Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 82 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Young Ian finding Claire in her garden. He has a confession to make. He has slept with Malva Christie a few times. He doesn’t love her, and he certainly wouldn’t want to marry her. However, he will marry her if there’s a chance that the baby is his. He wants to do right by the baby.

I love how we have this focus on what’s right for the baby. Young Ian is just like his uncle, and that’s what makes Ian and Jamie’s bond so strong. Sure, Ian would have likely built this attitude to life through his parents, but it was spending time with Jamie that really did it. There were some illegal acts, but when it comes to morality with women and children, Ian and Jamie are good men.

There is another thing, though. Ian isn’t the only man Malva has been with. He knows that she also slept with Bobby Higgins. It’s clear that there are likely more men out there, and that I think that’s what this chapter infers to. But it’s impossible at the time to know for certain who the father is, and that means Ian wants to claim the child if Claire thinks he should.

Ian is also thinking about Jamie. If he weds Malva, it would mean that some of the talk would start to die down. After all, he knows that Jamie didn’t sleep with Malva—and he would have claimed the child if he did.

Claire suggests that she talks to Jamie about it. She doesn’t want Ian marrying Malva under these circumstances and being tied to her for life, but she also wants to see what Jamie has to say.