Author's Note: This is a filler chapter if there ever was one. I think the lock down having actually had CoronaVirus has affected my writing so I'm only midway happy with this chapter but as it's not of immense importance I thought I'd post it anyway. As always reviews are welcome and I hope you keep reading - more exciting and important stuff to come - Brianna and John bond; Brianna and William meet; The Wedding etc.

Happy Reading,

DaenerysTargary3n

Chapter II

"This is a fine residence, Monsieur, very civilised for the New World, I must say." Fergus said, offering his prospective brother-in-law a friendly grin.

"Thank you, Mr. Fraser. I will admit, it is mostly thanks to a Mr. Carlyle who operated plantations hereabouts until quite recently when he was forced to retire to England for...pecuniary reasons."

Jamie rose his head from his excellent plate of roasted veal, "Taxes, do ye mean, John?"

"Alas, yes."

The Fraser-Grey-Cameron group were a grand party of seven for dinner at the Wilmington house. Lord John had gone to great scruples and expense to ease the tension amongst his future in-laws. He had always known the Frasers were a headstrong bunch and once they had set their mind against some course of action, or more importantly, someone, they tended to stick to their guns. Despite Jamie and Claire's professed support of their daughter's choice, he knew they were still recalcitrant. They could not see the need both John and Brianna had for a marriage of expediency and as she knew his secret and he knew her own they were well-matched.

"Brigitte," Lord John called to the serving girl, "I do believe Miss Fraser's goblet could be refreshed."

"Yes, m'lord," the young girl smiled at her master and took the wine carafe to pour for her new mistress, "here you are, mistress."

"Very nice set up, ye've got yerself here, Lord John, as my husband said. How did ye come to be pals with Jamie? I cannae imagine him keeping friends so rich and English too."

"Thank ye, Marsali, ye always were a kind-hearted, complimentary sort of girl." Jamie retorted jovially, smiling at the glint in her eye as she teased him.

Lord John guffawed comfortably at the younger Mistress Fraser's directness. He relished the time he and Jamie had spent building their friendship and the telling of it when asked.

"Well, we came to know each other during…less than favourable circumstances after Culloden. Jamie had emerged as the leader of the prisoners in Ardsmuir and I, as its warden, found it prudent to make him a friend rather than foe. Quickly, over our conversations and chess games, we found we were not so different though he was a highlander and I come from a noble family in England. You might say that when Jamie was paroled he also introduced me to my late wife, Isobel, who was one of the daughters at Helwater."

Claire looked at her husband at the mention of Helwater and witnessed his eyes glaze over as he recalled his time at the Dunsany estate and his time with William and his mother. With a start, it dawned on her that Bree was about to become stepmother to her own brother utterly unbeknownst to her. This dinner was not the forum to discuss the topic of William and broaching it with Bree but Claire made a note to bring it up with Jamie in private.

"How did your wife pass, if you don't mind me asking?" Jocasta piped up.

With a sad smile, John replied, "Isobel died of the flux on her journey to Jamaica where she was to meet me. She would have loved the Caribbean and the sunshine. It is one of my greatest regrets that I never got to say goodbye to her and thank her before she was taken from me. Fortunately, I am most settled in America, so no more long sea voyages for my loved ones to take ill on and expire. Brianna will be quite safe from that."

The corners of Mistress Cameron's lips turned up - she had asked to determine that Lord John took care of his previous wife and it was unavoidable natural causes of which the last Lady Grey died, not something caused by lack of care by her husband. Over the time Brianna had spent at her home, Jocasta had become intensely fond of her great-niece and she knew Lord John had been accepted for the sake of the new baby but she did not wish the girl unhappy or peril in her marriage to someone she had not taken for love.

"Ach, John, we're not worried for Brianna in that respect. Dinna fash yourself over that."

"No, indeed, Lord John," Jocasta added, "I was merely curious, but it was impertinent of me to evoke memories of past grief for you. My apologies."

Lord John waved off her apology amicably but Brianna unexpectedly took her intended's hand and held it in comfort. This attracted the attention of everyone at-table, except Jocasta, but invited smiles from her adopted brother and sister-in-law and caused her parents to share a quick glance that spoke mute volumes. Lord John's reaction was of surprise and awe as his eyes took in the sight of their joined hands.

Isobel had always been receptive to him and his fleeting desire for physical intimacy. As he had already informed his wife-to-be, he had serviced her in line with his duty as her husband. Though he had always initiated any moment in which they touched or came together, she had never sought to lay her hands on him uninvited. Brianna had. Brianna had seen his moment of vulnerability and instinctively given him comfort through her touch. It was novel, but pleasant.

Squeezing his fiancée's hand before releasing it, John asked her, "Let us talk of happier things. My dear, have you thought further about a name for the boy?"

"Yes, we are all curious to know me grandson's name, a leannan."

"Well, you will all have to be curious for a while longer," Bree rebutted, "because nothing has seemed right yet. It is quite the task naming a human being and I want his name to fit."

As the servants were laying the table full of roast meats and cleverly constructed vegetable towers with sauces as far as the eye could see, Lord John said, "Well, I hope whatever you decide on sounds good with 'The Honourable' before it."

"How do you mean, John?" Brianna asked, fully perplexed.

Lord John looked up from filling his plate and smiled kindly, "Well, as my son, he will be entitled to not only bear the moniker of Grey but he will also be styled 'The Honourable' as befits the son of an English Lord without his own suo jure title. He will have every assurance of legitimacy, Brianna, and he will grow up as a scion of one of England's great families, though I am but a minor member."

Though she had comprehended how her marriage would confer respectability on her child and her than if she were to remain unattached in this day and age, Brianna - brought up as she was in 20th century America where titles and peerage are nonexistent - hadn't envisaged that marrying Lord John Grey, Earl of Melton, son of His Grace The Duke of Pardloe would make her Lady Grey and her son The Honourable Name-To-Be-Decided Grey. It was, in short, more than Brianna Fraser could have hoped for.

"By your kindness and honour," Brianna murmured, admiring her fiancé with dewy eyes, "you are surely the best of your family. There can be no doubt about it. Our son and I will spend our lifetimes convincing you of that if need be, John. You are the best of men."

Brianna and Lord John might have gotten lost in each other's gaze over their dinner had Claire not let out a sharp gasp at her daughter's words.

"What is it, sassenach?" Jamie asked, leaning over to his wife across the table.

"I think our daughter has found her match, Jamie, and I think, even with their obstacles, they could find their way to love. Just as we found ours when I found my way to Scotland...and you."

"Aye, mo nighean donn, I believe you're right. Seems the only thing to do now is ready ourselves fer a journey to Virginia and a society weddin'."