothed down the creases which our embraced had created in her apron, "and I've always thought of ye as such. It didna matter whether ye were Jamie's wife or no, ye were my sister. I love ye, and I'll always be here at Lallybroch for ye."

I grinned and then hugged her again, letting go only when we heard the sound of Ian Murray's wooden leg on the stone floor in the hallway. He was ready to leave, then.

Jenny said, "Ian's going to protect ye. Dinna do anything reckless though, I ken how ye can be when the mood takes ye."

"I won't be reckless." I promised her, "it's not just me that I have to be careful for, now."

"Aye." She smiled, rubbing my belly through my dress once more before she sent me on my way, going over to kiss her husband once more before we left.

Ian took my bag from me and strapped it to my horse, he then offered me a leg-up to my horse. I chuckled. "Ian, I'm pregnant, not crippled -" I cut myself off, frowning at my words when I saw him glance at his own leg, amputated just below the knee. "I'm sorry, I -"
"Dinna fash, Eira, I ken ye did not mean it like that. If I can get on the back of a horse with one leg, than any expecting mother ought to do it at least half as well." I smiled at his joke, relaxing.

"Aye, I reckon that's what ye should live by, Ian." I let him help me up onto the horse. Jenny stood on the steps of Lallybroch and waved us off. I pulled my cloak more tightly around me as we passed through the gate - despite the July heat, it was early morning and quite brisk.

But the cold didn't bother me because I knew that soon I would be at Castle Leoch and at Jamie's side.