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A grasshopper landed on the canvas above with an audible thump. I eyed it narrowly, but it didn’t seem disposed to come inside, thank goodness. Perhaps I should have accepted Mrs. Bryan’s offer to find me a bed in the house, along with a few other officers’ wives who had accompanied their husbands. Jamie had insisted upon sleeping in the field with his men, though, and I had gone with him, preferring a bed involving Jamie and bugs to one with neither.
I glanced sideways, careful not to move in case he was still asleep. He wasn’t. He was lying quite still, though, utterly relaxed, save for his right hand. He had this raised, and appeared to be examining it closely, turning it to and fro and slowly curling and uncurling his fingers—as well as he could. The fourth finger had a fused joint, and was permanently stiff; the middle finger was slightly twisted, a deep white scar spiraling round the middle joint.
His hand was callused and battered by work, and the tiny stigma of a nail-wound still showed, pale-pink, in the middle of his palm. The skin of his hand was deeply bronzed and weathered, freckled with sun-blots and scattered with bleached gold hairs. I thought it remarkably beautiful.
“Happy birthday,” I said, softly. “Taking stock?”
He let the hand fall on his chest, and turned his head to look at me, smiling.
“Aye, something of the sort. Though I suppose I’ve a few hours left. I was born at half-six; I willna have lived a full half-century until suppertime.”
I laughed and rolled onto my side, kicking the blanket off. The air was still delightfully cool, but it wouldn’t last long.
“Do you expect to disintegrate much further before supper?” I asked, teasing.
“Oh, I dinna suppose anything is likely to fall off by then,” he said, consideringly. “As to the workings… aye, well…” He arched his back, stretching, and sank back with a gratified groan as my hand settled on him.
“It all seems to be in perfect working order,” I assured him. I gave a brief, experimental tug, making him yelp slightly. “Not loose at all.”
“Good,” he said, folding his hand firmly over mine to prevent further unauthorized experiments. “How did ye ken what I was doing? Taking stock, as ye say.”
I let him keep hold of the hand, but shifted to set my chin in the center of his chest, where a small depression seemed made for the purpose.
“I always do that, when I have a birthday—though I generally do it the night before. More looking back, I think, reflecting a bit on the year that’s just gone. But I do check things over; I think perhaps everyone does. Just to see if you’re the same person as the day before.”
“I’m reasonably certain that I am,” he assured me. “Ye dinna see any marked changes, do ye?”
I lifted my chin from its resting place and looked him over carefully. It was in fact rather hard to look at him objectively; I was both so used to his features and so fond of them that I tended to notice tiny, dear things about him—the freckle on his earlobe, the lower incisor pushing eagerly forward, just slightly out of line with its fellows—and to respond to the slightest change of his expression—but not really to look at him as an integrated whole.
He bore my examination tranquilly, eyelids half-lowered against the growing light. His hair had come loose while he slept and feathered over his shoulders, its ruddy waves framing a face strongly marked by both humor and passion—but which possessed a paradoxical and most remarkable capacity for stillness.
“No,” I said at last, and set my chin down again with a contented sigh. “It’s still you.”
He gave a small grunt of amusement, but lay still. I could hear one of the cooks stumbling round nearby, cursing as he tripped over a wagon-tongue. The camp was still in the process of assembling; a few of the companies—those with a high proportion of ex-soldiers among their officers and men—were tidy and organized. A good many were not, and tipsy tents and strewn equipment sprawled across the meadow in a quasi-military hodgepodge.
[omitted stuff about what’s going on with the expedition]
Jamie’s free hand rested on my back, his thumb idly stroking the edge of my shoulder blade. With his usual capacity for mental discipline, he appeared to have dismissed the uncertainty of the military prospects completely from his mind, and was thinking of something else entirely.
“Do ye ever think—” he began, and then broke off.
“Think what?” I bent and kissed his chest, arching my back to encourage him to rub it, which he did.
“Well… I’m no so sure I can explain, but it’s struck me that now I have lived longer than my father did—which is not something I expected to happen,” he added, with faint wryness. “It’s only… well, it seems odd, is all. I only wondered, did ye ever think of that, yourself—having lost your mother young, I mean?”
“Yes.” My face was buried in his chest, my voice muffled in the folds of his shirt. “I used to—when I was younger. Like going on a journey without a map.”
His hand on my back paused for a moment.
“Aye, that’s it.” He sounded a little surprised. “I kent more or less what it would be like to be a man of thirty, or of forty—but now what?” His chest moved briefly, with a small noise that might have been a mixture of amusement and puzzlement.
