Chapter 20 - Deserted Glades

At the beginning of this chapter, Claire receives a gift from Jamie that was sent to the happy couple from Hugh Munro.

...on my blanket rested a small parcel, done up in a sheet of thin paper, fastened with the tail-feather of a woodpecker thrust through the sheet. Unfolding it carefully, I found a large chunk of rough amber. One face of the chunk had been smoothed off and polished, and in this window could be seen the delicate dark form of a tiny dragonfly, suspended in eternal flight.

Of course, I'm sure all of you women swooned over the poetic inscription that Hugh Munro had scribbled hastily, quoting from Catullus. Yet, at this point, all my guy-brain could think of was: insect imbedded in amber; only one place this story could go now:

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the case, but after a little more convoluted Fraser back-story, what with Jamie having been shot by either Dougal or Rupert, Claire comes to find out that if Jamie dies, she inherits Lollybroch. Hey, not bad after losing her original husband to a future time, her current husband to a past time, at least she would end up with a little Scottish land deal.

Once more, the amorous couple is after it again, but this time, savagely interrupted by a couple of English deserters. Really, you would think the English, even deserters, would have a bit more decorum than to interrupt them in the middle of...ahem. Anyway, with her new-found fighting skills, Claire makes short work of the attempted rape, while Jamie makes short work of, well, basically just more killing. Seems these two can never catch a break. Oh, wait. I just kept reading and...there it is, they were able to finish now.

So now, as Jamie is trying to ensure his meeting with Horrocks goes off without a hitch, he tries to make sure that Claire will stay put, out of harms way. Yeah; Claire stay put. Right.

True to form, she remembers where she is and, realizing she is only seven miles from Craigh na Dun, she heads off to the infamous stone circle. I thought it was interesting how quickly she was abandoning her new-found husband for the chance to be reunited with her original husband. (Diana can't win with me, as I have been complaining all along how Claire seemed to never think of Frank up to this point). Anyway, fickle as I am, it still seemed a bit abrupt, even to the point of unusual as she imagines Jamie finally hooking up with Laoghaire:

And finding no trace of me, eventually he would forget me, and wed again. Perhaps the lovely young Laoghaire, back at Leoch.

Yeah. Consoling yourself with leaving Jamie by having him shack up with Laoghaire, Claire. That is classic justification if I've ever seen it.

Here's a woman who doesn't know what she wants, running here and there to keep the hope of her desires alive. Problem is, every time she doesn't get what she wants, she finds some other obstacle to pull her even further in to the quagmire of confusion and chaos. This time, it happens to be a botched "escape" to the hill of Craigh na Dun.

And, once again, off to to Fort William we go.