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Serena Part 3, Chapter 22 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Serena returns home sooner than expected. Even though the doctors want her to stay put, she insists on going home. No surprise there, really.
  • Everyone in the camp watches as she's carried into the house on a gurney, staring up at the sky.
  • She thinks about how some of their mothers, wives, and sisters died during childbirth and yet she survived.
  • At home, Galloway stands watch day and night, never wanting to leave Serena's side.
  • Pemberton tries to get her to take pain pills, but she refuses.
  • Instead she insists on Pemberton getting back to work so they don't fall behind on their plans.
  • She also begins putting together the details for Brazil. Serena is intent on going and begins making calls and sending telegrams to people who could partner with them.
  • Pemberton finally goes back to work—at his wife's insistence—and pays the bills. He notices a new name on his payroll: Jacob Ballard, age fifteen, and thinks of his own son.
  • For the first time since Serena's miscarriage, he looks at the photo of his son.
  • The workers are busy discussing an article in the local paper: Apparently Dr. Cheney was killed and they have no leads on the case.
  • We can read between the lines here and figure out that Galloway is to blame, but of course the workers don't know that.