The Hypnotist's Love Story

Saskia finds Lance, her coworker, visiting her in the hospital. His wife, Kate, is chatty and warm, if a bit awkward. Saskia doesn’t know why they are visiting her, but they bring gifts along with a card signed by people at her office. Saskia wants to tell them that she’s not a normal person like them. She thinks, “If I stopped wanting Patrick, what did I want? What was I interested in? Did I exist at all?” (347). Kate answers Saskia’s phone and talks to Tammy, who comes straight over.

Patrick’s family and Ellen’s mother come to visit Jack. Patrick went to the police, who took his complaint seriously and filed an Apprehended Violence Order against Saskia. Maureen and Anne compete for Jack’s attention. Mary-Kate reports that she was able to get the journalist to agree to interview Ellen. Ellen reflects how she thought Mary-Kate was simply a legal secretary. Alfred is with Mary-Kate and reports that he gave a speech and even made people laugh.

Anne reveals that she and David broke up. She believes she was in love with a memory, but found the actual man boring. Anne says she likes the way Patrick looks at Ellen, and Jon didn’t look at her that way.

Patrick asks Ellen to mediate his fight with Jack. Ellen asks Jack how he felt when his father and Saskia broke up. Jack says he thought it was his fault because he lost Saskia’s lucky marble, the one that had belonged to her father.

Patrick takes Ellen outside to walk on the beach and talk. He explains that when Colleen died, he pushed his grief aside and became a robot. He liked Saskia, but he was empty with her. Colleen had been very territorial about mothering Jack, so Patrick let Saskia take over much of the parenting. At one point, Patrick says, he started crying, and when he felt better, he realized that he had to break up with Saskia because he didn’t love her. He admits, “I was shocked by her reaction, and I guess I didn’t take it seriously. It was like I thought, But you can’t really have loved me because I haven’t even been here” (365). Patrick says he wants to discuss what he said last night about Colleen, but his mother says Ellen has an urgent phone call.

Saskia feels like Lance, Kate, and Tammy are performing being her friends, but they have promised to come for another visit, and Tammy has agreed to look after Saskia’s townhouse. Saskia thinks the hospital is the place for her, “my village. The village for sick, sad, broken people like me” (370).

Her client, Luisa, calls Ellen to report that she, Luisa, is pregnant. She apologizes for her behavior earlier. Patrick’s parents take Jack home with them, and when they are alone, Patrick finally explains about Colleen. He tells Ellen that his love for her is deeper and more mature, better all around. He admits he feels guilty admitting that because it’s as if he’s glad Colleen died. He says, “Of course I’ll never love another woman the way I loved Colleen, because I’ll never be eighteen and falling in love for the first time again, but that doesn’t mean I’m not in love with you” (376). He kisses her, and Ellen says that she understands.

Saskia has been in the hospital for two weeks. Kate is teaching her how to knit. When Saskia thinks of Patrick, she sees a large oak door in her head. Kate, too, admits she is looking for friends. Saskia felt ashamed when the police visited to explain her AVO and her charge for breaking and entering. Kate asks if Saskia is single, and Saskia tells her everything.

Rosie comes to Ellen’s house wearing a disguise. She tells Ellen Ian has been photographed with a supermodel and Rosie is evading the press. Rosie insists that Ian can’t really love her because she is so average, and she’s just relieved the marriage is over. Rosie confronted Ian and told him not to go after Ellen.

Kate, to Saskia’s surprise, is sympathetic after hearing her story. Saskia realizes she had made herself Patrick’s nightmare. Kate says Saskia should simply stop stalking and knit instead.

Ellen goes with her father to the Festival of the Olive and unexpectedly enjoys herself. She feels herself softening toward him. A vendor observes that they must be father and daughter. David reveals that his wife, Jane, left him. When Ellen says her relationship with Patrick is complicated, David soothes her by pointing out signs of Patrick’s commitment. Ellen thinks, “So this was what it was like to have a father” (392).

Tammy brings Saskia’s mail and shares that her new neighbors’ brother is the guy Saskia saw boogie boarding. He’s newly single and Tammy and Kate think Saskia should date him. Saskia finds a letter from Maureen enclosing a card from Jack. Maureen regrets that she didn’t stay in touch with Saskia and thanks her for caring for Jack. Jack sends a marble to replace the one he lost. Saskia cries cleansing tears, and then she sleeps soundly.

Ellen nurses her baby, Grace, and marvels at being a mother. She enjoys watching Patrick cuddle Grace and thinks, “Now all that fuss over whether or not Patrick still had feelings for Colleen seemed so silly. Ellen looked back tenderly and condescendingly at herself a year ago: all that unnecessary drama! There was enough love to go around for everyone” (401).

Ellen finds out from Harriet, Jon’s sister, that his wife is pregnant with twins, but aside from a twinge, Ellen finds she thinks very little about her ex-boyfriends, and she no longer feels that her relationship with Patrick is in competition with them. Julia has moved in with Stinky and is very happy. Patrick takes Grace and Jack down to the beach, and Ellen watches them play. Grace has inherited Anne’s violet eyes, and Ellen feels she understands her mother in a new way.

Ellen feels that Patrick has relaxed now that Saskia is no longer in their lives. They watched a documentary about a woman who was being stalked, and Ellen realizes she felt more for the woman’s distress than she had ever sympathized with Patrick. Jack considers Ellen his mother, and Ellen is seeing clients again.

Saskia sees a therapist. She pleaded guilty to the breaking and entering charge, and the counseling was a condition of her good-behavior bond. The psychiatrist prompts Saskia to consider how Patrick felt about her actions, and to acknowledge that Saskia had taken away his power and knew she was doing harm. She no longer feels the need to see Patrick and compares it to a food she once loved now making her violently ill. Also, ever since her pelvis healed, she no longer has the unexplained pain in her leg. She makes friends and is dating.

One day, Saskia sees Ellen and the baby when she is walking to meet Tammy and Kate. For a moment she thinks Ellen sees her, but then she realizes Ellen is waving at someone behind her. Saskia walks on.