Verity

Five days have passed since Lowen’s arrival in Vermont. Lowen hears a cry coming from Verity’s room and rushes upstairs. She finds Crew with “blood on his hands and fingers” and “a knife next to him on the floor” (130). Lowen cares for Crew and asks him about what happened. Crew says that his mother told him not to touch her knife. Jeremy rushes upstairs. Crew denies having a knife. Jeremy asks Lowen to go check to see if there is a knife. She returns to Verity’s room and cannot find a knife anywhere. Lowen catches Verity staring at her and rushes out of the room. Unable to quell her curiosity, Lowen decides to read another chapter of Verity’s manuscript.

Verity gives birth despite her many failed attempts at abortion. She feels no flood of maternal emotions. Verity begrudgingly agrees to try breastfeeding to please Jeremy, but she feels disgusted by it. 

Lowen sorts through a box of photographs that mainly feature the children. She asks Jeremy about Harper, whom she notices does not smile in photos. Jeremy reveals that Harper was diagnosed with autism. Jeremy looks through the photos and shares with Lowen about each of his children’s personalities. He confesses that the dominant emotion he felt after Verity’s accident was anger—at Verity. Lowen and Jeremy embrace. Crew interrupts them as they are about to kiss and grows upset seeing the photos on the table. Jeremy takes him upstairs.

Lowen grows increasingly uncomfortable. She attempts to strike up conversation with April, Verity’s nurse, whom she suspects dislikes her. April calls Lowen into the hallway and chastises her for speaking about Verity as if she is not present. Lowen apologizes. Lowen, Jeremy, and Crew go out to eat at a restaurant together. Lowen feels even more attracted to Jeremy after dinner and battles her growing feelings for him.

In the autobiography manuscript, Verity struggles with new motherhood and begins neglecting the babies during the day until Jeremy returns home from work. Verity worries about staying connected sexually with Jeremy and makes advances on him before she receives approval from her doctor.

Lowen suspects that Verity is a psychopath. She looks up the definition and finds that Verity matches every trait. Jeremy asks Lowen to help him retrieve an aquarium from the basement for Crew. The light goes out in the basement, but they make it up the stairs in the dark. Lowen puts on one of Jeremy’s shirts before bed and tries to imagine what it is like to be Verity.

Lowen wakes up the next morning in Verity’s bed. Mortified, she rushes off to her bedroom and locks herself away. Jeremy finds Lowen and attempts to comfort her. She shares with Jeremy her experience at the age of 10 when she woke up from sleepwalking to discover she had broken her wrist. Lowen reveals that she watched the security footage of that night with her mother and watched herself jump from her porch. She does not remember the details of that evening and asks herself, “How can I inflict that much pain on myself and not be aware of it?” (177). Lowen explains that, in reaction to the incident, her mother moved down the hall from her and placed three locks on her bedroom door. Lowen was also sent away for a two-week psychiatric evaluation. Jeremy holds Lowen until he believes she has fallen asleep.