The Truth According to Us

Layla writes to her father, saying that she will be unable to attend her brother’s party because of her deadline. Her father writes back that he is proud of her and encloses a check.

Jottie helps Layla continue working on the history of Macedonia and tries to comfort her. When Emmett calls, Layla asks if he is like Felix. Jottie says that he isn’t.

Willa has not spoken since her father left. She blames herself for his departure and wishes that there had been a way for her to tell Jottie the truth about Vause without making Felix look bad. She consoles herself with the idea that she’s saved Jottie and kept Layla from Felix. She dreams about her father leaving her behind.

Layla writes a brief accompanying letter for her completed manuscript, and Jottie offers to take it to the post office. Jottie is greeted respectfully by Mrs. John and the clerk, both of whom have learned of her engagement to Sol. Jottie feels guilty about not appreciating her newly “respectable” status and the fact that she spends every night fantasizing about Vause.

As Jottie walks home, Sol picks her up in his car and tells her that he is to be the new president of American Everlasting.

Ben writes to Layla, congratulating her on her work for the guide and informing her that she is likely to be offered more work soon.

Willa visits her father’s room every day. One day, she finds that he has taken some shoes from his closet and left a package on Jottie’s bed. When they open it, they find Vause Hamilton’s coat. Seeing how impeccably folded and preserved the coat is, Jottie speculates that Felix might have suffered less if he had faced the legal consequences of his actions. However, contrary to Willa’s hopes, she swiftly hardens once more toward her brother.

Jottie receives a phone call from the chief of police, who tells her that Felix has been drinking heavily and will be arrested if he is seen in town again.

An angry Parker Davies arrives at the house to discuss Layla’s manuscript. The Romeyn sisters insist on sitting in on the meeting. He aggressively insists that large passages be expunged, but as the sisters make him aware of Layla’s family background and Minerva alludes cryptically to their youthful courtship, he tones down his objections and eventually signs off on the manuscript.

Sol gives Emmett a heart-shaped box of candies to give to Jottie. When Emmett encounters Layla, they agree that Sol does not really understand his fiancée. When Layla asks Emmett about Vause, he confesses that he always hated him for stealing his beloved older sister.

Jottie watches Sol interact with Bird and asks herself what her new life is worth “if it’s so easy.” She silently answers herself: “It’s not worth a nickel” (450).

Layla tells Jottie that she has been offered a new writing assignment, preparing a text on “apple farming in the Eastern Panhandle” (453). Layla is bemused by her task, but Jottie immediately responds that apples are “more interesting than you think” and sings a traditional song about them (452). Layla suggests that they write the book together, and, after some hesitation, Jottie agrees. Layla confides to Jottie that she longs to stay with the Romeyns and be a part of their family.

Layla accompanies Emmett on a visit to one of the farms. She asks him if he thinks she’s a “tramp” for falling for Felix, but Emmett says that he respects her for standing up to his brother. At the farm, Layla grows increasingly sure that Emmett is attracted to her.

Layla writes to her father, who has invited her to return home. She rejects his invitation, stating that she has learned to appreciate the freedom of having a profession and that, deep down and secretly, she believes that he will respect her choice.

When Sol meets an acquaintance at a department store and announces their engagement, Jottie is shocked to hear him say that they were “childhood sweethearts”—which is not how she remembers it. She feels that he is rewriting the past and canceling out the memory of Vause.

Willa has yet to recover from the trauma of her father’s departure, so Jottie keeps her out of school and takes her along to do research for the apple book. One day after dozing off in the car, Willa wakes up to see Jottie crying silently. Emmett and Layla spend increasingly more time together.

Tired of waiting for Emmett to take the initiative, Layla kisses him. When he proposes to her, she agrees to marriage on the condition that he first tell her all his memories because his history is what “made” him.

Willa attends the sesquicentennial celebrations in town with Bird and Jottie. She decides to go home alone and meets her father on the way. She persuades him to come back to the house with her, and they lie on the roof together, holding hands. Willa apologizes and says that she wishes she could have found a way to save Jottie’s feelings without breaking the family up. Felix comforts her, responding that he had never “figured out a way” to do so, despite having “worked on it longer” (474). When Felix asks her why she visited Tare Russell’s cellar, she tells him that it was because she wanted to be “part of him,” a fellow “outlaw,” and that she, like him, is a “natural born sneak” (476). When Felix asks about Jottie’s relationship with Sol, Willa responds that she does not believe that they will ever marry, as her aunt seems more in love with Vause Hamilton’s coat than with her fiancé.

Jottie arrives, and Willa persuades her to join them on the roof. Felix recounts his final moments with Vause—how the fire unexpectedly got out of control and how he could see the sense of betrayal and mistrust in his friend’s eyes as he desperately sought to lead him to safety. When he left the building, he was convinced that his friend was already outside, and when he could not find him, he hoped that Vause and Jottie had eloped without him.

When Jottie remains unconvinced, Willa tells her that being right or wrong is worth nothing and that the only choice individuals ever really have in life is “whether or not [they]’re going to hate each other” (481). Jottie takes Willa’s other hand and mutters, “Poor old Felix” (482). Willa drifts off to sleep, and when she awakes, her father is gone, but she is confident that he will be back.

Jottie breaks off her engagement with Sol. He marries someone else shortly after, but the marriage is short-lived, and he is soon a regular visitor at their house once more. Felix drifts in and out of the house, arriving home severely injured on several occasions to be nursed back to health by Jottie. Jottie continues to work for the FWP until it closes down when America enters World War II. She also begins writing detective fiction about a crime-solving ghost librarian. Mae and Minerva have a daughter and a son, respectively.

Layla and Emmett marry. Bird and Willa visit Emmett after he is terribly injured in the war. Seeing how tenderly Layla cares for her uncle, Willa finds that she no longer hates her.