Redeeming Love

Michael cannot stop thinking about Sarah. He believes that God will not give him peace until he returns to Pair-a-Dice. When he arrives, he hears from the storekeeper that Sarah is “not doing business for a while” (84). Michael is developing a plan to get to Sarah when Lucky approaches him and begs him to take Sarah away. Worried, he barges his way into Sarah’s room, past the Duchess and a doctor. Sarah is in a laudanum-induced daze. When Michael asks her to marry him, she says, “Why not?” (86). Sarah is carried out of the room and feels “someone slip a ring on her finger” (87). She hears Lucky talking to her as she is carried out of the brothel.

Sarah wakes in Michael’s house. Her eyes are still swollen shut, but she smells “the wonderful aroma of good cooking” (88). She suddenly realizes what happens. Sarah tries to argue, but she is in too much pain. She eats reluctantly. They are 30 miles from Pair-a-Dice, and three days have passed. They argue about names, as Michael believes that “Sarah was a prostitute in Pair-a-Dice, and she doesn’t exist anymore” (90). Michael admits that God sent him, and Sarah thinks he is crazy, saying, “[Y]ou and God better not expect much” (91).

Sarah finds herself “in bondage to another man” (92). She relies on Michael for everything, and she hates him for it. He leaves her occasionally to go and work in the fields, telling her that he is giving her time to think. When she can at last get out of bed, Sarah searches for clothes and finds nothing. Michael helps her sit in a chair, and they talk. Michael provides a set of old clothes and tells Sarah that soon she will be ready to do chores around the farm; with regards to sex, he says they will consummate the marriage “when it means something more to you than work” (97). Sarah is determined to get her money from the Duchess. She believes that she can work Michael out because he is a man. She remembers Duke, who taught her what men want and how to endure it without emotion.

Sarah is lonely, so she becomes “edgy and defensive” (102). Michael takes her on a tour of the farm. He has their whole life together planned out in his mind, though Sarah says that her plans “don’t include [Michael]” (103). Michael teaches Sarah how to cook, but she spills a pot of stew. Michael forgives her, but she is angry at herself. She hears God, telling her that she is “going to learn” (106).

Sarah returns to the house and sits alone beside the extinguished fire. She tries to lay a fire, and Michael returns and helps her. When it is lit, Sarah puts it out and tries to rebuild it, but the fire will not light. Frustrated, she asks for a massage and tries to seduce Michael, using what she knows “to wage war against him” (109). Michael rejects Sarah and then exits the house to think. He returns an hour later, and they talk about God. After dinner, they lay in bed together and Michael assures her that all he wants is to sleep in his own bed with his wife. When he falls asleep, Sarah believes him. 

Sarah has a nightmare about Duke, so Michael comforts her. They argue, and he demands that they take a walk in the middle of the night. The dark frightens Sarah, reminding her of Rab’s death. Michael leads them to the top of a hill, surrounded by empty terrain, and tells her that “everything that matters is here” (118). They sit down together and wait for the sunrise. Sarah’s soul aches and, though she worries that she is “guilty of being born” (119), she begins to wonder whether Michael is “all that he seemed” (120).

Michael notices that Sarah is distant and struggles to come to terms with it. God tells him to be patient, though he hears other tempting thoughts. Sarah helps around the farm while still planning to leave. Her stirring affections for Michael annoy her, however. She wants to return to Pair-a-Dice and collect the money she is owed. When Michael learns about this, he becomes angry. One day, Sarah collects walnuts from beneath a tree, and the dye from the hulls stains her hands. They will stay that way “for a couple of weeks” (127); Sarah is annoyed and Michael smiles slightly. The colored hands mean Sarah will not return to Pair-a-Dice. They argue. Eventually, Michael admits that he wants Sarah to love him; she says that this is “impossible” (129). After a difficult conversation, they have sex for the first time. Sarah tries to refrain from an emotional connection but cannot help herself. She finally says his name out loud. As they lay together, a voice in Sarah’s head tells her to flee.

The next day, Sarah leaves the house and tries to walk to Pair-a-Dice. She slips in a river, becomes soaking wet, then loses her way. On his horse, Michael searches for Sarah and finds her in the middle of nowhere. She refuses to come back with him, so he gives her a ride back to the road and tells her how to reach the town. Later that night, she returns to his house and announces that she will “wait for spring” (140). He helps her wash, and she feels ashamed.

Paul, Michael’s widower brother-in-law, returns from panning for gold. He and Michael embrace and are glad to see one another. Paul is shocked to hear that Michael is married; after a lonely time away, Paul had hoped for Michael’s companionship and his way of bringing “a lightness to the heaviest times” (145). Paul sleeps in the barn. When he wakes, he bathes and shaves. Michael introduces Sarah to Paul as “Amanda,” but Paul recognizes “the high-priced prostitute from Pair-a-Dice” (146). Paul is shocked into silence, and Sarah knows he recognizes her. Paul struggles with how to tell Michael about Sarah’s past. He confronts Sarah, and she says that he can “tell [Michael] whatever you want, mister” (149). But Paul cannot and he begins to resent the “deceiving harlot” (149) and so returns to his own nearby home.

Some days later, Paul meets Michael and reveals what he knows. When Michael dismisses his worries, Paul accuses him of being a fool and worries that he is being “destroyed by that worthless woman” (153). Michael punches Paul and then apologizes. Paul keeps quiet but resolves to “drive [Sarah] out” (154). The next morning, Paul must travel to Pair-a-Dice for winter supplies. Sarah chases after him and asks to be taken back to the town so she can collect her money. Paul agrees, and while they travel, he tries to anger Sarah, who “pressed her lips tight but made no complaint” (157). Eventually, he pulls to the side of the road and says Sarah owes him “something for the ride” (159). They have “rough and quick” (159) sex. Afterwards, Sarah vomits. Paul tells her that she is not worth more than “two bits” (160). Sarah, in turn, asks what he is worth, seeing as he has borrowed Michael’s wagon, horses, gold, and wife. They do not speak for the rest of the journey.