"Hey, come here!" "Come here with me!" "#PEARL DIVER#" "When I thought about what I wanted to say here today," "I thought about a story my mother used to read to me." "It was one of her favorites." "This was my mother's." "It's from an old edition of a book that was passed down through her family." "It's from the Reformation, in the Netherlands." "This is Dirk Willems." "He had just escaped from prison." "This was the guard who was chasing him." "He fell through the ice, and Willems turned around and pulled him out." "They put him back in prison." "He was later burned at the stake." "I think about this story whenever I want to remember my mother." "How she never thought of herself, gave so much to others." "I think about that a lot." "What would she do if she were still alive?" "What would she want?" "Mr. Pope is in poor health." "He has lived the last twenty years of his life in prison." "Perhaps being able to live his last days in the company of his family, his grandchildren," "is the only way he will be able to salvage something positive out of the time he has remaining." "I'm really sorry I wasn't there, I've just been so busy lately." "I understand." "But I was thinking about you." "How'd it go?" "Fine." "It went fine, I guess." "Were you nervous?" " A little." "Was he there?" " Yes." "Did you talk to him?" " Yes." "He's not doing very well." "They read your letter." "Out loud." "It was... well-written." "Marian, I just..." " No, it's OK." "You don't need to apologize." "I just don't think he should..." " No, I know." "How's Kyle?" " It's Karl." "He's fine." "He's out of town, I'm staying at his place for a while." "So how is everything going with you?" "It's supposed to rain tomorrow." "John's out scrambling to get the hay in." "And Rebecca?" " She's fine." "She loves the kite, by the way." " Really?" "It's not too big for her?" "No." "She's really getting the hang of it." "She loves it." "Rebecca, I want you to go take this to daddy before you go play, OK?" "#Sam Pope parole request denied.#" "Dad?" "Dad!" "Marian!" "Marian!" "Oh my God!" " Get some towels, hurry." "What happened?" " I didn't see her." "She was behind the baler and I didn't see her." "Hurry, get on the phone, call a doctor." "Hurry." "Hurry!" " Got it, got it." "Are you sure you're not hungry?" "I can go back to the house, make you something to eat." "You really should eat something." "I'm not hungry, but John could really use his medicine." "His back's been bothering him." "OK." "Why don't you go home and get some rest." " No, I'm fine." "I'd like to stay here." "No, really." "I'm fine." "Why don't you go home and get some sleep?" " What time is it?" "Three o'clock." "No, I'm really not tired." "Did you like the soup, sweetie?" "Good." "Mom!" "Somebody's here!" "I'll be right down!" "I'll be back in a few minutes, we can read a story, OK?" "Where is it?" "I don't have any jewelry, I don't even wear a wedding ring." "Mom!" "I'm sorry." "Did I wake you up?" " No." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sleep so long." "I meant to go back to the hospital." "They sent me home, told me to get some rest." "But I can't sleep." "Thank you, Hannah, for all this." "So, what's happening?" "How is she?" "She's hurt." "The baler took off most of her, an ear." "Her face is..." "But, we don't know exactly how bad she is." "But she's fighting." "This morning, when she woke up, she squeezed my hand." "It's so stupid of me." "I'm sorry." "It's so quiet out here." "I was thinking, I want to come back and help." "You know, with Rebecca, and everything." "It would be wonderful having you around." "You know we have that extra room..." " No, I'll find someplace to stay." "I'd don't want to get in the way, but I want to help." "It would be wonderful to have you back." "Isaac?" "Easy, easy now, Hannah." "You're going to give an old man a heart attack." "You can put that over here." "I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't like all these computers." "Well I haven't used anything else since high school." "Sometimes the old ways work best." "Isaac, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?" "What we just saw, it's going to heal, right?" "I'm afraid most of what you saw will be permanent." "There has to be something you can do." " Not here." "I can refer you to several specialists in the Chicago area who might be willing to take a more aggressive course of treatment." "But if you are interested in taking that route, that's something you should decide soon." "Rebecca