Chap­ter 204 of All the Col­ors of the Dark takes place in the qui­et town of Mon­ta Clare, where the com­mu­ni­ty gath­ers to mourn the loss of one of their own, Nor­ma. As Saint walks down Main Street, she is struck by the col­lec­tive sad­ness that hangs in the air, see­ing store own­ers stand­ing solemn­ly at their door­ways, offer­ing a qui­et trib­ute to the town’s shared grief. The mood is somber, espe­cial­ly at St. Raphael’s church, where the ser­vice is held not just to hon­or Norma’s mem­o­ry but to help the town find a sense of uni­ty in the face of such loss. Saint, who has been entrust­ed with play­ing the organ for the cer­e­mo­ny, pours her emo­tions into the music. As she plays Chopin, the sounds of the piano fill the church, rever­ber­at­ing through the con­gre­ga­tion, and Saint feels her­self pulled into the grav­i­ty of the moment. The music, beau­ti­ful yet heavy, under­scores the emo­tion in the room as every­one reflects on Norma’s life, which, despite its sim­plic­i­ty, had been full of strength, resilience, and endur­ing love. The cer­e­mo­ny pro­vides a rare moment of col­lec­tive solace, as the towns­peo­ple come togeth­er to pay their respects and remem­ber the woman who had been so inte­gral to their lives.

After the ser­vice, Saint nav­i­gates her way through the crowd, her eyes scan­ning famil­iar faces—some of them local res­i­dents and oth­ers who have trav­eled from far away to hon­or Norma’s mem­o­ry. As she makes her way toward the back of the church, she spots Nix, who gives her a bit­ter­sweet smile, his eyes reflect­ing a sor­row that echoes the col­lec­tive mourn­ing of the com­mu­ni­ty. Sam­my is also present, dressed in a sharp pin­striped suit and a pink cra­vat, his cane rest­ing against the stone next to him. His pres­ence, although dig­ni­fied, speaks to the emo­tion­al weight he too car­ries. Saint can’t help but reflect on the fragili­ty of life and the ways in which peo­ple cope with grief. Her thoughts briefly wan­der to Joseph Macauley, who despite being absent, had sent her a sim­ple yet mean­ing­ful win­ter scene card. The card, though mod­est, holds more sig­nif­i­cance than the sim­plic­i­ty of its image—reminding Saint of the shared past and the com­plex, unre­solved emo­tions that linger between them. As the bur­ial cer­e­mo­ny pro­ceeds, the sun shines down on the gath­er­ing, and Nor­ma is laid to rest in a final rest­ing place close to the house filled with cher­ished mem­o­ries, rather than being returned to the city where her hus­band and daugh­ter now rest. The town hon­ors Norma’s final request, and in doing so, they also acknowl­edge the deep sense of belong­ing and con­nec­tion she had with­in this com­mu­ni­ty, one that con­tin­ues to endure in her absence.

Fol­low­ing the bur­ial, the towns­peo­ple gath­er for a mod­est recep­tion on a small lawn, with Mrs. Mey­er orga­niz­ing the event. Lacey pro­vides sand­wich­es, and Char­lotte offers a selec­tion of cakes, cre­at­ing a warm, com­mu­nal atmos­phere despite the grief that lingers in the air. Saint moves through the crowd, exchang­ing pleas­antries with the towns­folk but inward­ly strug­gling with the emo­tion­al heav­i­ness of the day. She finds her­self avoid­ing the inevitable hugs and attempts at com­fort, seek­ing some sem­blance of solace in famil­iar faces. She final­ly spots Sam­my once again and hes­i­tates before accept­ing a drink from his flask. The warmth of the alco­hol pro­vides a brief escape, but Saint quick­ly regrets her deci­sion, feel­ing the weight of the day inten­si­fy with every pass­ing moment. As the after­noon begins to wind down, Char­lotte retreats to the porch, immers­ing her­self in a book, while the qui­et peace of the after­noon is dis­rupt­ed by the sud­den ring­ing of the phone in the kitchen. Saint, stand­ing alone in the kitchen, answers the call, and her world shifts with the unset­tling news that Eli Aaron has just vis­it­ed the area. Sis­ter Cecile’s voice, deliv­er­ing this unex­pect­ed infor­ma­tion, serves as a sharp con­trast to the peace­ful atmos­phere Saint had been attempt­ing to cre­ate. The real­iza­tion that Eli Aaron is involved in the unfold­ing events drags Saint back into the com­plex­i­ties of life beyond the griev­ing process. The chap­ter clos­es with this sud­den inter­rup­tion, mark­ing a turn­ing point in the nar­ra­tive where the sooth­ing rhythms of mourn­ing are replaced by the harsh real­i­ty of unre­solved ten­sions and immi­nent chal­lenges. This moment serves as a pow­er­ful segue, sug­gest­ing that while the com­mu­ni­ty has come togeth­er to mourn, there are deep­er, more per­son­al bat­tles await­ing Saint that will demand her atten­tion in the days to come.