22 March, 1767
The Artemis
CATRÌONA POV
"And... there!" I said as I finished giving Archie another dose of penicillin in his bum, and I rubbed the injection site a little to distribute the medicine. "Tha's yer last dose. How's yer head feelin', lamb?"
"Better, Mama, thanks," Archie said to me.
"Still gettin' headaches?" I asked him.
"Aye, a little, but they're fadin' fast," he replied.
"Good, we cannae have the Captain of our ship down, can we?" I said with pride, taking his face in my hands and kissing his forehead. "I'm so proud of ye, Archie... Ye've grown into such a fine young man, and verra handsome, too. Just like yer grandsire."
"I'm glad te make ye proud, Mama, and I'm glad yer stayin'," he told me with a soft smile. "Cannae wait te return te Scotland."
"Neither can I," I said, sighing softly. "Ye've found yer niche, havenae ye? As a sea captain."
"I mean, I'm fond of it... but if ye and Da dinnae live by the sea, I dinnae think I would do it," he replied.
"Daddy and I willnae be around forever, lamb... It's best ye find somethin' yer good at when yer young, somethin' ye enjoy, so ye can do it fer the rest of yer life."
"Like ye have wi' yer healin'?" Archie asked me, and I nodded.
"Aye," I replied. "Ye should ask Baxley te take over fer a wee bit so ye can rest. Tha' head's no' gettin' better without rest."
"Aye, I ken, Mama," Archie said with a soft sigh. "Now that I share my cabin wi' Young Ian, he willnae let me rest until he's mastered Spit."
"Spit? Yer uncle's favourite card game? He taught ye tha'?" I asked him with a chuckle.
"I always preferred Gin Rummy, but aye, Spit's always been fun, when we were bairns," he told me, and my smile faded a little. I pushed a piece of hair out of his eye and sighed softly. "As I've said, Mama, I'd not have had it any other way. Ye had te go... Yer here now, alive and well, and so is Maevis in her time."
"I feel selfish, wantin' all three of ye together," I said to him. "I want my three bairns under one roof, safe and sound where I can see them, watch them... Wi' Maevis four hundred years away, how can I be certain she's safe?"
"Because she's yer daughter, Mama. She's tough, I imagine," Archie replied with a smile, and I nodded.
"All right, time fer ye te rest," I said when I saw him grimace a little. "I'll give ye some peppermint salve te rub on yer head when yer lyin' down." He did as he was told like the obedient and loyal son he was, gladly accepting my salve and making his way to the cabin he shared with Ian. It was near dusk, and Ian was on the deck making friends with some of Jamie's men and the other sailors, which meant that Archie would have a chance to rest in peace. I decided next to check on Caoimhe, who I had seen fairly little of in the last few days. It wasn't often she came out of her cabin since we left Jamaica, and frankly, I was a little concerned. I knocked on her door, expecting to be ignored, but was surprised when I heard her voice on the other side.
"Come in," she said, and I opened the door and stood in the doorway, finding her folding up her skirts to put them away for the night. "Oh, hello, Auntie."
"How are ye, hen?" I asked her, and she sighed a little.
"All right," she said, a bit melancholic.
"Ye dinnae sound 'all right'," I said, entering the room and closing the door behind me. "Are ye sleepin' well? Ye look tired, Caoimhe."
"No, no' really... Everra time I close my eyes, I... see her blood splatterin' all over me... and I'll see my hands and they're red wi' blood. So much of it... I wash my hands in tha' pool everra time, but it willnae wash away... I feel like Lady MacBeth after MacBeth killed King Duncan," she told me.
"'Out, damned spot, out I say!'" I quoted, and she smiled, looking down at her hands.
"'What, will these hands ne'er be clean? Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand'," she quoted back to me, and then she let out a sigh. "Will it always haunt me, Auntie?"
"The spirits of those ye killed? Aye... but ye'll learn te live wi' them," I told her. "I still remember the faces of everra man or woman I've ever killed."
"Was it a lot?" Caoimhe asked me, sitting down on her bed, and I paused for a moment in thought.
"There... was a war in my time. Yer father and I both fought in it, after we were orphaned. It was... part of bein' a soldier. I never liked it. I was always meant te be a healer, but... yer father was a good soldier. Always has been. I thought it was his penchant fer adventure. The pirate in him - or rather, yer grandsire - could never be quieted," I said to her.
"Ye healed? In yer own time?" she asked me, and I nodded.