will be ready to go home in just a minute." "You really don't mind coming over tomorrow and watching Rebecca?" "Of course not, I'd love to." "What do you think she'd like to do?" "I mean, what would be something really special?" "You know what she's been dying to do?" "Go fishing." " Really?" "She's been begging John to take her." "He said she's too young to appreciate it, whatever that means." "I probably haven't been fishing in fifteen years." "I wouldn't know what to do." "Whatever you decide is fine." "I'm sure she'll just enjoy spending time with you." "You must be really happy to have her home." "It's nice having you around, too." "So are you going to have a party for her, anything like that?" "No." "We don't want to overwhelm her." "We want everything to seem, normal, I guess." "But things will never be normal again, will they?" "Not after something like that." "You know, when I walked in the kitchen, and saw everything, it took me back to that night, when I found mom." "I can still smell him, certain nights." "The back of my neck tingles, my palms sweat." "And I can smell him." "The hair tonic, alcohol, sweat." "And I can remember everything." "Does that ever happen to you?" "I have to get some things ready for tomorrow, put Rebecca to bed." "We'll see you tomorrow morning, then?" "Good night." "I had a fever the night my mother was killed." "Shit." "Marian!" "I think she left, a few hours ago." "Can I help you?" " It's me, Ryan." "Ryan?" "Oh my god." "Oh my god, you smell terrible." "Yeah, I was over working on the baler, one of the calves fell in the manure pit." "I got it out, but sort of fell in myself." "Come on." "You were always such a troublemaker, you were such a handful when I had to baby-sit you." "He was always like that." "A born farmer, much better than me." "Calf falls in the manure pit, he goes after it." "I would let it drown." "That's not true." " Maybe I started too late." "You should be born in it, you should grow up with the soil between your toes, I don't know." "It's never too late to learn new things." "But you have it." "You were born in it, I tell you." "I don't know." " No, don't argue with me." "You do." "Ryan, doesn't she?" "I'm going to patch the fence by the creek before it gets dark." "And get your hair cut, too." "I should probably get going as well." "Thank you for the dinner, gentlemen." "It was delicious." " No, no, I'll take care of it." "Isaac, do you have any pictures of mom?" "Wait, what is this?" "This is a train to Siberia." "Stalin deported all Mennonites, our family, our village, to the steppes of Altai, through the Ural mountains." "I was growing up, asking my parents about our old home, they said, no, don't talk about that." "Is that you?" " No, it's before I was born." "This is Victor, a fine artist friend of my parents'." "He was in the Red Army." "He escaped, they caught him, and he escaped again, and they shot him." "And my parents found him and healed him, and after, he visited my family many times before we were deported." "Our school, and this is your mother." "She came with a group of American preachers, in a white, starched nurse uniform." "She talked about the cornfields of Indiana." "And it sounded to me like a paradise." "I said I'd come to visit her, and we'd walk through the cornfields together." "And you did." "Yes, we did." "So when you decided to come here, why did you leave your family behind?" "In 1964 we became citizens once again." "The Soviet government allowed a small number of us who had relatives in Germany to apply for a travel permit." "My mother was very sick and she couldn't go and she said that it was my only chance." "1964, that was the same year mom and dad got engaged." "Yes, she was very happy." "She was engaged to your father, and they got married that spring." "Come on in." "What's all this?" " From the church." "We have more than we can eat." " Smells delicious." "Looks like your work is going well." " It is." "It's so much easier to think out here than in the city." "What are you working on?" "Nothing special, just working out a few ideas." "What's wrong?" "Our insurance isn't going to pay for Rebecca's treatments." "You can't be serious." " They aren't even covering all of her hospital stay." "There must be some sort of mistake." "They have to cover it." "There is no mistake." "'Experimental,' they're calling it." "Dr. Gardner's writing them a letter, but he said not to expect much." "What are you going to do?" " I don't know." "What is there to do?" " Well, you