I Know This Much Is True

Ray and Dominick make arrangements for a private funeral for Thomas. Dominick calls the few guests whom they feel were important in Thomas’s life. He leaves a message on Ralph Drinkwater’s machine and with Dessa’s husband.

Dessa does not attend the funeral, but Dominick later realizes that Ralph was there, watching from a distance. As he and Ray ride in the limo back to the house for a reception, Dominick continually thinks of a day during his childhood that he feels could have led to Thomas’s illness: Ray caught Thomas and their mother playing a game they often played—the two dressed in white gloves, pretending they were ladies drinking tea. Dominick was always left out of the game and felt jealous. When Ray discovered them, he beat them both so brutally that Concettina’s arm was broken. He locked Thomas in a closet for hours and then later made Dominick agree to keep what had happened a secret.

As the lunch draws to a close and the guests leave, Dessa arrives—she is upset at having missed the service: Her mother fell, and Dessa had to help her get medical care. When Dessa says hello to Ray, he begins to cry. Dominick then lashes out at Ray about bullying Thomas and never visiting him at Hatch. Their argument escalates until Ray storms off.

Angie and Leo stay for a while after, but the atmosphere is tense, and they leave to pick up their children. Dessa remains, and she and Dominick talk about his grief over Thomas’s death. Dominick shares that he is attending therapy with Dr. Patel. They talk about their deceased daughter as well, and as she leaves, Dessa comments that someone has planted flowers on her grave—Dominick knows that it is Ray who has done so, but he does not tell Dessa.

After he was awarded the medal, Domenico became a popular pillar of the community, becoming involved in various civic organizations and fulfilling requests for charity functions and other events. He began to have an affair with a local woman whom he met through his work, and he continued to tell the priest that he was too busy to work on the memoir.

When Domenico learned that Prosperine was not working hard at her job, he beat her severely. Prosperine fought back, biting Domenico. When Ignazia tried to defend her, Domenico beat her as well. Later, he watched from the upstairs window as the two women fled the house with the baby: He was certain that Ignazia did not have enough money to leave him.

A few days passed, and Domenico went to Mrs. Siragusa’s boarding house, where he was sure the women were hiding. He argued with them there, and Ignazia refused to return home with him. A few days later, Mrs. Siragusa appeared at Domenico’s door: The women had collected enough funds and planned to flee to New York by train.

Domenico beat the women to the station and then convinced a police officer there to help him force Ignazia to go home with him if she refused. When the women arrived, Domenico threatened to expose their real identities. Prosperine boarded the train for the city, but Ignazia remained with Domenico.

In the time after Thomas’s death, Dominick does little besides watch TV. He continues regular appointments with Dr. Patel, who points out that he has not made any progress on the goals he has set, one of them being to decide whether he will continue his painting business or go back to teaching. He has also told her that he wants to speak to Ray again—Ray has left messages for him since their fight, but Dominick has not returned his calls. Patel refuses any future appointments until Dominick can show progress on his goals.

That evening, he finishes answering the condolence cards. At the bottom of the pile, he finds a birth announcement from Joy. She explains that things are not the best with Thad but that she is determined to be a good mother.

Dominick makes progress on his goals—even accepting a dinner invitation from Lisa Sheffer—and resumes meeting with Patel. When she asks if he has finished reading his grandfather’s manuscript, he explains that he is afraid of what he might discover. He speculates that his grandfather could actually be his father, as well, or that he and Thomas could have been conceived via rape by a stranger. He tells Patel about the incident on the bus when he was young—he is still angry that he had to defend both his mother and Thomas, whom he sees as weak.

Dominick enjoys his time at Sheffer’s home, even getting along well with her girlfriend and her daughter. When he returns, there is a message on his answering machine from Ray’s doctor explaining that the amputation of his leg has gone well. Dominick does not know what the doctor is referring to until he remembers Ray’s limp.

Domenico’s memoir closes: After he brought Ignazia home, he demanded that she resume having sex with him. He bullied her and isolated her from the community, and she no longer socialized with the American women she had befriended, fearful that Domenico would reveal truth of her murdered husband.

Before too long, Domenico began to fear that Ignazia would try to poison him. One day, he left work early, not feeling well. He found Prosperine in bed with Ignazia and flew into a rage. Angered, Domenico went directly to the mayor, convincing him that Prosperine had to be institutionalized for her perverse actions. She was admitted to the Three Rivers State Hospital, and Domenico never saw her again.

One day, he arrived home to find that the dog he had purchased to scare Ignazia into remaining inside the house was dead. Ignazia herself was missing, as was Concettina. Ignazia was found in the river, drowned; Concettina huddled in a nearby shack. Domenico was relieved that she seemed to have no knowledge of how her mother died, and he vowed never to tell her about the suicide.

