Outlander Reversed

Eight

October, 2014

The next five weeks passed by rather peacefully, and Jamie was rather quick to settle into Life as a married man. Course, there honestly wasn’t much settling in to do–the only real Change for him was which bed he slept in, and Naturally, the lovemaking. He and his young wife still rose when the Rooster started crowing, sat down to breakfast together, then worked together to accomplish various tasks around her farm till the Sun set too much to get anything else done.

        But late at Night, if he couldn’t sleep after Summer’d succumbed to her exhaustion–which was more oft than he’d care to admit–there was one Thought he couldn’t seem to let go of. Worry for Jenny and her welfare, not to mention their family’s estate, still plagued him more than he cared to admit.

        During the five weeks since their wedding, he couldn’t help the one other Thought related to that one that nagged him. With what his young wife called the Night of Samhain–one of the Ancient Spirit Nights–in just a few Days, he wondered if Traveling through the Stones’d be possible again. Maybe that was the only other Night of the Year that such a doorway’d be open to him, and he could at least temporarily Return to his own Time. If that was true, maybe he could go back–at least long enough to ensure his sister’s welfare–then Return to the woman he’d fallen in Love with, and the Life they were starting to Create together.

        However, there was always the chance that such an attempt wouldn’t work out, no matter what Day of the Year it was. Then again, it was just as possible that it would work, and the ginger man could go back–but wouldn’t be able to Return to his wife after the fact. If that happened, he might be back in his own, more familiar Time period, but he’d never get to see her again. After all, he’d be long dead and in the ground–whether that was in Scotland or America–by the Time 2014 actually rolled around, if that were to happen.

        “You’re just not gonna give it up till ya at least try, are ya?” the young woman queried when he posed the Thought to her, sounding exasperated.

        “Ye dinna ken how it feels–to be separated from the only one that ever loved me no just by physical distance, but by Time, itself!” Jamie retorted.

        “You’d be surprised by just what all I know,” she told him.

        The ginger man’s eyes widened at the Ice that froze her voice, which was uncharacteristic of her by leaps and bounds.

        “Does whatcha have in the here-and-now not mean enough to ya to reconsider?” Summer asked, that Ice melting in what seemed like a fraction of a second. “It may not be as much in some ways, but at least you’re alive–safe–and can build a new Life for yourself. That might not be something ya can do, if ya go back–not with that Captain Randall sniffing after your ass like a Dog chasing a bitch in heat.”

        His entire body stiffened at the mere Thought, her words bringing back memories he’d give everything short of her and his very Soul to forget. “Ye ken just how much this Life–how much you–mean to me, mo chridhe.”

        “Funny, ’cuz it damn well seems like I don’t mean a damn thing to ya right now,” the young woman said dryly. “Whereas you mean so much to me that I’d rather not take unnecessary chances with your Life when there’s no guarantee we’d be able to save your sister’s–assuming she wasn’t killed by Randall the Day ya were arrested, that is.”

        “And that’s the part I canna live with, mo chridhe!” Jamie bellowed, slamming his fist down on the counter. “Jenny’s the only family I’ve left, and I’ll be damned, if I lose her when there’s a chance I could save her!”

        “Then get whatever’s the most preciousta ya,” she told him, that Ice back in both her expression and her voice. “And don’t start bitching, if I turn out to be right.”