Dublin is physically destroyed by the war. Now that the rebels are in charge of the city, people feel safe to post pictures of their missing loved ones around the city. A stranger named Maeve calls on Eilish at home. Maeve works for an underground organization that helps provide people with forged passports to escape Ireland. Eilish’s sister Áine has sent Eilish money and paperwork so that Eilish and her children can get to Canada. Eilish refuses the offer to escape because she wants to wait for Larry and Mark to return. Maeve warns Eilish to reconsider her position because it is unlikely that the rebel army will be able to maintain control of the city.

The ceasefire doesn’t last long; soon the Stacks are surrounded yet again by the sounds of war. Simon tells Eilish that Mark has been by to see him, but she isn’t sure if she can believe him. Simon’s dementia has progressed. He calls Eilish because he can’t find his wife and believes she left him, even though Eilish’s mother died a long time ago. This adds more pressure onto Eilish, who “pinches the bridge of her nose, seeing a man who has woken inside a dream, knowing he cannot be told of wife’s demise when he has no memory of her death” (229).