"I was actually a doctor," I told her. "Wasnae makin' tha' part up. I trained in Edinburgh, spent some time in Glasgow before goin' back te Barra. There was a... small part of me tha' enjoyed the peacefulness of it. I missed Jamie terribly, but on Barra, doin' what I loved, raisin' Maevis... It was like my own wee paradise. But after comin' back and bein' wi' Jamie again, it turned out that paradise was all in my head."
"'The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven'," Caoimhe said, quoting Paradise Lost.
"Ye wasted no time on books, did ye?" I asked her, impressed with her knowledge.
"Mama liked readin', and when she died, it... was a comfort te read the books tha' she once read," Caoimhe told me. "She was readin' John Milton's Paradise Lost when she died. She... left it open, lyin' on her vanity unfinished. I spent many days just starin' at that page, kennin' it was the last she'd touched." For a moment, she was silent, and then she looked up at me again. "What was yer mother like? My grandmother. Daddy never talks of her."
"I imagine it hurts him," I said to her. "We were all verra close te our mother, and our father as well. My mother was... the kindest woman I've ever kent. She sometimes had a tongue and usually, my father or my brothers were on the other end of it, and she sang like a songbird. She was a healer, too - no' a doctor, but she did heal people. I suppose I got my passion fer healin' from her."
"I didnae ken she had red hair," Caoimhe told me. "Archie mentioned she had red hair te a lass in Jamaica. I never kent tha'."
"Yer father was verra young when she died, a leannan. I imagine it... it still hurts him quite a bit te think of her," I said. "He was scarcely aulder than ye were when she died - thirteen, and I was fifteen. We fled home, joined the Scottish rebellion... and then fell through time and ended up here."
"Ye... Ye mentioned ye were frightened by the journey... What's so terrifyin' aboot it? Is it... truly so frightenin', ye might not have come back?" Caoimhe asked me.
"It's... no' somethin' I like te relive either, but I'll tell ye, if it'll help ye," I told her, sitting down on the bed next to her. "It feels as if a piece of me is ripped away, everra time I travel through the stones. There's sounds that sound like screamin', and it echoes around in yer head and ye cannae escape it no matter what ye do. It feels like it goes on fer an eternity, but I imagine it doesnae take verra long. I dinnae ken how long it takes te travel, really. All I ken is... I wake up on the other side."
"Oh, that does sound frightenin'," Caoimhe said quietly, glancing down at the ground.
"But if I hadnae made tha' first journey... I'd have never met Jamie, and he is truly my soulmate," I told her, smiling softly. "I did leave someone behind, but after meetin' Jamie, I... discovered tha' I never really truly loved him."
"Did ye see him again? When ye returned?"
"Aye, I did. He stuck around fer a wee bit, but I suppose it became too much fer him," I replied with a sigh. "I carry tha' guilt wi' me..." I looked down at my hands, where one silver wedding band rested on my right hand and one golden one rested on my left. It had once had diamonds in it, but it seemed that they were all missing now. Given all I'd gone through between Tom putting that ring on my finger and now, I didn't think I would ever be able to pinpoint when I lost them. Shaking it off, I looked up at my niece and gave her a smile, then kissed the top of her head. "Ye should get some sleep, hen. If ye'd like, I can make ye some tea te help ye."
"Tha' would be lovely. Thank ye, Auntie," she said to me, smiling softly. I left her to go and make her tea with hops, chamomile and lavender, but by the time I had returned with it, she was fast asleep. I left the tea on the table and quietly left her room, making my way to my own room - the Captain's Quarters. I opened the door to find Jamie sitting shirtless at the desk getting ready to shave, and I smiled lightly at him.
"Archie's restin' now, poor lad's got quite the headache. And Caoimhe's a bit stressed aboot what's happened," I told him as I closed the door behind me.
"I imagine so," Jamie replied. "I cannae imagine the lass has been through anythin' as ye have. She'll be glad te get back home, and so will I."
"Now that yer no' a wanted man," I said, chucking softly as I made my way to the desk. "It was verra nice of the Governor te use his influence te withdraw the warrant, get ye another pardon. And he had me pardoned?"
"Aye, after I left Helwater. He was gettin' my pardon and got ye one as well," Jamie replied. "Christ, it'll be good te return home." I smiled faintly, but clearly wasn't very thrilled.
"Aye. Home," I said. Scotland in this time no longer felt like home to me. I wasn't wanted at Lallybroch, and I wasn't needed in Barra. Those were the only two places that I had ever truly felt at home, but now, they both felt like foreign places to me, and I was just a stranger visiting.
