Clement’s enslaver, Tessier, has tanned bear skins that Clement must now deliver to Narcisse’s plantation. Clement takes time during the errand to visit Philomene, who leaves her job of watching Oreline’s child in order to talk to him. She tells Clement that she has had a “glimpsing” of him lying dead by a river; she asks him to avoid the river for now. The two share an intimate moment on the bear skins.

When Philomene and Clement’s wedding day arrives, Oreline dresses Philomene. Suzette tells Philomene that she must be the one to improve their family’s fortunes. When the ceremony begins, Philomene realizes that a glimpsing she had several years ago was of this moment. A priest performs the ceremony, and the usual vows are made—with a few exceptions. The priest tells them to be with each other and care for one another insomuch as their status as enslaved people and their proximity to one another allow. The ceremony also states that part of the duty of the marriage is for the participants to be good servants to their respective enslavers. In the spring, Philomene has twins and names them Bet and Thany after their grandmothers. Suzette is proud that the next generation of the family has arrived. She now sees Clement as family.

Clement spends his spare time crafting a rocking chair for Philomene. It is dubbed “the moonlight chair” because he only works on it at night. He gets permission from Tessier to deliver the finished chair to Philomene as he transports bear skins to Narcisse via dugout canoe. A storm is brewing when Clement leaves, and Tessier tells Clement to protect the skins and his own life at all costs because the skins are very expensive goods. The canoe leaks, and in the midst of a powerful storm, Clement is forced overboard. Given the choice between saving the bear skins and saving the moonlight chair, Clement chooses the chair, clinging to it as the river rushes by. He reaches the shore with a gash on his face and a numb leg. He believes that Philomene saw his near-drowning in her glimpsing. He takes the ferry to Narcisse’s plantation, where Narcisse expresses anger over the lost skins and questions Clement’s choice to save the chair. However, Narcisse suddenly relents, and Clement senses that there is something sly behind Narcisse’s change in mood. Narcisse tells him to spend the night at Ferrier and Oreline’s farm.

Clement arrives at the Ferrier farm, covered in mud and shivering, and gives Philomene the chair. Suzette and Philomene instantly recognize the danger in Narcisse’s apparent kindness, realizing that only another white man can protect Clement from whatever Narcisse has planned. Suzette and Philomene convince Oreline to get her husband, Ferrier, to take Clement to Tessier, his enslaver. They leave Clement covered in mud and with his wounds untreated to garner more sympathy from Tessier. Ferrier heads to Tessier’s farm with Clement sitting in the back of his wagon.

Narcisse, who arrives at Tessier’s farm before Clement and Ferrier, downplays Clement’s injuries and suggests that Tessier sell Clement to him or loan him out in order to make up for the lost skins. Tessier is noncommittal and explains that Ferrier has also made a bid for Clement. Tessier is fond of Clement and sees him as a good worker. Just then, Ferrier and Clement arrive, and Clement’s injuries are worse than Narcisse claimed. Ferrier makes an offer for Clement, noting that it would be better for Philomene and Clement to live in the same place. Narcisse argues that he has a greater claim because of the lost skins. Tessier becomes suspicious of Narcisse because of Narcisse’s interest in keeping Clement from going to Ferrier. Narcisse loses his leverage when people arrive and present the lightly damaged skins. Tessier later sells Clement to Ferrier.

For a time, Philomene is mostly content. She thinks that her glimpsing of all her family together has come true with her children—as well as Clement, Palmire, and Suzette—in the same place. The work is hard and monotonous, but Ferrier doesn’t beat them. However, Philomene has a sense of foreboding as she sits in the moonlight chair, which has a squeak that strikes a discordant note.

Disaster comes when Joseph Ferrier dies of yellow fever. Oreline discovers that Ferrier was only his mother-in-law’s tenant and has substantial debts. Oreline’s mother-in-law gives Oreline three months to move, and Narcisse begins managing Oreline’s affairs. He sells Clement to a plantation in Virginia and does not give Philomene the chance to say goodbye. Philomene ceases speaking, but she takes over much of the work on the farm without complaint. She retreats into the same daze that she has sometimes seen overtaking Suzette ever since the auction scattered her family. Oreline allows Philomene and her children to stay together but sells Suzette. Narcisse arranges a quick marriage for Oreline to Valery Houbre, a man whose home is some distance from the Ferrier farm.

Philomene contracts yellow fever. During her delirium, she sees Clement coming down a river in a yellow boat. He puts Thany in the boat, but Bet isn’t there. When her fever breaks, she discovers that both of her babies have died of yellow fever. Everyone on Ferrier’s farm had the disease, leaving Narcisse to care for them and to bury the twins in a single plot. Philomene recovers slowly. She still won’t speak. During a visit, Suzette tries to comfort her, saying that Philomene was lucky to have had time with Clement and the babies, as these are rare experiences for an enslaved woman. When Philomene has partially recuperated, she visits Elisabeth, who comforts Philomene and tells her that she still believes in the truth of Philomene’s glimpsing of the whole family together once again. She braids Philomene’s hair.

In practical terms, moving to Houbre’s farm with Oreline will bring Philomene closer to Suzette and to Gerant, the brother she left behind when Rosedew was sold. However, the move to Houbre’s place after Oreline’s marriage brings her no comfort as she thinks about all the people who have disappeared from her life. No glimpsings come to her.

Eugene Daurat announces that he is returning to France; his absence will rob Philomene of the little protection she has against sexual assault. Eugene sells Gerant before leaving. Narcisse comes to Philomene one Sunday and speaks to her as if he is concerned about her, then mentions all the good he could do for her family. Philomene understands that he is threatening harm to her family if she refuses to yield to his sexual advances. He is still cautious because he believes in her glimpsings, and Philomene recognizes that his fear of the glimpsings and his desire for her constitute “a shield, however thin,” so she decides “to use his lust to her advantage” (226).

Philomene ends her silence by telling Elisabeth that she plans to use Narcisse’s lust as a tool to protect her family. She will lie about the substance of the glimpsing in order to get what she wants: her freedom and the freedom of the children who will surely come. Elisabeth tells her that this plan is dangerous, but Philomene proceeds anyway. She tells Narcisse that she had a vision of living in her own cabin when the persimmons bloom. He builds her a cabin on Houbre and Oreline’s farm and waits until the persimmons come in bloom before going to her. Philomene believes that she “had found at last a useful direction for her bitterness” (221).

It is 1861. Lincoln is president and civil war is coming between the South and North. Narcisse stays behind as volunteers leave by steamship to muster in New Orleans to fight for the Confederacy. Philomene is pregnant and gives Narcisse a glimpsing that the baby will be a girl who will grow up to be a great lady. Narcisse is excited because none of his wives (he has married a second after the death of his first) have been able to have children. Oreline’s husband tells Narcisse to be discreet about his relationship with Philomene, as society disapproves of overt relationships between Black people and white people. Narcisse refuses to listen. Philomene gives birth on the day the volunteer Confederates leave. She names the baby Emily Fredieu. Her grandfather dies the same day, and with her sway over Narcisse, Philomene is able to have her wish to delay Gerasíme’s funeral until she recuperates. Narcisse’s niece and Oreline’s husband serve as godparents at Emily’s baptism. The chapter includes a facsimile of the parish record of the baptism.