A Town Called Solace

Mrs. Orchard explains to Martha what her doctor said and invites her to talk about it, but Martha doesn’t want to. Mrs. Dubois’s family visits again, and she is finally allowed to sit up a little, so there is a little celebration when the family reunites. After the children leave, Martha asks Mrs. Orchard to stay with her until the end, and Mrs. Orchard promises to do so. Martha passes away later that night. Mrs. Orchard is the one to notice, as Martha wakes Mrs. Orchard up from a nap before falling silent.

Mrs. Orchard grieves Martha’s passing deeply. To distract herself, she writes a final letter to Liam, enclosing the photographs she brought with her and a covering letter to her lawyer. She then relives the part of her past she has constantly been trying to suppress.

The argument between Mr. and Mrs. Orchard is a turning point in their marriage, and a distance creeps in between them for a long time. In retrospect, Mrs. Orchard knows she wasn’t being rational: She had fantasies of Liam being passed on to them to adopt, and watching how good Mr. Orchard was with Liam only fueled these fantasies.

In her flashback, Liam spends increasing amounts of time at the Orchards’, now completely ignoring Annette when she speaks to him, which upsets her. One evening, when she comes to pick him up, he proclaims he wants to live with the Orchards and have them be his parents, as he likes them more than Annette. Instead of reassuring Annette, Mrs. Orchard hastily calls Liam “silly” and asks him to go home. However, her expression gives her away, unsettling Annette.

Liam heads to “his room,” and when Annette follows him and sees how perfectly done up for Liam it is, she is furious and horrified. She accuses Mrs. Orchard of tempting Liam and turning him against her, and drags a screaming Liam back home. Annette yells at Mrs. Orchard, calling her “crazy” and threatening to call the police, even as Mrs. Orchard denies everything.

Mr. Orchard is away for work, and there is no one to calm a frantic Mrs. Orchard down. She goes over to the Kanes’ to try and speak to Ralph, but Annette almost physically attacks her. Desperate, Mrs. Orchard steals into the Kanes’ house at midnight and carries a sleeping Liam out to her car. She drives away aimlessly in the middle of the night, but by dawn the police catch up with her and bring her back. Liam remains asleep through it all.

A huge scandal follows, with the Kanes moving away and Mr. Orchard transferring universities. Mrs. Orchard is charged with abduction and sentenced to prison for a year. Mr. Orchard is shaken, having hoped the judge would consider his wife’s mental state and good reputation and pass a lenient sentence. After Mrs. Orchard gets out, her condition necessitates a stay in a psychiatric hospital, and she gets through her time there with the help of her therapists and her husband’s unwavering love and support.

A new occupant moves into Martha’s bed; Mrs. Orchard keeps the pleasantries to a minimum. She finds it increasingly difficult to breathe now, and asks the nurse to help turn her onto her side. As she drifts off, she feels her husband’s hand cupping her side, just as he used to every night in bed.

Ten days after Rose is found, Liam is walking home from work when Sergeant Barnes pulls up alongside him and offers him a lift. Sergeant Barnes thanks Liam once again for his help with finding Rose, revealing she was found in a derelict house on the outskirts of town where an organized gang kept young girls to be raped by customers. Rose was possibly picked up within a day or two of arriving; her cropped head was the key identifier that helped the police find her, as people remembered her. She will undoubtedly have some lasting psychological damage from the incident, but the doctor is keeping an eye on her.

Sergeant Barnes also claims he heard Liam picked up some ice cream. He subtly warns Liam to be careful with Jo, as she has been through a couple of rough, abusive marriages in the past. Liam thinks about how he has visited Jo quite a few times since the first, and now understands her caution. She initiated sex, so he feels comfortable continuing.

Later that night Jo mentions her past, and Liam reveals Sergeant Barnes already told him, trying to warn him off Jo. Jo understands Sergeant Barnes is being protective and admits the hardest part is trying not to think about her past.

Liam and Jo continue their affair, slowly getting to know each other. The time he spends with Jo means Liam sees less of Clara; however, he thinks it a good thing, as he is planning to leave soon and has a sense that Clara is beginning to depend on him.

Liam turns up to work one day to find Cal missing; Jim reveals he took Liam up on his advice and went back to university. Jim’s wife, Susan, has invited Liam over for dinner.

On Thursday morning, Liam and Jo get out of bed and have French toast and ice cream together. Liam notices how beautiful Jo is, and Jo curls up next to him in bed. Liam realizes he is in love with her, and instantly Fiona’s assertions that he is incapable of love and trust come rushing back. Sure he will mess things up sooner or later, Liam tells Jo he will be leaving Solace soon, and they end their affair.

Later that night, he feels sick with grief and is tempted to leave town straightaway. However, he knows he cannot suddenly leave because of Clara, and decides to give it a couple of days. The next time he sees Clara, she asks about Rose, and when he suggests she ask her parents instead, she is furious and close to tears. They unpack another box instead.

On Sunday, Liam and Clara unpack the last box. Liam finds Mrs. Orchard’s last letter to him and the photographs she took with her to the hospital. In the letter, she hopes that what he remembers from his time with the Orchards, above all else, is how much they loved him. Liam remembers how special he felt at the Orchards’, and is sure his mother must have known that he never wanted to return home from there. Liam shows Clara the photograph that has him in it, telling her he is the little boy. She is delighted, and claims this is why Mrs. Orchard left him the house, because she loved him very much.

Clara helps Liam replace the photographs exactly where they were on the mantelpiece. Liam offers a wood carving of four card players, which he had promised Clara she could have when he dies, for her to take home straightaway. Liam had hoped this would help soften the blow of his leaving, but Clara looks so stricken at the thought that he might be dying that he rushes to reassure her instead. He promises she can keep them in his house and play with them when she comes over to see him and Moses.

After Clara leaves, Liam regrets not having told her he was leaving. He tries to convince himself that she will get over it. After eating a bowl of ice cream, Liam heads over to Jo’s and tells her he is having trouble leaving. She invites him in to talk about it. When he gets back home, he has a sense that something has changed. He switches on the light to find a cat sitting in the center of the living room, gazing up at him. Liam greets the cat: “Hello, Moses […] It’s good to meet you” (288).