Tookie is simultaneously excited and nervous for Hetta to return for a visit home. When Hetta arrives, Tookie is surprised that she has a new baby, named Jarvis. She alludes to the father, but Tookie can tell that Pollux doesn’t know who it is. Tookie is equally surprised at how nice Hetta is being to her. Tookie finds Jarvis mesmerizing, and as she holds him, she senses that he can look deep inside her and sees only the good in her heart. Hetta plans to introduce them to Jarvis’s father, a writer who is setting up an apartment for them in Minneapolis. However, when Tookie brings up meeting Jarvis’s father again, Hetta snaps at her.

The Birchbark Books employees gather at Louise’s house for a New Year’s celebration. They argue about the merits and quality of various types of rice. Tookie confides her troubles with Hetta to her former teacher Jackie. Jackie notes that sometimes it’s easy to inadvertently cross boundaries with daughters but that Hetta will eventually understand now that she’s a mother. Jackie asks Tookie about her own mother, whom Jackie never heard much about.