Lochlainneach

Bha Mo Leannan Ann

Featured Gaelic and Pronunciations:

- Bha mo leannan ann (vah moh lee-ah-nehn owhn) - my love was there

- Gle èibhinn (gley ey-vihn) - very funny

- A ladhran (ah lah-rahn) - sandpiper

- Mo leanabh (moh lehn-ahv) - my baby

- Deiseil le cridhe is làmh (gee-shihl ley cree ihs lahv) - ready with heart and hand  

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14 July, 1746

Castlebay, Isle of Barra, Scotland

I had gone to the main island in hopes of visiting the apothecary to replenish my supply, but the apothecary's mother-in-law was unwell and the shop was closed. Letting out a bit of a sigh, I decided to make my trip across the Baigh a' Chaisteil worthwhile and went to the shore. There were a few small secluded beaches where there weren't too many people or too much action from port activity, so I went for a bit of peace and quiet. Instead of finding myself alone, I found my cousin, Beitiris, standing with her feet bare in the sand, the waves crawling up the shore and kissing her toes. She hadn't seen me approach and seemed to be staring out at the sea, seeming to wait for a ship to appear around the coast of the Isle of Vatersay. I knew exactly what she was looking for - everyone in Castlebay knew. Beitiris's heart belonged to Griogair MacNeill, a sailor by trade, and often, she would stand on the shore staring listfully out to sea, willing his ship to appear on the horizon. Seeing an opportunity to bond with my cousin, I smiled to myself, then approached as I sang a song from my time:

"The bells on the hill are ringing out loud.

Ring for our sailors, they're coming home now.

The sun fills the warm sand, the waves touch the shore

As my sailor comes home to me..."

" Gle èibhinn, " she said to me, amused as she looked at me. "Ye ken what I'm doin', then?"

"I've done it before," I told her. "Not on the sea, but I spent a few days watching the gate of my husband's estate waitin' fer him te come home." I let out a sigh. "Even now... I find myself scannin' the shoreline fer his bright red curls, but it's all in vain. He's never comin' home."

"There can be a lot of chaos in battles. Ye never ken, he might have survived," Beitiris replied, but I shook my head.

"If I ken Jamie, and I do ... he'd have ensured he didnae leave that battlefield alive," I said sadly. We both looked out at the edge of Vatersay, where a stone lighthouse stood. In my time, that lighthouse had collapsed long before, and truth to be told, it looked as if it would go at any moment.

"What was he like?" Beitiris asked me suddenly. "Jamie, ye said?"

"Aye," I replied. "Jamie Fraser. He... he was a... a rare man, tha's fer damn sure." I smiled softly to myself as I watched a gull catch the wind in flight, seeming to hover over the sea as it cried out. "He was loyal, honourable... valiant, stubborn as hell... and he loved me unconditionally. Ye ken I was called the 'Red Witch' by the English. Everraone thought I was a witch. I wasnae, and still am no', but even if I was, he didnae care. He was the kind of man who would burn with me had I been sent te the stake. He loved his son, more than any man in this time I've ever seen love a child. He wanted Archie so badly... and wanted this wee bairn, too." I rested my hand on my swelling belly, glancing down at it.