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Chapter 14. Secret's Out



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"We have to tell him something, Jamie."

Beth stopped her pacing, her hands twisted up in one another – which was a nervous habit she was no where near breaking. She hated lying to Ian. She hated the fact that there was a part of him that wanted her. A part of him that wanted to be with her, even after everything she had been there – physically and mentally.

She was damaged goods. But, depending on how you looked at it – so was Ian.

"Aye, but what?" Jamie glanced up at Beth once she stopped pacing back and forth in front of the window of their sitting room. Claire sat beside him with her hands clasped together in his for comfort.

Learning that Jemmy could travel through the stones was a big deal. Brianna and Roger knew that they did not want to always stay here. They wanted... no needed to get back to their own time.

And currently, that was the metaphorical boat Beth was in, as well. Should she stay? Should she go? After being raped by Bonnet she wanted nothing more of this land, or this time. She wanted to go home.

"Everything!" Beth exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air frantically. She was starting to get worried that she had been lying to Ian for far too long to deserve forgiveness and understanding from him.

"Beth, come sit down. Relax." Clair spoke softly, gesturing to the empty sofa across from the one she was seated upon with Jamie.

Sucking in a quick, deep breath, Beth shifted to lift her skirts and sit down.

"I'm so afraid that he will never forgive me for lying to him this whole time." Beth whispered softly, her head hanging low as her hands came up to support it.

Jamie was about to open his mouth to speak when the door opened. Beth did not bother with looking up to see who it was. The sound of paws against the hardwood floor gave away the identity of who it was.

Had he heard them speaking? Does he know?

"Ian..." Jamie stood up quickly, glancing over at Beth and then to his wife.

"I think it's time we had a talk, Uncle." Ian spoke sternly. Rollo was by his side but before long the wolf scampered over to Beth, licking her arm to get her attention.

Lifting her head, Beth forced a smile. "Hi Rollo." She whispered, stroking the wolf's fur, scratching behind his ears, before pulling back to look over at Ian. She was trying to read his face, and he had not looked over at her since entering the room. Maybe he did not hear her.

"I'll take my leave." Beth began, pressing a quick kiss to Rollo's nose before standing up.

Ian shook his head, pointing to her with his hand that was clutching the little book. "No." He spoke sternly again. Determination sparking behind his eyes as he looked between the three of them. "Ye need to stay. Because I need answers. And ye can give them to me, too."

Beth froze, her hands folded across her stomach as she stared up at Ian. "I-I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about, Ian." She said, moving to take a step forward.

"I ken ye do know what I'm talking about, Beth." Ian sighed. To say that he was upset was an understatement. The emotion was written all over his face. Beth could feel herself start to feel very small.

Beth sat down obediently, her hands folding back into her lap as she stared at the floor.

"I've come to ken a lot of secrets during my time with the Mohawk." Ian began, moving to sit next to Beth on the sofa. As Jamie and Claire sat back down across from them, feeling comfortable enough now to be seated. Jamie could see not only the disappointment written all over his nephew's face, but the confusion as well.

"So, is it true?" Ian asked, staring directly into his uncle's eyes. There was nothing but silence for a little while. Beth fidgeted beside Ian, she was just one big bundle of nerves and even with Rollo pressed against her legs for comfort, it was not doing much good.

"Aye." Jamie finally spoke, giving his nephew a solemn nod before looking to Claire.

"Time travel is real then? Auntie, you're from a different time?" Ian looked between Jamie and Claire, hopeful for some answers.

"Yes. I first traveled back during the 1940s." She explained, quickly glancing to Beth before continuing. She told Ian everything. How she traveled back, when she traveled, her marriage to Frank, bringing Brianna into this world after leaving during the battle of Culloden, and her final return. Beth watched Ian's face as he took in all this information.

She was worried he had not asked her about her own travels. He had to know she was a traveler – why else would he make her stay during this conversation?

Ian spoke of the diary of Ta'wineonawira. Beth continued to remain silent, her eyes falling on the book he had been clutching tightly. This was the man who was also known as "Otter Tooth". Beth remembered listening to Claire and Jamie speak of him and what had happened to him.

