PARENTHOOD
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Eight "He said what?" Duer shouted and the TARDIS grumbled softly around them. "You have tae understand. A bairn with a defect like that was considered useless an' would live out their life as a beggar," Jamie said with a sigh and Duer growled. "But..." "No, it's what was waiting for him if we let him live. The thing was we werenae going tae do that," Jamie said then closed his eyes. "How dare ye!" Jamie shouted as he slammed the doctor into the wall and Jamie's eyes were large as saucers. "But..." the doctor choked and Rosealie touched Jamie's arm, making him look at her. "Jamie, please..." she said and Jamie glared at her. "Are ye suggesting that we let him drown Hamish?" Jamie bellowed as he pushed the doctor into the wall then turned, taking Hamish out of Rosealie's arms. The door slammed open as he stormed out of the office and held Hamish close to his chest. "I didnae talk to her the whole way back tae the house. In fact, I nearly told her tae pack her things an' leave," Jamie sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Do you blame me?" Rosealie asked while Jamie sat in the high back chair and Hamish slept soundly in his arms. "Do I blame ye for what?" he asked and she looked at Hamish. They had told Alexander, Donald and Daniel about what was wrong with Hamish but they didn't seem to care and moved things out of the way so he didn't bump into them. "Och, no, I dinnae blame ye." "If I hadnae gotten ill then..." she sighed and he looked at her, looked at Hamish and blinked. "Come here," he said as he handed Hamish to her and she took their son in her arms then sat down on Jamie's lap, placing her head on his shoulder. "Do ye ken what I see when I look at ye?" "No." "I see my anchor. If I didnae have ye, I think I would come apart at the seams. I have no real memory of who or what I was, aye? All I ken aboot who an' what I am now is what I experience with ye an' the bairns. When ye became ill, I was so scared. I had no idea what I was going tae do, or if I could do it," he said and she softly stroked his hair. "I am here." "I ken that, but the idea that ye wanted tae..." he said as he looked at Hamish and she flicked her finger against the side of his head. "Ow." "That is for being such a dunce! If you would have calmed down, you would have heard me tell that bloody twit that I would shove his face up his arse if he laid one hand on Hamish!" she said as she stroked the top of Hamish's head and Jamie smiled, shaking his own head. "Aye, I am a dunce," he said and she smiled. "What are we going tae do aboot him nae being able tae see?" "I guess we'll just let him do whatever it is he sets his mind tae," Jamie said and kissed the top of Hamish's head. "But he might get hurt." "All boys get hurt. It's a part of growing up," Jamie said with a smile and she smiled back. "Aye, I guess you're right, but we cannae ignore that fact that he is blind." "True, but we cannae keep him indoors an' locked away either." "Then we'll just have tae take it one day at a time." "Aye, I guess we will," Jamie said as he kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around them. "An' you did let him do whatever he wanted, aye, Pa-paw?" Zoe asked and Jamie nodded. "Aye, but I didnae treat him like he was special, mind. I strapped his bottom just like his brothers if he got out of line," Jamie said and Duer's eyes went wide. "You did what?" he asked and Jamie closed his eyes, smiling. "McCrimmon!" a voice shouted while Jamie lowered the axe and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. Coming toward him was one of his neighbors and the man's ten year old son was running behind him. The man was taller than Jamie and his long red hair hung loose around his shoulders. The gray shirt was clinging to his skin as his heavy footsteps came closer and Jamie leaned the axe against the stump, folding his arms across his chest. "What's bothering ye, Connolly?" Jamie asked as Franklin Connolly stopped in front of him and his son stood to his left. "I'm here tae find out which one of yer sons assaulted my Robby!" Franklin shouted, pointing to Robby. "One of my sons assaulted yer Robby?" "That is what I said. So, which one was it?" "I have no idea," Jamie said as he looked at Robby and Robby gently rubbed the lump on the top of his head. "Tell me, why would one of my sons attack ye?" "Um, well, I was out by the fence an' Ashley..." Robby said as he sighed and looked at his feet. Jamie's nine year old daughter, Ashley, had knocked out two of her front teeth, which were baby teeth, when she fell off fence and some of the children were making fun of her. She had just come home crying a few minutes ago but couldn't tell him what was wrong and he looked at Robby with anger in his eyes. "Did ye make fun of her missing some teeth?" Jamie asked with a cool tone to his voice. "Aye," Robby said with a nod of his head then took a breath. "See, I was going tae tell her I was