WARNING: SPOILERS HIGHLY LIKELY SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE OUTLANDER SERIES AND/OR WATCHED THE SHOW!
Ok so it took me not quite 3 full days to read ECHO. MOBY is longer so probably be close to 4 or 5 days. Depends on how much I sleep between now and finishing. And if you're wondering why the title is abbreviate MOBY and not MOHB well...sound out the second abbreviation and you get MOBY, as in MOH-B. Totally ignoring the word Written of course.
Apparently, we go back to earlier in the day before Ian finds out Jamie and Jenny did not die. Then to the immediate aftermath of Willie's revelation of the truth about his birth. And then to Jenny explaining to Mrs. Figg and Claire how she came to arrive at John's. She said they first went to the printshop where Jamie knocked and Marsali asked who was there.
And Jamie says in the Gàidhlig, ‘It is your father, my daughter, and a cold, wet, and hungry man he is, too.’ For it was rainin’ hammer handles and pitchforks, and we were both soaked to the skin.”
Then Marsali opens the door armed with a pistol and the girls holding wood which they could use to whack the shins of the intruders. As the girls greeted Jamie, Jenny entered the shop as well and was greeted by Henri-Christian saying, "‘And who are you, madame? Would you like some cider?’" Janey replies that she is his grannie Janet. This confuses Mrs. Figg in a way, who asks, “These folk—Marsali is your daughter, then, ma’am?” until Jenny explains, “No, her husband is my brother’s adopted son,” Jenny explained. “But I raised Fergus from a wee lad myself, so he’s my foster son, as well, by the Highland way of reckoning.” Now Mrs. Figg is wondering where Jamie took John. And Claire tells her...
“More likely he’s gone outside the city, using John—er, his lordship, I mean—as a hostage to get past the pickets, if necessary. Probably he’ll let him go as soon as they’re far enough away for safety.”
Mrs. Figg made a deep humming noise of disapproval.
“And maybe he’ll make for Valley Forge and turn him over to the Rebels instead.”
“Oh, I shouldna think so,” Jenny said soothingly. “What would they want with him, after all?”
They realize John was not in uniform. And now we return to John and his recent confession that he had carnal knowledge of Claire. He is stunned by Jamie's response of "Why?"
“Why?” John Grey repeated, incredulous. “Did you say ‘Why?’ ”
“I did. And I should appreciate an answer."
“What do you bloody mean, ‘Why’?” he said, suddenly irritated. “And why aren’t you fucking dead?”
“I often wonder that myself,” Fraser replied politely. “I take it ye thought I was?”
“Yes, and so did your wife! Do you have the faintest idea what the knowledge of your death did to her?”...
“Are ye implying that the news of my death deranged her to such an extent that she lost her reason and took ye to her bed by force? Because,” he went on, neatly cutting off Grey’s heated reply, “unless I’ve been seriously misled regarding your own nature, it would take substantial force to compel ye to any such action. Or am I wrong?”...
“You are not misled,” he said, through clenched teeth. “And you are wrong.
Fraser’s ruddy eyebrows shot up—in genuine astonishment, Grey thought.
“Ye went to her because—from desire?” His voice rose, too. “And she let ye? I dinna believe it.”
The color was creeping up Fraser’s tanned neck, vivid as a climbing rose. Grey had seen that happen before and decided recklessly that the best—the only—defense was to lose his own temper first. It was a relief.
“We thought you were dead, you bloody arsehole!” he said, furious. “Both of us! Dead! And we—we—took too much to drink one night—very much too much … We spoke of you … and … Damn you, neither one of us was making love to the other—we were both fucking you!”
Jamie decides to demand an explanation and calls John a "filthy wee pervert". John just calmly refuses and tells Jamie to kill him. Oh when some soldiers they encounter call him Lord Grey, he corrects them with Lord John, saying “I am not a peer; my elder brother is. Grey is my family name." He then decides to antagonize them.
Willie ends up in a brothel and then in his anger scares the woman he is with into tossing him out. Claire gets a messenger from Gen. Clinton but ends up in front of Richardson. UGH. He too is waiting to see Gen. Clinton and insists she go ahead of him, that his news will wait. Oh and the messenger who appeared at John's home informed her, when she told him John did not hold an active commission, that, oh yeah he is. That was the earlier message...
“Yes, he does, mum. The colonel sent notice of it with the message this morning.”
“What? He can’t do that—er, can he?” I asked, a sudden dread creeping up my backbone.
“Do what, mum?”
“Just—just tell his lordship that his commission is active?”
“Oh, no, mum,” he assured me. “The colonel of Lieutenant Colonel Grey’s regiment re-called him. The Duke of Pardloe.”
When she is taken to Gen. Clinton, there is another man in the room. She is puzzled...
He was in uniform and looked strikingly familiar, but I was sure I’d never seen him before. Who—? “I am so sorry to have disturbed you, Lady John. I had hoped to surprise your husband,” the general was saying. “But I understand that he is not at home?”
“Er … no. He’s not.” The stranger—an infantry colonel, though his uniform seemed to sport even more gold lace than the usual—raised a brow at this. The sudden familiarity of the gesture gave me a slight spinning sensation in the head.
“You’re a relative of Lord John Grey’s,” I blurted, staring at him. He had to be. The man wore his own hair, as John did, though his was dark beneath its powder. The shape of his head—fine-boned and long-skulled—was John’s, and so was the set of his shoulders. His features were much like John’s, too, but his face was deeply weathered and gaunt, marked with harsh lines carved by long duty and the stress of command. I didn’t need the uniform to tell me that he was a lifelong soldier.
He smiled, and his face was suddenly transformed. Apparently he had John’s charm, too.
“You’re most perceptive, madam,” he said, and, stepping forward, smoothly took my limp hand away from the general and kissed it briefly in the continental manner before straightening and eyeing me with interest.
“General Clinton informs me that you are my brother’s wife.”
“Oh,” I said, scrambling to recover my mental bearings. “Then you must be Hal! Er … I beg your pardon. I mean, you’re the … I’m sorry, I know you’re a duke, but I’m afraid I don’t recall your title, Your Grace.”
“Pardloe,” he said, still holding my hand and smiling at me. “But my Christian name is Harold; do please use it if you like. Welcome to the family, my dear. I had no idea John had married. I understand the event was quite recent?” He spoke with great cordiality, but I was aware of the intense curiosity behind his good manners.
“Ah,” I said noncommittally. “Yes, quite recent.”
