InsaneJournal

New Arrivals
Who: Lizzie & Robert MacKenzie
Where: Robert's Home
When: May 12th, afternoon (~4pm)
Status: Complete
Summary: Robert gets a bit of a surprise back at the homestead.



Mary Elizabeth MacKenzie tucked the stray strands of her dark hair back into her proper bun as she stood, taking one deep breath after another, on the doorstep of what she was told was the MacKenzie farm. Weeks -- weeks! -- she spent on the trains getting all the way out here to bloody California. No, he could just leave Edinburgh and leave Scotland, he had to come all the way out here across the bloody Americas to this wild frontier.

It was alluring if Mary Elizabeth was honest with herself. No society, no repression, no mother, no responsibilities, not suitors and no nuns. Those last two were the big ones and she was glad to be rid of them. She was happy that Ian agreed to help her and asked few questions other than if this was what she really wanted. It was, oh it was, and her brothers, both of them, were always so supportive of what she wanted.

She'd attempted to get a letter to Robert before showing up, but she couldn't guarantee that it would get here. Instead she arrived at the train station and waved down a nice man with a carriage who was kind enough to take her and her trunk to the other side of town to find her brother. Apparently her brother was quite well known in these parts, but then Robert always did have the luck of ending up the big fish in the little pond.

And so here she was, standing on Robert's doorstep and screwing up all her courage to lift her hand and knock.

And knock.

And when it was met with silence, knock again.

Mary Elizabeth swore softly -- it was a Sunday afternoon, where on earth could he be? Mass would be long over and he should be relaxing! And answering the door for her!

Of course, this would be what she'd get for showing up unannounced.

"Robert!" she yelled, hopping off of the doorstep and circling around the house to the barn. "Robert, are you here? I know you're here! Come out here you bloody fool! Robert Alistair MacKenzie, I know you're here! Get your arse out here this instant!" she tagged on in Gaelic.

That got Robert's attention, and he popped his head out of the barn, slightly boggled at the vision of his sister -- who, mind you, was supposed to be in a nunnery back in Edinburgh -- standing there in her finery. In New Shelby. New Shelby, of all places. "Lizzie?" he asked, emerging from the barn. "Lizzie -- bloody hell, woman, is that you?"

Lizzie threw open her arms and beamed at her older brother. "Surprise! I know you've missed me!" she laughed, throwing her arms around his neck and letting him lift and spin her round. "Oh Robert, you will let me stay with you, won't you?"

"Of course, where else would I put you," Robert insisted, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I thought you were at the nunnery. Married to God."

"God has enough wives," Lizzie grumbled. "I couldn't stay there, Robert," she sighed. "You know why they put me in there."

"But I thought -- " Robert tried, knowing full well the reasoning his mother gave for Lizzie 'wanting' to be put into the nunnery. And as much as he disagreed with it, he didn't feel like it was his place to make a comment. If she really found and desired a vocation, who was he to take her away from her Lord?

Lizzie shook her head. "I couldn't take it. They were going to ask me to leave anyway. Where was I to go? I couldn't back home. Mum was... well, you know how Mum was."

"Aye, I know," Robert sighed. "Well, I look forward to having you here for a month or so."

Lizzie cleared her throat. "Aye, about that... how about more than a month?"

Robert let go of her and quirked an eyebrow. "Two?" he murmured.

Lizzie beamed. "Forever?" she replied.

"Six," Robert tried again.

"How about forever?" Lizzie shot back.

Robert hung his head. He never was very good at telling his baby sister no. And if she wasn't returning to the nunnery, he knew what she'd be going back to if he didn't take her in. Not that he really had it in him to say no, anyway. "Aye, forever," he relented to her happy squeals and claps. "But you're going to pull your own weight, like at Inverness."

"Aye Robert, you won't have to worry about me," Lizzie laughed. "I was a cook at the nunnery -- you have no idea how many skills I've gained! Although one of them," she added, motioning to the long forgotten trunk in front of his door, "is not lifting heavy objects. I leave that to the 'men folk'," she laughed, doing her best impression of the western drawl she'd heard.

Robert just shook his head, wrapped his arm around Lizzie's shoulder and pulled her along. "Aye, well, here we go, let me be the big, strong saviour and get your trunk," he told her. "But I warn you, you're going to have to pull your own weigh in New Shelby."

"I look forward to it," Lizzie beamed. "To new lives and new chances."

"Aye," Robert laughed. "New lives and new chances."