As the days pass, Lila and John talk more often about the baby. John worries about his age and Lila’s well-being, but she assures him that childbirth is unremarkable. Privately, however, Lila worries that she’ll give birth to a sad or lonely child. She assumes that her own mother was lonely and that’s why she is this way. She wonders about Doll, too, and what she might have inherited from her.

Meanwhile, Lila spends her days taking walks, tending the garden, and visiting John’s late family in the cemetery. Sometimes she and John walk through town together, too. John always introduces her as his wife, which gives Lila a curious feeling.

Alone at the house one day, Lila finds herself musing on her past again. She remembers being on the road with Doane and his people and how angry he became over the years. She remembers how cruel he became toward Marcelle in particular. One day, Lila wandered up to a church while the others were working. The doors were open and she could hear the preacher from outside. She was taken by his message and the beauty of the words he spoke. Not long later, Doane “took to stealing” (111) because he couldn’t find work; he was arrested and the rest of the group scattered thereafter. Lila never liked the others much, but she felt sad being on the road alone with Doll again. Thinking about all of this now, she wonders which parts of it actually matter.

Throughout her pregnancy, Lila attends church with John. Everyone exclaims at her growing stomach. People engage her differently, even when John and his companions are discussing theology. After one such outing, Lila and John discuss their relationship. John knows Lila still doesn’t trust him. She admits that she doesn’t and warns him about trusting her, too, as he still doesn’t know her full story. He urges her to confide in him but she admits she doesn’t want to reveal any more details about her life until after the baby is born. The couple walks home together. In bed afterward, they talk about their own past together. Lila admits that she stole one of John’s sweaters when they first met and held onto it because it comforted her. She also admits that she would sometimes talk to the sweater as if it were John himself. Flattered, John urges her to talk to tell him the things she once imagined telling him. A reluctant Lila leans her head on his chest and cries while he comforts her.

After John leaves the room to finish some studying, Lila lies awake thinking about life with Doll and life with John. When he returns, he thinks Lila is sleeping and wraps himself around her. She takes comfort in his presence.

By October, Lila can feel the baby inside her. She starts talking to it and wondering about it. Meanwhile, she keeps house and wonders what Doll would think of her new life. Sometimes she fears she is forgetting her past. She knows very little of it after all. One night, she and John stay awake talking about God and Lila’s favorite verse from Ezekiel. Then she tells him about the things she left in the cabin and how much she’s been missing them. John admits he put them in the attic some time ago and forgot to tell her. Lila is glad her knife isn’t lost, which she reveals belonged to Doll. The two continue their conversation, musing on theological concepts and human existence. They wonder, too, about the verse in Ezekiel and what it means; Lila always understood it in the context of Doll.

Whenever John leaves for the day, Lila stays home alone in her room with the door locked. John always gives her privacy and never bothers her with questions about the room, the knife, or Doll. The knife was “the only thing Doll had to give her” (133). It was the only object Lila respected, too. She wonders about its history and its last owners. She also thinks again about Ezekiel and the fate of unwanted children like herself. The biblical image of the bloody baby from the verse reminds her of the blood all over Doll’s knife. She wonders if this blood imagery could represent shame, and if Doll felt ashamed for taking Lila. She wonders if Doll felt ashamed when she killed her father, too. The man came after Doll years after Doll had taken Lila. He tried to attack and kill her, so in self-defense, Doll attacked the man with her knife.

Lila lies in bed next to the preacher one night and muses on these things, her past, Doll, and her life in Gilead. She thinks again of Doll’s knife and the other things she’d had with her in the shack.

The next day, Lila heads into the woods and walks to the shack. She finds a young boy staying there and connects with him. She realizes he must have found the money she hid there and tells him he can keep it. The two have a conversation about their lives, and Lila realizes he is just like her. He admits that he killed his father during a volatile encounter and has been hiding out here ever since. Lila then tells him about Doll murdering her father. She admits she still has the knife she used, too. Lila invites him to come stay with her and the reverend for the night but he declines. Lila offers him her coat to use as a blanket before leaving.