Chapter 9: Beneath the Surface
Welcome to Chapter 9 Chapter 8 pulled us into the quiet strength—and private sorrow—of Doris McLeod. No longer just the estranged wife of a tyrant, Doris emerges as a woman reclaiming her future. With Ian dead, no will, and no divorce, the farm—and its ghosts—now belong to her. Yet what could feel like freedom instead becomes a burden she never asked for. In the soft glow of a diner, she dares to imagine something more: Paris. A cafĂ© along the Seine. A life without duty or damage. But even dreams of escape are complicated when your sons still bear the scars of the man you left behind. Gerald’s anger, Jerome’s collapse, and Peter’s reluctant loyalty all tie her to a past she’s desperate to leave. And the deeper Doris looks into the future, the more she sees that her freedom may come at a cost—one she can’t yet measure. In Chapter 9, expect lines to blur: between survivor and enabler, between inheritance and responsibility, between what is owed—and what must be lef...