Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Denny prepares to remove the bullet from Claire’s wound in the Mackens’ cottage by the churchyard. He and Claire agree that the bullet has penetrated her liver, and the surgery to remove it may kill her. Jamie, watching out the window, sees Dottie approaching, surrounded by soldiers. She bears a gift from Lafayette: a basket of food and a bottle of laudanum. Claire spots Roquefort in the basket and directs Denny to pack her wound with cheese since the mold in it contains penicillin. Jamie administers the laudanum, and Denny removes the bullet from the wound successfully.

John and Ian limp into the British camp where Ian sees the Abenaki scout at a campfire. The two battle until Ian gains possession of a knife and holds it to the other’s throat. Telling the scout that he gives him back his life, Ian drops the knife, but the scout shouts that he will regret his mercy. Ian grabs a tomahawk and crushes the Abenaki’s skull, then leaves the camp.

John enters Hal’s tent and discovers William there. Reassuring William that he is fine, he puts off discussing other matters until the next day. As he leaves, William tells him that he is glad John is not dead.

Ian heads towards the American camp but is senseless from fever and fatigue. He converses with the ghost of his father on the morality of killing for personal reasons rather than on the battlefield, reasoning that the man is dead either way.

Hal administers to John, soaking his feet in oil and calling for a surgeon to see to his arm. They exchange stories, and just as John falls asleep, Hal confesses that he has received news that his son Benjamin is dead.

Jamie watches Claire sleep after the surgery. The bleeding stops, but she is hot with fever. Meanwhile, Ian collapses underneath a pine tree. He covers himself with needles and falls unconscious.

When John awakes, Hal discloses that Captain Richardson told him Ben was dead, but Hal doesn’t believe him. John relays what Percy has told him about Richardson’s plans for the Grey family, and Hal leaves to arrest Richardson.

William cannot recall the details of the previous day, but Ban Tarelton fills him in. Ban also has news of Captain Harkness, who visited a brothel in Philadelphia and never rejoined his regiment. The mention of Harkness reminds William that he must check on Jane and Fanny.

Before leaving, General Clinton notifies him that he is relieved of duty until further notice. When Colenso alerts him that Jane and Fanny have left the camp with their belongings, William leaves immediately to find the sisters.

When John cannot find William and Hal cannot find Richardson, who has deserted, the brothers decide to go to Philadelphia rather than follow the army. Their first stop is the American camp under a flag of truce to see Jamie, who can write them a letter of introduction to Benedict Arnold.

Jamie sends a note to Lafayette, explaining Claire’s injury and confiding care of his troops to the Frenchman. Meanwhile, Rachel searches for Ian alone. Claire remains unconscious and feverish, but she wakes to tell Jamie that she has decided not to die. When the fever breaks, Claire cries at Jamie’s concern. She asks if they can finally go home, and he agrees.

The following day, John and Hal arrive at the Macken house. John reveals Richardson’s plans to kidnap William and asks Jamie to write a letter of introduction to General Arnold. Jamie also learns that Ian walked out of the British camp. He agrees to write the letter, and John offers them the house on Chestnut Street so they will have a place to stay in Philadelphia. Jamie turns him down.

William finds the girls after two days of searching the roads. They flee into the woods into a band of deserters. William chases off all but one and is fighting the last deserter in the roadway when Rachel appears, scaring the man off. In a comedic interlude on the same stretch of road, the girls run away from William three more times, leading Rachel to Ian during one escape attempt and confessing to the murder of Captain Harkness during the last. Rachel offers to take the girls to a Quaker safe house while William takes Ian, overcome with fever, back to the Macken house where Denny can tend his wound.

William leads Ian, astride Rachel’s mule, back to Freehold. As they walk, they exchange barbs, Ian telling Jamie that he resembles Jamie. William retorts that Ian doesn’t know him, but Ian replies that Rachel does, and she thinks William is a good man. Worried that Ian will succumb to his fever, William taunts him that he will marry Rachel if Ian dies.

Claire and Jamie make plans to retrieve Jamie’s printing press in Wilmington when Claire has recovered. Jamie finally rests but she awakens when William arrives with Ian. They observe William leaving after he helps Ian into the house. William looks up, locks eyes with Jamie, then rides away.

Ian awakes after suffering nightmares about Geillis Abernathy to find his wound bandaged and Rachel by his side. He tells Rachel he was kidnapped and raped by Geillis when he was fourteen. When he tells Rachel about killing the Abenaki scout, she replies that they must not wait any longer to be married.

John and Hal are welcomed to the Chestnut Street house by Mrs. Figg and Dottie. Mrs. Figg offers her husband’s church as a venue for Dottie and Denny’s double wedding with Rachel and Ian. Amid the reunion, William arrives and tells Hal, John, and Dottie that he has resigned his commission in the British Army. Learning about Ben’s alleged death, William offers to search for Hal’s son; as a non-combatant, he can move easily through Rebel territory. He then gives a letter to John with the instructions that he should only open it if William fails to come back.

Denny and Dottie marry in Mrs. Figg’s church, followed shortly after by Ian and Rachel. Hal, having forgiven Dottie for deceiving him about her fiancé, attends with John. Janet, Jamie, Claire, and Fergus’s family also attend. Hal’s son, Henry Grey, arrives with his landlady on his arm.

The two couples consummate their marriage while Jamie and Claire walk along the riverside, discussing wedding nights.