We end A Fugitive Green with a wedding and a hope for happiness. It’s time to break down A Fugitive Green chapter 18.
This is the final chapter of the novella. In a way, it’s a little anticlimactic, and I would have loved to see some of Hal’s search for Minnie. However, they end up being together, and we know that they have to marry, since they are married in the main Outlander books.
That being said, there are some elements of the timeline that are off. This is something Diana Gabaldon has acknowledged.
Breaking down A Fugitive Green chapter 18
The chapter starts in Amsterdam, which is where Minnie and her father have moved to. Minnie’s father decided that they had to get out of Paris to avoid scandal, and he created a story that he is caring for his widowed daughter. At this point, Minnie is six months pregnant, which tells us how long it has taken Hal to find her.
Minnie is currently thinking of a convincing tale about her fictitious late husband, but she doesn’t need to. Hal turns up at the door, and he immediately whisks her away. Harry is waiting in the coach for the two of them, and Minnie’s father calls out to them, but they don’t stop.
Hal makes it clear that he will marry Minnie. What I can’t tell is whether he always planned to marry her, or whether he realized that he needed to do it right away because he saw that she is pregnant. Either way, Hal notes that his first wife turned into a w***e, and he won’t be mad if it turns into the other way around with Minnie.
I was annoyed with him when he said this, though. Minnie was a spy, not a w***e, and I’m surprised she didn’t say something back at him when he mentioned this.
Hal and Minnie find a woman who owns an inn. Her husband is a minister, and after some bartering, they are able to be wed. It’s time for them to enjoy their future together. As we learn that Hal’s full name is Harold Patricius Gerard Bleeker Grey, we also learn that Minnie’s full name is Minerva Cunnegunda Wattiswade.
The book ends with Minnie thinking about Esme, making it clear that Esme never deserved Hal, but it was clear from the letters that she loved Hal. Now it’s Minnie’s turn to look out for Hal, and she will do that until her dying breath.
Could this chapter be used in a TV adaptation?
There’s no doubt that the end to A Fugutive Green would need to be used, but I would like to see something in between chapters 17 and 18. There isn’t enough of Hal searching for Minnie. Considering her father moved them to Amsterdam, how did Hal find out that this was where Minnie was? It didn’t make all that much sense to me.
The chapter itself was a disappointing way to end. Minnie didn’t argue at all about being married, even though we hadn’t really felt too much that she was developing feelings for Hal. It was all a little too rushed, and none of it seemed to suit the Minnie we’d come to know, so I would need something to develop that story.
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