The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [78]
Thanks, Roger murmurs, and settles back to deal with the realization that he has—quite unknowingly—saved his five-times-great-grandfather from drowning, and thus ensured his own survival; at least for the moment.
The Gathering brings John Quincy Myers, down from the north with an important message—a brief note from Young Ian, written on the torn-out flyleaf of a book. He is well, Ian writes. He has married, in the Mohawk way, and his wife expects a child in the spring. He is happy—but he will never forget them.
Another bit of news comes by way of a letter, though delivered less directly. Roger seeks out Jamie one evening by their family fire, to tell him of the contents of a letter he had discovered in Inverness, while waiting to go through the stones after Brianna. Unsure whether to share this with Claire—and feeling that, in fact, Jamie might be the intended recipient—he has finally decided to relate it to Jamie, and let him decide whether Claire—and Brianna— should be told.
The import of the letter is that Frank had asked the Reverend Wakefield to erect a gravestone in the abandoned kirkyard at St. Kilda’s. Unable to dismiss Claire’s assertions about the past—and likewise unable to accept them—Frank had done the only thing he could: looked for James Fraser in the historical record. Finding a man whose connections matched those Claire had recounted, he was forced to accept Jamie’s reality—but in accepting it, was faced with a desperate choice; whether or not to tell Claire that James Fraser had survived the Battle of Culloden.
On the one hand fearing to lose Claire, and on the other, fearing that she might remain with him for Brianna’s sake and yet still pine for Fraser, he chose to keep his silence—and Claire. He cannot help but feel guilt, though, at the sight of Brianna, with her father’s face.
He is her father, he feels; and yet, she has another. He has, in effect, stolen Claire from Jamie, or at least kept her with him by deceit. He feels he owes Brianna the knowledge of her other father—at the same time, he knows himself too weak ever to tell her himself. His compromise with conscience is the false gravestone, bearing Jamie’s full name—JAMES ALEXANDER MALCOLM MACKENZIE FRASER—and the name of his wife. That, he tells the Reverend Wakefield, must suffice. If Brianna should be interested in her past—in his history—then she will go to St. Kilda’s, and find Black Jack Randall’s grave. If she sees the nearby stone for Jamie, she is bound to ask Claire—and the truth will be known, with Frank Randall safely dead and buried. As for Fraser himself… “Hadn’t thought of this before—do you suppose I’ll meet him in the sweet by-and-by, if there is one? Funny to think of it. Should we meet as fiends, I wonder, with the sins of the flesh behind us? Or end forever locked in some Celtic hell, with our hands wrapped round each other’s throat?”
If Frank Randall had chosen to keep secret what he’d found, had never placed that stone at St. Kilda’s—would Claire have learned the truth anyway? Perhaps; perhaps not. But it had been the sight of that spurious grave that had led her to tell her daughter the story of Jamie Fraser, and to set Roger on the path of discovery that had led them all to this place, this time.
Jamie Fraser stirred at last, though his eyes stayed fixed on the fire.
“Englishman,” he said softly, and it was a conjuration. The hair rose very slightly on the back of Roger’s neck; he could believe he saw something move in the flames.
Jamie’s big hands spread, cradling his grandson. His face was remote, the flames catching sparks from hair and brows.
“Englishman,” he said, speaking to whatever he saw beyond the flames. “I could wish that we shall meet one day. And I could hope that we shall not.”
Among the bits of business still to be decided, then, is the matter of Claire’s ring. Jamie still has the gold wedding band, flung down during the confrontation with Brianna months ago. Knowing now what he does of Frank, his motives, his thoughts, and his actions,