On a mild afternoon outside the mill, Martha sits with Ephraim while he enjoys one of the smoke breaks he has taken up since Percy safely returned. Their quiet is interrupted when Mrs. Hendricks arrives on horseback and claims that Grace Sewell has sent for Martha because of the baby. Martha goes with her, only to realize too late that Mrs. Hendricks has deceived her and brought her instead to the McMaster house, where Dr. Benjamin Page now lives.

Martha is furious because she blames Page for previous deaths and for Jonathan’s imprisonment, but Mrs. Hendricks insists that Page’s wife will die without help. When Page opens the door, Martha finds him disheveled, exhausted, and hostile. Mrs. Hendricks overrules him, marches inside, and forces him to take them upstairs to his laboring wife, who has been kept in a dark room, unfed, unmoving, and weakened by Page’s bad management and medicine.

Once Martha sees the patient clearly, she recognizes that the immediate danger is exhaustion rather than a dramatic complication. She orders the curtains opened, food brought, and coffee made, then speaks directly to Page’s wife and asks for her trust. The young woman reveals her first name is Melody, and Martha insists on using it to treat her as a person rather than merely as Page’s wife. Martha warns Melody that if she remains in bed without food or movement, both she and the baby will die, and Melody agrees to follow Martha’s instructions.

Melody then walks the room for five hard hours until transition and spends another hour pushing. By late evening she safely delivers a small daughter. Martha finishes her work and prepares to leave, while Mrs. Hendricks—who has gained Martha’s respect despite their mutual dislike—promises to stay with Melody through the night.

Downstairs, Page tries to pay Martha because he does not want to owe her anything. Martha refuses money and demands an apology instead. When he remains arrogant about the deaths caused by his inexperience, Martha names the real cost of her help: Benjamin Page must never again attend a woman in childbirth in Hallowell. Faced with the truth of his failure, Page silently nods, and Martha leaves having saved Melody and her child while asserting her authority over the town’s birthing care.