Chapter 16: Habits

Jack was used to this by now, waking hazy, nauseous and weak, not sure of how much time had passed since he went unconscious and what had happened around him, the only constant being the cramping of his belly. The current setting he was in was rather puzzling though. Not the room or the so called marital bed he was still in, it was the presence of the person sitting by his bedside that susprised him.

"Are you coming back to us?" William was leaning close, searching his brother's features.

"Maybe...?" Jack allowed. To reflect on the situation himself, he consciously tried assessing his own health by taking account of what he was feeling. Some abdominal discomfort was present of course, but he was used to it and it would certainly not bother him at the level he was currently experiencing it. Of course he was also nauseous, but he was also used to ignoring that till throwing up became imminent. Hot he did not feel and he was quite satisfied with the clarity of his current mind, so all in all he would've declared himself reasonably well, relatively speaking, in terms of what was to be expected ever since he first fell ill.

William gave him a squeeze of the arm, then pulled back, composure swiftly in place, "you'd better be. Your wife has been stirring up a lot of trouble. Lavinia thinks the devil might be inside her and you know how she is when she gets an idea into her head."

"What happened?" Jack groaned apprehensively. Lavinia has never been good news with her dogmas and inhibitions and judgemenal mentality.

"We brought a prestigious doctor down from London for you. Your wife refused the clyster treatment he suggested, accused him of a lack of good sense and exposed him for using horse dung in one of his curative drugs, but 'borrowed' his instruments to cut you up in secret and remove the disease."

Jack drew a weak, shaky hand to his belly, finding bandages, but curiously, no worse pain when he poked around his own abdomen in wonder. "It worked," he established.

"She also told the coachman a method on how to pass bladder stones before the travelling lithotomist arrived to treat him, proved a laundry maid we sent away that she didn't have consumption by curing her cough, accused the minister he was spreading disease with rotting bibles and reset a journeyman's wrist he was previously told he could never use, all in the space of a short week."

"Sounds like Claire alright." Jack couldn't help a swell of pride filling his chest. He had always known she was something special and the fact that she had now been affiliated with him gave him a sensation of pleasure, satisfaction and contentment, "all successful ventures I believe?"

"That maybe so, but she also claims that my youngest son has Weston has some sort of heart disease that runs in the family and that she can not cure."

"I'd believe it if she says so," the younger Randall certified.

William shook his head, "I'd been sitting here waiting till I could ask you, how is that possible for a woman, for anyone in fact, to have such certain knowledge of all conditions. For the servants, they whisper witchcraft and Lavinia is not far off."

"Not you?" Jack wondered, surprised. William's intelligence mainly lay in horse breeding, agriculture and the art of bullying the two of them perfected on each other during their childhood together. While William didn't particularly care for gossip and women's superstitions, he would not have the knowledge to refute them if they affected him either.

"I thought Ash would need to be shot, but your wife saved him with a concoction."

"Ash?"

"My fastest stallion. He stood up within an hour and we resumed his training the next day," William specified. He was weary enough not to get involved in gambling himself, he loved his wealth and property too much for that, but he was breeding horses for the races and those desperate for a new ride did often pay a good price. "I don't believe any witchcraft to be involved in knowing the best care of a horse."

"Even busier than usual," Jack marvelled at Claire's accomplishments within a short time. "She needs to slow down, or there will be bad talk," he agreed with his brother. "I will speak to her," he promised, "where is she?"

"In the nursery. She's insisted on feeding the girl herself," William shook his head, disapproving yet again. "Where did you find the absurdly infuriating creature?"

"Scotland's most precious living wildflower, whether transplanted or not," the younger brother boasted.

"Well, can you rein her in?" The older Randall urged once again.

Jack took a pause before answering. Sure, forcing people to do things they didn't want to under threat of severe punishment worked for most of the population. However, there were examples when it did not. Jamie he had managed to break, but only temporarily, and Claire he was not sure could be broken much either. Like the most stubborn weeds, they always fought back up to the surface. Fact was that Claire was precious to him, and not only because of her medical skills. She was a wonder to behold that could only be kept by burying much of his dark side. "Some treasure has to stay untouched to shine," he claimed. Regret he didn't what happened at Wenthworth Prison. At that moment in time that was the only way to own Jamie, circumstances however were different now.

William grunted and stood in annoyance, "brother, I never took you to be a fool for love," he misunderstood Jack's desire to own the woman. He walked up and down in the small room anxiously for a few times before he stood at the bottom of the bed, "take a few days to rest, by all means," he waved a dismissive hand in the air, "but afterwards we will have to discuss your role here at the house."

Jack nodded. Not as if he expected anything else anyway, regardless of what Claire would or wouldn't do. William would never let them stay out of the goodness of his heart, not counting Denys as he was an orphan the family was responsible for. There will have to be some sort of arrangement if they were going to be there long term. "Could you tell my wife I am in discomfort?" It was the best his insides had felt in weeks, but perhaps Claire wouldn't stir up as much trouble if she tended to him instead of randoms.

Tbc