With the holidays, it’s a miracle I know it’s Monday and that I should be posting. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading!
Chapter Thirteen: These Things Are Sent to Try Us
I made the mistake of waiting until after the holidays to reach out to Lamb. I didn’t even have the chance to mention getting together before he dropped his own news on me.
“Claire, I have the greatest news! I’ve been asked to teach a class at a prestigious arts academy! Isn’t that wonderful?”
I congratulated him, knowing how desperately he’d been trying to find purpose in his life again. Perhaps teaching could be that for him. “That’s fantastic! Where is it? The one here in New York?”
“Actually, no. It’s in London. The one I attended, as a matter of fact.”
I paused for a long moment, trying to process it. Lamb had lived in New York for as long as I had been alive. Longer, even. “Wow. Alright. When do you go? How long will you be gone?”
“I know it’s last minute, but I’ll be leaving in two days and will be there for eight weeks,” he told me. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I could wait to introduce him to Jamie until after he got back. Without a doubt in my mind, I knew he wouldn’t be open to talking about anything but this new opportunity.
Here we are one day early! I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve, and that your evening is a nice introduction to the new decade. I’ll be hanging out on the couch with two of my best girlfriends and my doggo, sipping champagne cocktails, and having our delightful annual NYE meal. xx.
With the contents of the letter having permeated the very marrow of her bones, Claire forced her trembling body up from the floor in front of the toilet onto her knees, then lurched onto her feet. Steadied with one hand on the sink, she wiped the outside edge of her index finger under her eyes in an attempt to fix her mascara.
How could she tell Jamie that she had no question in her heart about this? That she would go, that she knew he had to stay, but that she didn’t want to let him go in the process. Surely, she told herself, it won’t kill him while I wordsmith a well-thought announcement.
She hated herself for it, for considering a deception by omission.
She couldn’t do it. Not to him. Not to what they had.
“No,” she promised in a breathy mutter as she finger-combed her hair. She whipped her curls into a ponytail that flipped in a jubilant way that was inconsistent with her mood. Fingers yanking the ponytail in half to tighten the base all the way to her skull, she declared, “You will do this tonight, Claire Beauchamp, you fucking coward.”
Six months after the end of the war, Jamie Fraser is still trying to readjust. He’s in the for the shock of his life one rainy night when who should show up at his home, but the nurse who saved his life, Claire Randall. Since they last parted, they’ve both learned how much the war changed them and those around them. Together, they’ll learn the dangers facing them after the war might be just as deadly. (Complete)
Claire and Jamie have been best friends since they met at university. When Claire decided to leave medical school to pursue her dreams, Jamie was the first to support her. Five years later, they’re still best friends. But two conflicts stand poised to hurt their friendship: Jamie’s stake in her business and Claire’s secret enduring love for him. (Complete)
In need of a break, Claire Beauchamp, a legendary Broadway director, treats herself to a night out by herself. She doesn’t spend the night alone after she meets a dashing Scot. But their one night might end up complicating her life even more. (Arc II in progress)
After returning through the stones, Claire grapples with the decisions she’s made and has to choose between what both her husbands want her to do and what she needs. But when someone from her past appears, she’s in for the surprise of her life.
Claire is a historian with the opportunity to go back to the past for 2 days.
Joe has tried to talk her out of it, but Claire won’t be swayed. The idea of getting to be a part of history is too strong to resist. But once she gets there, will she be able to return? And more than that, will she want to return?
Tori