Hal explains he has already seen Henry, who speaks of Claire's skills with admiration. He was glad to see both his son and his daughter. Gen. Clinton then asks if she knows where John is. Hal offers to escort her back home but she declines after explaining to the men she thought John left with the messenger. She leaves, noting Richardson (John had informed her of Richardson's threat to her) is no longer there waiting. Hal then follows her and tells her she is a horrible liar. He offers again to escort her home and she again declines saying he will need the chair because of his gout. He insists and catches her trying to escape the chair. Except he is having difficulty beathing. In thinking he is having a heart attack, she discovers he has asthma not a heart condition. They are surrounded by a distinctly Patriot mob and then along comes Germain. She tries to prevent him from getting involved but he's a Fraser, what does she expect? He makes his threats and then ends with, “And my grannie’ll tell your da what you’ve been a-doing, too!”
Jamie starts to leave John to his fate in his anger. John is now unable to see out of one eye and swears his liver has ruptured. John has told the men who took him into custody that he did not have an active commission to which he is shown the note from the General that arrived just before Jamie informing him he had in fact been recalled to his commission by Hal/ The men learn he is a cousin to Major General Charles Grey and decide to take him to Col. Smith who will either decide to hang him or send him to Gen. Wayne because "Remember Paoli". Yeah I don't remember it so I had to look. It was at the Battle of Paoli that Charles Grey got his nickname of "No-flint Grey" when it was said he ordered his infantry to remove the flints from their muskets and use only their bayonets. He actually ordered the muskets be unloaded. The battle is alternatively known as the Paoli Massacre. The British lost 11 men, 7 to injuries and 4 to death. That's of their 1200 men who were engaged with another 600 in reserve a few miles away. The Americans had a force of 2500 men, 1500 Regulars and 1000 militia. Their losses were quite a bit heavier at 200 killed or wounded and 71 captured. There seems to have been around 53 dead while 107 were wounded. There were questions about Wayne and whether he was guilty of misconduct or made a tactical error. He was, by court-martial, determined to have acted honorably. The British however, appear to have killed troops who were attempting to surrender.
Claire takes Hal to John's home. Germain tells her she ought to send word of where Hal was so no one ordered a search that might somehow catch Jamie up in it. Claire worries about where Willie is and sets off to write the notes for Germain to deliver. She notices John did not have his signet ring on so she uses those to seal her notes. Claire gets Hal through the asthma attack and he ends up telling the women that the Continental Army is likely what they hear approaching as Clinton's forces are withdrawing so he thinks Washington and his troops are ready to swoop in. Mrs. Figg simply decides she best go bury the silver. She does wonder if William will return for supper. Claire has no clue.
Might he come back, when he’d cooled down, determined to have things out with John? I’d seen a Fraser on the boil, many times, and they didn’t sulk, as a rule. They tended to take direct action, at once. I eyed Jenny speculatively; she returned the look and casually leaned her elbow on the table, chin in hand, and tapped her fingers thoughtfully against her lips. I smiled privately at her.
“Where is my nephew?” Hal asked, finally able to take note of something other than his next breath. “For that matter … where is my brother?”
“I don’t know,” I told him, putting my own glass on Mrs. Figg’s tray and scooping his up to add to it. “I really wasn’t lying about that. But I do expect he’ll be back soon.” I rubbed a hand over my face and smoothed my hair back as well as I could. First things first. I had a patient to tend.
“I’m sure John wants to see you as much as you want to see him. But—”
“Oh, I doubt it,” the duke said.
He then wants to know how John came to marry her. She starts to tell him but then says he needs to get to bed. Then she notices him struggling and says,
“Harold,” I said in measured tones. “I am not merely your sister-in-law.” The term gave me an odd frisson, but I ignored it. “I am your physician. If you don’t—what?” I demanded. He was staring up at me with a most peculiar expression on his face, something between surprise and amusement. “You invited me to use your Christian name, didn’t you?”
“I did,” he admitted. “But I don’t think anyone has … actually called me Harold since … I was three years old.”...
“The family call me Hal.”
“Hal, then,” I said, smiling back but refusing to be distracted. “You’re going to have a nice refreshing sponge bath, Hal, and then you’re going to bed.”
He laughed—though he cut it short, as he began to wheeze. He coughed a little, fist balled under his ribs, and looked uneasy, but it stopped, and he cleared his throat and glanced up at me.
“You’d think I was … three years old. Sister-in-law. Trying to send me … to bed without my tea?”
Meanwhile, Jamie has encountered Daniel Morgan who wishes to introduce him to someone. That someone? General George Washington. He also meets Anthony Wayne, Charles Lee, and Nathaniel Greene. Wayne asks how his wife and Indian nephew are doing and if his wife is available to consult about an injury. Washington asks Jamie to accept command of Henry Taylor's battalion since Taylor has died. Jamie demurs, explaining he has some business to see to in Philadelphia. Washington queries if he can finalize his business in three days and when Jamie says yes, Washington states,
"Very well, then. You’re appointed to a temporary field rank of General of the Army. That—”
“Ifrinn!”
“I beg your pardon, Colonel?” Washington looked puzzled.
Jamie has essentially been conscripted. And as he tries to leave Mrs. Hardman's, his back seizes up.
LJG meets "Natty Bumppo" who says some people call him Hawkeye. He says he was raised by the Mohicans and had seen some massacres and he wouldn't call the Paoli Massacre a proper massacre. John ends up in front of Col. Smith, who he knows. Smith apparently had been a British soldier but now was on the American side so John refers to him as a turncoat. Smith decides to send him to Anthony Wayne who will probably hang him as a scapegoat for the massacre. Smith asks Grey to give his parole and John says no, it is his duty, as a commissioned British officer to escape. He's then put in irons while waiting to be sent to Wayne. Then John hears Dottie's laugh and begins singing a song he'd taught Dottie as a girl called “Die Sommernacht.”
Denny and Dottie help John escape. Willie nearly fights with a Dragoon in a brothel. LJG also somehow enlists in the Continental Army under the name Bertram Armstrong, which are two of his three middle names. The first of the three being...shocker...William.
Ok the switch to 1980. Jem has been kidnapped by Rob Cameron. Roger and Buck go back in time through the stones at Craigh na Dun. Roger meets Brian Fraser and a young Jenny and learns it is while Jamie is in Paris in school and Ian Murray is a soldier in France. Brian escorts Roger to Fort William looking for Jem. They meet the healer, Hector McEwan, a time traveler from 1841. His hands glow blue and he speaks Latin when he sees Buck. As Roger and Buck are staying with the MacLarens, who should come riding up but Dougal MacKenzie. Yes. That Dougal who is Buck's father. Roger realizes the two men have the "same attitude of insouciant confidence". After speaking to Dougal a bit, Roger quietly has a word with him.
Roger said quietly to Dougal, “Did MacLaren actually send to have you come and see whether I was a ghost?”
Dougal looked surprised but then smiled, one side of his mouth turning up. It was the way Brianna smiled when she wanted to acknowledge a joke she didn’t think was funny—or when she saw something funny that she didn’t mean to share with the company. A searing pang followed the jolt of recognition, and Roger was obliged to look down for a moment and clear his throat in order to get control of his voice.
