A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Brianna awakens in the night, realizing that it’s April 18, the historic day of Paul Revere’s ride and the beginning of the American Revolution. She recites the bulk of the poem to Roger. In the morning, the Beardsley twins knock hurriedly on their door, announcing that Lizzie’s baby is coming. They run to their house, meeting Claire and Jamie there, but the baby, a healthy little boy, has already been born. Joseph doesn’t come to welcome the baby, to Lizzie’s disappointment. She sends Kezzie to tell him that everyone’s fine but says he can’t take the infant with him. Watching Roger hold the baby, Brianna wonders if their relationship will degrade if she doesn’t conceive, as Ian’s and Emily’s did.

Roger interrupts Brianna while she makes paper one day. He tells her he’s starting up a Freemason Society on Fraser’s Ridge as a space of neutral ground for men to talk. He explains to Brianna that it’s not a political or religious organization, comparing it to women in sewing circles. He tells Brianna to take Jem and spend the night away when this meeting occurs, to her consternation. She sarcastically asks if he wants her to make them snacks, too; to her surprise, he says “yes.” She feels Roger slipping away from her and his family.

Marsali writes to Jamie and Claire. Fergus’s paper absorbed the other newspaper in town after the printer was put on a ship back to England. Different authorities (and muscle) in the town then visited Fergus, making sure he wouldn’t be writing the same offensive content as his predecessor and giving him generous amounts of money.

Jamie shows Claire a letter he’s received from a Committee of Safety member, signed J. Palmer. Wide eyed, Claire realizes it’s the Lexington Alarm: “After the battle at Lexington, General Palmer […] wrote this and sent it through the countryside by an express rider, to bear witness to what had happened; to notify the militias nearby that the war had started” (1030). Jamie signs his name at the bottom, joining the others, and they send it along.

To prove his allegiance to the rebellion, Jamie will attend a congress held to declare the country’s official independence from England in May. A few days before his departure, however, the Christies arrive at the Big House.

Allan and Christie look alarmed and angry. Malva has just told them she’s six months pregnant and will only reveal the father in Jamie’s presence. Putting on a good show of embarrassed virtue, she names Jamie as the father. No one is as shocked as Jamie at this news.

Claire slaps Malva’s face soundly at this betrayal and runs out the door toward the spring where Fergus tried to kill himself, which she views as a place of truth. Allan tries to punch Jamie, but Jamie bests him, leaving him writhing in pain on the floor. Jamie calls Malva the worst Gaelic insult and denies having ever touched her. Malva tells everyone she seduced Jamie while nursing Claire through her near-death sickness, then describes the scars on Jamie’s body, even the most hidden ones.

Christie seems to believe his daughter at this point, asking Jamie dryly if he’ll leave his wife for Malva. Jamie throws them all out of his house and goes to find Claire. When he does find her, he assures her that he didn’t sleep with Malva. She knows this already, but she reminds him that she gave up her whole life (and the lives of Brianna, Roger, and Jem) to be with him in his own time because she thought he loved her the same way she loved him. The thought of him cheating made her doubt that.

Jamie confesses that he did sleep with another woman, Mary MacNab, back before the novel started when Claire was in another time and he was imprisoned in a cave alone for seven years. Claire understands that he told her out of total honesty and instantly forgives him. They go home together, and Claire reassures him that no one will believe it: “They’ll all believe it, Claire” (1052), he responds, and again apologizes.

Brianna and Roger try to figure out which men Malva has been with. So far, they only know of Bobby and Obadiah Henderson, a farmer. Malva must be trying to get money out of Jamie, they decide. Roger goes to Malva, trying to get her to talk to him. He assures her he doesn’t think she’s promiscuous and picks up her work for her. She sits in silence for a while. Malva starts to cry, and as Roger comforts her, Allan arrives and tries to punch Roger, thinking he’s pursuing Malva. Roger tells Allan not to touch his sister in anger or he’ll be sorry; Roger then leaves.

The men have their second Lodge meeting, leaving Brianna alone at the Big House. Bobby arrives, telling her he’s come to visit Malva. Brianna tells him she’s pregnant, and he vomits and runs out the door in response. Later, when Roger comes home, he tells Brianna that Bobby fought Ian at the Lodge meeting, but Rollo and Jamie pulled them apart.

