Outlander: The Standing Stones

To Stay or to Go?

Well, I probably shouldn't do this, but sometimes I can't resist. I know Geillis came through the stones in 1968 (actually I thought it was '67, but oh well), but for the sake of my story I changed it. I wanted the story to be current to the year I started writing it (2013). So to keep Geillis the correct age (around Irina's), she came through later.

Could this "man on a fine horse" be Mac? I didn't know, it could be someone else. Rebellion was brewing and there was more communication and coming back and forth. Dougal made it plain he was spoiling for a fight, and Scots loyal to the Jacobite cause were flocking to his side. All in vain, and it made me sad to know that so many of the people I'd grown fond of were doomed.

Mac had Jacobite sympathies, that had always been plain, but he was also realistic. I'd heard him say more than once what a waste of life that brief rebellion had been. How little Charles Stewart had actually done to ensure the success of his bid for the throne, how unworthy he would have been of it had they actually succeeded.

Who was this man dressed in MacDonald Tartans riding a "fine horse", anyway?

If it were Mac would recognize me? Of course, he must by my physical appearance, but something inside me had been changed by love and motherhood. Though I'd never worn widow's weeds, inside I missed Georgie so much that the pain was still as fresh as the day I learned of his death. Yes, I had carelessly allowed Jamie to come into my bed both before and after he married Claire, but to me that counted for little. I had only been trying to chase the bad memories away when the shadow on my soul grew too dark.

It was time for me to leave, but I was reluctant to if Geillis would not follow me. I don't know where the stones would take either of us, or if my darling Callum could come through, but I wanted a new life for Geillie. Maybe I could give it to her. I'd love to have her live with me, see her learn to earn an honest living! She'd be safe from the repercussions of whatever laws she'd broken in Scotland, and her intelligence would enable her to adapt. After all, she'd made a better adjustment to this time than I ever would.

She came into my room, sat down and took my hand. "What do you think, Irina, is it your Mac come to fetch you?"

"After that dream you told me about, it certainly seems so, but why do I feel so apprehensive?" I put my hand on top of hers.

"You poor silly, you don't even know, do you? You've grown into this world we've found ourselves in. The silly Campbells, the even more silly and ridiculous MacKenzies. You're as much afraid of leaving as you are of staying and facing the rebellion. You'd be more eager for this Mac of yours if you hadn't fallen in love with your young Campbell. Well, your Georgie is dead, and you know you don't love Jamie Fraser. Maybe you're afraid of falling in love again, maybe you're afraid that Mac won't want the new you. Well, trust me, my dear, he will. I think he's coming to take you home, you just have to work up the courage to go with him. Face your fate, because I think he's it."

She could be right, of course. Geillie was uncannily intuitive, no wonder she'd been able to play the part of witch and psychic.

"Well, what about you," I told her, "Are you ready to let go of dreams of a Scottish victory you know won't come and accept their defeat, instead? You learned your history in school, you know what the aftermath will be. The rebellion will be over, Scotland will be *bought and sold for English gold. You're clever but as clever as you are, you might not survive, not unless you use your good looks to find an English officer to take you in and take care of you."

She shook her head, "Which you know I'd never do. You may be right, if the stones let me come through with you, I would be better off, but how will I know they won't take me back to where I was? I was facing jail, you know, I was close to being caught. I came through the stones to avoid all that."