have to appeal it, for one thing." "If that doesn't work, take them to court." "And do what." "Sue them?" "If that's what it takes, yes." "Marian, these aren't your friends and neighbors here, this is a massive corporation, they expect you to do it." "Look, I have a friend, he's a fantastic lawyer, he can..." "It doesn't matter what anyone expects us to do." "We don't base our decisions on what other people expect from us." "So you're just going to do the honorable thing, whatever you think that is." "I'm going to do what's best for my daughter." "It was an accident." "That doesn't mean you have to just sit back and take it." "So what do you recommend we do?" "Appeal it, threaten to sue, call the newspapers, the TV stations." "They hit you, you hit them back." " So that's what you'd do, you'd 'hit back?" "Damn right I would!" " And what has that ever gotten you?" "This isn't about me." "No, it's not." "It's about Rebecca." "And I will not teach her to be filled with anger every time something bad happens, something out of her control." "Don't make it about that either." "What happened to mom wasn't an accident." "She didn't fall down the stairs." "She wasn't struck by lightning." "It wasn't some part of 'God's plan." "There were two men..." " Two men who came to the wrong house!" "It was an accident that they came to our house, it was an accident that we were even at home." "The whole thing was one big mistake." "It could have happened to anybody in this town, or any town." "But it happened to us." " That's right, it happened to us." "Don't drag Rebecca into it." "Don't cut her short because you're afraid she'll turn out like me." "I don't even know what you're talking about anymore." "Marian, don't leave." "We just do things differently here, Hannah." "I'm sorry if that's hard for you to understand." " Well, tell me then." "Help me understand." "Marian, stay here a minute." "Stay here and talk to me." "I need to go." "I should have started supper half an hour ago." "Mom!" "Somebody's here!" " I'll be right down!" "Morning." "Morning." " I'm sorry, I woke you." "No, no, I was just planning on getting up anyway." " Yeah..." "I just wanted to bring this back, you must have left it the other night." "Thanks." "Come on in." " Thank you." "Can I get you something to drink?" "Water would be good." "This book is dedicated to my mother, Rachel G. Eberly." "It's a little strange, I know." "I'm not sure what mom would have thought of Castro." "But I put my heart and soul into that book." "The critics seemed to have loved it." " They did." "I just wish real, live people who actually bought books liked it as much." "That's the kind of book I wanted to dedicate to her." "You mind if I borrow it?" "Not at all." " Thank." "It's for Rebecca." "Looks like a lot of work." "I like to knit when I've got a lot on my mind." " That's a good habit." "Why, what do you do?" " What do you mean?" "When you're upset, need to think about something." "Your playing's amazing." "You ever try to go anywhere with it?" "I dropped out of college my sophomore year, moved to New York." "Lasted about eight months." " What happened?" "I don't know, something about it just didn't agree with me I guess." "Picked up a few bad habits, a lot of debt." "So that's it?" "You just came back home?" "You give up awfully easy for a farm boy." "I worked awful day jobs, I lived with three manic roommates in an apartment the size of a closet." "It took me four years in Chicago before I finally sold my first story." "You can't just give up after eight months." "Not if you really want it." "It's not that simple." "I left really soon after mom died, and dad couldn't take care of the farm by himself." "That's an old story." " How do you mean?" "Just seems like the bargain you have to make if you want to do what you love." "You end up hurting the ones you love the most." "It's hardly worth it then, is it?" " I don't know." "You want to play in empty rooms the rest of your life?" "I'm playing for you, aren't I?" "You know, when I started farming, we would work in the fields fourteen, fifteen hours a day, picking the corn by hand." "I would watch the sweat dripping off my nose into the soil, drip, drip, drip, all the day long." "And I thought that's what has made the land so rich." "The sweat." " It is, in a way." "No." "Now we have chemicals, fertilizers, watering, tractors, I don't know, gasoline, machines, everything." "But we are just cogs in the wheels now." "Sometimes I come out here to remind myself