Lochlainneach

To Damn A Stubborn Man

23 April, 1746

Lallybroch, the Highlands, Scotland

JENNY POV

Jenny lifted the squealing kettle from over the fire and poured the hot water into a cup, straining out the tea leaves and dropping a cube of sugar into it. Jamie wasn't eating anything, but he was taking tea, so she wanted to make sure he got at least something of sustenance. She set the teacup on a tray, then placed two rolls of bread next to it, picking up the silver tray and bringing it up to the room where she had had Ian bring Jamie. Jamie was lying there on his side, his back facing the door where she entered. Jenny crept in and set the tray on the bedside table, then rested a hand on Jamie's bare shoulder. "How are ye, brother?" she asked him quietly.

"I want te be dead," he muttered quietly.

"Catrìona wouldnae want that. Ye ken that well," Jenny told him. "She'd want ye te live."

"Well, I dinnae want te," Jamie replied stubbornly. "Not without her."

"Tha's too bad, because yer alive and yer stayin' that way, now drink yer tea, ye clotheid," she told him, and then she left the room. Outside of the door, she let out a sigh, biting back tears that threatened her eyes. It broke her to see her beloved brother this way. He was so sad, so miserable, and he had very little will to live. How did Catrìona manage to get herself killed? Did that damn Fowlis fool fight in the bloody battle along with him? What a stubborn, selfish woman, allowing herself to die while Jamie suffered to live. She abandoned her son, too, wherever he was... Poor wee Archie. She should have sent him back with Fergus, not held onto him.

She let out a gasp when she heard voices outside, then quickly rushed down the steps to find Ian in the parlour surrounded by English redcoats. "What's goin' on here?" Jenny demanded.

"We're looking for the Jacobite known as 'Red Jamie'. We understand that this is his home, and you are his sister, Mrs. Murray," said the leader of the soldiers.

"My brother died at Culloden. He's no' here," she snapped at him.

"We received word that he was sent here after the battle instead of executed," the soldier told her.

"Aye, he was, dead in a wagon. Ye can check the family graves, he's there," Jenny spat at him. Thank Christ she'd thought of having a fresh grave dug, and now, they would have to have a tombstone made with Jamie's name on it.

"Martins, go and check the graves," said the soldier, and one of them left the house.

"We're waitin' on a slab te be made," Ian told him. "There were a lot of deaths. There's a bit of a lag."

"Rightfully so," said the soldier smugly.

"Can ye no' leave us te mourn in peace?" Jenny demanded of the man just as the soldier called Martins appeared.

"There's a fresh grave, sir, dug recently," he reported.

"Very well," said the soldier. "I understand, too, that you have... relations with the Red Witch and the Black Fowlis as well?"

"We havenae seen them," Ian told her. "No' fer a long while."

"Best be on the lookout then," said the soldier. "If either of them come seeking refuge, you'd best do your part as citizens of the Crown and report them. There will be a reward, just as there is a penalty for harbouring a wanted criminal." He gave Jenny a suspicious look, but she responded with a firm one.

"They'll no' come, if they're clever," she said. "If ye'll please."

"Of course. Good day to you, sir, madam," said the soldier. He gave Jenny one last smirking expression, clearly knowing that she was lying, but unable to do anything about it at the present moment, then ordered his men to leave.

"They'll be back with a warrant," Jenny heard Jamie say suddenly behind her, startling her. "It is no longer safe here... I must go."

"I'll no' let ye leave just te die in the woods!" Jenny hissed at him.

"I'll stay close," Jamie said. "Keep an eye on the estate... but I cannae stay here."

"So where will ye go?" Ian asked him.

"There's a cave, seven miles or so from here in the woods. They'll never find me," Jamie replied quietly. "No one will." And so he did. Jenny didn't leave the estate, but Fergus and Ian both left Lallybroch with Jamie to help him locate the cave and make it livable, and that was where Jamie would stay. Jenny frequently sent Fergus with poultices she'd learned to make from Catrìona for that wound on his leg, but Fergus always reported that they were never used. Damn that stubborn man , Jenny thought to herself. And damn you, Catrìona Fraser, fer leavin' him behind.