At Thanksgiving, Saint returns home for two days. She sits at the back of the church while her grandmother, Norma, attends mass, then goes to the tall house and cooks an elaborate holiday meal for Norma, Jimmy, and herself. During dinner, Jimmy’s reddened eyes and weight gain show how much Saint’s absence and his own drinking have affected him, reinforcing the strain in their marriage.

After the meal, Norma cuts off the radio before the news can intrude and takes her brandy to the back porch. Wrapped in a blanket beside her grandmother, Saint listens as Norma gently points out how distant she has become and admits she is worried not only about Saint, but also about Jimmy. Norma describes male pride as fragile and suggests that men can lose their moral direction, a warning that reflects Jimmy’s decline and the wider damage Saint’s work has brought into her private life.

The conversation turns more personal when Norma asks whether Saint married Jimmy because Norma had urged her to. Saint avoids a direct answer. As Saint looks out into the dark and remembers the old summers by the beehive, Norma speaks about faith, responsibility, and how people misuse the tools they are given, implying that suffering does not erase personal choice. When Norma says she prays for Joseph, Saint admits that she needs to see him, showing that Patch has returned to the center of her thoughts.

Norma then recalls the old newspaper clippings from the time Joseph was turned into “Patch” in public memory and Saint was called a hero. She reminds Saint that Joseph is no longer just a child to be excused, but she also insists that he possesses a rare gift: he knows how to paint beauty. When Saint reacts with surprise, Norma asks whether Saint has seen his work, ending the chapter with a revealing suggestion that Joseph’s paintings may matter in a way Saint has not yet understood.