why I keep doing all this." "This is a miracle, that's why." "New miracle, every season." "We plant the seeds, we turn the knobs, but we can't control this." "What can we control?" "You know what's going on with John and Marian, the situation with Rebecca." "What are they going to do?" " I don't know." "What do you think they should do?" "I think they should fight it, do whatever they have to." "You know your sister as well as I do." "And you remember the church, in the past, has not allowed it's members to sue." "I know." "Turn the other cheek, right?" "Where is it?" " I don't have any jewelry." "I don't even wear a wedding ring." "Mom!" " Marian!" "You know what we looking for, don't you?" "My days of praise shall ne'er be passed, while lifeand thought and being last, or immortality endures." "I'll praise my God who lends me breath, and when my voice is lost in death, praise shall employ my nobler powers." "Please be seated." "When I came to this country, this community," "I came from a land where I saw terrible things." "I saw the worst things man will do to man." "And also the best man is capable of starving people sharing their food, family members offering themselves up for one another when the secret police, KGB," "came in the night." "One of the reasons I love this church, this community, is that we always pick up one another when we fall down." "Sometimes we do it in magnificent ways, sometimes in smaller ways, but we always do it." "Recently, we watched one of our young ones walk through the shadowed valley." "We watched, we waited, we prayed, and it is by the grace of God that Rebecca Miller is with us today." "But the road out of that valley is often long and hard, and it will be long and hard for John and Marian." "And for Rebecca." "I would like to see that we wouldn't wait for the worst of times to bring out the best in us, as a people." "I would like to see it here, today." "This helps a lot, Isaac." "It does." "It's just, the kind of money we need can't be collected here." "Not like this." " I guess I'm just a naive old man." "No, Isaac." "This is still a lot of money." "It will help us get by in the meantime." "Until when?" "I don't know." "Do you maintain all of the farm machinery yourself, Mr. Miller?" "Yes." "Sometimes a neighbor will come help out with a piece of equipment." "Do you keep paperwork, notes?" "I have a few receipts, copies of the warranties, that sort of thing." "I don't write down every time I change the oil." "Is she allowed to operate it, maybe do chores around it?" " No." "I mean sometimes, she'll ride on the tractor with me or John, but she doesn't play or work around the machines." "Especially when they're running." "With all due respect, Mr. Moore, I don't understand what these questions have to do with our insurance policy." "That's what we're concerned about." "I've read the policy, and I'll be honest with you, you could have chosen a more thorough one." "Why don't you tell me a little more about the accident?" "It was a farm accident." "Have you spent much time on a farm, Mr. Moore?" "No." "It's a dangerous place." "You walk into that outbuilding, you'll find a dozen ways to get yourself killed, no matter how careful you are." "I may not know much about farming, but I know a lot about accidents." "There's no such thing as a simple accident." "Mr. and Mrs. Miller, you have a great opportunity here." "An opportunity to bring some good to a terrible event." "I can't turn back time, but if you let me, I can find a way to get your daughter taken care of." "Hannah?" "Are you home?" "You clean up nice." " Thanks." "What's the occasion?" " I drove up to Kalamazoo for an audition." "What kind of audition?" "It's this group that's getting ready to do some touring out east, maybe Europe." "Looking for a keyboard player." " So how'd it go?" "Good, I've played worse." "That's great." "We should celebrate." "Way too early to be celebrate anything." " Too early for a drink?" "To dreams." " To dreams." "What are you doing?" "That was a twelve dollar drink!" " Funny." "Didn't taste that expensive." "And this time, sip it." "Slowly." "Actually, that does taste pretty expensive." " I have expensive taste." "You don't mind spending thirty dollars on booze?" "I think money usually takes care of itself if you don't worry about it too much." "You sound like Dad." "He stopped making money on the farm a while ago." "Doesn't seem to bother him." "He just keeps at it." "Maybe he knows something about money I don't." "Maybe he's hoping