"We'll return Ian straight te Jenny, then maybe... find our own home," Jamie said to me, looking up at me as I sat down on the desk, and I glanced at him.
"He'll no' want te go back after all this adventure," I said to him, changing the subject.
"I dinnae care if he wants te or no'. I'll deliver him te Lallybroch if I must stuff him into a hogshead," said Jamie, chuckling a little, and then he picked up the blade he was going to use to shave his beard, which I then stopped by placing a hand over his.
"Dinnae shave yer beard," I told him, and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Makes ye look like a matured, handsome man who's weathered the world."
"Four days' growth since we left Kingston," Jamie said, glancing in the mirror at his reflection. I raised a hand to touch his face, noticing that he was starting to grow white hairs near his roots around his ears.
"Ye've some new white hairs," I said, and he chuckled.
"Little wonder if I have. Surprised I dinnae have a full head of white hair after all we've been through these past few months," he replied. "I miss yer red hair."
"The brown'll fade," I told him. "It's a different kind of dye than what we have in my time. Much less permanent." I bent down to press my lips against his, then sighed happily. "Oh, I love the feel of yer beard against my skin..."
"Mmm... And ye have verra nice skin, mo nighean ," Jamie muttered quietly, gently rubbing his nose against the skin of my cheek. "Verra, verra nice skin... Like pearl. Mmm, indeed ye have a lot of verra nice skin, if tha's what ye had in mind."
"Maybe," I said, feeling the sudden urge to take him right there. Oh, what I wouldn't give to feel the tickle of his hair on my inner thighs... "It is... more or less... what I had in mind." He chuckled gently, then sat back in his chair to look at me.
"I have given much thought aboot what I want te do te ye once we arrive on dry land," he said to me.
"Oh?" I asked him as I untied my corset and let it slip off. "And what's tha'?" I slipped off of the desk, untying my wool skirt and letting it pool at my feet, leaving me only in my shift and stockings, and Jamie watched me hungrily as I sat back down on the desk.
"I've considered in great detail should I have ye naked and willing... and no one hearin'," he said to me, and I laughed gently. "And enough room te serve ye suitably."
"Well... I'm willin', there's no one here te hear us... I'd say there's more than enough room here... and as fer bein' naked..." I reached for the laces of my shift, but he stopped me by sitting up and taking my hand.
"I'll see te tha'," he said, bringing my hand to his lips to kiss it. "All part of the plan."
"Plan? What plan?" I asked him playfully.
"The plan... is that I shall take ye te some private spot in a heather of some rollin' hill, and begin' by sittin..." He stood up to bring his face closer to mine and gently brush my nose with his. "...beside ye..." I laughed out loud and shoved him.
"Jamie!" I exclaimed. "Tha's a beginnin', sure, but how is tha' a plan te 'serve me suitably'?"
"There's more te follow. Next, I shall take ye on my knee..." he told me, standing up, grabbing me and then sitting down with me on his lap, then spoke in a hushed whisper. "...then kiss ye..." He kissed me then, firmly and quickly, leaving me begging for more, and I let out a soft whine and tried to pull him back closer to me. "Yer no' verra patient, are ye?"
"Hormones. I want ye, damn it, Jamie," I growled at him, and he chuckled warmly.
"Then I suppose I shall next lay ye down..." He tilted me back, supporting my back with his hand. "And then I shall twist yer hair up in my hand..." he grasped my hair, then lowered his lips to kiss me again. "...taste yer mouth... yer throat..." He kissed my neck, then leaned me back even farther so he could kiss my collarbone, and then he reached my nipples, smiling to himself as he nudged one through my shift with his nose. "...and yer bosom... I'll suckle ye through yer shift until yer nipples stand up in my mouth..." He wrapped his lips around my nipple and I bit into my lip to stifle a moan, but the vibrations of his chuckle made me moan even louder. "I shall do tha' until ye start te bleat like a wee sheep."
"I dinnae bleat ," I said, smacking him lightly, and he laughed as he kissed my lips again.
"Aye, ye do, and ye squeak like a wee moosie," he said. "Will ye hand me tha' towel?" I picked up the towel in question, then used it to wipe the soap off of his face that he was going to shave with, which he then took to wipe away the soap that he had rubbed on mine. With his freshly cleaned face, he rubbed his stubbly cheek against the softness of my own, and I groaned softly, reeling in the scent of him.
"I love ye," I muttered quietly, accepting another deep and passionate kiss from him. "Wha's next in yer plan, aye?"
