Lochlainneach

Coat of Red

12 December, 1746

Lallybroch, The Highlands, Scotland

CATRÌONA POV

I awoke slowly, smiling as if I had woken from a wonderful dream. Yesterday had felt like a wonderful dream, but it was all real. My Jamie was alive and with me again, safe from harm and loving me with every ounce of his being. My Jamie was my heart and my soul, my ceart-leth , or true half. I stretched as I awoke with the rising sun in my eyes, rolling onto my back and reaching across the bed to touch him... but he wasn't there. I patted the seemingly undisturbed sheets beside me, opening my eyes and finding the bed empty beside me. No... No, no, no, no! It was all a dream... Everything, none of it was real. I should have known it was too good to be true. My Jamie was dead, buried under the ground at Culloden Moor. "Jamie... Jamie!" I cried out, but then I felt a large pair of hands on my shoulders grasp me and I turned, meeting the sky blue eyes of... "Jamie! Oh, thank Christ!" I cried, throwing my arms around his neck and holding him tightly.

"Shhh, mo ghràidh , it's all right," he whispered into my ear, kissing the side of my head.

"I was so scared it wasnae true," I muttered, clinging to him as if my life depended on it; Now that I was in the arms of my beloved Jamie again, my life truly did depend on him. I would not live if I could not be with him.

"I feared the same when I woke," he told me, pulling back from the embrace and smiling sweetly at me, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear. "But then I saw ye, sound asleep beside me... The most beautiful sight I've ever seen." He leaned forward to kiss me. "I should have been here when ye awoke. I'm sorry, lass. The fire had gone out and I wanted te make sure ye were warm." I hugged him tightly again, my sweet, wonderful, caring Jamie.

"Wait," I said, suddenly realising that the room was suspiciously lacking the sound of the cries of a six-week-old infant. "Where's Brèagha?"

"With Mrs. MacNab. She said ye'd not slept, and lookin' at ye, I'd say the same. Ye needed yer rest, so I gave her te Mrs. MacNab te care fer," he told me.

"Why would ye do that? I can care fer her fine, I'm her mother," I said to him, a little taken aback.

"And yer a wonderful mother, but ye cannae be yer best if ye dinnae get yer rest," he told me, kissing my forehead.

"I hardly slept at all in the last eight months, Jamie, and I did fine. Archie was well cared fer," I replied, pulling away from him and pulling the sheets up to cover myself. I suddenly felt a bit shy being in front of him in sunlight, and he placed one hand on my shoulder.

"I ken ye did... But it's my job as yer husband te care fer ye, and I will," he told me. "Come here, mo nighean . I want te kiss ye." He scooted closer to me and drew me nearer, pressing his lips to mine and holding me securely in his arms. Any annoyance I felt instantly melted away and I wrapped my arms around him to draw him nearer. He slid under the covers and between my thighs, pushing me back down onto the mattress as he kissed me. I felt him push into and enter me and we both let out a deep sigh, then I grasped his hair when he started moving within me. Oh, Christ... To hold him again, to feel him inside me, to be with him in a way that no one else in the world could... I missed him so much.

Suddenly, the door burst open and I grasped the sheets to cover my breasts as we both looked up to find a very angry Jenny standing in the doorframe, my bow in her hand. "Are ye serious, Jamie? It's broad bloody daylight! What if the English come, aye? Ye didnae think of that, did ye?" she demanded from him.