Outlander: The Standing Stones

Here and Back

When I woke, I took my baby and put him to my breast. I had a lot of this to look forward to, I'd never given thought to children they weren't part of my plans; now I wondered why I'd waited so long. He was small, dark, and perfectly formed, and already felt like a part of me. I just wished Georgie was here to share this miracle with me. I brushed the tears from my eyes, how long would it take before I could think about Georgie and not cry?

As he nursed, I let my mind drift, and my mind wandered to Clair. I hoped when they found her she hadn't given then a story that was so obviously unlikely, such as "my carriage overturned and my groom was killed". That was so obviously contrived that it would arouse suspicion. I never knew what Georgie had thought about the reason I'd given him. It was essentially true but had been no reason at all. It was honest in a way, I didn't know how I had gotten there. The gods must have been with me, or maybe it was fate, but I'd caught Georgie's eye and won his trust. The fact that it had been a scant two days after that that we had gone to bed for the first time didn't hurt. I'd had nothing at all to offer, except myself and my looks, Claire at least had a talent that could win her a place in the castle.

Mary came in to check on me, and I asked her if she could bring Claire. She nodded, looked at me a little strangely, but she didn't know the connection that Claire and I had. For that matter, neither did Claire, but she was about to. No one knew my secret and it ate at me sometimes. I had no one I could tell, no one to share it with, but now that was going to change. I would keep Claire's secret and she could help keep mine. I felt like a burden was lifting off me.

Mary brought Claire and took the baby from me. She cleaned him up and changed his nappies, then placed him in the cradle. I nodded to her, and she left the room, confused but she understood.

"Sit down Claire," I said and motioned her to a comfortable chair. I poured brandy for the both of us, handed her a glass then sat down, with less pain than the day before. Thank god I was healing. "We started a conversation that we never got to finish, so, what year was it when you came through the stones?"

I could see the alarm in her eyes, well, I didn't blame her. Though she was now clad in the clothes of a middle-class eighteenth-century woman, that wasn't how she was dressed when they found her.

"You know then," she said softly, "You know about me—how?"

"Were you at the stone circle outside Inverness?" I persisted, "Did you fall asleep at the foot of the tallest stone, the one with the sharp angle at the top?"

"No, I touched it. I was curious about it, and I just reached out and touched it with my hand. The next thing I knew I was unconscious then suddenly came to. Everything looked the same; it wasn't until I started walking back to my car that everything changed everything. I saw English soldiers and Highlanders fighting, and tried to run away. Someone found me and dragged me to relative safety, Jamie, the boy with the red hair." She shrugged helplessly, "It was no use trying to struggle, I knew I was trapped and something was terribly, terribly wrong."

"But, what year was it Clair? What year did you come through the stones?" I persisted.

"It was 1945, the war had ended and my husband I needed to get away, to get to know each other after a long separation. Someone told me about the circle and I wanted to see it." She let out a long breath, "I still can't believe this is real." She narrowed her eyes and looked at me, understanding, "What year did it happen to you?"

"2013," I told her, and she looked startled, a sort of deer in the headlights look in her eyes, "I'm an archaeologist at the University of Chicago. My mother is Belgian and my father is Russian. My mother had passed away and asked me to visit some friends of hers in Scotland. I didn't really want to, but I promised her I would. I was staying at a little inn outside Inverness, and a man the owner had introduced me to told me about the henge outside of town . He wanted to come with me, but I told him I wanted to see it by myself. Guess I should have let Mac come with me after all."