"Next," he said, and then he stood, picking me up and bringing me over to the bed, "I shall lay ye on yer back..." He laid me on the bed and I stretched out like a cat, making sure to elevate my breasts as he climbed over me, carefully avoiding my growing belly. "And ye might moan a bit te encourage me..."
"Oh, Jamie," I moaned softly, practically falling over the edge of an orgasm being surrounded by his voice and scent.
"God, yer the most beautiful woman in all the world... Look at ye, lyin' there, ready fer me te take ye... growin' my bairn in yer belly..." I glanced up at him to see him staring down at me with a look of love in his eye.
"Ye once said me bein' pregnant wi' yer child made me the most beautiful woman ye've ever seen," I said to him.
"Aye, ye are. Yer glowin' like an angel," he whispered to me. "Ah, but angels dinnae pant or make wee noises as ye do..." I grabbed him to roll us over so that I sat on top of him and he grabbed my arse, fondling my buttocks while I pinned his shoulders to the bed.
"I dinnae pant or make 'wee noises'," I said to him.
"No?" he asked, undoing my shift and pulling it off before rolling us over again and pinning me to the bed. "Suppose I shall take down my breeks, then spread open yer thighs... and we'll see what sort of noises ye dinnae make then, shall we?" He kissed me again, then kissed his way down my body until his head was between my thighs and his tongue was flicking against my clitoris. I squirmed beneath him, arching my back and gripping the pillow behind me as I moaned and squeaked out his name, panting so I could keep my breath.
"Ah... Ah, Jamie... Oh, blessed Bride, James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser! " I hissed out, and then I grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up, giving him a fierce look. "Inside me. Now. " He didn't even answer me; he dove straight in, thrusting urgently into me and satisfying both my need and his. When he felt my walls tightening around him, he would pull out and tease me some more by kissing my neck, then he would dive back in and make love to me until he had to silence me by kissing me. When he had finally had enough, he released inside of me, my walls tightening around him, and then we collapsed together, Jamie immediately moving off to the side so he didn't crush the bairn between us. "I love ye... so fucking much, Jamie."
"I love ye, too... Catrìona... Mairead... Alba... Muirreach... Fowlis... Fraser," Jamie puffed out, grasping me and holding me close to him to kiss my hair. "God, I love ye..."
↞~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~↠
At some point, we had fallen asleep, and I was awoken by Jamie stretching his arms. "Mmm," I said, moving my hand to gently circle his nipple, and he chuckled gently, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss it.
"Did ye sleep well, my beautiful wife?" Jamie asked me, and I smiled sleepily, but happily.
"Only in yer arms," I said to him, embracing him tightly and nuzzling my face into his side. Outside of the ship, thunder rumbled in the distance, and Jamie and I both glanced up to see that the sunny skies had turned cloudy.
"Huh," said Jamie. "Skies are turnin'..." He sat up to open the window, and I groaned in protest, sitting up, wrapping my arms around his torso and laying my head against his back. "The cool air will be a blessin' after the heat of the island."
"Mhm," I muttered, listening to the thunder again. I could feel both my hair and his whipping around in the wind, and he closed the window.
"Christ... It's gettin' verra windy. Perhaps we should go up te the main deck," Jamie said a bit uneasily.
"I'd rather ye go back inside of me ," I said, and he chuckled gently before freeing himself from my arms. "Jamie!"
"I dinnae feel right no goin' te see if they need help. If they dinnae need me, I'll come back, aye?" he asked me, bending down to kiss my head and leaving the bed while I groaned.
"Hurry up," I growled at him, shifting to absorb the warmth in the bed that he had left behind. I must have dozed off again, because I woke up when I rolled out of the bed and crashed onto the floor. "What the hell?" I muttered as I stood, grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around myself as I looked out the window. I gasped when I saw the size of the waves outside, surprised that the ferocity of the ocean and wind hadn't woken me sooner. "Blessed Bride..." I dressed quickly, then made my way up to the top deck, finding myself immediately soaked to the bone in seawater and rain.
"Turn the sails into the wind!" I heard Archie shout from the helm, fighting against the strength of the wheel trying to turn the other way.
"Hold it steady!" I heard another voice shout, and I looked up to see Jamie grasping a rope as tightly as he could to hold the sails, but the rope snapped and he and the two other men he was pulling it with fell to the ground.
"Catrìona! We have te go down! Da says it's best!" I heard Marsali shout to me, struggling to hold her bonnet down onto her head.
"Fuck tha'! I'm no' goin' down there wi' the storm this fierce!" I shouted, holding on tightly to the center mast of the ship.
