As Saint turns onto Main Street for Norma's funeral, she sees Monta Clare publicly mourning with her. Storeowners stand in their doorways in their best clothes and then fall in behind her, showing how fully the town has come to honor Norma. At St. Raphael's, the crowd is so large it spills onto the lawns, and Saint contributes by playing Chopin on the organ.

During the service, Reverend Franks leads the ceremony, and Saint struggles through her grief when it is time to speak. She steadies herself by focusing on Norma's life, describing it as outwardly simple but, on closer view, marked by endurance and love. In the congregation, Saint notices Nix sitting alone and smiling at her despite his visible emptiness, and she also sees Sammy dressed sharply with his cane beside him.

Saint's thoughts turn to Joseph Macauley, whose absence weighs on her because he should have been there for Norma. The only sign of him is a card he sent, containing a spare sketch of the old porch with three blurred figures, suggesting memory, distance, and grief. After the service, Norma is buried in Monta Clare, where she had wanted to remain close to the tall house and the life she had built there rather than return to the city.

The mourning continues on the small green with sandwiches arranged by Mrs. Meyer, catering by Lacey, and cakes baked by Charlotte. Saint endures condolences and repeated stories, then notices that Nix has slipped away and finds Sammy drinking alone on a bench; she accepts a drink from his flask and immediately regrets it. At the end of the day, while Charlotte reads quietly on the porch and Saint stands alone in the kitchen, Sister Cecile telephones with a startling revelation: Eli Aaron has just visited her.