Outlander aka Cross Stitch

“You were verra sweet as a baby, Jamie. I remember standing over your cot. Ye ca

The pretty lad turned an interesting shade of rose, and drained his cider at one gulp, avoiding my glance.

“Didna last long, though,” Je

“No, eight,” Jamie said, thrusting a new log into the smoldering pile of kindling. “Christ, that hurt. Twelve strokes full across the bum, and he didna let up a bit, begi

“Once it was over, Father went off a bit and sat down on a rock while I settled myself. Then when I’d quit howling and got down to a sort of wet snuffle, he called me over to him. Now that I think of it, I can remember just what he said. Maybe you can use it on young Jamie, Ian, when the time comes.” Jamie closed his eyes, recalling.

“He stood me between his knees and made me look him in the face, and said, ‘That’s the first time, Jamie. I’ll have to do it again, maybe a hundred times, before you’re grown to a man.’ He laughed a bit then and said, ‘My father did it to me at least that often, and you’re as stubborn and cockle-headed as ever I was.’

“He said, ‘Sometimes I daresay I’ll enjoy thrashing you, depending on what you’ve done to deserve it. Mostly I won’t. But I’ll do it nonetheless. So remember it, lad. If your head thinks up mischief, your backside’s going to pay for it.’ Then he gave me a hug and said, ‘You’re a braw lad, Jamie. Go away to the house now and let your mother comfort ye.’ I opened my mouth to say something to that, and he said, quick-like, ‘No, I know you don’t need it, but she does. Get on wi’ ye.’ So I came down and Mother fed me bread with jam on it.”

Je

“When he came down to ye, you looked up at him and said, ‘I just wanted to ask, Faither – did ye enjoy it this time?’ And when he said ‘no,’ you nodded and said, ‘Good. I didna like it much either.’ ”

We all laughed for a minute together, then Je

The merriment died out of Jamie’s face, and he looked down at the big hands resting on his knees.

“Aye,” he said quietly. “Well, and I was, then, wasn’t I?”

Je

“Jamie,” she said. “It wasna your fault.”

He looked up at her and smiled, a little bleakly.

“No? Who else’s, then?”

She took a deep breath and said, “Mine.”

“What?” He stared at her in blank astonishment.

She had gone a little paler even than usual, but remained composed.

“I said it was my fault, as much as anyone’s. For – for what happened to you, Jamie. And Father.”

He covered her hand with his own and rubbed it gently.

“Di

She studied her brother’s face, a troubled frown wrinkling her rounded brow.

“No, I di

“When I took him inside, I brought him up to my room. I – I didna ken quite what to expect – I’d not… been wi’ a man. He seemed verra nervous, though, all flushed and as though he were not certain himself, which seemed strange to me. He pushed me onto the bed, and then he stood there, rubbing himself. I thought at first I’d really damaged him wi’ my knee, though I knew I hadna struck him so hard, really.” The color was creeping up her cheeks, and she stole a sidelong glance at Ian before looking hastily back at her lap.

“I ken now that he was trying to – to make himself ready. I didna mean to let him know I was frightened, so I sat up straight on the bed and stared at him. That seemed to anger him, and he ordered me to turn round. I wouldna do it, though, and just kept looking at him.”

Her face was the color of one of the roses by the doorstep. “He… unbuttoned himself, and I… well, I laughed at him.”

“You did what?” Jamie said incredulously.

“I laughed. I mean-” Her eyes met her brother’s with some defiance. “I kent well enough how a man’s made. I’d seen you naked often enough, and Willy and Ian as well. But he-” A tiny smile appeared on her lips, despite her apparent efforts to suppress it. He looked so fu

There was a choked sound from Ian, and she bit her lip, but went on bravely.

“He didna like it when I laughed, and I could see it, so I laughed some more. That’s when he lunged at me and tore my dress half off me. I smacked him in the face, and he struck me across the jaw, hard enough to make me see stars. Then he grunted a bit, as though that pleased him, and started to climb onto the bed wi’ me. I had just about sense enough left to laugh again. I struggled up onto my knees, and I – I taunted him. I told him I kent he was no a real man, and couldna manage wi’ a woman. I-”

She bent her head still further, so the dark curls swung down past her flaming cheeks. Her words were very low, almost a whisper.

“I… spread the pieces of my gown apart, and I… taunted him wi’ my breasts. I told him I knew he was afraid o’ me, because he wasna fit to touch a woman, but only to sport wi’ beasts and young lads…”

“Je

Her head came up to look at him. “Weel, I did then,” she said. “It was all I could think of, and I could see that he was fair off his head, but it was plain too that he… couldn’t. And I stared right at his breeches and I laughed again. And then he got his hands round my throat, throttling me, and I cracked my head against the bedpost, and… and when I woke he’d gone, and you wi’ him.”

There were tears standing in her lovely blue eyes as she grasped Jamie’s hands.

“Jamie, will ye forgive me? I know if I’d not angered him that way he wouldna have treated you as he did, and then Faither-”

“Oh, Je

Jamie rocked her gently as she sobbed. “Hush, little dove. Ye did right, Je

“Listen, mo cridh. He came here to do damage, under orders. And it would ha’ made no difference who he’d found here, or what you or I might have done. He meant to cause trouble, to rouse the countryside against the English, for his own purposes – and those of the man that hired him.”

Je

“To rouse folk against the English? But why?”

Jamie made an impatient gesture with one hand. “To find out the folk that might support Prince Charles, should it come to another Rising. But I di