“No, man,” Dougal said casually, also looking down as he wiped his bowl with a bit of hard journeycake taken from his saddlebag. “He thought I might be of help to ye in your search.” He looked up then, straight at Roger’s neck, and raised one dark, heavy brow. “Not that the presence of a half-hangit man at your door doesna raise questions, ken?”
Oh. The story of the burned out croft near the MacLarens... yeah that's what introduced Geillie to Dougal apparently. See, a woman and man lived in the croft and she then disappeared and a man was found hanging in the croft. So they burned it because of the sin. Dougal asks who the woman was and it's explained she was headed to Cranesmuir. MacLaren says her name was “Geillis Isbister.” and Dougal decides to go to Cranesmuir to have a word with her.
Jem gets away from the tunnel and is being helped by one of Bree's co-workers who is then attacked by someone obviously working with Rob. Bree makes a report to the police after finding Jem at work. She played hot and cold with Mandy to find him. Then she takes the kids to Fiona's. And returns home to find that Cameron is not in the priest's hole where she left him. He ends up at Fiona's, who gets Jem out of the house and sends him to the neighbor's to call the police. While talking to her about the dancing at Craigh na Dun, Rob hears his name mentioned on the radio, hits Fiona to escape and runs before the police arrive. Bree is at Lallybroch in the tower waiting to see if someone shows back up.
Roger has some more adventures. Brian Fraser finds Jeremiah Walter MacKenzie's WWII dog tags and gives them to Roger. Roger goes back to Fort William and meets everyone's favorite bad guy, Black Jack Randall. Buck wants to simply kill him but Roger says best not to because it might change history too much.
And back in 1980, Joe Abernathy receives a letter from Bree. A pic of her and the kids at Disney and a note saying she is taking the kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa and would he take care of a few things. I love that she calls him Uncle Joe. But he definitely has questions about the key for the safe deposit box and where Roger is since he was not in the pic.
We then jump back to Philadelphia in June 1778. Claire has met Gen. Clinton, and Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier... known better as the Marquis de La Fayette (per the book spelling, though it is generally Lafayette in AmEng). He then introduces her to Gen. Washington. Jamie enters with Ian and asks where she has been, that he was told she had run off with some Frenchman. Also introduced is Anthony Wayne, Dan Morgan, Nathaniel Green, and Charles Lee. She is not so impressed with Lee, which echoes Jamie's feeling of him as well.
Just before Monmouth, Jamie finds "Bertram Armstrong" amongst his troops. Then notices Germain. When Claire notices John's injuries and John surrenders and Germain follows suit, but only to Jamie for both, Jamie turns them over to Claire. She is checking John's injuries when Percy Beauchamp arrives, concerned for John. Germain recognizes him as the man looking for Fergus. John admits they were brothers, which surprises Claire. John then explains they're former step-brothers (ehhh not so much except Percy's step-father later became John's step-father). But Claire also notices a bit of extra to their connection that isn't being mentioned. Germain wishes to know why Percy is seeking Fergus and Jamie, entering the tent, also wishes to hear that explanation. Claire is trying to treat the orbital fracture of John's eye at Jamie's hands and Germain tells Jamie,
“You mustn’t hit him again, Grand-père,” Germain said earnestly, breaking the silence. “He’s a very good man, and I’m sure he won’t take Grannie to bed anymore, now that you’re home to do it.
And then well... I was eating when I got to this part. And while I have watched many surgical procedure videos while eating, I am thankful my fare was chips and dip and not something like meatballs.
So I spread the lids of John’s affected eye with the fingers of my left hand, wedged the fingertips of my right as deeply into the eye socket as I could, and squeezed.
He made a shocked, strangled sort of noise, and Jamie gasped but didn’t drop the mirror.
There are not many things in the world slipperier than a wet eyeball.
Chaos occurs when Germain finds the man who stole Clarence the mule from him. Man was bitten and in need of Claire's services. Percy helps Germain steal the mule back but the man notices and goes after Germain. As she's trying to get her knife in hand, a hand drops on her shoulder and she hears "Pardon me, milady." It's Fergus, who discharges his pistol to get the attention of all the yelling people. Fergus tells the teamster, “If I were you, sir, I would remove myself promptly from this animal’s presence. It is apparent that he dislikes you.” Then Percy kicks the man in the crotch. The teamster says Fergus can't steal that mule and Fergus replies, “I cannot, sir,” he said, inclining his head a quarter of an inch in acknowledgment. “Because a man cannot steal that which already belongs to him, is this not so?” He then calls Clarence to him, tells Germain they have a lot to discuss and hands the mule over to Claire for "the service of liberty". He also agrees to speak to Percy later on.
Claire then uses Dr. Fentiman's penis syringe to irrigate John's eye with honey, while Fergus and Germain hold him still. She explains how honey is an antibacterial. Having used an ointment that contained honey, I can attest to it's antibacterial properties. Especially with ulcerations on my foot.
Ian getting ready to paint himself before the battle and feeling his father close to him, made the comment that he hoped he was not there to inform him of his death, because he does not mean to die before laying with Rachel. He is surprised by Jamie who was engaged in his own pre-battle ritual. Jamie tells him that his ritual is to wash and speak to his own dead. Specifically Dougal and Murtagh. Ian knew they were considered good fighters but he had never met them since they died at Culloden. Then he asks...
“Bonnie fighters,” he said. “Did ye ask my da, too? To go with ye, I mean. Perhaps that’s why he’s about.”
Jamie turned his head sharply toward Ian, surprised. Then relaxed, shaking his head.
“I never had to ask Ian Mòr,” he said softly. “He was always … just with me.” He gestured briefly to the darkness on his right.
Just before the day started, Jamie was looking over the men under him and realized he still felt the presence of three men with him as usual. It puzzled him a moment because he had told Ian Mòr to stay with Ian Òg. As he prayed that he could bring all of his men back, he felt a hand on his shoulder and realized it was Brian Fraser.
As they all find their respective places for the Battle of Monmouth, fought in Freehold, NJ, Percy seeks out John and tells him that Richardson is actually an American spy and has a plant to take Willie and force Hal and John into something. So needless to say, John escapes Jamie's tent. Fergus decides not to stop him. Willie, by reason of his previous parole, is a non-combatant. Claire, Denny and the girls go to Tennent Church (a place I have family ties to) to set up a field hospital.
Willie gets sent on a fool's errand, John escapes to warn him not to trust Richardson or save if from Richardson's plans, Ian gets attacked by two Abenaki, finds an injured Willie, John gets re-captured by the Craddock boys who saw their father die, they take John to Jamie who very vocally and in front of witnesses rescinds John's parole which means John can now escape in good conscience, Jamie finds Ian and Willie and Ian gets shot by an arrow, he has Jamie break it off as close as possible because it's embedded in bone, Willie is found by Hal... which gets interesting because Willie claims his head is not that bad and Hal asks him to confirm that by singing and when he won't he makes Willie identify the song he hums. This is puzzling to Willie. But Hal explains, "Knew a chap once who was hit on the head with an ax and lost his ability to make out music. Couldn’t tell one note from another.” Uh yeah that might just be Jamie. And the Hal has more questions.
