Chapter 102

Home at last in Berlint, Martha shares a tearful reunion with her parents, then hurries to Eden Academy the next day to find Henry, only to arrive on a weekend when the off-campus teachers are away. Her old instructor Mr. Fowler supplies Henry's home address. The sprint there ends face-first on the pavement, and the hand that helps her up belongs to Henry himself. Their joy lasts exactly as long as it takes for another woman to appear: Lucia, Henry's wife of one month. Martha manages her congratulations, then privately feels the treasured scenes of her girlhood crumble, cursing the era and herself as her adolescence quietly closes.

In the present day, Becky refuses to accept the ending and demands to know why Martha never stole back the man she loved. Martha will not entertain it; Lucia was a fine woman, and her distinguished uncle poured his influence into postwar reconstruction. Through one of the couple's charity events, Martha danced ballet again despite her injuries, and however much she disliked being showcased as a war survivor, the performance let her feel for one night that the troupe she had dreamed of never vanished and counted her among its dancers. That evening restored her sense of being alive and her acceptance that a whole life still lay ahead. When Becky rails against the war and the elites behind it, Martha pushes back: the world is a web of things interacting in complicated ways, and people quiet their unease by convincing themselves they understand it. Clinging to those comfortable certainties is a dangerous weakness, and accepting the unknown matters as much as finding truth. She adds that a second East-West war, which she also fought in, taught her nothing beyond the misery of battlefields. Becky guesses that Henry is the "he" of the story, but Martha hushes her, noting that everyone keeps secrets. The chapter closes at a cemetery, fifteen years into a standing ritual, where Martha lays flowers, ribs Henry about his terrible dancing, and accepts his invitation to tea.

Martha reunites with her parents and then with Henry, learning he married Lucia one month earlier.

A charity ballet performance arranged through Henry and Lucia restores Martha's will to live.

Martha imparts her philosophy to Becky: hold comfortable certainties loosely and accept what cannot be known.

Martha is revealed to have also fought in the later war between East and West.

Martha and Henry are shown maintaining a fifteen-year tradition of visiting a grave together.

The chapter names Henry's late wife, Lucia, for the first time. Becky's dog Wiesel makes his first physical appearance, and Lucia's uncle debuts.

Martha shares the cover with her mother and father.