In the week leading up to the New Year the weather warmed up, and the rain melted the snow and ice. Considering her work done, Mother Nature turned her gaze from the Highlands, leaving Jamie and Claire to their own devices.
She just hoped they wouldn’t fuck it up.
~~~
She stretches out her hand to see if it will happen again.
Like a scientist running a trial, she is collecting data on one James Fraser.
Sliding her fingers through the hair at his temple this time, she watches as his mouth quirks in the sweetest of smiles. She holds back a giggle. Over the course of the last four days, whenever she touches him in sleep, whether it be the curls at his nape, the lock that falls over his forehead, or the russet strands she tucks behind his ear, Jamie smiles.
Her sexy, tall, broad-chested Viking looks positively angelic.
Huge thanks to RomCom Queen @balfeheughlywed for putting her expertise to work on this one, and @missclairebelle for her eagle eyes. Loosely based on the movie The Holiday…hope you enjoy!
Part I
There are two things that Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp have in common, even though they have never met.
One, they hate the holidays.
For one of them, Christmas is a never-ending slog of drunken party goers who end up in the City Community Hospital A & E in Oxfordshire, England, with split skin requiring stitches, broken bones needing casts, and stomachs needing pumped from too much alcohol.
For the other, it’s non-stop noise and chaos in a house in Broch Tuarach, Scotland, as young children with sticky fingers run through the family home, hit each other while fighting over newly acquired toys, underscored by the same tired traditions of watching Dr. Who and the Queen’s Speech.
Just the thought of having to face another Yuletide Festival of Vomit had Claire Beauchamp putting in for a full two weeks’ holidays at the beginning of October.
Just the thought of having to face five screaming, overtired children had Jamie plotting and scheming for months for a way to escape from Christmas at Lallybroch.
So it was that on the evening of November 24th, while perusing the World Wide Web in their separate corners of the UK, Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp discovered the perfect cottage nestled in the mountains of the Scottish Highlands. Described as cozy, with modern conveniences, including WiFi, and boasting stone fireplaces, it hit all the right notes. Jamie envisioned packing a suitcase full of the books he’d never gotten around to reading. Claire pictured lying about binge watching as much as she could on her laptop. That same night, after entering their information and credit card numbers, they both hit Confirm at precisely 8:21:06 GMT.
This year has been a difficult one on so many levels, and I haven’t written in ages…. In the spirit of Christmas here is last year’s Holiday Tale. If you’re reading it for the first time – Enjoy! If you reread, I hope it brings a smile to your face.
“Millions of people have decided not to be sensitive. They have grown thick skins around themselves just to avoid being hurt by anybody. But it is at great cost. Nobody can hurt them, but nobody can make them happy either.”
Tori