Ian comes to the Big House the next day, finding Claire in the garden. He tells her that he’s been with Malva, and the child could be his. He used to wait in the woods for her and they would have sex, but he didn’t want to marry her because his instinct was to distrust her. One day, she wasn’t where they usually met, and he saw her with Bobby; the child could be Bobby’s, too. Ian wants to marry her if the child is his, but Claire tells him there’s no way to know until the baby grows up a bit and starts to resemble one or the other.

On May 20, 1775, in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, the congress is taking place. The talks and negotiations happen mainly in pubs, with plenty of drinking. Roger runs into the minister who married him and Brianna. The man questions Jamie’s honor, but Roger defends him. Roger also receives the news that he may be ordained as a minister officially. Roger finds Jamie in a spirited exchange of insults with Forbes, the lawyer. Forbes also questions Jamie’s honor, but Jamie lays down his purse with all his money and the black diamond he uses to time travel, showing his commitment to the rebellion. The chapter ends with the official document resultant from the congress, declaring independence from England for the county.

Claire goes out to her garden one morning to see her hives overturned and angry bees swarming. She thinks it’s a bear but doesn’t see or hear one. Then, she sees Malva in the lettuces, her throat freshly cut. Claire feels for her pulse (it’s weak, but present), then frantically performs an emergency cesarean section to try to save the baby, but the baby dies in her arms.

A week after Malva’s murder, there is still no suspect. Out of frustration over the inability to do anything about Malva, Jamie organizes a bride-stealing party to go fetch Joseph’s paramour, Monika Berrisch, leaving Claire alone with the other women. They discuss the men who could have murdered Malva. Although Lizzie had revealed Bobby’s hot temper, all agree that they don’t think he’s capable of murdering the mother of his child. Brianna suspects Crombie. Claire agrees that an older, married man is more likely the culprit. Monika knocks on Claire’s door. Having fled her house to marry Joseph, Monika is delighted to hear that he’s gone to fetch her, as well. She coos to Lizzie’s baby, Rodney, a move that bodes well for the future of the estranged Wemyss family.

Roger packs for his trip to become ordained, and Brianna decides to go with him. Since Malva’s murder, the rumor mill has focused its attention on the Frasers. Many young men, including Bobby, have fled the community for fear of being implicated in her death. Brianna needs a break from the gossip.

Brown and a group of men on horseback come to the Big House to arrest Claire, claiming they will try her for murder. They scuffle with Jamie, and Claire shoots one man who tries to come in the back door. The Frasers barricade their house and keep them at bay with pistols from a second-floor window. Mrs. Bug gets away and comes back with help at twilight, although the public’s opinion of the Frasers is very low, and many want to see Claire severely punished or killed. Crombie becomes the speaker for the crowd, calling Jamie and Claire down to the porch to talk. A mob has formed outside.

Many cry for Claire’s head, and some for Jamie’s. Brown tries to ensure Claire’s safety with hides and beer as collateral, but Jamie reminds everyone that Brown blames him for his brother’s death and wants revenge. Unfortunately, Ian, Arch, and Fergus are all absent. Their defenders from Ardsmuir are few, far outnumbered by Brown’s mob. Crombie declares that Jamie will accompany Claire to Hillsboro to stand trial. Christie, wracked with grief, steps out and says he will accompany them and make sure no harm comes to them. This action saves both their lives. He grants them one last night sleeping in their own bed, to depart in the morning.

The journey to Hillsboro is morose. Brown’s men expected a lynching and burning, not a long, drawn-out journey. The man Claire shot dies along the way after Claire decides not to treat his infected wound because of his disrespect toward her and Jamie. In a kindly gesture, Christie gives Claire his food. When they reach Hillsboro, the courts are locked down for fear of the political unrest. The judge refuses to see them, so Brown takes them south instead. Nearing their destination, a group of boys begin throwing stones. Claire falls from her horse and is injured fighting one of them. Jamie throws his body on top of hers to protect her from the stones and is also injured.

Claire tends to Jamie’s injuries, and he to hers. Jamie, noticing the way Christie has been acting and looking at Claire, realizes that Christie is in love with her. He wonders if Christie thinks he really did sleep with Malva.