"Catrìona!" Jamie called, running to and grabbing me. "Get down into the hold!"
"I'll do no such thing! We've had this conversation, James Fraser! Underwater coffins! " I screeched at him, holding onto the mast as tightly as I could and refusing to let go.
"Christ, Catrìona! This fear is nonsensical! Ye willnae die in the ship, but ye will die out here! Let go, now!" Jamie hissed at me, pulling at me and grabbing at my hands.
"No!" I snapped at him, kicking at him to leave me alone and running from the mast to the bulkhead.
"Catrìona!" Jamie called, running after me and grabbing onto me again.
"I've lost her! She's gone broadside!" Archie called down to the men on the deck. "Baxley! Tie down what ye can and get the men down below! I'll secure the wheel! Shit The ropes have snapped! We cannae steer!"
"Everyone below deck!" Baxley called as the men made a beeline for the door down into the hold.
"Catrìona, let's go! We have te get inside! It's too dangerous!" Jamie shouted at me, and I shoved him off of me.
"Like hell I'll be goin' down there!" I growled at him, and a huge wave washed over the side of the ship, engulfing us both. Once it passed over us, we both coughed, trying our best to catch some air. "Jamie!" I called, unable to see him through my hair.
"Catrìona!" I heard him shout. The last thing I remembered hearing, besides his voice calling my name, was a loud crack, followed by an even louder crash.
↞~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~↠
Kelpies had the ability to summon a storm or a flood to sweep an unwary traveller away to a watery grave. It was a good way for them to catch their meal - humans were no good underwater. Humans could achieve so many things from building skyscrapers that could literally touch the sky, to creating machines capable of flight like a bird, to coming up with ways to cure an ailing body that would not have survived naturally. Despite the magic the human brain could create, we could never figure out how to make ourselves less fragile.
Humans have found ways to cope with death, however, by saying that a benevolent god awaits them in a place called heaven. They fear Death, find as many ways as they can to prolong its arrival or even make early death a thing of the past. But no matter what, Death will always come. It always has, it always will - a rare constant in life. One of the things they didn't tell you was how peaceful death truly was.
She was not cold. She was not afraid. She could feel nothing. To her, it felt like slipping into a deep slumber. It was easy, dying... She embraced Death, greeted it like an old friend. Death had always been creeping in the background of her life. That fateful day of the deaths of her family... Bloody Bush, Berwick... She had always seen Death lurking, but never acknowledged it, until now.
But there was one man who wouldn't let Death win another day. This soul and this body was his, and his alone, and Death could kiss his arse for all he cared. She had people to live for, people who loved her, that she loved equally. No, Death would not be taking her today. With all of the life in his lungs, he kissed her, giving her his air so that she could breathe when he returned her to the surface, where he would make damn sure she would walk again.
↞~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~↠
JAMIE POV
Their heads broke the surface and Jamie gasped, taking in as much air as his tired lungs could. In his arms was his wife, unconscious if not dead, and he kept her head above water so that she could take in whatever air she needed as well. He grabbed onto a floating piece of debris, lifting Catrìona up so that she could lay on top of it. "Catrìona... Catrìona!" Jamie cried, pulling a piece of hair out of her face to look at her. "God damn ye, Catrìona Fraser! If ye die here now, I swear I'll kill ye! I will, I swear it..."
The cold faded away, and soon, the warmth of the sun was on his back. Something sharp nudged him in the back and he stirred, hearing a little squeal and the sound of tiny footsteps running away. Wait... footsteps... The surface beneath him was solid, but it was not wood - it was sand. He was on dry land... Slowly, Jamie lifted his head, looking around and seeing a short field of debris from the ship. Christ... It was gone. The Artemis was gone... Where was Catrìona?
There.
Several dozens of feet away was a limp form dressed in wet clothes, her reddish hair practically aflame in the sunlight. Was she alive? She wasn't moving. Christ, Catrìona... Using all of his strength, he slowly crawled his way to her, collapsing down beside her and hesitantly reaching out to touch her, afraid that she wouldn't be warm to the touch. As he brushed her hair off of her face, he brushed her skin - it was cold, and Jamie let out a soft cry of anguish.
" Eileanach... " he muttered, feeling a hot tear rolling down his face. He bent his head, pressing his lips to her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin... and then was startled when she began to cough. "Christ... Oh, thank Christ," Jamie muttered, his tears of anguish suddenly becoming tears of joy as he touched his forehead to her face. "I thought ye were dead..."