“Do you happen to remember where you last saw your father?”
William felt an unnatural calm come over him. He just bloody didn’t care anymore, he told himself. The whole world was going to know, one way or another.
“Which one?” he said flatly, and opened his eyes. His uncle was regarding him with interest, but no particular surprise.
“You’ve met Colonel Fraser, then?” Hal asked.
“I have,” William said shortly. “How long have you known about it?”
“Roughly three seconds, in the sense of certainty,” his uncle replied....
“In the sense of thinking there was something rather remarkable in your resemblance to the aforesaid Colonel Fraser … since I met him again in Philadelphia recently. Prior to that, I hadn’t seen him for a long time—not since you were very small, and I never saw him in close conjunction with you then, in any case.”
“Oh.”...
“Your father,” Hal said after a few moments. “Or my brother, if you prefer. Do you recall when you saw him last?”
Resentment sparked abruptly into anger.
“Yes, I bloody do. On the morning of the sixteenth. In his house. With my other father.”
Hal made a low humming noise, indicating interest.
“That when you found out, was it?”
“It was.”
“Did John tell you?”
“No, he bloody didn’t!” Blood surged to William’s face, making his head throb with a fierce suddenness that made him dizzy. “If I hadn’t come face-to-face with the—the fellow, I don’t suppose he’d ever have told me!”
As they continue talking Willie mentions Jamie is a Scot, a traitor and a bloody groom. Then...
“What am I bloody going to do?!”
His uncle sighed deeply and put the cork back in the flask.
“Advice? You’re too old to be given it and too young to take it.” He glanced aside at William, his face very like Papa’s. Thinner, older, dark brows beginning to beetle, but with that same rueful humor in the corners of his eyes. “Thought of blowing your brains out?”
William blinked, startled.
“No.”
"That’s good. Anything else is bound to be an improvement, isn’t it?”
Then just before going to sleep, Hal tells Willie,
“You are still my nephew,” he said in a conversational tone. “Doubt that’s much comfort to you, but there it is.”
Meanwhile, the Americans are retreating thanks to Lee's issues. Claire had to fight off some men who wanted to steal her alcohol, she treated a woman, who was dressed as a man, and needed an amputation as well as others. Then she gets shot. Jamie arrives and wakes her as she has passed out. But it's bad as she is gutshot. Sadly, the doctor Claire argued with, Leckie, is the one who runs up to see what is wrong. And a messenger arrives to let Jamie know that Gen. Lee wishes to see him. Jamie of course refuses and is told he could be shot for treason. Claire awakens during this argument. And Jamie tells the messenger they'll have to shoot him at Claire's side because he is not leaving her. Then he has the messenger stand and remove his coat and waistcoat. Then Jamie scoops up a handful of the mingled mud and gore from the ground and writes "I resign my commission. J. Fraser." on the messenger's back. Then goes back to add the word "Sir" on the shoulder of the messenger to be respectful and tells the messenger to show that to Gen. Lee. He says the general is in a "horrid passion, sir!...I dassen't." And Jamie just gives him that look and he says, "Yes, Sir." and runs off. Dr Leckie gets the bleeding mostly stopped and has Jamie holding pressure and bandages on it and says he will return when he can. This of course causes Jamie to rage.
“May the devil eat your soul and salt it well first, you whore!” he shouted in Gàidhlig after the vanished surgeon.
And Claire asks if he just called the doctor a whore. Claire soon has comments for Denny. As he is getting ready to operate, she tells him, "ALWAYS CONCENTRATE when you’re using a sharp knife... You might lose a finger, else. My granny used to say that, and my mother, too.” Which causes Denny to ask if she frequently played with sharp knives. Both Claire and Denny think the bullet went through the liver, which is a good thing as Denny points out. Why? Well as Claire told Denny in the past, because unlike other organs, the liver will regenerate. Just as Denny is about to remove the bullet, Jamie stops him because Dottie is approaching with a gang of soldiers. Denny wonders if she is being arrested. Jamie assures him she is laughing with the men/
“Dorothea is a Grey,” he pointed out. “Any member of her family would pause on the gallows to exchange witty banter with the hangman before graciously putting the noose about his neck with his own hands.”
That was so true that it made me laugh, though my humor was cut off at once by a jolt of pain that took my breath away. Jamie looked at me sharply, but I flapped a hand weakly at him, and he went to open the door.
Dorothea popped in, turning to wave over her shoulder and call goodbye to her escort, and I heard Denny sigh in relief as he put his spectacles back on.
“Oh, good,” she said, going to kiss him. “I hoped you hadn’t started yet. I’ve brought a few things. Mrs. Fraser—Claire—how are you? I mean, how is thee?” She put down the large basket she was carrying and came at once to the table I was lying on, to take my hand and gaze sympathetically at me with her big blue eyes.
“I’ve been slightly better,” I said, making an effort not to grit my teeth. I felt clammy and nauseated.
“General La Fayette was most concerned to hear that you’d been hurt,”...“He has all of his aides telling their rosary beads for you.”
“How kind,” I said, meaning it, but rather hoping the marquis hadn’t sent a complicated greeting that I might need to compose a reply to. Having got this far, I wanted to get the bloody business over with, no matter what happened.
“And he sent this,” she said, a rather smug look on her face as she held up a squat green-glass bottle. “Thee will want this first, I think, Denny.”
“What—” Denny began, reaching for the bottle, but Dorothea had pulled the cork, and the sweet cough-syrup smell of sherry rolled out—with the ghost of a very distinctive herbal scent beneath it, something between camphor and sage.
“Laudanum,” said Jamie, and his face took on such a startling look of relief that only then did I realize how frightened he had been for me. “God bless ye, Dottie!”
“It occurred to me that Friend Gilbert might just possibly have a few things that might be useful,” she said modestly. “All the Frenchmen I know are dreadful cranks about their health and have enormous collections of tonics and pastilles and clysters. So I went and asked.”...
“The marquis sent all sorts of delicacies and things to aid your recovery,” Dottie said encouragingly, turning to the basket and starting to lift things out by way of distraction. “Partridge in jelly, mushroom pâté, some terrible-smelling cheese, and—”
My sudden desire to vomit ceased just as suddenly, and I half-sat up, causing Jamie to emit a cry of alarm and grab me by the shoulders. Just as well that he did; I would have fallen onto the floor. I wasn’t attending, though, my attention fixed on Dottie’s basket.
“Roquefort,” I said urgently. “Is it Roquefort cheese? Sort of gray, with green and blue veins?”
