Harriet and the group hide in a fodder house on Christmas Day. While Harriet longs to visit with her parents, who are in another cabin close by, she knows that her mother can be indiscreet and would endanger their mission. She instructs the other young men, John Chase and Peter Jackson, to go tell her father that Tubman and their group are nearby and need food. They do so, and Benjamin feeds them and says that he will walk with them that night so he can visit with his children before they leave. Harriet notices that he has aged in the last few years and thinks about returning to take her father and Old Rit north with her next time.

The group spends Christmas day whispering to each other as they lay on the corn piles in the fodder house. Harriet tries to give them confidence in their plan, reminding them that she has never lost a person or failed on a mission. Catherine, accustomed to working indoors in the Big House, is frightened of the rats in the fodder house, and when Harriet warns her that the journey will be difficult, Catherine cries. William Henry comforts her, and Harriet envies their closeness, which she feels she will never experience with a man again.