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

Chapter 21: Fathers

October 1769

"I should warn you, I was never good at this."

Jamie glances over his shoulder at his son. It still amazes him, even if it's been weeks since they'd reunited, to see how much he's grown since he last saw him. Jamie might've seen it in the photographs Claire had shown him but to see Brian as a grown man in the flesh is different.

Jamie gives his son a shrug. "Dinna take te it like yer sister did?"

Brian shakes his head. "No, Ellen took to it better when dad, uh, Frank, taught us."

Jamie gives him a soft smile. "Dinna fash yerself. Ye can call him dad if yer want to. He was yer father fer twenty years."

"But you're my dad too." Brian argues. "I don't want to disregard either of you because both of you have been a father to me."

Jamie's eyes water at that statement, he swallows thickly and replies, "Ye can call me Da. Tha' good?"

Brian nods. "Yeah... Da."

Jamie lets out a watery chuckle and grips his son's shoulder. "Come, we hav' hunting te do."

——

January 1966

A 19-year-old Brian picks up the ringing phone. It's Joe. His voice is serious as he asks if he can speak with Brian's mom. Brian sighs, still shaky from the yelling he'd heard coming from the room that contained his parents and then the slamming of the door as his Dad leaves. He didn't hear much but accidentally heard accusations of infidelity when he wandered too close to the room. Brian has known for a while that his parents aren't happy but to hear those words had been a punch in the gut.

Brian says he will and goes to that room where his mother hasn't emerged since Dad walked out. Brian is glad Ellen isn't at home but at school, finishing high school soon. She doesn't have to hear the abuse their parents threw at each other nor does she have to see Mama's absolutely unrecognisable face with mascara-stained tears staining her cheeks.

Brian tells her Joe is on the phone and she sprints past him like a bat out of hell, reaching the phone in record time.

Brian lingers behind her. Waiting, listening, to hear what Joe has to say. Something in Brian's gut is telling him something is wrong.

——

Dad's dead.

That's what Mama said. A car crash killed him. It wasn't unfeeling the way she said it, far from it. But it wasn't sorrow either. Brian can see that his mother looks almost liberated.

Brian had the same feeling too. He'd loved his Dad as any child would love a parent but had always known it was never as much as his sister loved him. There had always been this weird chasm between the two. Brian would watch other sons with their fathers and wonder why he and Dad weren't as close.

Brian was never able to please him. The two of them were so different.

The day he'd come home from school after learning about these other countries in Geography, Brian had been particularly excited about Scotland, wanting to go there and was eager to tell his parents. He didn't know why he was so drawn to Scotland but it felt right. It felt right up until when he told his parents.

Dad had stared at him, his face a mixture of absolute fury and complete shock. Mama had stood frozen to the spot, not daring to move. Dad had stood abruptly, shoving past him, nearly running out of the house and slamming the front door hard enough to knock a painting off the wall.

Brian had looked at his mother with wide tearful eyes. She'd hurried over to him, wrapped him in a hug and promised that everything would be alright. She'd promised that they will go to Scotland one day. Brian had taken comfort in that, in his mother's arms.

But now... now things are different.

Brian can see that in his mother's eyes as they comfort Ellen, who's in tears over the news. Things are different.

——

A/N: Please leave comments on how you're enjoying this story and what you think.