Voyager: Denial yields... Ghosts

It was a moment that I drifted over the first time I read the novel.  And the second.  And as I looked through my notes, I overlooked it again.  And then I started actually reading the chapters to recover a sense of the scenes I was analyzing, I lingered for a moment on the word, "ghosts":

     Grey breathed deep, and let it out slowly. “I am sorry for your loss,” he added formally.
     They were both quiet for a moment, alone with their ghosts. Then Fraser looked up and drew in his breath. “Your brother was right, Major,” he said. “I thank ye, and I’ll bid ye good e’en.” He rose, set down his cup and left the room. (174)

I had to work backward a bit to find the reference, and about what Lord Melton was right.  It was obvious... and not, because the references were separated by a couple of dense pages:

     “He made me go and look at the body— Hal did, my brother,” Grey blurted. He looked down at his hand, where the deep blue of Hector’s sapphire burned against his skin, a smaller version of the one Fraser had reluctantly given him.
     “He said that I must; that unless I saw him dead, I should never really believe it. That unless I knew Hector— my friend— was really gone, I would grieve forever. If I saw, and knew, I would grieve, but then I should heal— and forget.” He looked up, with a painful attempt at a smile. “Hal is generally right, but not always.” (172)

And perhaps it is a function of quick reading--and also why I enjoy reading and rereading a book, because I notice new things each time--but it seems that there is a bit of a puzzle.  With what ghost was Jamie alone?  Claire, of course, but the fact is that Jamie did not ever see her dead.  And so, as an earlier incident indicates to Jamie and the reader, he has difficulty believing that she is... gone from him.

This might be clear, or not seem to require the analysis that I have given it, but ghosts are a common theme in the novels, and one I have set out to tackle.  When we think of the figurative meaning of "being alone with one's ghosts," the reference is not necessarily to someone who is dead, but to someone who is removed from one--who cannot be recovered.  With Hector, the novel treats the phrase literally.  He is one of Grey's "ghosts."  At this point, we also know that Jamie has ghosts, including his brother William, who are still real to him.  Claire may be like a ghost to him, but she in fact still does exist.  In this, she actually resembles Jamie's other ghosts, who also exist--and seem to occupy a "space apart" in a very real afterlife.  But Claire occupies a different--a virtual--space for Jamie--the one from which she came to him in the first place.  Because he knows that when he left her, she was alive, and knows that it was his intention to keep her alive, he can never believe that she is gone.  And he will grieve forever.  Or so he assumes.

Gabaldon, Diana (2004-10-26). Voyager (Outlander) . Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.