Triallaire

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17 October, 1766

Wailing Widow Falls, the Highlands, Scotland

CATRÌONA POV

I stood back up and closed up the bladder with fresh water from the river, which drained from Loch na Gainmhich up above via the Wailing Widow Falls. They were named so because an old folk tale told of a man who had gone hunting for deer and fell to his death from the top of the falls. It was said that his widowed mother was so devastated that she threw herself over the top of the falls after him. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful place could be the site of such devastation; It was hidden away within the burn and looked almost like a stairway to heaven. I glanced up at the waterfall and smiled; I would certainly be no wailing widow.

"Catrìona!" I heard my husband call to me from somewhere above me. "Where've ye gone, lass?"

"Down here!" I called back, glancing at the falls for another moment before turning and making my way out of the burn. Jamie stood at the top, along with Archie, and both of them assisted me back up once I arrived at the top. I grimaced a little and gripped my abdomen, then felt Jamie's hands on my upper arms.

"Are ye all right?" he asked me.

"Aye, a bit sore," I replied.

"Perhaps ye shouldnae have swam out te the isle," Jamie replied, helping me up onto my horse.

"If I hadnae, we'd no' have the coins the bastards dropped, would we?" I asked him. "Or that ruby."

"Aye, the ruby," said Jamie, shaking his head a little. "I suppose tha' will be worth it. It'll make us good money te send te Laoghaire before we go after Young Ian."

"I saw the flag of the ship, but I didnae recognise it. Maybe Jared will?" I asked him, watching him climb onto his own horse.

"Aye, perhaps," Jamie replied. "Or yer brother might. We'll go te Barra, see if they saw the ship. I can write te Fergus, tell him te bring along Hayes, Duncan and Mr. Willoughby and meet us in Paris. He'll have gone te Lallybroch by now."

"It feels strange goin' back," I said as we started back down the road. "It'll be... so different. No Saoirse, no Grandsire. The children will all be grown. It was hard enough te accept Archie and Fergus bein' grown, but Brèagha will be a completely different story. She'll be so... different. Of course, it means somethin' te be a man compared te a lad, but te be a woman compared te a girl, it..." I let out a soft sigh. "She'll be nearly twenty. By that age, I was leadin' a siege on a heavily defended fort."

"Brèagha never had te do such a thing," Jamie told me.

"Aye, and I'm glad fer it, but I'm afraid I'll be lookin' at myself. I imagine tha' was my mother's greatest fear," I said, chuckling lightly, and then I let out a sigh. "As a lass, I wanted te be just like my mother. Then as I grew aulder, we... had our moments of disagreement. I didnae want te be like her. Suppose I became her anyway. I dinnae want Brèagha te become like me."

"I think ye'll find she already is," said Jamie, glancing back behind him at Archie, who was looking out at the sea. "Archie has, too. He's yer son, and Brèagha is yer daughter. It was a comfort te see ye in them."

"I could see ye in Maevis as well. She had yer eyes. Looked like me, mostly, but everra time I looked into her eyes, I saw ye," I told him, giving him a soft smile. "Ye were never far from me, so long as I had her." My smile faded, and I let out a soft sigh. "And then... I had te send her away, and ye were gone from me. I had... no part of ye, save fer yer ring. My life grew cold without Maevis."