The Wrong Family

Winnie recalls leaving Illuminations. She felt free: She finally had a positive pregnancy test after six miscarriages, which had affected her so badly that she kept the bloody clothing she’d been wearing during them. She promised herself at the time she would be a perfect mother, and she still feels she can be. She notes that all teenagers go through a rebellious stage, but she has been wanting to have another baby to get a fresh start and try again.

The narrative flashes back to Winnie walking into the house after having taken Josalyn’s baby. She had been holding the baby in her sweatshirt to take him to the hospital when the car slid on the ice, hitting a barrier. The baby died in the crash or was smothered by the sweatshirt. Nigel was upset, disgusted, and angry with Winnie as she explained all of this to him and told him that there were no witnesses: “You killed it, Winnie. You stole a baby and you’re responsible for what happened to it after that” (243). She begged him to help her.

Back in the present day, Nigel is out for a run when Winnie answers the door to find Terry Russel, who says her grandson is missing and then asks about Sam’s picture. Winnie panics when she realizes that Terry is Josalyn’s mother. Winnie accuses Terry of sending her the newspaper clippings in the mail and checking out the book on her library card. The tension is at its height when Nigel lurches into the room with a spreading bloodstain on his white T-shirt. Dakota walks in the door after him wielding a gun and a knife.

Winnie tries to stop Nigel’s bleeding, begs Dakota to call an ambulance, and yells at Terry to get out of the house. Terry realizes before Winnie that Dakota is the one who hurt Nigel, but she can’t leave because Dakota is blocking the door. Dakota shoves Winnie down and shoots Nigel twice, killing him. Winnie passes out and regains consciousness in the apartment room, gagged and tied with duct tape; Terry is in the same position. Dakota seems like he’s in a trance to Winnie.

Juno wet her pants when Nigel was shot just outside her hiding place. She had been waiting for Terry Russel to appear, but now she runs upstairs to Sam’s room. Sam has left through the window, taking his money with him. This leads Juno to believe that Sam ran away from the house before the shooting.

Dakota asks Terry who her missing grandson is, and she explains that she believes that Samuel is her grandson and that Winnie kidnapped him as an infant. She asks Dakota if he ever saw Winnie pregnant, and Dakota thinks that the story is plausible. Dakota accuses Winnie, saying, “You’re not my family […] You stopped being my family the day you took that pig’s [Nigel’s] side and kicked your own flesh and blood out of your house” (270). Dakota abruptly shoots Terry, who dies.