Chapter 2, Part 4 Summary

Basil and Ciel are fighting in the kitchen while Miss Eva makes breakfast. Basil is five years old and Ms. Eva is scolding Mattie for not going out looking for a husband by now. Mattie is happy with her life, her son, her job and her church. Miss Eva scolds her for letting Basil still sleep in her bed and taunts her that she is afraid of what she is missing. Mattie secretly wonders why she does not miss a man in her bed. She admits to herself she has hungered for the love of a man but always turns to her motherhood for her comfort. She is angry that Miss Eva has made her feel ashamed of loving her son so much. However, that old woman has shared too much of Mattie not to know her so well; helped her...