Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 13 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Ian thinking about leaving. He thinks that this will be the safest thing for everyone. Arch is a threat, and Ian doesn’t want people he loves taken from him. However, Jamie clearly realizes what Ian is planning on doing and camps out with Ian for the night.
That’s when Ian realizes that leaving isn’t an option—and it’s not exactly safe. Jamie will come after him, just like he’s done in the past. So, there’s no point in leaving.
Instead, he’ll need to go to Lallybroch, and this brings up a lot of questions. How will he be accepted at home? Will his mom accept what he has become? Will women find him terrifying? After all, the people of Scotland will have never seen a Native American, so seeing someone like Ian show up could be scary.
His thoughts move on from that as he sees movement between Jamie’s blankets. Claire is there, and the two of them are intimate. Ian initially feels uncomfortable, but he also realizes the type of love Claire and Jamie has. He wants something like that.
Without a wife, he decides to look at the women in his mind to find comfort. He runs through those he can and can’t think about. He wants to think about Bree, but knows that she would find it unacceptable. He can’t think of Malva because it would call her ghost forward. He thinks about Mary from Voyager and a young blonde girl—could that have been Lizzie?
I always wonder why he didn’t think of Emily. I guess it still just hurts too much. He’s come to accept what happened, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to think about being with her.
He decides that the vision of the young blonde girl will be his wife in his mind. Foreshadowing! What I absolutely adore is that Ian is thinking of being with a woman as a married man. We know he’s not all that innocent, but that doesn’t stop him from being honorable when the time comes.
The ending of the chapter is about Rollo. He can’t escape the humans around him, so he just rolls on his back with his paws in the air. It’s almost like he’s playing dead to just escape the uncomfortable situation. Poor pup!