Redeeming Love

The corn is ready for harvest. Elizabeth can see that Miriam is in love with Michael, but she assures Sarah that Miriam would not act on her feelings. Michael and Paul travel to the nearby town to sell their produce; before they leave, Paul and Sarah have an angry confrontation. Michael returns while Paul stays in the town. Michael brings rose bushes for Sarah, which put in her mind “an image of her mother in a nightgown, kneeling in a moonlit garden” (304). Paul “went to the town to celebrate” (304), Miriam reveals, and—coupled with stories of Sarah’s past—this upsets her.

While shelling corn, God tells Sarah “you have to die to be reborn” (306). Miriam enters and announces that Elizabeth is about to give birth. Sarah performs her role as midwife, listening to what Elizabeth tells her to do. Soon, Sarah is holding the newborn baby boy. She goes to Michael, who makes a blunder about having their own child and apologizes. Christmas is approaching, and Sarah is sad because she cannot give Michael “the only thing” (310) he really wants: a child. Michael tells her that it does not matter, but “both of them knew it did” (311).

Sarah is determined not to let Paul spoil her first “real Christmas” (312). The families exchange presents and read from the Bible. It is announced that the newborn baby will be named Benjamin Michael, after Michael. The sight of Michael with the baby—and Miriam by his side—makes Sarah realize what she must do: leave so Michael and Miriam can have the life she cannot give him. Aware of Sarah’s plan, Michael speaks to God, who tells him to let her go. Instead, Michael sends Miriam to bring Sarah back. Sarah refuses, handing Miriam her wedding ring and saying, “give [Michael] the children I can’t” (319). Miriam begs Michael to go after Sarah, and he refuses. Paul discovers that Sarah’s departure—which is what he has wanted for a long time—actually hurts.

Sarah arrives in San Francisco. In her small hotel room, she misses Michael. She wanders the streets, searching for a job. God tells her to “go into [a] café and rest” (324), and she obeys. Inside, the owner, Virgil Harper, is struggling to fill his orders, so he hires Sarah as a cook. Virgil also offers her a room. Sarah introduces herself as Mrs. Hosea. John Altman tries to convince Michael to search for Sarah, and Miriam wants Paul to do the same. Six months later, Sarah watches the café burning, along with “everything she had worked for” (329). She and Virgil sort through the ashes, trying to salvage anything. As she washes her face in a trough, she sees Duke standing before her.

Duke mocks Sarah. Virgil knows Duke as the owner of “that place across the square […] the big one” (333). When Duke tries to take Sarah away, Virgil attempts to intervene. Worried that Duke will hurt Virgil, Sarah agrees to go with Duke. They enter Duke’s large, opulent casino, and Duke puts Sarah in a bedroom and leaves. He has servants take care of her, one of whom is Cherry, a girl no more than 13 years old, enters. Sarah knows that Cherry may have been Duke’s mistress “at one time” (336) but is now too old. Duke watches Sarah bathe and then has her eat an expensive meal. She feels ashamed for “selling [her] soul for a steak and a slice of chocolate cake” (338). She and Duke talk, and he slaps her when she tells him about Michael. Sarah’s nightmares return. In one dream, she dies, and God speaks to her, commanding her to follow. She wakes and, through the walls, hears a child crying in Duke’s room. 

Paul wants to return to gold mining to escape Miriam. He fails to sell his land to Michael, so he goes to John Altman instead. Miriam overhears, calls him “an idiot, a dunderhead, a blockhead, a dunce” (346), and storms out. She returns later and confesses to her parents that she loves Paul. She develops a plan to make him stay. Eventually, Miriam confesses her love to Paul, and he agrees to marry her.

Duke tells Sarah that she has changed and offers her a job, saying “you can manage the girls or become one of them” (349). She accepts, seeing it as a means of escape. However, Duke says she must work as a prostitute for one week. Duke presents Sarah to a baying crowd of men in his gambling house. She hears God commanding her to sing, so she sings a hymn. The crowd falls silent, then one man joins in and they sing together. The other men are ashamed, and Sarah shouts at them, asking why they are there. Duke angrily confronts her. As he lifts his hand to slap her, the man who sang with Sarah stops him. The man, named Jonathan Axle, offers to take her away. Sarah agrees, and she takes the two little girls in Duke’s room with her.

Jonathan is the owner of “one of the largest banks in San Francisco” (358), so no one dares to stop him as he exits the casino with Sarah and the two girls. Jonathan offers to take her home and care for “her needs” (359) while he determines what to do about Duke’s establishment. They discuss religion. Sarah and the young girls warm themselves in Jonathan’s house, meeting his daughter. Sarah and Jonathan talk late into the night. When he goes to bed, he tells his wife that God compelled him to visit Duke’s establishment that night.

Paul and Miriam, now married, fight about Sarah and who knew her best. Miriam accuses him of being “eaten up with bitterness” (366). Meanwhile, the two girls Sarah liberated from Duke’s clutches have been rehomed with loving families. Sarah knows she must eventually leave the Axle household because they have been “far too kind” (368) to her. She begins attending church and sees religion as Michael sees it. She prays, asking God to tell her what to do with her life, but receives no answers. One day, Sarah is stopped in the street by Torie, who had also worked in the brothel in Pair-a-Dice. Torie still works for the Duchess, so Sarah decides to take Torie to Virgil’s new café and get her a job as a cook. Sarah realizes this is her life calling and what God wants her to do. She tells the Axle family about her plan to buy a house where “someone like Torie can come and be safe and learn to earn her own living without selling her body to do it” (378). Though it will cost a lot of money, Jonathan agrees to fund the operation.

Almost three years pass since Sarah left Michael, and Paul goes searching for her. He knows that both Miriam and Michael will not be happy until Sarah returns. After a long, fruitless search, he sees her on the street in San Francisco. She is with a wealthy older man who Paul assumes is a client. He then follows Sarah to the House of Magdalena, which he assumes is a brothel, and he decides to confront her the next day. Upon entering the supposed brothel, he finds a class of women. Sarah meets him and tells him the building’s true purpose. She is shocked to discover Paul (rather than Michael) is now married to Miriam and that they are expecting a baby. Paul tells her, “Michael’s still waiting for you to come home” (387). Paul understands why Sarah left and admits that he was wrong about her. They apologize to one another, and Paul eventually convinces her to return with him.

Paul returns with Sarah, and Miriam notes that he has “made your peace with yourself” (395). Sarah is worried about reuniting with Michael, and she walks to Michael’s house with Miriam and Paul. Sarah sees Michael working in the field and prays to God for strength. She walks to him, taking off her clothes and struggling to speak. While crying, she says that she is sorry, and they embrace. She finally tells him her real name is Sarah.

Sarah and Michael share “many happy years together” (401). Eventually, Sarah becomes pregnant. She and Michael have four children together, while Miriam and Paul have three. The families become a community, complete with a church. Sarah returns once a year to the House of Magdalena because she does not want to forget where she came from or what God has done for her. Michael dies after 68 years of marriage, and Sarah dies “within a month” (401). On Sarah’s grave marker is the epigraph: “Though fallen low God raised her up an angel” (401).