“Why, I don’t know,” she said, startled by my vehemence. She gingerly plucked a cloth-wrapped parcel out of the basket and held it delicately in front of me. The odor wafting from it was enough, and I relaxed—very slowly—back down.
“Good,” I breathed. “Denzell—when you’ve finished … pack the wound with cheese.”
Yeah that shocks everyone. But it's because the mold that makes Roquefort is a type of penicillin. So she makes sure to tell him to use the stuff from the veins of the cheese.
John and a "slightly damaged Indian" make it into Clinton's camp just after dark. They meet John André and John says he needs to see his brother after a wash and decides Ian also had better stay with John. Then all of a sudden, Ian attacks an Indian sitting around a fire. They fought and Ian had a knife to the other man's throat. Then he drew the blade across the man's neck and said, “I give you back your life!” The other man says Ian will regret that. And then Ian picks up a tomahawk and brings it down on the other man's head. He then turns to John and said, "He's right. I would have." And disappeared into the night. André asks if that was a prisoner of John's and he said no... "A relation by marriage." What the reader knows that John doesn't, is that is one of the men who attacked and tried to kill Willie. Then the scene switches to Willie, who is in Hal's tent waiting for his uncle's return. All of a sudden, someone enters the tent.
“Are you—” he began, shocked, but Lord John interrupted him.
“I’m fine,” he said, and tried for a smile, though his face was white and creased with fatigue. “Everything’s all right, Willie. As long as you’re alive, everything’s all right.” ...
“If you and I have things to say to each other, Willie—and of course we do—let it wait until tomorrow. Please. I’m not …” He made a vague, wavering gesture that ended nowhere....
William’s heart seized, in a lump more painful than the one in his throat.
“Papa!” His father stopped abruptly, turning to look over his shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re not dead,” William blurted.
A smile blossomed slowly on his father’s battered face.
“Me, too,” he said.
Ian heads back to the American camp to find Rachel, Jamie and the others. He didn't even wait for the British medics to look at his arm so he is still walking around with part of an arrow in it.
When Hal returns to his tent he wonders what happened to John's eye. John says first it was Jamie then Claire and explains:
“He punched me, and then she did something excruciating to fix it and put honey in it.”
“Having been subject to the lady’s notions of medical treatment, I am not even faintly surprised to hear that.” Hal lifted his cup in brief salute.
John then asks Hal about Claire treating him. So Hal provides an explanation. Then wonders if Claire realized that Willie was Jamie's son and how long John knew. And then tells John he has heard Ben was dead. But we learn the next day that Hal does not believe he actually is. Turns out it was Ezekiel Richardson who brought the news. John agrees moreso that Ben isn't dead and basically says, "Boy I have a tale to tell about Richardson."
Rachel finds Ian, Willie finds the girls, John and Hal visit Jamie and Claire. Rachel sends Willie with Ian back to Freehold while she takes the girls to a Quaker she knows. And days later, when Ian wakes up, Rachel is there. He is curious about where they are and Rachels explains, We currently enjoy the hospitality of the local smith, a gentleman named Heughan.” That made me laugh given the actor who plays Jamie is Sam Heughan. Apparently while out of it, Ian rambled about Geillis and was afraid. So Rachel asks him about it and he tells her the story. She ends up telling him they cannot delay marrying any longer because she does not want him to face the things he faces alone.
We then return to Philadelphia where Willie has found John and Hal at the Chestnut St house. He informs them he has resigned his commission and will seek info on Ben. We then have the wedding of Ian and Rachel and Denny and Dottie.
Then we jump back to 1980 where Bree has written Uncle Joe a letter and is informally adding info to her How To book for time travelers. And then we jump back to the 1730s where Roger and Buck are trying to track where Jem's dog tags came from. They find a peddler who got them from someone who found them who lived down by the old Roman wall. I assume they mean Hadrian's Wall (the wall that divides Scotland and England) but I suppose it could refer to the Antonine Wall, which runs from Clyde to the Firth of Forth. Nope, a quick check of the Outlander Wiki says it was at Hadrian's Wall on All Hallow's Eve that Jeremiah MacKenzie disappeared. He does go back to 1739 though, which is likely why Buck and Roger went to the same time. They were focused on Jem but not specific about which of the Jeremiah's that meant. Because every generation after Buck was Jeremiah MacKenzie. Buck's son was William Jeremiah, whose son was Jeremiah Gregory, who had Ellis Jeremiah, who then had Roger's father, Jeremiah Walter, and then Jeremiah is Roger's middle name and of course Jem is Jeremiah Alexander Ian Fraser MacKenzie. (I am skipping it but I know Roger's father's story is told in A Leaf on the Wind. We do learn that J.W. MacKenzie was part of the Green Squadron and was recruited for a top secret mission by one Frank Randall.)
Roger and Buck meeting Jeremiah was rather interesting. They sent him back through the stones, with Roger telling him to think of his wife, Marjorie and not to think about his son at all. Which puzzles Jeremiah because how do these men know who is wife is? Then Roger runs back and says "I love you," and leaves again. Buck wonders why he did that and Roger's explanation is that it's the only time he would be able to because he won't make it back.
Back in 1980, Bree and the kids, after testing how far Jem and Mandy can sense and even on Mandy's part somewhat hear each other (4 miles for Mandy and a mile for Jem) as well as feeling Bree, they prepare to go through the stones again. They're in Edinburgh just before the winter solstice. Bree adds to her "A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR TIME TRAVELERS—PART II". She decides they will take the train to Inverness and Fiona will take them to the circle. But she also contacts Lionel Menzies to keep and eye on Rob Cameron.
Then we jump back to Roger and Buck at Cranesmuir. Roger did give Buck a bit of info on Geillis. But when asked what he knew about Buck's father, he replied, “More than I can tell ye in a few minutes, and we should be on our way.” To their surprise, Hector McEwan is there with Geillis. Roger realizes she smells like sex. And Hector is not pleased when she takes Buck into her simples room for a medication. Roger admits that she is Buck's mother and asks if Hector knew about Geillis. He says he did though she never admitted it. He also confirms she does not heal with the blue light Hector can. The same blue light master Raymond used to heal Claire after her miscarriage in Paris. Hector admits he got Geillis pregnant and could see "the moment when my … seed … reached her ovum. The … er … the fetus. It glowed inside her womb; I could sense it when I touched her.” Roger wonders if that's more because of what she is rather than Hector. He says he had a wife and two children back home. Then Roger asks where the child is and Hector replies,
“I said … she is a very fine herbalist …?”
“Jesus, Lord,” Roger said. “Did ye know she meant to do it?”
McEwan swallowed audibly, but kept silent.
“My God,” Roger said. “My God. I know it’s not my place to judge you—but if it was, man, you’d burn in hell.”