“You invent yourself,” I said softly, to the shadows inside the hair that had fallen over my face. “You look at other women—or men; you try on their lives for size. You take what you can use, and you look inside yourself for what you can’t find elsewhere. And always… always… you wonder if you’re doing it right.”
His hand was warm and heavy on my back. He felt the tears that ran unexpectedly from the corners of my eyes to dampen his shirt, and his other hand came up to touch my head and smooth my hair.
“Aye, that’s it,” he said again, very softly.
The camp was beginning to stir outside, with clangings and thumps, and the hoarse sound of sleep-rough voices. Overhead, the grasshopper began to chirp, the sound like someone scratching a nail on a copper pot.
“This is a morning my father never saw,” Jamie said, still so softly that I heard it as much through the walls of his chest, as with my ears. “The world and each day in it is a gift, mo chride— no matter what tomorrow may be.”
I sighed deeply and turned my head, to rest my cheek against his chest. He reached over gently and wiped my nose with a fold of his shirt.
“And as for taking stock,” he added practically, “I’ve all my teeth, none of my parts are missing, and my cock still stands up by itself in the morning. It could be worse.”
This excerpt from THE FIERY CROSS is Copyright © by Diana Gabaldon, all rights reserved. It was also posted on my official Facebook page on January 11, 2019.
About reposting my excerpts (aka “Daily Lines”) from any of my books and short fiction, I’d appreciate it very much if you would NOT copy my them (word for word—in part or in their entirety) and post the text yourself all over the internet (including web pages and social media accounts) or anywhere else. These are copyrighted works. Instead, please do pass on the links (aka “URLs”) to my website and specific excerpts to anyone you think might be interested.
I am sorry to learn of the loss of your beloved dog. It is hard. You have my sympathy and, I hope, empathy.
I just cannot fathom a mind that can create such beautiful, tender, and touching passages! Amazing, (and you always make me cry!) Oh the depth of imagination that you possess ! You are a genius Diana! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Diana! Many more blessed years to you! You are such a blessing to so many people!!!! family, friends and tons of fans!!!!
I love your books! I was wondering if Jamie not hearing the stones has something to do with Dougal’s attempt to kill him. That attack left Jamie tone deaf. I was wondering if that may be why he can’t hear the stones. Therefore, is it possible that Jamie may still have the ability to time travel after all?
Hi,
Jamie is not a time traveller, says Diana. (Nor will he morph into one.) One example of this: in her FAQs (under Resources), Diana said, “there’s no way Jamie can travel forward in time.”
So I think it’s no, no, and no to your questions.
Cheers,
Loretta
Diana’s Webmistress
Wait…..that part about Clair in the B & B when she’s looking out the window and their is a man staring up at her. Before the whole time travel started. That wasn’t Jaime?
Hi, Jennifer,
In her FAQS (under the Resources tab), Diana answers the question about the ghost in Outlander:
“The ghost is Jamie*mdash;but as for how it fits into the story, All Will Be Explained—in the last book.”
So, we’ll see in a few years! Diana has also said that Book Ten will likely be the last of the Outlander series featuring Jamie and Claire.
Loretta
Diana’s Webmistress
So very kind of you to respond. Thank you
Happy belated birthday! I’ve just finished the last of novel and I’m wondering when the next one will be out? Love all the books in the series on TV !!
Hi, Peggy,
Diana has said that Book Nine, GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, nicknamed “BEES,”will probably be finished some time this year, maybe by mid-2019.
As soon as a publication date is set for BEES, it will be posted on her official webpage for this book at:
http://www.dianagabaldon.com/books/outlander-series/book-nine-outlander-series/
as well as on her official main webpage and on her official social media accounts.
So bookmark that page and check it periodically for updates, and for new excerpts. So far Diana has released over 40 excerpts, aka “Daily Lines,” which are short passages from the new book. They do contain minor spoilers.
Diana posts the excerpts on her official social media accounts (on Facebook and Twitter) and her BEES webpage. It is easier to find them all on the BEES webpage since they are all listed by a temporary title, which gives you an idea of what each excerpt is about.
And Diana has mentioned there will be a book ten eventually, likely the last in the major series of Outlander novels. Book Ten does not have a working title yet. After that, she has several projects planned including a prequel about Jamie’s parents, and a novel about Master Raymond, among others.
