Chapter 25: Vernice

Vernice, who has avoided asking Franklin for money despite their public engagement, accepts Marylinda’s invitation to spend the summer with the Freeman family. She notes their proximity to the McHenrys and their NAACP activism, but worries about encountering Joette, Marylinda’s cousin. Mrs. Freeman’s resemblance to Joette and Mr. Freeman’s near-whiteness heighten Vernice’s unease.

At dinner, Mr. Freeman pontificates about civil rights and denounces Malcolm X, prompting Marylinda’s open mockery. Vernice observes the family’s dynamics and class-color politics, feeling both out of place and tethered by Mrs. Freeman’s shared Blackness. Later, Vernice finds a brief, trembling note from Annie stating that the worst has happened, confirming Hattie Lee’s death and stirring Vernice’s mixed grief and guilt.

When Franklin visits her room—an unusual privacy—he asks to share a work burden. He describes an NAACP letter about Louise Neville, a mother beaten to death after a false accusation, and a child’s heartbreaking line: “We are motherless and naked like peas without a pod.” Franklin confesses he wept at his desk, revealing compassion that bridges his legal work and Vernice’s losses.

Moved by Franklin’s tears, Vernice connects the story to her and Annie’s own motherlessness. She asks Franklin to cry for Annie, too, honoring Annie’s new grief. In this shared vulnerability, Vernice affirms her love and insists she wants to marry him immediately, repeating her commitment and intensifying their bond.