In Chap­ter 197 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the ten­sion between Saint and her grand­moth­er, Nor­ma, unfolds as they sit on the porch dur­ing a tran­quil spring evening. Nor­ma inquires about Char­lot­te’s new boyfriend, Matt Leave­sham, reveal­ing her aware­ness of his fam­i­ly back­ground. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts when Nor­ma presents a box con­tain­ing the Eli Aaron case file from Himes, empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of the mat­ter, yet she sug­gests that Sain­t’s focus should be on Char­lotte rather than her work.

As Nor­ma reads a well-worn nov­el, Saint con­fronts her about their strained rela­tion­ship, sug­gest­ing that Nor­ma has long held back her true feel­ings. The dis­cus­sion turns to Sain­t’s past with Jim­my, her ex-hus­band, ignit­ing a con­flict about choic­es made and the con­se­quences that fol­lowed. Saint defends her deci­sions, feel­ing unjust­ly judged for the abor­tion and sub­se­quent divorce, while Nor­ma argues that Jim­my had poten­tial and deserved more time to grow into a bet­ter hus­band.

Nor­ma’s qui­et but firm words high­light the sac­ri­fices Saint made and the promis­es she once made to God in exchange for the return of Joseph, a man from Sain­t’s past. This emo­tion­al con­fronta­tion leads to a moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty as Saint grap­ples with her choic­es, elic­it­ing sym­pa­thy from Nor­ma. In a poignant dis­play of affec­tion, Nor­ma opens her arms, offer­ing a com­fort­ing embrace to Saint, who acknowl­edges that her emo­tion­al sup­port is vital in her cur­rent tur­moil.

As they nav­i­gate through their past, the chap­ter peaks when Saint admits the com­plex­i­ty of her feel­ings towards Jim­my, clar­i­fy­ing that he is not equiv­a­lent to the man she lost, Patch. Through this intense dia­logue, the theme of famil­ial con­nec­tion, unre­solved grief, and per­son­al sac­ri­fice per­me­ates, reveal­ing both char­ac­ters’ strug­gles in com­ing to terms with their his­to­ries and rela­tion­ships.