June 15, 2025:
Happy Father’s Day! To all our fathers, stepfathers, foster fathers, and those loving men who step up for those who need them.
[Excerpt from A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT, Copyright © 2025 Diana Gabaldon.]
[Claire, in her surgery, beginning to pack. NOTE TO AVOID CONFUSION—SHE ISN’T LEAVING TO LOOK FOR HAL; HER PREPARATIONS (TO GO FIND SOMEONE—OR SOMEONES—ELSE) JUST MAKE HER THINK OF HIM.]
How to pack for a rescue operation in which one has no idea where one may be, for how long, or under what circumstances?
Clothes… well, the possibility of having to hob-nob with the sort of people who would be disaffected by my normal wardrobe was remote, but couldn’t be totally discounted, either. We might need the good will of someone with influence.
I had two gowns that might be called decent, one of which needed mending… but the thought of someone with influence ineluctably switched my mental gears to thoughts of Hal.
Where was the bloody man? William thought his uncle was headed to New York, with the intent of finding his errant eldest son, dead or alive and…. doing what?
I’d had sufficient acquaintance with his Grace, the Duke of Pardloe, as to think that while he was nearly as pig-headed as Jamie, his feelings for his family were also nearly as exigent. Given the choice between being shot for desertion or leaving his eldest son in a dangerous position, Hal would most likely have written Sir Henry Clinton a letter declaring his immediate intent to depart the army upon a personal errand, and followed this with a terse note headed “To Whom it May Concern” stating that he would be happy to attend a court-martial at the army’s convenience, upon his return.
What was the bloody man going to do if he had another bad asthma attack, on the road? Well, I’d taught him how to breathe through one, so he might survive…
I sighed, said a brief prayer for Harold, Duke of Pardloe, fathead and father, and reached for the small packet of Ephedra sticks on the second shelf. Just in case.
Father’s Day Quotes From My Books
And a little extra for Father’s Day… one of Karen Henry’s wonderfully curated selections of Father’s Day quotes from the books:
https://www.outlandishobservations.com/2025/06/fathers-day-quotes-from-outlander-books.html
Please visit or return to my official webpage for A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT (Book Ten of my Outlander series of major novels) to access more excerpts from this book, and information about it.
Photo above of my son and hubby is by me, Diana. Copyright © 2025 Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.
This excerpt webpage was last updated by me, Diana Gabaldon, or my Webmistress, Loretta on June 26, 2025 at 2:50 p.m. (Central time).