Roger goes outside to get hold of his anger and then, worried Hector has hung himself or otherwise harmed himself, goes back in and tells him he is still needed. He escorts Hector outside and says he needs Hector. He has Hector feel his throat and feels the same "sensation of light warmth" and then asks how he does it.
“I don’t know that I can tell you with any great precision,” he said apologetically. “It’s just that I know what a sound larynx should feel like, and I can tell what yours feels like, and …” He shrugged a little, helpless. “I put my fingers there and … envision the way it should feel.”
Hector does say he may be able to heal it more but that it requires time between healing sessions. He's not sure if it will ever fully heal but it might. He does say he finds that it needs to be about a month between sessions and that Geillis thinks it has to do with the phase of the moon but she is... "A witch" Roger finishes.
Perhaps,” he [Hector] said softly. “Surely she is … an unusual woman.”
“And a good thing for the human race that there aren’t more like her,” Roger said, but then checked himself. If he could pray for Jack Randall’s immortal soul, he couldn’t do less for his own great-grandmother, homicidal maniac or not. But the immediate problem was to try to extract the hapless soul before him from her clutches before she could destroy Hector McEwan utterly.
“Dr. McEwan … Hector,” he said softly, and laid a hand on the doctor’s arm. “You need to go right away from this place, and from her. She won’t merely bring you great unhappiness or imperil your soul—she may well kill you.”
Yeah it wouldn't be the first time if she did (because I highly doubt, regardless of what some people think, she is one of the abortion is murder type of people). Nor will it be the last. She fixin' to kill someone in a few years that's for sure. I've not actually tallied it up, but I'd bet she probably could be considered a serial killer. The young men she kidnapped when she took Ian might qualify her for that. But at least two husbands, actually no three husbands (Edgars, the one in 1968; Duncan. the one in Cranesmuir; and the one on the plantation), one child for sure. And who knows how many slaves on her plantation as well as others throughout her hops through time. I have very strong feelings about her. Stronger even than BJR, who was a horrible man but showed a bit of decency in the end. I don't think Geillis ever does.
Ok so yeah noooooo. After Buck leaves the Duncan home... NOOOOO!
“Tell me you didn’t,” he said finally. “Please.”
Buck shot him a quick glance, looking both shocked at the words and slightly amused.
“No,” he said, after a pause long enough to knot Roger’s belly. “No, I didn’t. I’m no saying I couldn’t have, though,” he added. “She … wasn’t unwilling.”
Roger would have said he didn’t want to know, but he wasn’t quite able to deceive himself.
“Ye tried?”
Buck nodded, then picked up the cup of water and dashed the remnants into his own face, shaking them off with a whoof of breath.
“I kissed her,” he said. “Put my hand on her breast.”...
Eventually, Buck does ask,
“Why did ye not tell me my mother was a whore?”
“I wouldn’t tell ye something like that, even if I knew it for a fact, and I didn’t,” Roger said.
Buck looked at him for a moment in silence, eyes direct. “Ye’ll never make a decent minister,” he said at last, “if ye can’t be honest.”
The words were said objectively, without heat—and stung the more on that account, being true. Roger breathed in hard through his nose and out again.
“All right,” he said. And told Buck everything he knew, or thought he knew, concerning Gillian Edgars, alias Geillis Duncan.
“Jesus God,” Buck said, blinking.
Buck does apologize for the hanging saying it's not an excuse but that he did not intend on getting Roger hanged. He offers to return to the future to let Bree know where Roger is because he doesn't think Roger will trust him to keep looking for Jem.
“It’s not that,” Roger said, clearing his throat. “It’s only—I can’t leave while Jem might be here. Not when I don’t know for sure that I could come back if I left and he … wasn’t at the other end.” He made a helpless gesture. “Go, and know I was maybe abandoning him forever?”
Roger realizes that Buck knows when his own son Jem is.
The question was clear: if Buck was willing to risk the stones again, why would he not do it in search of his own family, rather than to carry a message to Bree?
“Ye’re all mine, aren’t ye?” Buck said gruffly. “My blood. My … sons.”
Despite everything, Roger was moved by that. A little. He coughed, and it didn’t hurt.
“Even so,” he said. He gave Buck a direct look. “Why? Ye ken it might do for you; it might have done this last time, if McEwan hadn’t been there.”
“Mmphm.” Buck poked his turnip again and put it back into the fire. “Aye. Well, I meant it; I’m no a very good person. No such a waste, I mean, if I didna make it.” His lips twisted a little as he glanced up at Roger. “Ye’ve maybe got a bit more to offer the world.”
“I’m flattered,” Roger said dryly. “I imagine the world can get on well enough without me, if it came to that.”
“Aye, maybe. But maybe your family can’t.”
There was a long silence while Roger digested that, broken only by the pop of a burning twig and the distant hooting of courting owls.
“What about your own family?” he asked at last, quietly. “Ye seem to think your wife would be happier without ye. Why? What did ye do to her?”
Buck made a short, unhappy noise that might have been meant for a wry laugh.
“Fell in love wi’ her.” He took a deep breath, looking down into the fire.
“Wanted her.”
Buck tells how she was in love with someone else but he met her and essentially stole her. How Morag tried being kind to him but he knew she still loved someone else so he decided they'd go to America where he did not have to see her look at the other man with love. But that did not end up going well and so they returned to Scotland. He figures she and the children are better off with him gone. At the worst, her father will take them in or she will find the man she loves.
Roger tells him,
“Aye,” he said. “Well. Sleep on it. I mean to go up to Lallybroch. Ye’ll maybe go and see Dougal MacKenzie at Leoch. If ye think ye still … mean it, after … there’s time enough to decide then.”
Bree and the children attempt to go through the stones but their gemstones burn up. Lionel Menzies had followed them to protect them and tell them a group of men with Rob Cameron were following. When Bree tells him they can't go, he breaks up his Masonic ring and wedding ring for the gemstones. He assures her once he sees they're gone, he will make a run for it. Bree and the kids make it through the stones and end up at Lallybroch. Where they are in the old broch and a man approaches. A man with black hair. At first Bree hopes it is Roger and the Jem just cannot see his face. But then she realizes it's Brian Fraser, aka Brian Dubh, "Black Brian". So she is meeting her grandfather. Roger had left a letter for her to find telling her that he had met Brian and she would like him. She calls out "Brian!" and he thinks she is Ellen at first and that Jem is his son, William. Brian actually faints on seeing them and Bree sees the headstones for Ellen, Willie and Robert. Jem asks who the man is and she explains it is his great-grandfather. Then he gives her the message from Mandy. Mandy feels Roger.
As Roger is riding to Lallybroch, he sees a child about to run into the road only to find it is Jem. Who is looking for Mandy. Bree had fallen and sent Jem after Mandy, who ran off to find Roger because she felt him getting closer. Roger leaves Jem with the horse and takes off to search for Mandy, yelling her name at intervals. At one point, his voice cracks but he realizes it is with emotion and not pain. And that he had been shouting at full volume for a bit. He then blesses Hector McEwan. He hears Jem yelling for him and turns to see Jem running to him and Buck behind him. However, he also realizes Buck is carrying something.
