Things are far from perfect but they're starting to come together. Serena's had help with the plumbing and the electricity and moving in some of the heavy furniture. She's done a lot on her own, too, grateful that she's healed from her delivery and learning what life is like when she always has a baby in her arms. She knows it will be harder to get help by way of nannies and babysitters out in the country but decides it's worth the trade. Here, they have a piece of home. Here, they can almost escape.

To the way things were and never will be again, a fact that sometimes catches Serena off guard as she remembers it. In those moments she forces herself to look at her son and remember that he's what she's always wanted, and she has him. If she'd arrived on her own entirely, who knows what she might have done. Most of her life has been spent without a family. That's not something she ever wants to return to.

So she accepts the reality that her life with Pemberton is over. She'll always him in George, something that can ache in both good ways and bad. She accepts this strange new future where women dress as they please and people use electricity like a birthright instead of a blessing. She wakes up each morning and decides to keep living, even if this isn't the life she planned. 

George is fussing one morning when Serena's been trying to put up some cheap curtains she'd bought at a thrift store, so she decides to take him out for a walk. The terrain is too uneven for any kind of pram so she carries him instead, pointing out trees and clouds in the sky overhead. If she turns to the right direction she can almost believe that she's back in the mountains of North Carolina, tall trees stretching further than she could ever climb. 

She wonders if the people who live here have any idea how much they'd be worth back on her camp, or how many workers would be put at risk to cut it down.

Wondering catches her off guard and she's surprised to see a dog ahead, no owner in sight. She hesitates for a moment in concern for her son. Back home, they'd had panthers to worry about but there had been rabies, too. She walks a little closer, lifting George so that her grasp is more secure. There's no foam at his mouth. And, as she looks to inspect, she sees he's wearing a collar. Chances are he's not a stray.