How It All Goes Down
Reckonings
- They reach the village of Doonesbury the next day and shack up at the inn. Who is the innkeeper, Garry Trudeau?
- In the inn, Jamie tells Claire that it's time for him to punish her. Her disobeying his orders put the lives of herself, him, and all his men in danger, so now she has to suffer the consequences.
- Long story short: He beats her with a leather strap. And he kind of likes doing it.
- The next day, sitting is difficult; riding a horse is almost impossible.
- Walking with her and her horse, Jamie tells Claire about all the times his father whipped him.
- Their conversation is interrupted when they have to hide from a pack of wolves.
- Once that is over, it's back to talking about beatings again, a conversation which meanders along and eventually concludes with Claire telling Jamie that she loves him.
- They ride along some more, and Jamie tells Claire how his father died: He had an apoplexy (the archaic term for a stroke) when he thought Jamie was dead from being beaten by Randall's hand. Jamie feels responsible for his father's death.
- He also reveals that Randall wanted to strike a deal with Jamie: He'd cancel the second flogging if Jamie would have sex with him.
- Jamie refused, got flogged, and his father died.
- He hopes to kill Jack Randall someday, both to avenge his father and to avenge the death of Alex MacGregor, a young man who died at Randall's hands and whose Bible Jamie keeps with him.
- At the end of the day's journey, Claire tells Jamie "you ever raise a hand to me again, James Fraser, I'll cut out your heart and fry it for breakfast!" (22.294).
- He swears that he will never raise a hand against her in anger, and they go to bed together.