Just the Outlander chapter
We start with Jamie and Roger. Jamie has one concern right now. Claire could be pregnant, and Jamie is worried about that. It’s not necessarily the pregnancy, but the fact that she’ll know the baby is that of her rapist’s. Jamie will also know. Would it be better to create some doubt by also sleeping with Claire?
This is something he brings up to Roger. After all, Roger has no idea if Jemmy is his own son, but there was enough doubt created to believe he is. I love that Jamie turns to Roger. This is a question only Roger can really answer.
We then move onto people helping Claire. Brianna is trying to find the best way to help, but Jamie notices that Claire doesn’t want anything. Instead, he suggests Bree go look after Roger, which is what she does. Roger had to do some unthinkable things and that will play with his mind.
When Claire is with Jamie alone, she starts to think about the men killed. She wonders about Donner, but she can’t bring him up just yet. She doesn’t really know how to bring him up. However, she did get a sense for his personality and realizes that he probably got away.
Jamie brings up the suggestion of creating doubt about a potential child. It’s not really something Claire thought about, but now she does. It’s not just a child to think about, though. Claire thinks about the STDs that she could end up with. She wants to take a course of penicillin first, and Jamie takes some too just in case—and for moral support.
This whole chapter is mostly about Claire on the path of healing. She is struggling with the trauma, but it is still early days. She refuses to let it beat her, though. After all, she’s been through a World War, she’s lost two husbands (she does count leaving Jamie for 20 years as losing him), and she’s lost a child. She’s already been through so much that she can’t let this beat her.
By the end of the chapter, she’s made the decision that she will sleep with Jamie. Jamie planned to be gentle, but that’s not the way it turned out. Claire wasn’t gentle, and Jamie notes that she was releasing all the anger within her. He lost himself in her, too.
At the very end, we have a moment between Claire and Jamie as they figure out the way forward. The roof is leaking, which is something Jamie will need to deal with.