He also realizes that someone’s been following them. Jamie steps into the woods to relieve himself and finds Ian there. Ian tells him that Brown has been spreading malicious rumors about them everywhere, to no one’s surprise. He bids Jamie to run away, but not wanting to become a fugitive, Jamie refuses. He knows Brown doesn’t know what to do next and that makes him very nervous. Ian’s presence encourages Jamie, however, and he knows his nephew will be nearby from now on, ready to jump in when needed.

The next morning, Brown has left on a mysterious errand. A few days later, when they stop at a town to rest, they find Brown there. Men suddenly grab Jamie and throw him against a wall. Someone else grabs Claire, and she’s taken away with Brown and Christie, all headed toward New Bern.

During the rapid, uncomfortable journey, Claire worries about Jamie, wondering if they’ve killed him already. Christie assures Claire that Jamie is okay. When they arrive, Claire is put in jail to await trial. Mrs. Sadie Ferguson, in jail for forgery, is her cellmate. Mrs. Maisie Tolliver, a drinker and the wife of the sheriff, tends to them brusquely. Claire gives Mrs. Tolliver a shilling for a bottle, which she returns with later and shares with them. When she’s loosened up, Claire asks her if she’s heard news of Jamie, but she hasn’t. When they go to bed, Mrs. Ferguson tries to have sex with Claire, who firmly turns her down.

The next day, they hear the yells of a woman in labor. After some effort, Claire gets Mrs. Tolliver to let her out so she can assist in the birth. The baby seems dead when it’s finally born, but Claire performs CPR and saves it, to Mrs. Tolliver’s glee. The child’s enslaved mother isn’t happy to see the child live. Later, Mrs. Ferguson tells Claire that the baby’s mother was sentenced to hang for killing her babies to prevent them from growing up into slavery, which is not an uncommon action for enslaved mothers.

Jamie is bound in the bottom of a boat. Ian finds him and unties him, telling him he heard they were planning to put Jamie on a boat to England; the ship taking Jamie back to England belongs to their old nemesis, Bonnet. Claire, meanwhile, was set to be tried; either she would be found guilty of murder, or the scandal would destroy the Frasers’ influence, clearing the way for Gerald Forbes to claim leadership of the Scottish Whigs and leaving Fraser’s Ridge vulnerable to attack. Jamie quickly calculates the odds of attacking Bonnet and decides it’s not worth the risk. Ian has one horse and ideas about how to steal another.

Two days into her jail time, Mrs. Tolliver passes out from a bad hangover. The constable, along with a well-dressed man called Mr. Webb, come looking for the midwife who delivered the baby. Mrs. Ferguson tells them she is the murderess, and Claire is in prison for forgery. They take Claire to the governor’s palace, where Mrs. Martin, the pregnant wife of the governor, is sick. Claire diagnoses her with food poisoning, learning that a bad flu virus has killed off several of the palace’s servants, hence Mrs. Martin’s urgency. Mrs. Martin recognizes Claire’s name: “They say you murdered your husband’s pregnant young mistress and cut the baby from her womb” (1150). Claire assures her she’s innocent.

Mr. Webb locks Claire in a garret. Claire looks out over the grounds and notices an oddly high number of guards, some of whom are in uniform. Governor Josiah Martin intermingles with the Marines outside. Mrs. Martin has a relapse in the night, and Claire tends to her. The next day, Mr. Webb takes Claire to the governor, who needs a secretary. Still playing the forger, thanks to Mrs. Ferguson, Claire copies letters for him for hours. Mr. Webb tells Claire that her literacy could have saved her, however, had she been the murderer: “If convicted of murder, you could plead benefit of clergy, and be let off with a public whipping and branding in the face […] If convicted of forgery, Mrs. Fraser, I am afraid you must be hanged” (1157).

A group of townspeople come in, seeking an audience with the governor to ask why the cannons have been moved. He lies to them, telling them the cannons needed repair before celebrating the Queen’s birthday later that month. After they leave, Claire learns the cannons were moved for fear of the townspeople using them on the governor’s palace. It’s a full year before Independence, and Claire is astonished at the level of danger already. The governor means to send Mrs. Martin away to New Jersey to keep her safe from possible outright rebellious violence. Three of their sons have succumbed to fevers, and their three daughters are already away with family in New Jersey.

Claire steals paper and a quill from the library, writing letters to Fergus and Marsali (who live there in New Bern) and to Ashe, who might be able to help Jamie. Mr. Webb fetches her to help Mrs. Martin pack. While getting the governor food from the kitchen downstairs, Claire has a friendly conversation with a few slaves she meets. She pays the one who does the shopping, Sukie, to take a letter to Fergus’s print shop.