you'll take it over from him." "He'll be waiting a long time." "So what's it like, being an only child?" "I don't know, I like the space, I guess." "What's it like having a sister?" "When we were girls, it was like we were a single spirit in two bodies, could hear each others' thoughts." "After mom was killed, we just saw two entirely different worlds." "It's hard to explain." "Seems like you get along alright." "I guess we do, most of the time." "But I miss it." "How it used to be." "Jesus Christ Sam, can you not hang on to a little girl?" "Your dad doesn't talk much about his past, does he?" " No." "Aren't you curious?" " Sure." "It's just not my place to pry, I guess." " It's your business when it's your family." "Maybe." "Has he ever talked to you about my mom?" "Dad only talked about that night one time." "How he had driven up to New Paris, left mom alone, eight months pregnant with me." "She was knitting socks for me when you ran up onto the porch." "I remember that." "She was holding the needles when she opened the door." "I wanted to talk to you about this." "You have no right, Hannah." "No right." "And that's when I saw her, on the kitchen floor, stomach opened up from the gunshot." "The floor was streaked with blood where she had dragged herself from the living room." "Is this how you want people to remember our mother?" "Marian, I was going to tell you..." " When?" "When I saw it in a bookstore?" " I'm sorry you found out like this, but if you'll just listen, I think you'll understand this is a story people need to hear." "How could anybody possibly need to read something like this?" "What could anybody possibly learn?" "That they aren't the only ones who've been through something like this." "Other people need to know..." " Those people need a lot more than a book!" "That's right, they do." "And what did we have?" "We had a church, a father, relatives, nobody would talk about it!" "I'm sick of it." "I am sick of the silence." "This story needs to be shared." "But it's not yours to share!" "You just can't claim it!" "I'm not trying to claim it..." " And she may be dead, but I think she deserves some privacy." "I don't understand why you just want to keep reliving it..." "I don't want to relive it, I want to get it out!" "I want to deal with it!" "Deal with it?" "Is that what your psychiatrists and analysts tell you to do?" "Just because I don't pay someone to tell me how I need to deal with something doesn't mean that I don't." "It doesn't mean that I don't think about it every single day." "I just don't want thousands of strangers reading about it!" "I'm sorry if you want to take what happened that night and lock it up in some deep dark place and never talk about it." "We have talked about it." "What else is there to say?" "Say it." "Say it right now." "Don't you understand that this way at least some good could come out of everything we went through?" "That this could actually help people?" "The only person this helps is you." "Gentlemen, this is Marian Miller." "Her husband John and daughter Rebecca will be joining us shortly." "Paul..." "Good to see yuo." "Are you nervous?" "That's OK, I am too." "Are you scared?" "My dad used to take me fishing here all the time when I was a boy." "About your age, I guess." " How come nothing's happening?" "That's the point." "It's just a chance to relax, get away from things." "And talk." " I like it." "I do too." " I don't think I want to catch a fish, though." "What happens now?" " Nothing happens now." "Go home." "Fix dinner for your husband and daughter, if they decide to show up." "I mean, what happens next with the case?" " The case?" "This was the case." "You know how many arms I had to twist to get this meeting?" "You know how many of those people will return my phone calls now?" "Can't we try to reschedule?" " That would be a question for your new attorney." "Hi, sweetie." " Daddy took me fishing at Bear Lake." "That sounds like fun." "Did you catch anything?" "No, but that's not the point." " It's not?" "Well, you must be really tired." "Why don't you go get ready for bed." "I'll be up in a minute." "Marian, I'm sorry." "Really?" "What exactly are you sorry for?" "Are you sorry you ruined the case?" "Are you sorry that you mortgaged our daughter's future to take her fishing?" "I'll tell you what I'm not sorry for." "I'm not sorry that she wasn't paraded out in front of a bunch of lawyers like some kind of circus freak!" " You think this is fun for me?" "This whole thing makes me sick." "But