Chapter 28: Saints

Saints play a sig­nif­i­cant role in guid­ing Made­line as she embarks on a quest to uncov­er details about her father’s past for a school fam­i­ly tree project. Her spe­cif­ic search for a boys’ home in Iowa with a girl’s name proves to be an intrigu­ing chal­lenge. The city librar­i­an, intrigued by her request, offers assis­tance but quick­ly real­izes the rar­i­ty of such an insti­tu­tion. Rev­erend Wake­ly, who hap­pens to be famil­iar with Madeline’s fam­i­ly, steps in to offer guid­ance, sug­gest­ing that she search under saints’ names—a sub­tle hint that inter­twines prac­ti­cal­i­ty with the­o­log­i­cal insight. This col­lab­o­ra­tion high­lights the rev­erend’s qui­et sup­port and Made­line’s unwa­ver­ing deter­mi­na­tion to bridge the gaps in her under­stand­ing of her father’s life.

The nar­ra­tive ele­gant­ly bal­ances Madeline’s youth­ful curios­i­ty with Wakely’s intro­spec­tive nature, cre­at­ing a tapes­try of humor, care, and shared pur­pose. Madeline’s inno­cent yet prob­ing ques­tions illu­mi­nate her deep desire to con­nect with her late father, Calvin Evans, a man she knows pri­mar­i­ly through frag­ment­ed sto­ries and scat­tered mem­o­ries. Her quest is not mere­ly about com­plet­ing a school assign­ment but about form­ing a tan­gi­ble link to her family’s his­to­ry. Wake­ly, grap­pling with his own pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al con­tra­dic­tions, finds him­self drawn into the endeav­or. As their dia­logue unfolds, Wakely’s inter­nal reflec­tions on duty, secre­cy, and the del­i­cate bal­ance of faith and truth pro­vide a rich coun­ter­point to Madeline’s straight­for­ward pur­suit of knowl­edge.

Through­out their inter­ac­tions, the nar­ra­tive weaves togeth­er light­heart­ed moments and pro­found rev­e­la­tions. Madeline’s youth­ful inno­cence is under­scored by her fas­ci­na­tion with the odd­i­ties of her fam­i­ly tree, such as claims of descent from his­tor­i­cal fig­ures, while Wake­ly strug­gles with the weight of the truths he holds. Their dis­cus­sion about fam­i­ly dynam­ics and lega­cy sub­tly unrav­els Wakely’s inter­nal con­flict, as he revis­its mem­o­ries of Calvin Evans. For Wake­ly, Calvin was more than just a sci­en­tif­ic genius; he was a man who chal­lenged soci­etal norms and, per­haps unin­ten­tion­al­ly, Wakely’s own belief sys­tem. This jux­ta­po­si­tion of past and present enrich­es the story’s emo­tion­al depth.

A piv­otal moment occurs when Made­line inno­cent­ly reveals details about her mother’s sci­en­tif­ic bril­liance and Calvin’s untime­ly death, prompt­ing Wake­ly to wres­tle with the eth­i­cal com­plex­i­ties of his posi­tion. His rec­ol­lec­tion of Calvin, framed by their intel­lec­tu­al clash­es and mutu­al respect, forces him to con­front unre­solved emo­tions. As Madeline’s ques­tions become more point­ed, Wake­ly must decide how much of the truth to reveal with­out com­pro­mis­ing his role as a men­tor and con­fi­dant. The lay­ers of Wakely’s inter­nal strug­gle high­light the moral ambi­gu­i­ty of with­hold­ing or reveal­ing infor­ma­tion that could reshape Madeline’s under­stand­ing of her father’s lega­cy.

The reverend’s reflec­tions deep­en as he recalls Calvin’s intel­lec­tu­al chal­lenges to his faith, moments that pushed Wake­ly to ques­tion the inter­sec­tion of sci­ence and belief. Wakely’s inter­nal mono­logue jux­ta­pos­es the weight of Calvin’s influ­ence on his life with the sim­plic­i­ty of Madeline’s search for answers, cre­at­ing a nar­ra­tive rich in con­trasts. A seem­ing­ly mun­dane fam­i­ly tree project becomes a pro­found explo­ration of iden­ti­ty, mem­o­ry, and the inter­con­nect­ed­ness of lives. When Wake­ly final­ly uncov­ers a pho­to­graph from Calvin’s funer­al, it becomes a sym­bol of the over­lap­ping nar­ra­tives of loss, con­nec­tion, and the unyield­ing human desire to under­stand one’s ori­gins.

In the end, the chap­ter offers a poignant med­i­ta­tion on the com­plex­i­ties of fam­i­ly, faith, and lega­cy. Madeline’s deter­mi­na­tion to uncov­er her father’s past and Wakely’s reluc­tant role as a guide reveal the endur­ing impact of Calvin Evans’s life on those around him. Their shared jour­ney under­scores the pow­er of curios­i­ty and the qui­et courage required to con­front the unknown, weav­ing a nar­ra­tive that speaks to the uni­ver­sal quest for belong­ing and under­stand­ing. Through its lay­ered sto­ry­telling, the chap­ter reminds read­ers of the frag­ile yet pro­found bonds that tie us to our past and shape our present.