Cheers,
Loretta
Diana’s Webmistress
I am thrilled to hear there’s going to be a book about Master Raymond! I find him very fascinating.
Thanks for the info
I’m glad to hear that Diana will be working on a book on Jamie’s parents. I’ve been thinking that I’d like to know more about his parents’ life and Jamie before his mother died. What it was like for Jamie on the day she died. Was he able to see her and what she might or might not have told him.
Thanks for posting the beautiful excerpt from “The Fiery Cross.” I’m reading it now.
First my deepest sympathy at the loss of your beloved dog. As the mother of currently 1 indoor cat and 2 feral tnr’ed cats and an animal activist I understand they become part of your family and it can hurt very much to loose them.
Okan now I have a question I want to ask. I have been looking everywhere for the answer so by now I am desprate to find the answer. The question is why to the people of Fraisers Ridge call Jamie McDuff/MacDuff (not sure of the spelling as I listen to the books on audio. I am currently at hour 49 at a total of 56 hours of reading time in Fiery Cross and I keep hearing the reference and don’t recall any explanation for this. Thank You in advance…Deborah Lynch of NJ
Diana, I related deeply to the passage where Claire explains to Jamie about living longer than your parents. My mother died when she was 46 , I was 21. When I reached 46 I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I went to college. It was the best thing I ever did for myself besides quitting cigarettes. College was easier. I graduated when I was 50 and that was 32 years ago.
Am waiting with baited breath for more, more, more. I have just discovered this site and am thrilled to get bits and pieces and glimpses of Tell the Bees….
Loved all your Outlander books. What a gift to all of us. Thank heavens it was made into
a TV show. So many wonderful books about history, so few great shows like this one.
I do want to comment about one scene in Season 4. The Indians were riding a Friesan Horse.
They did not have Freisan horses in the United States until just recently. Certainly kicked
me out of that episode when that happened.
Thanks again Diane for such an entrancing story.
Victoire
Victoire,
The Starz crew chooses the horses for the TV series, not Diana.
Cheers,
Loretta
Diana’s Webmistress
I cannot wait for Book 9 (and #10) but I have patience as I know how hard Diana works at writing these, all the researching, etc. so you don’t rush a good thing! I will be sad to see the major books come to an end, but am very excited for these other projects – as in Master Raymond and Jamie’s parents. I always love learning more about the characters in her books. Plus it leaves time for me to reread the other books, something I’ve done several times and never tire of doing!
Thank you for these books!
Now that we are into the next installment of “Droughtland” a new excerpt would be most appreciated.
I know from my own reading that there is some interesting history of the “mountain folk” being raised and dealing with a force of Cornwallis’ at Kings Mountain (battleground, October 7, 1780). This was where some retribution for Banastre Tarleton’s many abuses of surrendering Continental troops resulted in the term “Tarleton’s Quarter”. These activities during this period would be ones that most affected Fraser’s Ridge occupants and would have turned the rest of the residents into greater sympathy for the rebellion.
Wherever she goes, I am eagerly awaiting any scraps that may be tossed my way!
–Jerry
I love reading these extracts. Thank you. I’m off to Scotland this year and I look forward to seeing those beautiful places you so beautifully describe.
Happy birthday, belated, from a fellow Goat (January 9). Eternal thanks and blessings to you for the joy your work has brought to me and so many over the decades. Mealaibh ur naidheachd!
Hello!
I am in such awe of your writing talent. To think that these adventures came out of your imagination is truly miraculous. What a gift you have!! Thank you for sharing your writing with the world. I loved being transported to other places and times. I also love history! Happy birthday to a true writing genius and thank you so very much! You have definitely brightened my world!
Patty from Pennsylvania!
Patty,
Thank you!
Best,
Diana
Book 9 & 10;
obviously Jamie and Claire are the central characters and I adore them.
But as the younger generation has matured I have grown increasingly attached to them Bree, Roger and their children (also Ian with his growing family, and of course William) I want to watch them move forward and especially see how time traveling is handled for those who can.
as 1800 is the est end time for the books which gets them both into their 70/80′s they will certainly be great -grandparents by the (maybe more). will all or some of those children hear the buzz if so what will they do with the ability
Until I read The Fiery Cross I did not know where my grandmother got the tradition of having a tall, dark male come through the door first on New Year’s Day. Every New Year’s Day she would call my step-father and insist he come over to her house (next door to ours) and come through the door bringing salt with him. When I did her geneology I discovered her father’s great-grandfather was of Scottish descent. I guess it was brought over with him and kept up through the generations.