Just the Outlander chapter
Claire is no longer thinking about suicide, but she is struggling to sleep in her grief. She is drinking a lot of plum brandy, and it brings me back to thoughts about the ether use in Outlander Season 6. Claire has turned to alcohol to cope. It’s not all that crazy to think that she’d turn to ether if it was easily available.
Focused on the chapter, though, John comes into Claire that night. He is also drunk, and the two end up sleeping with each other. They both admit the next morning that it wasn’t each other they were “making love” to. It was Jamie for both of them.
John uses this chance to tell Claire about the time Jamie offered himself to John. The reason John didn’t take Jamie up on it was because Jamie wouldn’t promise commitment. However, John was happy to get a friendship out of Jamie after that moment. He also tells Claire that he and Isobel weren’t intimate.
Instead, John has been sleeping with his cook, Manoke. Claire wonders if Manoke would hurt her out of jealousy, but John doesn’t really know how Manoke feels about him. They don’t talk that much, and John doesn’t seem to have ever had a lover he’s spoke to a lot in bed. Is that because John doesn’t feel that connected with anyone, or does he struggle to open up to people?
Claire doesn’t bring up Jamie, partly because she feels like her bedroom activities with him aren’t just for her to talk about. Instead, Claire wants to know if John believed Brianna about time travel. John doesn’t, but he will act as if he does for the sake of their marriage. It’s clear that John is willing to make the marriage work. He will do what he can to ensure that, but also to make Claire happy in it.
In the end, Claire is left wondering what life with John is going to be like. Well, there isn’t long with him.