Misty is buried beside St. Raphael on a gray, misty day, while signs of ordinary life continue in the distance. Charlotte attends in a navy dress and does not cry, and Patch studies her closely, already thinking about how to care for her and what kind of future they might build together.

During the funeral, Charlotte asks Patch direct questions about his life and past. Patch answers honestly, which angers Misty’s mother, who clearly fears that Patch will hurt Charlotte the way he hurt Misty. When the casket is lowered, Misty’s mother finally breaks down, while Charlotte quietly drops petals onto her mother’s coffin and repeats a line about smiling that something happened rather than crying because it is over.

After the service, Patch goes to speak with Chief Nix, who stands apart from the others. Nix, weakened by a recent stroke, asks Patch how he is and whether he has found any good in his life, but Patch immediately admits that he is still searching for Callie. Nix is saddened but not surprised, because Saint has told him Patch will never give up.

The conversation turns to what happened to Patch after the day Callie was taken. Nix says Patch emerged from that moment fundamentally changed: driven, consumed, and headed toward the life he has lived ever since. Patch reflects that he barely remembers who he was before then and imagines how different everything might have been if he had not intervened to save Misty.

Nix and Patch briefly argue about whether good and evil can coexist in people and in the world, with Patch rejecting any easy explanation for men like Marty Tooms. Nix answers indirectly, describing places so beautiful that they make him doubt any divine order that would allow such evil elsewhere. Finally, Nix gives Patch practical advice: Patch now has a daughter, so he should spend time caring for Charlotte, and only return fully to the search when she no longer needs him so much.