Breath, Eyes, Memory Book 4, Chapter 28 Summary

  • Sophie and Martine make the return trip to the airport in Port-au-Prince together. Martine, much like Atie all those years ago, remembers all the places she went in the "big city" with her sister.
  • Sophie notices that Martine doesn't look so great on the flight to New York. She wonders if the cancer has returned.
  • Martine tells her that Haiti has a terrible effect on her. She only wants to return to be buried.
  • Sophie confesses that she was diagnosed with bulimia after she got married. Martine chalks it up to Sophie being "too American." Sophie finds this criticism unhelpful.
  • We learn that when Sophie first saw her mother in New York (when Tante Atie sent her there), Martine was just recovering from a mastectomy. That's why she looked so thin and ill.
  • Martine confesses that she, too, had a problem with all the food in America when she first arrived from Haiti. Even though there was plenty, she still ate as though there would be famine.
  • Martine and Sophie make their way to the old house in Brooklyn. Sophie finds that her room's empty of all her old things. It seems that Martine burned everything when Sophie eloped.
  • But she tells Martine that it's okay now. She doesn't need those things anymore. She really wants her mom to be okay.
  • Over dinner, Martine tells Sophie that she didn't expect Sophie to obey her command to leave the house. She never expected Sophie to run off and get married.
  • It turns out that Martine is still dating Marc, but she hasn't told Ifé and Atie about him yet. Sophie wonders if they'll get married, but Martine seems skittish.
  • When Martine goes out that evening, Sophie calls Joseph and leaves a message. He immediately returns her call.
  • We learn that Sophie had left their home in Providence without telling her husband—she'd left a note, but didn't say where she was taking Brigitte.
  • It's clear that Joseph is at his wits end, not knowing what he did to cause Sophie to run. But Sophie reminds him that she has problem. For which, in fact, she's in therapy.
  • But Joseph seems like a pretty swell guy. He's kind and understanding to her on the phone, even though Sophie seems bent on explaining why she's such a bad gamble at this time.
  • She tells Joseph that Martine wants them all to have dinner with Marc. Joseph seems down with that, but he really wants Sophie and Brigitte to come home.
  • Sophie promises to return to Providence the next day—but under her own steam. She feels she has to "find her own way back."
  • Joseph promises that he'll give her as much time as she needs to heal her body and mind.
  • When Martine returns, she says she's been to see Marc to give him some news—but we don't find out what it is. She changes the subject and asks about her talk with Joseph.