sorry when he came over an' hits me on the head with that stick." "Ye were hit with a stick?" "Aye, he's always hitting us with that stick," Robby said when Jamie turned around and saw ten year old Hamish headed for the well, the stick tapping the ground. "Are ye talking aboot Hamish?" Jamie asked as he pointed to Hamish and Robby nodded. "What, are ye saying the blind lad hit ye?" Franklin asked with a stunned look on his face. "Aye, Daddy, he hit me with that stick!" Robby said when Franklin grabbed him by the back of his neck and growled. "Dinnae lie!" "I'm nae!" Robby shouted and Jamie rubbed his mouth with his hand, trying hard not to laugh. "Alexander?" Jamie called to Alexander, who was heading toward the house then ran to him and stood next to him. "Go fetch Ashley. She's in the house." "Aye, Daddy," Alexander said then ran off. A few minutes later Ashley ran to Jamie then saw Robby and glared at him. "Whath he doing here, Daddy?" she asked with a lisp and Jamie held her to his side. "Was Robby teasing ye?" Jamie asked and Ashley nodded. "An' Hamith hit him with hith schtick!" Ashley said, pointing to Hamish, who was trying to find the handle to bring the bucket up from the well. "Hamish?" Jamie asked and Hamish looked toward his voice. "Aye, Daddy?" he asked, taking the stick in his hand. "Come toward my voice," Jamie said as Hamish walked closer then stopped when the stick hit Jamie's foot. "Did ye hit Robby Connolly?" "Aye, Daddy, he was teasing Ashley," Hamish said then sniffed the air and growled. "He's here?" "Aye, he is an' his father as well. He wants to ken who assaulted Robby." "Was it you, Lad?" Franklin asked and Hamish smiled, nodding his head. "This is nae funny!" Jamie said and Hamish looked down. Sighing, Jamie looked at Robby then at Ashley and moved her in front of her. "Now, Robby, will ye say sorry tae my daughter for teasing her?" Robby moved closer as Ashley looked down and Jamie saw something in Robby's eyes. Robby coughed then rubbed the back of his head and shyly smiled at Ashley. "Is that Uncle Robby, Pa-paw?" Zoe asked and Jamie smiled. "Aye, it is," Jamie said and Duer tilted his head to one side. "He teased her because he likes her." "Ah, a clear case of puppy love," he said and Zoe frowned. "That's what you call childhood love." "Oh!" Zoe said and smiled. "Um, sorry that I was teasing ye, Ashley," Robby softly and Ashley blushed, lowering her head. Franklin looking at Jamie as Jamie smiled and shrugged. "Thath alright," Ashley said and Robby nodded. "Right, Hamish, tell Robby ye're sorry for hitting him," Jamie said and Hamish dropped the stick on the ground, folding his arms over his chest. "No," Hamish said and stamped his foot. "Hamish!" "No, I will nae tell him I'm sorry," Hamish said when he turned then started walking away and Jamie grabbed hold of the collar to his shirt, gently pulling him back to him. "Ye will tell him that ye're sorry or..." Jamie said when he saw Donald heading for the house and called to him. "Go tae the barn an' get the strap!" Donald looked at him then at Hamish when he nodded and ran off. They waited for him to come back with a long leather strap and he handed it to Jamie. Franklin looked at the strap then at Hamish and swallowed. "Ye're really nae going tae..." he said as Jamie nodded and placed his hand on Hamish's shoulder. "So, what is it? You tell Robby that ye're sorry or do we go tae the post?" Jamie asked when Hamish wrenched himself out of Jamie's grip, reached down, picked up the stick and walked to the wooden post that stuck out of the ground. Sighing, Jamie, Ashley, Donald, Robby and Franklin walked to the post and Hamish reached out, placing his hands against the smooth wood. "Hamith, ye dinnae have tae..." Ashley said but Hamish shook his head and the stick was lying on the ground near his feet. Nodding, Jamie walked closer when he lowered Hamish's breeches and Hamish placed his forehead against the post. Closing his eyes, Jamie wrapped some of the strap around his fist when he lifted his arm and the loud crack of the strap filled the air as it moved across Hamish' bottom. "I hit him four more times then he told Robby he was sorry," Jamie said and Duer nodded. "I still can't believe you did that," he said. "Well, it's how it was done back then. Today, doing something like that would be child abuse but, then, it was considered a part of growing up. I got the strap when I was a lad as well." "I never got the strap," Zoe said and Jamie looked at her, arching an eyebrow at her. "No?" he asked and she shook her head. "Daddy just spanked my bottom," she said with a smile and Jamie tickled her armpits, making her giggle. "Did Hamish go to school with your other children?" Duer asked. "No, he was sent tae a private school in Edinburgh. My father-in-law paid for it an; Hamish came home in the summer. He did think we were trying tae get rid of him though," Jamie said and closed his eyes again.
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