What Comes After

Evangeline eats lunch with her school friends. Several weeks have passed, and she has settled into a routine at Isaac’s house and at school. The girls gossip about a boy asking out a girl named Rebekah and upsetting the girl he was dating. Evangeline doesn’t pay much attention until the conversation turns to Jonah and Daniel. A rumor holds that Rebekah was sleeping with both Jonah and Daniel, leading Jonah to kill Daniel. Evangeline offers possible defenses for the girl, which surprises her friends. The conversation winds down, and Natalia invites Evangeline over to make food that weekend.

Isaac gets a call at school from a friend of his aunt, insisting that he come to Pennsylvania and persuade his aunt to go to a care home. He tells Evangeline that evening about his aunt and how he’ll be gone for a week. Evangeline is hurt and scared and lashes out at him. He tries to reassure her, but she tells him that she hated Daniel and that he couldn’t be the father. Isaac goes to his study to take time in silence, struck by the level of anger she expressed toward Daniel.

They talk later, when their tempers have cooled.