Page 77 of Highlander’s Claim

“Everyone will be there, Yer Grace,” said Aulay.

“Me, too,” Jenny said. “You’ll need a good doctor…um…physician.”

Bruce glanced at her with curiosity. “Are ye a physician, my lady?”

“Yes.”

“Jenny saved my life from a rot-wound,” said Aulay with pride. “And she saved my grandnephew, Sìomon, and his mother using something called a cesarean section. She cut the womb open to get the child, then sewed it closed.”

Bruce’s eyes widened. Jenny poured him more wine, and he took a sip, eyeing her.

“We will need a skilled physician, Lady MacDonald. I am impressed a woman possesses such skills for professions regularly performed by men. My respect.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I’ll help in any way I can.”

“She even started a hospital here at Dunyvaig,” said Aulay. “And already physicians and midwives from the mainland have arrived to be taught. Our own physician, Bhatair, didna trust a woman at first. But now he’s her biggest advocate and invited his colleagues with whom he studied in Paris to come and learn from her.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. “Most impressive. Careful, Aulay, I may call upon her to serve at my court once the war is over.”

Jenny smiled. “I appreciate it, Your Grace, and I’ll happily help next year in Stirling, but I can’t be separated from our daughter, Una.”

She let her daughter curl her little fist around Jenny’s index finger. The tiny palm was warm and just a bit sweaty. And just the touch of her baby brought a warm tingling of motherly love around her palm.

“Aye,” said Bruce, “I respect that.”

“Ye can count on my clan,” said Aulay.

“And on me, Yer Grace,” said Colum. “I’ll do everything to prove myself to Scotland and my clan. Nae matter what.”

Bruce clunked his cup of wine with Colum’s. “We need more men like ye, Colum. Ye have my highest regard and respect. For everything ye did for me and my family.”

Jenny watched Colum’s eyes darken, and he threw the whole cup of wine back into his throat. Aulay must have seen the glint of something in his eyes, too.

“Colum,” Aulay said, “’tis good ye’re trying to prove yerself. But remember there is more to life than just the war. Take it from me. I never thought I would love again or get marrit. Mayhap ye should think about finding a wife, too.”

Colum scoffed.

“What woman would want to marry a man who’d turned traitor, Uncle?”

Bruce sighed deeply. “Yer uncle is nae wrong, Colum. The right woman would see past the wounds and failures of yer past.”

Jenny exchanged a long, deep gaze with Aulay and kissed him briefly on the lips.

“She certainly will,” she said.

She didn’t know who she was saying this to. Colum, Aulay, whom she loved more than life itself, or the king.

Or perhaps she was saying it to herself. In that crazy adventure that was her summer vacation in Scotland, she’d traveled back in time to the love of her life. The Highland laird from an earlier time.

She’d seen past her own wounds and realized she could be all that she ever wanted—a wife and a mother and a doctor—without giving up any part of herself. Thanks to that, she’d found happiness.

He’d claimed her through time.

But most importantly, she’d risen up and claimed him right back.