Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 58 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
We start with Phaedre getting Brianna dressed. There’s a lord coming, and that means Brianna has to look at her utmost best. Phaedre wants to hide the baby bump, but Brianna points out that everyone knows she’s unmarried and pregnant. It’s something a lot of people are gossiping about.
Despite that, there are men interested in marrying her. One of those is Gerald Forbes, the lawyer who brings four different types of gemstones for Brianna to choose. The idea is that she picks the stone that will make her engagement ring. Brianna is focused on having four stones plus the ruby from Brian’s ring. She gets her five points for safe travel.
Brianna realizes that Forbes is going to propose with the uncut gem. She needs to avoid that and deflects to the judge’s mother to pick a stone out. After that, she deflects again saying that she has simple tastes.
It’s just enough to waste time for Lord John Grey to arrive. Brianna realizes that she knows about him, but he doesn’t look the way she imagined.
While at dinner, Brianna starts thinking about Roger. She thinks that he’s not coming back, and that Jamie isn’t coming back. Then she thinks that maybe Roger is fine but he doesn’t want to raise a child that may not be is. She gets overwhelmed with her thoughts and ends up fainting.
Once she’s recovered, Jocasta brings Lord John Grey to see Brianna. John shares that Jamie asked him to find Roger Wakefield. Maybe he’s on a ship back to England or Scotland. Bree tells him that they know where Roger is.
She decides to ask him about handfasting. Jocasta doesn’t believe that the marriage is legitimate just because of the handfasting. John isn’t all that sure if it would hold up. A handfasting is for a year and a day.
He does point out that the judge’s mother doesn’t look down on Brianna for being pregnant. Instead, she’s excited that Bree proves that she can have children, and she’s ready to be a grandmother. Brianna may be smart, but John is also perceptive and knows a lot of the way people will think and act.
With that, John decides that he won’t go back to Wilmington after all. His task of finding Roger is done. He’ll stay the night.