Chap­ter 8: Nor­ma reflects on the nature of mar­riage and its ide­al­is­tic per­cep­tion, where two peo­ple bind their lives togeth­er with the hope that their love will with­stand the test of time. She acknowl­edges her envy for those who seem to have found true ful­fill­ment in their mar­riages, some­thing that remains elu­sive to her despite her desire for the same. Nor­ma had once embraced the idea of love with Mark, believ­ing in their shared future, but the weight of her unre­solved past began to sur­face, cre­at­ing an emo­tion­al rift between them. Their mar­riage, a small and inti­mate affair held in Aunt June’s back­yard in August 1983, marks the begin­ning of their shared life togeth­er. In the ear­ly days, they eager­ly looked for jobs and a sense of hap­pi­ness, hop­ing that the sim­plic­i­ty of their union would bring them the peace they craved. How­ev­er, as time passed, their life togeth­er became less about shared joy and more about main­tain­ing a rou­tine, with Nor­ma feel­ing increas­ing­ly detached from the life she envi­sioned, despite her mother’s per­sis­tent encour­age­ment to engage with their church com­mu­ni­ty.

As the chap­ter unfolds, Nor­ma faces a pro­found moment when she tells her moth­er about her preg­nan­cy, which is met with over­whelm­ing joy. Yet, this hap­pi­ness is short-lived as Norma’s vis­it to the doc­tor soon turns from excite­ment to unease when fetal move­ment is absent. A fur­ther med­ical exam­i­na­tion deliv­ers the trag­ic news that the preg­nan­cy is no longer viable. This dev­as­tat­ing rev­e­la­tion plunges Nor­ma into a dark emo­tion­al abyss, and despite Mark’s sup­port­ive pres­ence, she is con­sumed by guilt and over­whelm­ing sad­ness. The deliv­ery of their daugh­ter, Sarah, is over­shad­owed by deep anguish instead of the joy they had expect­ed. Their grief-filled hearts mark the deliv­ery and funer­al, and Sarah’s bur­ial becomes an unspo­ken reminder of every­thing they have lost. The pain Nor­ma expe­ri­ences becomes a haunt­ing pres­ence in her life, and she feels a heavy bur­den weigh­ing on her, one that she can­not shake off, despite the efforts of Mark and oth­ers to help her cope.

In the weeks fol­low­ing Sarah’s loss, Nor­ma with­draws into her­self, retreat­ing from her fam­i­ly and friends. The emo­tion­al weight of grief feels insur­mount­able, and Nor­ma can­not seem to find a way to face it. A trip to Nova Sco­tia with Mark pro­vides tem­po­rary relief, but the loss of their daugh­ter still lingers heav­i­ly over them, as if it casts a shad­ow that no place can escape. As they spend time togeth­er, Nor­ma con­tem­plates the future with a sense of fore­bod­ing, think­ing about her rela­tion­ship with her moth­er and the impend­ing “ghosts” of her life—memories of loss that will con­tin­ue to haunt her. These reflec­tions deep­en her sense of iso­la­tion, as she fears that the emo­tion­al scars from Sarah’s death will nev­er ful­ly heal, leav­ing her for­ev­er bur­dened by her past. The grow­ing sense of dread about what the future may hold cre­ates an atmos­phere of uncer­tain­ty and unease, inten­si­fy­ing her grief and the qui­et sor­row that con­tin­ues to envel­op her.

The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a piv­otal con­ver­sa­tion with Mark, where Nor­ma express­es her reluc­tance to try again for chil­dren. She con­fess­es that the mem­o­ries of Sarah and the trau­ma of her loss have cast a long shad­ow over any hope she may have had for a future child. Her admis­sion becomes a turn­ing point in their mar­riage, as it forces both Nor­ma and Mark to con­front the deep emo­tion­al scars left by their loss. Norma’s deci­sion to not pur­sue hav­ing anoth­er child high­lights the pro­found impact of grief on her psy­che, as she feels that her past loss would cloud the joy of any future preg­nan­cy. The con­ver­sa­tion brings about a shift in their rela­tion­ship, and the ten­sion between them begins to grow. The hope they once shared for their future is over­shad­owed by the uncer­tain­ty of their grief, and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of heal­ing seems increas­ing­ly out of reach. The chap­ter con­cludes with a sense of sor­row and unre­solved pain, as Nor­ma and Mark both strug­gle with the weight of their indi­vid­ual grief, now man­i­fest­ing in their mar­riage. This moment sig­ni­fies a pro­found shift in their rela­tion­ship, mark­ing the end of a hope­ful era and the begin­ning of a painful jour­ney toward under­stand­ing the true depth of their emo­tion­al wounds.