- Chapter 10 sure ended on a downer. So it's a bit of a surprise to find we're at a wedding when the Epilogue opens. We know that Edith and Simon Thibault are there (renewing vows? Nah). But who are the bride and groom?
- Turns out, it's Gen and Roxane Coss. Surprise!
- The narrator fills in some backstory. It would have been nice if Father Arguedas could have done the ceremony, but no one thought about it soon enough. So, not that nice.
- The Thibaults are never going back to the country where most of the novel took place. No surprises there.
- Oh, by the way, we're in Lucca, Italy, the place where famous opera composer Puccini was born. It's near the beginning of May and the town is quiet and deserted.
- Edith says they should have a toast, and sends the guys to find a bar, since the streets look like tough going for ladies in heels.
- When the men head off, Edith wishes she and Roxane had gone along. They could have taken off their shoes, after all.
- Gen and Thibault are quiet for a while as they walk along. Then they talk about where Gen and Roxane will live (Milan, Italy) and what Gen will do (translate books so he can be more available to be near Roxane).
- Thibault wonders if Gen will miss Japan, but Gen says that all opera singers should live in Italy. It won't be too shabby for him, either.
- Gen notes an open bar. Good thing he's paying attention, because Thibault is pretty distracted. The narrator doesn't say why, but it's pretty easy to guess that it might have something to do with their strange experience of being hostages. Or maybe surprise that Gen and Roxane ended up together.
- Thibault says they should go to get their wives, but this time Gen is kind of frozen in place.
- Thibault gets it, since this sometimes happens to him, too. Again, probably a result of being hostages for so long.
- Thibault does ask if anything's wrong, and Gen manages to ask him about something that's been bothering him. All the news accounts Gen has read leave out Carmen and Beatriz. Gen asks if that's also how the French news organizations reported it.
- Oui.
- Gen says he's tried to get Carmen and Beatriz included in the story, but the papers don't care. It almost feels like Carmen and Beatriz didn't exist. Kind of a weird feeling, after all those nights in the china closet.
- Thibault thinks back to the moment when they all cooked dinner together, Thibault and Carmen and Beatriz and Gen and Ishmael. How could he forget his moment as Top Chef?
- Gen goes on talking. He says he called Ruben Iglesias. Ruben was very kind but suggested that Gen and Roxane wait to marry, since it's a bit soon after everything. But no one ever listens to vice presidents, so Gen and Roxane went ahead anyway. Gen says he loves Roxane.
- Thibault says they did the right thing, and that getting married was the best thing that's ever happened to him (Thibault). Thibault also starts to think that Gen may have loved Carmen, but he tactfully doesn't say that.
- Gen says that listening to Roxane sing helps him have a better outlook on the world. Knowing that there's such astonishing music and Roxane can sing it so compassionately helps him out, just like it's helped people throughout the book. In fact, Gen says he doesn't think he could live without it.
- Thibault is still thinking about Gen and Carmen. He says "She is a beautiful girl," (Epilogue.29) and while Gen must think he's talking about Roxane, it's hard not to think that he's also talking about Carmen. Sad. Even if it's a tiny bit weird.
- Thibault feels a need to return to Edith, so he puts his arm around Gen's shoulder and they start back. He has to restrain himself from running back to his wife. In spite of his realization about Carmen and Gen, he is sure that Roxane and Gen have married for love, love they feel for each other and for all the people they remember from the time in the vice president's house.
- They come around a corner and find the ladies. Edith looks so overjoyed to see them that she could just as easily be the bride as Roxane.
- Thibault is confident they're the two most beautiful women ever.
- The ladies hold out their arms to their husbands.
- That's a slightly less downer ending, isn't it?