The Strength of a High and Noble Hill (An Outlander Story)

Chapter 16: Lost Family

A/N: Thank you to everyone that has voted on chapters and added this story to their reading lists.

——

June 1769

Claire and Frank had both been only children, as far as Brian knew. Frank Randall had had distant relatives, but Brian and Ellen had never met any of them and only rarely had they received cards at Christmas, the stained and faded postmarks telling of distant lives in remote countries, half a world away.

Brian and Ellen had set out to find their mother and father, find them and warn them. Brian had not expected and had not been prepared to find a whole new family in the process.

——

Jenny looks up at him with a beaming smile. Jenny Murray is barely five feet tall and as lightly built as a sparrow. Her ebony black hair streaked liberally with grey is pulled back into a bun and the lines that run from nose to mouth are stretched out in a familiar shaped smile. Her slanted cat-eyes, one's Mama had described Jamie as having, one's Brian has seen reflect back at him when he looks into a mirror. However, Jenny's eyes are somewhat softer, greyer than the sharp blades of blue that Brian and Ellen have inherited from their father.

One hand reaches up to trace his cheek, feeling the high Mackenzie cheekbones while the other does the same to Ellen before falling to seize her own. "Yer truly his, there's no denyin' it."

"Told yer Ma." Says Young Jamie. He stands tall and broad-shouldered as he stands next to Brian and Ellen, meeting in height with the former and towering over the latter. Everything about him describes the man of the house. Brian recalls the document Mama had shown them from the rising that said Lallybroch would be passed to Jenny and Ian's son. It's odd to think that before Brian and his mother travelled to the future, Brian and Young Jamie had known one another.

Jenny then takes notice of the ring which sat upon his hand, taking it between hers to examine in the light for a moment, before replacing it at his side.

"But it had been his as Laird before then, an' our father Brian's first, yer grandsire. Traditionally, given t' the eldest son. But wha' happened te it?" Her thumb strokes the scorched metal of the ring.

Brian swallows uncomfortably, sharing a look with Ellen. "Mama said it got damaged." It doesn't seem their aunt knows about the time travel so he's not going to explain that the gem inside it got lost when his mother travelled through time.

Any further conversation however is stilled with a door further down the hallway opening and the sound of wood hitting the boards of the hallway accompanied by the sound of a single foot hitting hard onto the ground.

"Jen? Jamie? Wha' going on?" A tall man with a long, work worn face and deep brown eyes comes out of a door. He looks almost exactly like Young Jamie but of a smaller build. His eyes widen in surprise. "Are they?" His voice is soft.

"Aye. They're Jamie's bairns." Jenny answers.

"I'm yer Uncle Ian, lad, lass. Welcome te ye." Uncle. Aunt. Cousin. A new-found family that Brian had never known he had. He isn't complaining.

——

Brian watches as Laoghaire is ushered out of the Murray household. His sister clings to their mother's, grandmother's, pearls. Brian can see she's shaken by Laoghaire's words.

He sees the young girl who followed her in still standing awkwardly on her own. He flashes a smile at her, hoping to make her feel better and she blushes before scuttling off after Laoghaire. Brian frowns as he watches.

"Poor lass." Jenny remarks. "Te ha' a mother like tha'."

——

Brian and Ellen learn that Mama and Jamie are already in the States. Jenny eagerly shows them letters sent by her brother. Brian gazes with amazement at his- Jamie's words, the man feeling more real than ever.

Jenny and the family welcome Brian and Ellen enthusiastically and encourage them to stay with them for a few days while their travel arrangements are being made.

Their guides down the hall when a painting catches his eye causing Ellen to let out a startled noise as she bumps into him, but he doesn't take any notice as he gazes upon the portrait. Brian has seen this portrait on a school trip. Two hundred years from now, he will stand in the National Gallery of London and look at the same portrait.

"That's yer grandmother, Ellen." Jenny speaks. His grandmother's portrait still hanging in a museum two hundred years from now. Knowing that she will endure like that is fitting.

"Amazing talent." Ellen remarks.

"Aye. She painted it herself." Jenny tells them.

Brian grins at his sister. "That's where you got your talent for art."

Jenny looks at her eagerly. "Yer paint?"

Ellen blushes. "Draw mostly."

Jenny grabs Ellen's arm and pulls her along as she talks all about her mother's talent. Ellen glances over her shoulder at Brian who just gives her a grin.

——

Brian learns that Young Jamie, who's married with a few children, isn't his only cousin. There's also Maggie whom Brian re-meets in the days they stay at Lallybroch as well as Kitty, both married with children. There's Michael, who's in France working for a family-run wine business and married, and there's Janet as well. Sadly, one of his cousins, Caitlin, died soon after her birth. His aunt sombrely shows him her birth and death recorded in the family bible. Young Ian, the youngest, isn't here as he is actually in the colonies with Brian and Ellen's parents.

Their Uncle Ian eagerly shows them around Lallybroch. The sheep and potatoes. He tells them it was Mama's idea to plant them, and it kept them from starving more than once. He says it was also her urging to eat leafy green vegetables that he still has most of his teeth. Brian feels proud of his mother.

Ian even suggests that Lallybroch might rightfully be Brian's. Ellen immediately dismisses the notion, insisting that it belongs to the Murrays and that they only came to find their parents.

Brian nods along. He knows Ellen isn't eager to stay in this world, she just wants to warn their parents and go. Brian on the other hand is feeling more comfortable in this world than he has ever felt in the 20th.

——

The day before they leave, Jenny gets pulled away for a birth but is able to return to see them off.

Jenny smiles, briefly turning to her nephew and niece as she embraces both of them in turn tightly.

"Tell Young Ian te write a letter everra once in a while, if ye dinnae mind." She asks, holding their elbows, with great care.

Brian grins. "Of course."

He's genuinely sorry that they're not staying, he wishes he could stay longer and get to know his lost family, but they need to get on. They need to find Mama and Jamie.

——

A/N: I have a few undecided ideas of who I want to pair Brian with but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of their own?

Jamie won't be appearing in the next one but he'll be in the one after that!

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