you know what?" "I'd rather have some lawyers look at her for a few minutes than have everyone stare at her for the rest of her life." "She needs parents that stand for something, Marian." "And what exactly were you standing for today?" "For running away from something difficult?" "I stood for integrity, for one thing." "John, she's six years old!" "You think she cares about your ideas of integrity?" "When she's older, she'll care." "So all of this was some sort of exercise to build her character?" "I don't know!" "I don't know what I did today!" "I don't know what we should be doing here!" "Come here, come here." "Easy there, easy." "What's your name?" "I'm not going to hurt you." "My name's Sam, what's your name?" " Hannah." "Listen, Hannah." "I'm going to ask you a question, an easy one." "And I don't want you to lie, because if you lie, I'll know it." "Understand?" "Do you know what we're looking for in your house?" "You've never seen your mommy with a necklace?" "Where are you running?" "You're going to the farm up there?" "Then you'd better hurry." "I have to say, Hannah, it's absolutely amazing." "It's like nothing you've ever written before." "The passion jumps right off the page, grabs you by the throat." "Just riveting." "And brave, so brave of you to write." "I'd like to send it to some publishers as soon as possible." "Did you have any corrections to make before I send it off?" "No." " This could be it, Hannah." "This could be the one we've been waiting for." "Are you there?" "Is everything alright?" "Yeah." "Everything's fine." "It's just dumb luck you even got a hold of me, this place is hot, hot, hot, and it won't be here tomorrow." "Got your kitchen in here, got your stove, counter, you know, that kind of stuff." "Is this in the Waterford school district?" " Man, I don't know." "You gonna have more kids?" "No, not planning on it." " Me either, one's enough trouble as it is?" "You're not going to believe the bathroom." "Want to go check it out?" "Like I said, at this price, this place is going to fly off the market..." "You remember that audition I went to, the European tour?" "They offered me the job." "That's great." " They leave pretty soon." "Are you going to do it?" " I don't know." "They play this weird, jazz-funk fusion." "It's not really my thing." "But still, you don't know where it might lead." "Have you ever been to Europe?" "It's really wonderful, I think you'd love it." "I'd hate to leave, just before harvest." "Your dad can manage." " Yeah, maybe." "What are you looking at?" "When I was six, there was this penknife I wanted so badly." "I mean, I wanted it like only a little kid can want something." "I asked for it for Christmas, my birthday." "Of course mom and dad didn't want to buy me a knife." "So I worked and worked, until I finally saved enough money to buy that knife." "God, it was beautiful, had a pearl handle." "One day, towards the end of summer, Marian and I were fishing, and I just couldn't wait for her to reel one in so we could clean it with my knife." "But I was playing around with it, dropped it in the water." "I started to dive after it, but Marian grabbed me." "I could barely swim." "She asked me where I dropped it, and she dove in after it." "It was deep, but she was a strong swimmer." "Seemed like she was down there forever." "When she finally came up she didn't have it." "But she dove again, and again, until she was so exhausted she could barely move." "Then her nose started bleeding, she said she felt sick." "It was a strange feeling, seeing her there, realizing that she would do anything for me." "Did she find the knife?" "It's still out there somewhere." "I'll never forget that day." "I wrote a poem about it." "Pearl Diver." "They printed it in the school paper." "It was the first thing I ever wrote that was published." "Marian hated it." " Why?" "I don't think she hated the poem." "She just hated that it was out there for everyone to see." "It's like you said, that's the bargain, isn't it?" "That's the deal you make." "I guess it is." "You have one new message." "Laura, Donna here." "Where the hell have you been?" "I've been trying to get a hold of you all day, thought you might want to hear this personally...to hell with it." "I've got big news." "Are you sitting down?" "So this is what you've been working on all those nights?" "It's sort of a memoir." "Creative nonfiction, they call it." "It's about growing up, about mom." "The night she was killed." "I see." " It could be read by a lot of