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

Chapter 23: Fathers and Their Archaic Ways

November 1769

Brian cautiously approaches where Da is applying the finishing touches on the maternity ward that they have been building together. Brian would've joined him sooner, but he had kept his distance as he knew they both needed to cool off. That's what happens when you have a big argument.

Da looks up. "Brian..."

Brian grimaces. "Hello..."

His eyes flicker to the red mark on Da's cheek, but he can see a bruise is already forming. He winces, running his fingers over his red knuckles.

"I'm sorry." Da says quietly.

"This disaster isn't all your fault." Brian admits. "I expected more from you than I should have, given the time you were raised in."

Da looks affronted by that. "Bein' raised in my time doesn't mean ye don't know right from wrong or how to behave."

Brian sighs, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. "No, fine, I admit that. But I just want to ask you something."

"Wha'?"

"Do you know where Lizzie was when Ellen was attacked?" Brian asks.

"She said she saw Mackenzie take her away." Jamie replies.

"That's not what I asked you." Brian retorts.

"She said she saw Mackenzie take her away." Da replies. "She thought he'd taken her off to ravish her."

Brian scoffs. "Lizzie is a child; I doubt she knows much. You should've asked me at least. Bonnet raping her happened days later while I was caring for Lizzie. I found Ellen, I comforted her and picked her up."

Da's face contort into one of confusion. "Then why didn't ye defend her honour? Why didn't ye go find him and—"

"Because I was respecting her wishes! She was barely holding it together and she was desperately focusing on finding you and Mama. And I– I couldn't face the fact that I had let her down." Brian crumbles then, letting out a sob. He feels his Da reaching for him and wrapping an arm around him, keeping him upright.

"You nearly killed him, Da." Brian whispers. "Roger may be dead now because of you. I'd be lying if I said Ellen could forgive that."

"I ken tha' now." Da admits. "I acted irrationally but I dinna want ye, yer Ma or Ellen to be involved. She'd already told me she wanted 'im dead, the man who raped her." Ellen had not shared the sentiment with Brian but that she feels that way does not surprise him. "And I didna want te involve her in murder."

"Saying you wanted someone to die was a far cry from actually commissioning their death." Brian shakes his head, wiping his cheeks and stepping away from him. "That isn't the problem. Not really."

"What is?"

"You. Right after she told you that she'd asked Roger to her bed that you called her a liar." He points out to him. "You condemned her the moment you heard that she'd been with a man of her own free will. She wept in your lap like a lost child and still you stopped believing in her once she told you she was no longer a virgin."

"No, I was confused. Lizzie said it was yon Mackenzie who ravished her and then Ellen said she bedded him by choice." Da shakes his head. "It was that I thought she had lied to me." Brian can see he's genuinely distressed about it.

Brian makes a sound between a scoff, a snort and a chuckle, "Why did you think she lied to you? Why all of us didn't tell you?" He asks.

"Brian, what she did is nae how a woman behaves—"

"This is exactly why." Brian cuts him off. "You let your archaic beliefs cloud your judgement. You put them in front of being there for your daughter who's been through a traumatic experience and is terrified about what's happening to the man she loves. I doubt you would've treated me like this if you found out a slept with a woman without marrying her. No, you would've laughed and made a joke about me becoming a man but because Ellen's the one that's done it, she's the whore?"

Da goes quiet, looking down shamefully. "Yer right. I shouldn't have called her a whore."

"Yeah, you made a mistake there," Brian takes pity on him as he looks at his devastated face, "but you can still make it up to her."

Da's head snaps up. "How?"

"By bringing Roger back." Brian tells him. The face Da pulls is kind of funny. "Look, she loves him, Da. They were planning on marrying; they had done the whole hand fast before she found out he'd been lying to her.Trust me. I'm not happy with him myself but we need to do this for El."

Da nods in agreement.

——

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