The man was a traveler from the 20th century and had traveled through the very stones on Ocracoke that Beth had.

"I ken this now belongs to ye." Ian handed the diary over to Claire with a solemn nod. "Thank ye for trusting me with yer secret. Even though it took me finding it out to be told." Ian tried to smile, though the evidence of immense hurt was written all over his face.

"This has to stay between us. Nobody else should ken this information, Ian. Do ye understand?" Jamie stood up to embrace his nephew in a hug. Both Claire and Beth stood up as well.

Ian nodded. "Aye. I ken, Uncle." He embraced him back, before giving Claire a hug.

"Thank you for this diary. I think whatever is written in here may help us. At least at some point." Claire smiled hopefully, glancing down at the book now in her hands.

Ian nodded. "Aye."

With that, Ian turned and headed out of the room. He did not look back at Beth but whistled for Rollo to come with him – which the wolf obliged immediately.

Sucking in a deep breath, Beth closed her eyes to try and will away the tears. "He won't even look at me." She whispered, a few tears breaking free and streaming down her cheeks as she turned to look up at Jamie and Claire. "I have to go." She lifted her skirts and rushed from the room, as fast as her little legs would take her. Lifting the skirts higher than her ankles helped, as the material no longer dragged along the floor.

She could barely see through the tears, her vision blurred as she continued making her way down the staircase. Stumbling slightly on the last step, Beth braced herself tightly on the railing. A soft sob escaped her lips before she continued making her way out of the front door.

Ian had not made it too far. Luckily for Beth, he did not seem to be walking too fast that she could not catch up with him and Rollo.

"Ian!" She called, as loud as she possibly could without her voice breaking. She lifted her skirts and rushed forward, trying to catch up to him at the edge of the woods. "Ian, please, wait." She begged.

The red head turned slowly, glancing over his shoulder at Beth as she made her way across the grounds to him. He was angry and given the circumstances, Beth understood and would not blame him. But she still wanted a chance to tell her story.

"Please, Ian." Beth finally made it to his side, letting her skirts drop as her hands came up to her waist. Trying to catch her breath, Beth squeezed her eyes shut and pressed one hand against her chest, the feeling of her heart beating wildly beneath her breast reverberating through her palm.

"Please what? I dinna ken what ye could say. I dinna want to be lied to any longer, Mistress Montgomery."

Beth grimaced at the formal name Ian had used when speaking to her. She finally caught her breath and looked up at him. "You have to understand that I could not tell you about me. About what I am and where I really came from." She whispered, reaching forward to grab his hand but the man pulled out of reach.

Trying to ignore the deep hurt she felt at him pulling away from her, Beth continued. "I wanted to tell you, Ian. So many times, I found myself opening my mouth to tell you everything... but I had given Jamie and Claire my word not to. I-I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you." Beth felt the tears trickling down her cheeks again, not even bothering to wipe them away because they were leaking out of her wide, sad eyes continuously.

"Aye, I ken ye didna want to hurt me. But ye still did." Ian told her, his gaze falling on her face as he watched the tears leak from her eyes. He fought against the voice in his head that told him to reach out and wipe the tears away, to take her face in his hands and kiss away her sadness.

But her sadness was only there because she had hurt him. Forgoing the fact that his family had been lying to him (technically for his whole life), Ian had been closest with Beth. After all, if she had fallen pregnant with Bonnet's baby, he would have married her and raised the child as his own. That's how much he cared for Beth.

"Ian, I care about you, so much..." Beth whispered, reaching for him again. This time, he did not pull away, but he still did not reciprocate the touches. He looked down at her hand grasping his arm and let out a heavy sigh.

"Please let me fix this, or at least try to. I want to tell you everything." Beth pleaded, her fingers slowly grazing his forearm as she pressed herself to his side.

"Dinna fash, Beth." Ian sighed, one hand moving to the side of her face as he wiped the tears with the pad of thumb.

"I'm listening."

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