In the aftermath of the storm, Annie refuses to have the debris cleared. Knowing her husband’s secret and her failure as a parent, she has stopped eating and is starving herself to death. Retta is concerned, but this does not dissuade Annie.

Annie watches Edwin from a window as he returns alone to the plantation. The other wagons were delayed by felled trees but will arrive in a few days. Edwin says prices are down, and the tobacco crop yielded nothing. The Coles family is financially ruined. Annie has money that her father left her, and she owns the Sewing Circle. She suspects Edwin will want her to turn her money over to him, but she declines to speak about it. Instead, she says that she discovered his secret. She’s taken the key to the slaughterhouse boxes and put it in a safety deposit box. Annie tells Edwin, “We’ve reached the end, you and I. It wasn’t how I imagined, but we both deserve what’s coming—all of it” (240). Edwin pretends not to understand her. In the days that follow, he hires work crews to burn the storm debris and the evidence of his crimes.