Opening
A fragile truce at breakfast shatters into grief when news of a death sends Jolene Zarkades spiraling. Over four chapters, she descends to rock bottom—public panic attacks, addiction, and isolation—then fights her way back through love, therapy, and a renewed sense of purpose, ultimately standing beside another wounded soldier to say: you are not alone.
What Happens
Chapter 26: A Peace Offering
Jolene wakes determined to try again. She swears off the wine and pills, cooks pancakes as a “peace offering,” and shares a fleeting moment of warmth with Michael Zarkades, a glimpse of who they were. The phone rings. Michael learns Tami Flynn has died. The call detonates Jolene’s resolve. She blames herself for leaving Tami behind and gulps down sleeping pills to mute the grief, rejecting Michael’s comfort as Grief and Loss surges to the forefront.
On the morning of the funeral, Jolene can barely move. She drinks to numb herself until Mila Zarkades coaxes her into the shower and the Class A uniform. The medals on her chest spark a flicker of her old self; the ache of her prosthesis becomes penance she welcomes. The town lines the streets with flags and yellow ribbons as the procession passes. Patriot Riders thunder by on motorcycles. The church is packed.
The service is a full military tribute: the minister’s eulogy, the precise folding of the flag, the twenty-one-gun salute. Jolene stands with Carl and Seth, fighting for composure. As an honorary pallbearer, she limps beside Tami’s casket—a final act of duty. Three helicopters sweep overhead in a flyover salute. Jolene goes numb, receding into herself beneath the weight of The Impact of War on Soldiers and Families.
Chapter 27: Her Locker
The week after the funeral, Jolene drinks and sedates herself deeper into silence. On Saturday, Michael brings Seth by. The boy asks Jolene to help clean out his mom’s locker at the Guard post. She goes. At the hangar, the Black Hawk she once flew glares back—a mirror of the life she’s lost. She tells Seth how fiercely his mother loved him. Inside Tami’s locker, they find photos, flight gloves, mementos—and a sealed “in case I die” letter addressed to Jolene. She can’t open it.
Meanwhile, the verdict arrives in the Keith Keller trial: not guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree. The ruling acknowledges Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diminished his capacity, but it’s a hollow win for Michael. Keith accepts punishment. Michael comes home to chaos—Lulu Zarkades sobbing, Betsy Zarkades furious.
In their bedroom, Michael finds Jolene clutching Tami’s unopened letter. He snaps. He seizes the wine, shouts that he’s changed and is fighting for their marriage, but she’s giving him nothing. He accuses her of abandoning the family the way her parents abandoned her. Wounded, Jolene can only say, “I can’t,” and turn away. Michael walks out to hold Lulu, while the fragile scaffolding of Marriage, Love, and Forgiveness trembles.
Chapter 28: Crazy for You
Jolene forces herself to attend a memorial for Tami at the Flynn home, propped up by wine and dread. The rooms overflow with friends and soldiers. A door slams. In an instant she’s back in Balad—she screams, drops to the floor, covers her head. The public collapse scorches her with shame. Betsy’s horrified “What’s WRONG with you?” drives Jolene out the door. Michael follows.
At home, Jolene explodes. She rips off her prosthesis and hurls it, shattering a vase. Hysterical laughter turns to sobs. Crawling toward the bathroom, she falls and yanks a towel rack from the wall. Michael finds her on the tile, broken open. He gathers her in his arms, no judgment, only love. Jolene finally weeps for all of it—Tami, Iraq, the body that failed her, the mother she hasn’t been. The purge clears the space for them to make love and truly reconnect, scars and all.
Then Mila calls: Betsy and Seth have run away. Shaken by a memorial photo that didn’t show Tami’s “real smile,” the kids go to the Crab Pot to find the last Polaroids from before deployment. Jolene and Michael retrieve them and bring them home. Mother and daughter talk—honestly. Jolene apologizes for who she’s been and admits she left Betsy a “just in case” letter. “Do you still love me?” Betsy asks. Jolene’s answer—fierce and tearful—breaks the stalemate. They cling to each other, and Motherhood and Identity begins to knit back together.
