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He stood for a ainst the chill as he ad barn and sound sheds, a penfold and paddock in good repair, a tidy fence of palisades around Claire’s scraggly garden, to keep out the deer The house loo the ridge Light spilled frohter came from inside
He sensed a hter co house, a pail of freshat the house
"Nice to be home, isn’t it?" she said softly
"Aye," he said "It is" They looked at each other, s closely at hiht from thefell on him, and a small frown puckered the skin between her brows
"What’s that?" she said, and flicked at his coat A glossy scarlet leaf fell free and floated to the ground Her broent up at sight of it "You’d better go and wash, Da," she said "You’ve been in the poison ivy"
"YE MIGHT HAVE TOLD ME, Sassenach" Jalowered at the table near the bedroom here I’d set his bouquet in a cup of water The bright, blotchy red of the poison ivy glowed, even in the diet rid of it, too D’yeown "But if I’d told you when you gave it to me, you’d have snatched it back That’s the only posy you’ve ever given et another; I mean to keep it"
He snorted, and sat down on the bed to take off his stockings He’d already stripped off coat, stock, and shirt, and the firelight gleamed on the slope of his shoulders He scratched at the underside of one wrist, though I’d told hins of rash
"You’ve never come home with poison ivy rash," I reain, so much time as you spend in the woods and the fields I think you must be immune to it Some people are, you know"
"Oh, aye?" He looked interested at that, though he went on scratching "Is that like you and Brianna not catching illness?"
"Soown of pale green horubby, after a week’s travel--and stripped off ot up to check the pan of water I had set to heat in the embers Soht with Fergus and Marsali, or with Roger and Bree, but the kitchen, the surgery, and Ja on the floor I wasn’t going to bed without washing off the stains of travel, but I didn’t care to provide a public spectacle while doing it, either
The water shi to the sides of the pot I put a finger in, just to check--lovely and hot I poured some into the basin and put the rest back to keep warm
"We aren’t cos--like ser and Bree and I, because we’ve been vaccinated against thes, like cholera and typhoid, we aren’t likely to catch, but the injections don’t give permanent ie in the saddlebags he had brought up and duiven e--a real one, i an abscessed tooth Just the thing for a quick bath
"Things like ht ye’d cured her of that," Jaretful
"No, she’ll always have it, poor thing All I can do is try to lessen the severity of the attacks, and keep the too often It’s in her blood, you see"
He pulled off the thong that bound back his hair, and shook out the ruddy locks, leaving them ruffled round his head like ato unfasten his breeks "Ye told et it again, because it stayed in the blood And so I couldna catch pox or measles now, because I’d had them both as a child--they’re in ," I said, rather la active immunity, passive immunity, acquired immunity, antibodies, and parasitic infection wasday’s ride
I dipped the sponge into the basin, let it take up water, then squeezed it out, enjoying the oddly silky, fibrous texture A fine mist of sand floated out of the pores and settled to the botto as it took up water, but I could still feel a hard spot at one edge
"Speaking of riding--"
Ja?"
"Well, no, but I was thinking of it" I waved a hand, dis the inconsequent distinction "In any case, what do you mean to do about Gideon?"
"Oh" Jamie dropped his breeks in a puddle on the floor and stretched hi "Well, I canna afford just to shoot hih fellow I’ll cut him, to start That may settle his mind a bit"