people." "There are sections in it about the church, the town." "I'd just feel better if someone like you read it before it was published." "I'm not a historian." " I know." "But I know you and mom were, close." "I'd just appreciate it if you would read it." "Sure." "It's an honor to me." " Thank you." "Wait a second, Hannah." "Ryan told me to give it to you before he left." "For where?" "Off with a musical group, to play in piano Europe." "He told you about this, didn't he?" " Yes." "I mean, of course." "I just didn't know he'd be leaving so soon." "I didn't either." "Harvest is around the corner." "I guess I could manage." "I knew he loved music, but I never thought he'd do something like this." "Strange, strange." "Hope it works." " So do I." "Hannah, it's time for me to dive for something." "Love, Ryan." "Hope you don't mind if I finish up some ironing." "Trying to get caught up on some housework while John and Rebecca are gone." "They left for Chicago already?" "They're spending the night at Phil and Gwen's." "I'll be joining them tomorrow." "We have a few appointments with some more specialists." "That's exciting." "They're optimistic?" "They think they can help." "Marian, earlier today I got a call from Donna, my agent." "There's a publisher willing to pay a lot of money for what I wrote." "Enough to pay for Rebecca's treatments, anything she needs." "I appreciate that, Hannah, I do." "It's your book, and if you want to publish it, go ahead." "But if you came here looking for some sort of blessing, I can't give you that." "Money doesn't change how I feel about what you wrote." "Marian, if you don't mind me asking, how do you plan to pay for these treatments?" "John and I are discussing several options." "You're not." " We'll do what we have to." "You would really rather sell the farm, our family's farm, than see this published?" "It's not quite that simple." "I think it is that simple." "If you had a daughter, you might understand." "Thanks...it's fine." "I'm fine." " Are you sure?" "We could go to the..." "No, it's fine." "Thank you." "Sam Pope died this morning." "In his sleep." "His mom called me." "I don't know what to say." "You remember, that night, I was wearing that calico dress..." "I remember." "I loved that dress." "Thought it made my hair look blond." "Like mom's." "Jesus Christ, Sam, can you not hang on to a little girl?" "The door!" "Marian, run!" "Jessup!" "Let's go!" "It's not here, this is the wrong house!" "Please, please, the plank, let me have the plank!" "Please." "Give me the plank, please." "Give it to me." "Let me have the plank." "Please, please." "No." "You remember, Hannah, I told you about Victor." "After he healed, he left my parents something very valuable." "A necklace." "He said maybe it had belonged to the czar's wife, and was taken from the Winter Palace." "He said it was worth more than a dozen farms." "He said to my parents, take it, for you risked your life to save mine." "My mother gave it to me, I said mother, what is the necklace good for if it couldn't be sold in Russia?" "It had rubies, diamonds in it." "She said, give it to the girl you want to marry." "I came to American looking for Rachel, and gave her this necklace and asked her to marry me." "I was too late." "She was already engaged to your father." "But the necklace, it had diamonds, rubies in it." "Glowed on her, just glowed." "Until I read your writings Hannah, I never knew these men were looking for a necklace." "This is the thing those men were looking for that night." "I brought these criminals to you." "You know what we're looking for, don't you?" "I don't." " Yes, you do." " No, I don't." "Yes you do goddamit!" " It's not here!" "Where is it?" "Sarah was home alone that night, eight months pregnant." "So your mother might have saved her life, and my son's life." "This is for you." "Where's Rebecca?" " John took her fishing." "They've been gone all day." "Is she nervous about tomorrow?" "If she is, she doesn't show it." "I'm probably more worried than she is." "She's going to do fine." "How long will she have to stay?" "Two nights, then she can come home." "They said that's the best place for her to be." "So are you going back to Chicago." "Do you have any business to take care of there?" "You know, Isaac asked me to stay, help him bring in his crop." "Are you going to?" "That must be Gwen." " That's fine, I'll take care of this." "Go ahead, go." "We'll be right here when you're done, OK?" "I'll take you fishing when you get back." "Bye, sweetie."