Two ambulances await on dry land for the children. Realizing his struggle is finally over, Cort loses consciousness. He wakes up almost a day later, his father standing over him. He learns that the girls are safe and Liza is not going to lose her leg. Knowing that the girls are okay and his father is there to look after him, Cort finally feels free of worry. Mrs. Stovall comes and thanks him. Cort is grateful for the company but simply wants to sleep.

Cort is discharged from the hospital later that day, and his father drives him home. Cort admits, “I hated you for leaving me like that” (191), and his father promises that he will never do that again; Cort begins to cry. Back at the landing, they survey the damage, and Cort’s father informs him that they can stay with the Stovalls until they are sorted. He asks what Cort thinks of them building a house together on the Stovalls land, and Cort is delighted but wants to check that it is not an effort to get his mother back. It’s not; Cort’s father has finally made peace with the fact that she is not coming back.