As lightning breaks over the white house, Patch runs to the nearer barn for shelter. He finds the bays empty, shuts the heavy door against the pounding rain, and sits alone in total darkness with only the smell of hay and the storm around him.

In the barn, exhaustion and emotion finally overwhelm Patch. Believing he has reached the right place but unsure whether anyone still lives there, Patch thinks through the full cost of his years-long search. Patch reflects on the damage and losses that followed his pursuit of the missing girl, from youth in Monta Clare through robberies, prison, and the loss of his daughter, friends, love, and family.

When a hand slips into Patch’s, Patch first assumes the contact is only a desperate hallucination. But the touch continues, and then a woman speaks a remembered line about hearing a smile. Patch answers with the promise he made as a boy, and the exchange confirms the voice is real. When Patch says, “Grace,” the woman answers yes, revealing that Grace is truly there with him.