The Masterpiece

As they drive away from Aunt Elizabeth’s house, Grace tells Roman more details about her past, including her experience of hiding in the closet during her parents’ death and the pain of her marriage and divorce from Patrick. Prompted by the gentle nudging of the Lord’s voice in her mind, Grace even tells Roman the story of how an angel comforted her when she was a child, allowing her to sleep in her bed without fear instead of in the closet, which was the one place she had felt safe after losing her parents. Once again, she shares the message of her faith—that hope can be found in Jesus Christ alone. Roman, triggered to anger by her faith in the face of all the heartbreak and trauma she has undergone, asks where God was during all those experiences or his childhood trauma with his mother. He says: “There is no God. There is no Satan. No heaven or hell. We’re born. We do the best we can. We die. Game over” (286). Driving quickly and aggressively while he speaks, he is eventually pulled over by the police.