Summary

Taking place closer in time to the events of Chapter One than to Chapter Two, Chapter Three begins with Bert half-heartedly trying to convince his first wife, Teresa, to move to Virginia with them. His condescending attitude quickly convinces her to remain in Los Angeles. Teresa is able to get a job working at the District Attorney’s office where Bert used to work, mostly through the shared sense of guilt Bert’s coworkers feel for covering up Bert’s long affair with Beverly Keating. Bert is given custody of the Cousins children, Cal, Holly, Jeanette, and Albie, for the summer, something which Teresa is publicly upset by but privately very pleased with. The Cousins children begin to make yearly trips back to Virginia, first with chaperones, then independently. The first time the children make the trip independently, Teresa, determined to make Beverly...