The Truth According to Us

Jottie meets Sol in the graveyard, intending to apologize for having caused him to lose his job. Sol is buoyant and delighted to see her. She learns that it is only a matter of time before he returns to American Everlasting as its next president; for a moment, Jottie fantasizes about returning to the wealth and prominence she enjoyed when her father was alive. Sol proposes, and Jottie has a sudden flashback to Vause’s proposal. Felix was frustrated with his work at the mill, and he and Vause disclosed their plans to run away to California together. Jottie begged to come with them, and Vause agreed, asking her to marry him. Felix left them, stating that he was going to earn some money and buy a car.

Sol asks Jottie why she is crying. She responds that his proposal was not very romantic, and he apologizes.

In the library, Layla examines newspaper clippings about Vause Hamilton’s death. The first article she reads contains Felix’s claim that Vause knew the code to the safe. In another drawer, she finds an article that details Felix’s denial of Sol’s claims, made about six weeks after the fire, that Felix was the arsonist. The accusation was never proved, and Layla concludes that Sol was probably “crazy” when he made the accusation. She reflects that it must have been hard on Felix when Sol and Shank pushed him out of the leadership of the mill after his father’s death, and she condemns Jottie for calling Felix “fickle.”

Willa, Bird, Mae, and Minerva go to a department store to buy Jottie a birthday present. Willa tries on Mae’s new lipstick and is proud of how grown-up she looks. They meet Felix, who spots Willa’s lipstick. When Mae and Minerva tease him that his daughter is growing up, Willa is alarmed at his distasteful expression and swiftly wipes the lipstick off.

At home, the family discusses the strike with other visitors. Jottie compares it first to the French Revolution and then, in a metaphor closer to home, to the time when the men incarcerated in the town jail occupied the library after their food rations were cut.

Felix brusquely sends Layla to bed as he prepares to go out. He asks Jottie for money. Jottie pleads with him to stop flirting with Layla. Felix confirms that he wants to get Layla into bed, not marry her, but refuses to consider the idea that this constitutes breaking her heart.

The chapter concludes with a letter from Layla to Rose, describing her love for Felix and her plans to invite him to her brother’s engagement party.

Jottie’s birthday arrives, and Willa, Bird, and the twins attempt, unsuccessfully, to make her a cake. While everyone is napping, Willa sees that her father has left money on the table, a sign that he is home.

Sol invites Jottie to come to the horse show in Charles Town. He has booked a hotel (with separate bedrooms) so that they can spend a couple of days together. Jottie accepts, believing that Felix is still away, and tells Willa that she is going, swearing her to secrecy. She writes a note to Minerva, asking if the girls can stay with her.

Willa forges a new note, which she gives to Bird, telling her sister that she will be going with Jottie. She accompanies Bird to Minerva’s house and then sets off alone.

Willa returns home and defiantly helps herself to a selection of “forbidden” books from the shelves, including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and the Damned, which she settles down to read in a hiding place she recently discovered. She watches as Felix comes in, shouting for Jottie, who isn’t there. He finds the note that Jottie left for Layla and, delighted to find himself alone with Layla, calls up to her. They agree to go swimming. When Felix and Layla come home, Willa hears them go upstairs to make love and weeps silently.

Sol proposes to Jottie again, this time in front of the gibbet where the Unionist John Brown was hung. He describes how he has always loved her and fantasized about this moment. Jottie recalls Vause but banishes him from her mind and accepts.

Willa is awakened by someone running a bath. She struggles to get back to sleep. Jottie wakes up in the middle of the night and feels terribly conflicted about her choice, recalling but continuing to resist her sense of obligation to Felix. Layla also wakes up as dawn begins to break. She sees a perfectly circular, puckered scar on Felix’s shoulder and touches it out of curiosity. Felix leaps to his feet and stands, motionless, with his back to the wall. She apologizes and tries to explain, and he relaxes and comes back to bed.

Willa awakes, feeling anxious about the consequences of her actions. After a sleepless night, Jottie is determined to tell Sol that she has changed her mind about getting married, but he wins her over again. They discuss Willa and Bird, and Sol reassures her that the girls can live with them after the wedding.

Jottie calls Minerva, and her husband, Henry, answers. She soon discovers that Willa is not with them.

The ringing telephone wakes Layla up. Felix is sleeping heavily and remarks sardonically that Jottie is “always right” when Layla says that they will have “years and years” of sleeping together (391).

As Sol drives her home, Jottie repeatedly stops off to call the house. Eventually, she tries Emmett, who promises to call on Felix and look for Willa.

Felix is cold to Layla over breakfast and reveals that he knows her father is a senator. Layla continues to speak of marriage, as Willa listens in. Willa has just resolved to reveal her presence and confront Layla when Sol and Jottie burst in.

As Willa continues to eavesdrop, there is a showdown between Sol and Felix, during which Emmett arrives. Sol announces his engagement to Jottie, and Felix counters by stating that he plans to marry Layla and take the girls away. When Layla accuses Sol of slandering Felix, he responds that the Vause Hamilton he knew would never have started the fire alone. When Sol asks Jottie for confirmation, she agrees. Felix claims that Vause acted out of desperation because he felt that Jottie was trying to pressure him into marriage. Jottie counters that Vause was the first to mention marriage but begins to doubt herself.

Understanding that her father is lying and perceiving the devastating effects that his words are having on her aunt, Willa rushes to embrace Jottie, telling her about the picture she found in the jacket in Tare Russell’s cellar and seeking to reassure Jottie that Vause loved her. Pressed by Sol, Willa describes the envelopes she found in the cellar, and it soon emerges that Vause believed that they were just collecting a $200 advance on Felix’s salary and had no intention of abandoning Jottie. Felix stole the money and burned down the factory to spite his father. When he sees that Jottie has hardened against him, Felix turns to Layla, but she, too, wants nothing more to do with him. Jottie orders him to leave the house.