She returns to the governor’s office, where she finds him burning documents and papers. Edgy, the governor asks Claire if she saw someone in the hall, telling her his eight-year-old son had died only a year ago, and his ghost sometimes still roams the halls. The next morning, Mrs. Martin is gone, and Claire is dressed in her clothes to impersonate her. The governor doesn’t want the people to know how threatened he feels.

Jamie and Ian finally make it to New Bern, to Fergus and Marsali. Jamie finds Mrs. Tolliver drunk and unconscious at the jail. He sobers her up, and she tells him Claire has been taken, and the other prisoners have run away or been hanged. Fergus gives him Claire’s letter, which arrived that day, and Jamie is relieved to discover that Claire is safe at the governor’s palace. He takes Ian to the palace to try to free her. Upon arrival, however, the guard doesn’t let Jamie and Ian enter. The governor’s carriage speeds by them, and Jamie sees Claire sitting beside the governor; Jamie gives futile chase on foot before they disappear. The governor tells Claire they’re heading for Brunswick, urging the carriage faster as soon as they’re out of sight of the townspeople.

Claire acts as the governor’s secretary on his boat, which is anchored just off the coast of Brunswick for nearly a week out of the fear of “a government in exile” (1175). A messenger brings news that Ashe and his men are moving against the fort. Claire wonders if he received her message and if he’s willing to help Jamie, an accused Loyalist and murderer. Claire transcribes a letter from the governor to a General Hugh MacDonald, acknowledging receipt of further support. She finds a small surgeon’s kit and steals a knife from it. To Claire’s surprise, the governor returns with MacDonald. Both pretend to merely recognize each other, but not to know each other well.

When they are alone, Claire asks MacDonald if he’s seen Jamie; he hasn’t. He tells her he accidentally told the governor about her true charges of murder. She defends herself to his shaky belief. MacDonald is amassing a list of supportive parties to the Crown. Before he leaves, he assures Claire he’ll look for Jamie and defend both of them to gossips. Claire tells him what really happened and gives him a message of love for her husband if he finds him. An officer readies the cannons on the ship.

The fort has been abandoned, rebels have set it on fire, and the ship is in a panic. Claire prays that Jamie is among them. The next day, Jamie arrives in a rowboat. With Claire, he gets an audience with the governor, telling the governor he has come to take Claire home. The governor sneers that she is in custody of the Crown, but Jamie reminds him that he’s declared martial law, and Claire is thus in the governor’s custody; the governor could legally free her. Jamie tries to give him his black diamond as a bond, which he would get back when Claire stands trial. The governor declines and says that if Jamie recruits 200 Highlanders to meet and join the arriving ships of English soldiers, he will release Claire. Along their way, he charges them to “subdue the countryside on behalf of the King” (1196).

Jamie says he needs to consider this and takes his leave. Claire takes the stolen knife from her shift and “jab[s] it down with all [her] strength, so that it stuck in the wood of the desk and stood there, quivering before the Governor’s astonished eyes” (1197). She calls Jamie a bastard.

The next morning, to Claire’s disappointment, Christie rows up to the ship, not Jamie. Awaiting the governor, she speaks to Christie privately. He tells her he’s come to confess to committing Malva’s murder. He tells Claire that Malva’s mother was a witch who slept with Christie’s brother and conceived Malva; the woman was also later hanged for the murder of Christie’s brother. After Christie got out of Ardsmuir, he took five-year-old Malva in and raised her as his own, trying to preach and beat the witch out of her. He killed her so that no more witches would be born into the world, he claims.

He reveals that Malva had made the spell out of Ephraim’s hand bones to enchant Jamie and had made poison draughts out of the sin-eater’s mucus, when she found him freshly dead. She’d then tried to poison Claire and Christie, which explains why they both were sick with something other than dysentery. Christie gave his confession to a paper in New Bern and will confess to the governor, freeing Claire. He wants to sacrifice himself for someone he loves, having yearned always “for love given and returned; have spent my life in the attempt to give my love to those who were not worthy of it. Allow me, this: to give my life for the sake of one who is” (1205). He kisses Claire’s hand, says Jamie will be coming to get her soon, and bids her goodbye.