"...a wildly squirming bundle with black curly hair cradled precariously in Buck’s arm.
He couldn’t speak at all by the time he reached them.
“Think ye might have lost something,” Buck said gruffly, and handed Mandy carefully down to him. She was a heavy, lively weight in his arms—and smelled of goats.
“Daddy!” she exclaimed, beaming at him as though he’d just come in from work. “Mwah! Mwah!” She kissed him noisily and snuggled into his chest, her hair tickling his chin.
“Where were you?” Jem was saying accusingly.
“Where was you?” Mandy countered, and stuck her tongue out at him. “Bleah.”
After being reunited, the go to Hector to heal Bree's sprained ankle. He realizes that is also a time traveler. says she figured they would not stay unless Roger took a deep liking to someone. He says Hector is there. But so are others like Geillis. She asks if he met her and he says yes,
“She lives just across the way.”
“Really?” Brianna got to her feet, clutching a quilt to her bosom, forgot about her bad foot, and stumbled. Roger leapt up and caught her by the arm.
“You don’t want to meet her,” he said, with emphasis. “Sit down, aye? Ye’re going to fall.”
And then he explains what happened. She wonders if that is the friend whose bed Hector is passing the night. Roger counters she is married and he figures her husband would notice another man in their bed. Bree points out “She’s an herbalist, remember? Mama does a good sleeping potion; I imagine Geillis could, too.” And then reminds him what happens to Arthur Duncan. He figures interfering and not knowing the consequences of that is why they didn't go to Lallybroch. And Bree says it's not just the fear of what meeting them might cause later but how when Brian saw her, he thought she was Ellen.
I—he—he’s going to die in a year or two. That beautiful, sweet man … and there isn’t any-anything we can do to stop it.” She gulped and swiped at her eyes. “He—he thinks he’s seen his wife and his son, that they’re w-waiting for him. And the—oh, God, the joy on his face. I couldn’t take that away from him, I just couldn’t.”
We now go back to Philadelphia. John has written from New York, that he hopes Claire will use his home, which the rent has been paid on until the end of the year, as her surgery. Because he would feel better if it were not empty and knowing how many people live at the printshop. Claire worries about a threatening note Marsali had been given and went to search for Jamie and Fergus who were seeing about selling things for them to return south. Germain finds them and tells Fergus someone is at the shop bothering Marsali and Jenny has threatened him so Fergus leaves. Then Jamie and Claire discuss Percy Wainwright's story to Fergus and Jamie points out that with Germain, Percy does not need Fergus. So they return to the shop as well so Jamie can compare the threatening note to Percy's handwriting.
Henry got a letter from Adam saying he had heard about Ben dying so Dottie decides to go to NY to be with Hal and John. Ian and a group of Mohawks escort her to NY since Denny has to stay with the soldiers in camp. Except Hal and John do not think Ben is really dead. So John goes looking. Dottie insists on accompanying him.
Ian discusses with Rachel going back to North Carolina with Jamie and Claire. She wonders if he feels no obligation to the army and he explains how Hal told Claire of the British army's new plan to split the north and the south. He warns her of being separated from Denny and Dottie and perhaps Fergus and Marsali, who will go south but not to the Ridge. They will likely settle in a city so Fergus can continue printing a newspaper. They fall asleep and she wakes with a dreaming Ian on the attack. She breaks his hold on her by a judiciously placed knee to his body and when he fully awakens ask where she learned to do that. Denny taught her. That discouraging a man from rape was not violence. They wake again the next morning to a sad event. Rollo has died. Rachel insists on going with Ian to bury Rollo because, "I married him, as well as thee.”
We next turn to Willie in the Watchung Mountains, where he is searching for Ben. As he hunts, he recalls how Mac taught him that when hunting you always thank the animal for its sacrifice, and how he would offer up the gralloch prayer when butchering the animal.
Benedict Arnold shows up at the printshop looking for Claire. He wishes for her to help a relative of the Shippens (this is before he has married Peggy but is already in love with her apparently). They end up taking him to John's.
Willie finds the supposed grave of Ben but it is not Ben.
Claire wakes in the printshop only to realize it is on fire. They get everyone but Germain and Henri-Christien out. And when Germain tries to carry Henri-Christian down the rope, he loses his grip at the same time Henri-Christian does. And Henri-Christian falls to his death. At the funeral, Ian gives Germain cherry bounce, an alcoholic drink, Claire and Jenny discuss whether Marsali is pregnant again, and a messenger comes seeking Claire. It's a purse and note from Percy. He writes,
Mrs. Fraser,
I cannot think my Presence would be welcome and I would not intrude on private Grief. I ask nothing, neither Acknowledgment nor Obligation. I do ask that you would allow me to help in the only way that I can and that you will not reveal the Source of this Assistance to the younger Mr. Fraser. I trust your Discretion, as to the Elder.
It was signed simply, P. Wainwright (Beauchamp).
Claire feels a sense of relief that he is unlikely to have been the cause of the fire. When it came time to bury Henri-Christian, Ian knew just the place. They buried him well outside the city, where there were two cairns already and a third smaller one with a stone marked Rollo.
“This place is hallowed by my sweat and my tears, cousin,” he said softly. “Let us hallow it also by our blood and let our wee lad rest here safe in his family. If he canna go with us, we will abide with him.”
He took the sgian dubh from his stocking and drew it across his wrist, lightly, then held his arm above Henri-Christian’s coffin, letting a few drops fall on the wood. I could hear the sound of it, like the beginning of rain.
Marsali drew a shattered breath, stood straight, and took the knife from his hand.
Jamie gets a letter that his press and the people who were storing it for him were now in Savannah. Willie writes to Hal to let him know Ben probably isn't dead because the body in the grave was not his. John writes to Hal from Charleston, where he and Dottie are looking for Ben's wife and supposed child. John notes Dottie may be a better sailor than he is and she certainly "shows Promise as an inquiry Agent." She discovered Amaranthus Cowden's whereabouts by means of seeking out the local dressmakers and inquiring if she was a customer. From there, they learned she was calling herself Mrs. Grey but they did know her maiden name and they described her. However, they did not know where to find her as she had decided to winter with friends in Savannah. He could not speak to the aunt because she had recently died. Hal also gets a letter from Gen. Clinton order him to assemble and re-fit his troops and take them to Savannah in order to take the city. And in cleaning up the former printshop after the fire, the neighbors found a set of Caslon type under the hearth. This was a special set of type. One that Marsali had cast from gold and then rubbed the slugs with a mixture of grease, soot and ink.