"Payback... fer Hy-Brasil," she muttered hoarsely, and Jamie smiled and laughed, bending down to kiss her lips again.
"Thank Christ yer alive," Jamie whispered to her. "God, ye've scairt me half te death..."
"I thought I told ye I would never leave ye again?" she asked him, turning onto her back so she could look up at him. She glanced around them, taking in their surroundings and noticing that they were on the shore. "Where are we?" She looked up at him, her eyes, though fatigued, wide with fear. "The Artemis ..."
"I dinnae ken," Jamie said softly, his smile fading. Where were his men? The crew? Archie, Ian, Fergus, Marsali and Caoimhe? Were they dead? Had the ship sank, taking his sons, his daughter, his niece and his nephew to the bottom of the sea?
"Are you all right, man?" said an English voice, and both Jamie and Catrìona turned their heads to see a couple standing over them, silhouetted against the hot sun up above.
"Aye... We have all our limbs," Jamie answered him, glancing briefly at his wife to make sure that was still the truth.
"You must be from the ship, or what's left of it. She's run aground about four miles south of here on the mudflats," said the man.
"It didnae sink?" Catrìona asked, looking up at Jamie with a hopeful look, and then she looked up at the couple. "Are there... Are there any survivors?"
"Aye, the folks have gone down to care for them," said the man.
"What a mercy it is you've been saved," said his wife beside him.
"Aye, I've never seen such a dreadful blow this time of year," said the man. "I am Joseph Oliver, and this is my wife, Patsy. It was our daughter who found you, informed us that you were alive."
"James Fraser," Jamie said to him. "And this is my wife... Catrìona."
"If ye dinnae mind us askin'... Where are we?" Catrìona asked them, getting a strange look from the couple.
"We call it 'Les Perles'," said Patsy with a kindly smile.
"What I mean te ask is... what isle is this?" Catrìona asked again.
"Oh, you're not on an island at all," said Joseph. "You're on the mainland, in the colony of Georgia."
"Georgia?" Jamie asked, looking at his wife, who had a hopeful look in her eye.
"America," she whispered to him.
"America," Jamie repeated, smiling softly at his wife, and then he laughed and embraced her. "America!"
"We'd be glad to take you to the wreck, if you'd like. I've a wagon nearby," Joseph said to them, watching the happy couple embracing.
"Tha' would be wonderful," Catrìona replied, breaking the embrace. Jamie helped his wife up into the wagon, careful of her arm, as it appeared to be broken from being hit by the mast that had fallen and knocked her into the sea. Patsy provided him with a piece of muslin to create a sling for her to rest her arm in.
"How's the bairn?" Jamie asked her once they were situated, and Catrìona rested her palm on her belly.
"Feels fine," she said, and then she lightly gasped. "Jamie, look!" She grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly, and Jamie could feel the slight pressure of a tiny little foot kick his palm. He smiled, then embraced his wife again and pressed his lips firmly to hers.
"This weeun's already been through hell and back... She'll be born strong," Jamie told her, feeling another little kick.
"She?" Catrìona asked him.
"Aye, she," Jamie replied, smiling down at her belly. When they arrived at the wreckage of the ship, the Artemis appeared to be in very rough shape - she wouldn't be making any more journeys across the Atlantic. Some of the crew were sitting around on the beach being tended to by women of the village, but it was Archie's bright red hair that caught his attention.
"Mama! Da!" he cried, abandoning the group he was sitting with and running to embrace his parents.
"Archie!" Catrìona cried, embracing her son with one arm while Jamie held them both.
"Thank Christ yer alive," Archie said to them both, sniffling a little. "I thought we lost ye fer good..."
"It'll take more than a wee storm te rid ye of yer stubborn parents," Catrìona said to him playfully.
"Auntie!" came Caoimhe's voice, and she ran to embrace Catrìona, careful of her broken arm. "Oh no, what's happened?"
"Got into a losin' fight wi' the mast," she replied. "Oh, I'm so glad yer both alive... Where are Marsali and Fergus?"
"Marsali was brought te town and Fergus and Ian went wi' her," Archie told them. "They're fine, a wee bit shaken up, but fine."
"Oh, tha's wonderful," said Catrìona.
"The Artemis is in bad shape. Dinnae think she'll be makin' another journey," Archie said, observing the wreckage of the ship. "Suppose we'll need te find another way back te Scotland."
"Aye," Jamie replied. "We'll figure it out in due time." He turned his attention back to his family, smiling and embracing them again. "We'll sort it out..."