Chapter 29: One Mountain at a Time
A week later, Jolene starts therapy with Dr. Chris Cornflower, a Vietnam veteran and former POW who understands the terrain she’s walking. She begins to excavate everything—from her childhood wounds to the war.
By mid-December, she’s fitted with a new, custom prosthesis that’s light, shapely, and shockingly fast—she can run. At her final PT session, Conny hugs her. “You have the heart of a champion,” he says. At home, a new letter from Sarah Merrin—now a double amputee—pleads for hope. Jolene answers the call.
She and Michael fly to D.C. On the plane, he tells her he’s spoken to Captain Lomand: there may be a path to flying a smaller helicopter. They visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and feel their private grief widen into a national river. At Walter Reed Medical Center, Jolene wears her dress blues, maybe for the last time, and stands at Sarah’s bedside. She doesn’t preach; she promises presence. “You’re not alone now,” she says. Michael watches from the doorway, proud. Jolene understands: this is what home feels like.
Character Development
These chapters yank the family to the brink, then rebuild it with painful honesty and earned grace.
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Jolene Zarkades
- Hits bottom after Tami’s death and the public flashback; admits she can’t hold it together any longer.
- Lets Michael in during her bathroom-floor collapse; their intimacy resets the marriage on truth.
- Starts therapy, receives a new prosthesis, and reclaims purpose by supporting Sarah Merrin.
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Michael Zarkades
- Moves from fury and helplessness to steadfast tenderness.
- Chooses compassion over control at Jolene’s worst moment, becoming a safe harbor.
- Supports Jolene’s future—professionally and emotionally—without trying to rewrite the past.
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Betsy Zarkades
- Acts out of terror and confusion, then risks vulnerability.
- Hears and accepts Jolene’s apology; asks for reassurance of love and gets it.
- Begins trusting her mother again, shifting from accusation to connection.
Themes & Symbols
The novel grounds trauma in daily life. [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)] emerges not as an abstract diagnosis but as slammed doors, numbing rituals, and the body’s revolt. The Keller verdict’s “partial justice” underscores that systems can recognize PTSD yet fail to heal it; only love, time, and professional care move Jolene forward. [Grief and Loss] flood every scene after Tami’s death—funeral honors, empty lockers, children searching for a “real smile.” The story widens that grief at the Vietnam memorial, connecting one fallen pilot to a nation’s ledger of names.
[Marriage, Love, and Forgiveness] shifts from a contract of old habits to a choice made in crisis. Michael’s nonjudgmental embrace—paired with Jolene’s honesty—rebuilds trust. As a symbol, Jolene’s uniform is both armor and farewell: at the funeral it lets her stand; at Walter Reed it grants credibility; soon it will hang in a closet, marking a life she honors but no longer inhabits. The prosthesis evolves from “ugly clunker” to sleek possibility. When Jolene hurls the old leg, she rejects a broken identity; when she runs on the new one, she claims a future.
Key Quotes
“I can’t.”
- Jolene’s stark confession exposes the gap between willpower and capacity. Naming her limit becomes the first honest step toward help.
“What’s WRONG with you?”
- Betsy’s outcry captures the stigma surrounding visible PTSD symptoms. The question wounds, but it also opens the door to truth between mother and daughter.
“You have the heart of a champion.”
- Conny reframes Jolene’s story from loss to resilience. The line affirms that her strength is not in what she once did, but in how she keeps going.
“You’re not alone now.”
- Jolene offers Sarah the promise she once needed. The sentence completes the novel’s circle of care and marks Jolene’s shift from patient to healer.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
This sequence delivers the novel’s emotional climax and resolution. Chapter 28 is the nadir and the hinge: Jolene’s collapse strips away denial, enabling genuine intimacy with Michael and honest repair with Betsy. The major conflicts finally align—marital rupture, family fracture, and Jolene’s internal war—so healing can begin.
By the end, the book’s argument lands with clarity: recovery from war is communal. What begins as one woman’s private suffering becomes shared work—of spouses who stay, children who forgive, communities that honor sacrifice, and veterans who carry one another when the road home is steep.