Once in Savannah, they get Bonnie (Jamie's printing press) and Jamie and Ian find jobs in a warehouse. Claire, of course, hangs out her shingle as a doctor. She has found that when she requested oil of vitriol from the apothecary that he questioned her for her purpose. She declared wanting to make ether. He assured her he would just sell her the ether as he had plenty since the British arrived as the ships stocked it as a treatment for seasickness. She had to do a surgery on a very young slave girl who had been pregnant but lost the baby (of course it was the slave owner's child). Claire finds put Rachel is also pregnant, she sees William. He finds Fanny while searching for Amaranthus, only to find Jane has been taken into custody for murder. He goes to speak with the general and finds his uncle Hal and learns his father is also in town. But because the general and Hal do not get along there is little they can do to get Jane out of the situation. So Willie turns to Jamie. They basically go to break her out of custody and find she has killed herself rather than being hanged. Willie brings Fanny to the Frasers. Richardson also comes to Claire in an attempt to enlist her help gathering information from the British. He had planned on using her, after engineering events to get John to save her, in Philadelphia, but Jamie's return put a stop to that. He admitted to being a spy for the Americans. Claire takes Fanny to try to claim Jane's body but John also arrives. Then he and Claire speak and she tells him everything Richardson said, including his plan to use various members of the Grey family to influence Hal, who was seen as a moderate in the House of Lords.
John listened, his face quietly intent, though the corner of his mouth twitched when I described Richardson’s plan to influence Hal’s political actions.
“Yes, I know,” I said dryly, seeing that. “I don’t suppose he’s ever actually met Hal. But the important thing …” I hesitated, but he had to know.
“He knows about you,” I said. “What you … are. I mean that you—”
“What I am,” he repeated, expressionless. His eyes had been fastened on my face to this point; now he looked away. “I see.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
John was a distinguished soldier and an honorable gentleman, member of an ancient noble family. He was also a homosexual, in a time when that particular attribute was a capital offense. For that knowledge to be in the hands of a man who meant ill to him and his family … I wasn’t under any illusions about what I’d just done—with three words, I’d shown him that he was standing on a very narrow tightrope over a very deep pit, with Richardson holding the end of the rope.
Yeah, she may not be John's wife. But she knows how well Jamie regards him, how much she appreciates their friendship, and how something harming John would harm Willie, Hal, Jamie and the rest of the Greys. So I have a feeling, she'd react as strongly to John being threatened as to one of the other men she regards as her family. Which by now is Jamie, Ian, Fergus, Germain, Willie, Roger, Jem, Denny, and even Hal to an extent. Actually, even Hal's sons might be included simply because of Hal and John. She'd absolutely protect any of the females connected to them as well. That's never been in doubt. John wonders how Richardson found out about him. She also told John what she had told Willie about Amaranthus.
John and Hal find Amaranthus, locked in a room with the baby. And she asks to leave with them.
Willie seeks out Jamie to bid him goodbye but doesn't know where he is going or if it even matters. He also thanks Jamie for his help with Jane. And asks simply if Jamie will explain how he came to be. Jamie objects asking if Willie would tell his father about his first time with a woman.
“Ye want to know, did I force your mother. I did not. Ye want to know, did I love your mother. I did not.”
William let that lie there for a moment, controlling his breathing ’til he was sure his voice would be steady.
“Did she love you?” It would have been easy to love him. The thought came to him unbidden—and unwelcome—but with it, his own memories of Mac the groom. Something he shared with his mother.
Fraser’s eyes were cast down, watching a trail of tiny ants running along the scuffed floorboards.
“She was verra young,” he said softly. “I was twice her age. It was my fault.”
Willie has done the math and realizes he was conceived just before the wedding. Unless it was just after. Jamie assures him he would not deceive another man in his marriage and Willie actually does believe that. Willie says everyone told him Geneva was reckless. But Jamie tells him she was brave.
Marsali and Fergus did ask Jamie and Claire to take Germain back to the Ridge with them, while they and the girls stayed in town. Germain was of an age where he could get into serious trouble, get conscripted into the Army or pressed into the Navy. So they eventually arrive back at the Ridge and are met by Joseph Wemyss and Rodney. Who when Claire verifies that's the young boy, asks, "You be the conjure-woman?" She confirms that yes she is Mrs. Fraser but he can call her Grannie Fraser if he likes. He then asks, "Izzat Himself?" To which she confirms he is. She then asks, "And speaking of relatives, how is your mother? And your … er … father?” Rodney's answer is that Lizzie is breedin' again and says, She says she’s a-going to castrate Daddy or Da or both of ’em, if that’s what it takes to put a stop to it."
Claire, Jenny, Germain, Rachel and Ian go to Beardley's trading post. Claire runs into the man who raped her while calling her Martha and Ian into Mrs. Sylvie and the children formerly known as Hermin and Vermin. They're now known as Herman and Trask Worm (pronounced Vehrm). Ian has to admit to Rachel that she had wanted to know before meeting any woman Ian had previously slept with, so he hurries to say "her" before introducing the women. Claire is surprised that Germain has purchased candy for himself, Fanny, Aidan, Orrie and Rob. She is curious where he got the money. Turns out he paid with a beaver skin that Mr. Kezzie Beardsley gave him for taking the children down to the creek and watching them while Kezzie and Lizzie has a bit of a lie-down.
Ian had noticed Claire was not her usual self. But it was Jenny who actually raised the question. She and Claire were having a chat over a wee bit of whisky and she asked, “Who was the dirty fat lumpkin that scairt ye at Beardsley’s?” This causes Claire to choke and Jenny to realize she was right about Claire being scared. She admits she has no idea who he was but it was someone she had seen somewhere else.
“Aye, aye. And where was it ye saw the fellow before? Because ye certainly kent him this time. Ye were fair gobsmacked.”
“If I thought it would make the slightest bit of difference, I’d tell you it’s none of your business,” I said, giving her a look. “Give me that flask, will you?”
Claire then explains the incident with the men from Brownsville. Jenny was surprises she didn't even try to find out his name. Claire said she didn't want to know, that he was no danger to them and the ringleaders were all dead.
Oh dear. The white sow (or one of her daughters) has returned! It is sweet that Rachel calls Claire by her name but Jenny is Mother Jenny.
Rachel gives birth to Oggy but they still have no name for him. Jamie went hunting and also killed the dirty, fat lumpkin. Jamie and Claire are at the site of the new house working and they see an approaching group of people on the wagon road. Jamie thinks it might be new folks wanting to settle but notes they do not have many belongings. Claire notices there are four people but is not wearing her glasses. Then Jamie sees that the lad has red hair and puts him in mind of Jem. Claire digs out her glasses and sees the group face the Higginses' cabin and shouts "Hello the house!" Then the woman, who is unusually tall, removes her hat and Claire sees she has red hair. She goes flying down the hill, just behind Jamie.
And so ends MOBY!
Quotes from Written in My Own Heart's Blood © 2013 Diana Gabaldon
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