Dominick meets with the surgeon and learns that Ray’s leg was infected by gangrene as a result of diabetes. He can be fitted for a prosthetic in time if he chooses, but the doctor warns that Ray will need care and support. In the first few days after his surgery, he is confused due to the medication. In time, he becomes lucid, and, for the first time, he and Dominick talk in meaningful ways. Dominick learns about Ray’s past, including that the woman he knew as his sister was actually his mother. He admits, too, that Dominick’s outburst and accusations after Thomas’s funeral were accurate. At the time, he explains, Ray was certain that toughening both of them (especially Thomas) was the best way he could help them.

At the hospital, Dominick has coffee with Dessa when she visits Ray. She has begun volunteer work with terminally ill children and finds this to be healing.

After finishing Domenico’s manuscript, Dominick tears it up. He still fears that Domenico may truly be his father, though he resigns himself to never knowing. His views about his mother, however, have changed: He understands that Ignazia likely tried to kill Concettina as well as herself, and Concettina’s escape demonstrates her strength. He admits, too, how much strength was required of her to live with Domenico and, later, with Ray.

As they finish a game of racquetball, Leo tells Dominick that Dessa and her husband, Dan, are ending their marriage. As he drives home, Dominick does not experience the excitement he thought he would; he realizes that he has finally learned to accept that his relationship with Dessa has ended.

Though he does not tell Leo, he is meeting with Joy, who is in town. When she asked to meet, Dominick repeatedly insisted that he was not interested but finally agreed to see her for just 15 minutes. She is there waiting for him at his condo when he returns. Joy looks unwell, and Dominick is eager for her to leave. She keeps insisting that he hold her baby, but he refuses. Though the baby is older than his daughter ever was, all he can think of is Angela.

When Joy finally leaves, Dominick discovers that she has forgotten a few of the baby’s things. Underneath a blanket is a letter to Dominick. In it, Joy explains that she is HIV positive. She is certain that she contracted the virus from Thad, who now has AIDS. Their relationship has finally ended, and Joy hopes to return to Three Rivers and start anew. Her daughter, she explains, has repeatedly tested negative, and Joy wants Dominick to agree to care for her should Joy pass away. Dominick is certain that he cannot do this.

He immediately gets tested for HIV and waits anxiously until he learns, three days later, that he is negative. He meets Ray for breakfast. Though Ray has always insisted that Dominick’s mother told him nothing of the twins’ father, Ray admits to Dominick that he does indeed know who the man is. He explains that the man and Concettina had a brief relationship after she met him at the grocer where he worked. Shortly after their relationship began, he went to the Korean War and was killed in action. Ray explains that Concettina knew she could never tell her father about the man or her pregnancy because the man was Black and Indigenous. When Dominick asks about the man’s last name, Ray reveals that it is Drinkwater.

Dominick heads immediately to the Wequonnoc offices to speak to Ralph. Initially, Ralph is confused: He always believed that Dominick knew they were first cousins. When Dominick insists that he did not, Ralph explains his family tree, noting how particular family members died and which ones are remaining. He has known all of his life that his father and Dominick’s father were brothers. He insists that Thomas knew this, so he had presumed that Dominick did, too. Dominick suddenly remembers Thomas studying the headstone of Penny Ann and insisting that they were cousins. At the time, Dominick dismissed this as one of Thomas’s delusions, but now he realizes that his mother told their father’s identity to Thomas but not to him.

In a therapy session the next day, Dominick discusses the reasons why his mother might have kept this secret from him. A hurricane is brewing outside, and Dr. Patel urges him to travel home safely. Suddenly, Dominick thinks back to a very elderly woman in the convalescent home where Ray has been recovering since his surgery. Another resident informed Dominick that her name is Prosperine. Dominick realizes that the woman sees Domenico’s face in his. She is certain that he is actually his grandfather.

Despite the developing storm, Dominick rushes to the children’s wing of the hospital where, Dessa has explained, there are pets to comfort the kids. He takes two of the rabbits and heads immediately to Prosperine’s room. He presents her with the two rabbits and, pretending to be Domenico, asks for her forgiveness and presents the rabbits to her. When the elderly woman transforms the two rabbits into a single rabbit, Dominick knows that she is Prosperine.

Dominick provides a summary of how various world events resolved in the 1990s as well as information about changes in Three Rivers: most notably, the closing of the State Hospital after the eventual exoneration of its officials for knowingly spreading HIV and the expansion of the Wequonnoc casino and land ownership.

He renews his friendship with Dessa, and the two remarry in a small ceremony. Leo takes over his father-in-law’s business, and he and Angie give birth to a third child: a son. Dominick and Ralph grow to be friends. When Joy dies in 1997, Dessa and Dominick adopt her daughter.