Where the Heart Is

The aftermath of Lexie and her kids’ tragedy continue to haunt them. She has given up on ever finding a father for her kids and continues to struggle with Brummett’s anger from the incident. However, love finds her when Lexie meets Leon Yoder. Touching on the theme Reliability of Fatherhood, Leon tells Lexie how he took his ex-girlfriend’s daughter because the woman did not want the child and was willing to trade her for his classic car. Lexie knows that a man who could do that is a man who will do anything for her children. Not only that, but Leon’s presence in their lives begins to soothe Brummett’s anger and helps him to return to a version of the boy he was before. Lexie’s marriage to Leon is a stroke of hope in a novel that has been filled with tragedy and grief.

Nearly seven years have passed, and Novalee and Forney continue to be friends. However, after his sister dies and the library burns down, things begin to change between them. Novalee has begun to have romantic feelings for Forney, although she has not identified them to herself, let alone anyone else. However, after they share a night of intimacy, Novalee is able to admit her feelings to herself and to Lexie. Novalee’s old insecurities return after she talks to a local woman who tells her that Forney once attended a prestigious college in Maine. Novalee begins comparing her uneducated past to Forney’s higher education and his family’s former wealth. She convinces herself that a man like Forney could never be happy living a working class life with her. She makes a choice without talking to Forney and asking his opinion on the subject, deciding to lie to him rather than reveal the truth and risk forcing him into a life she believes he does not want.

Letts highlights Novalee’s unusual and unstable childhood once more when she brings Benny Goodluck to Novalee’s home on the night of his prom. Benny is a few days from his 18th birthday and has never asked a girl out, never kissed a girl, and never had an adventure. When Novalee was his age, she was weeks from giving birth to Americus. As Benny laments all the things he has not done, Novalee envies him for the stable childhood he has experienced. Although they are both members of what society considers a lower class—she as a poor working mother and he as a member of a racial minority—they have had significantly different experiences in their short lives. However, Novalee has never complained about her unfortunate childhood, yet Benny is there complaining about the adventures he has never had. It is a little ironic, showcasing the naivety that comes with a sheltered childhood like the one Benny has experienced.

Americus turns seven, and Novalee immediately begins looking for trouble due to her superstition related to the number seven. It does not take her long to find it. Novalee reads an article in the newspaper that tells her Willy Jack is in a hospital in Alva. Coming full circle, Novalee goes to see Willy Jack for the first time since he abandoned her at the Walmart. She initially approaches Willy Jack with anger, afraid he has come to take Americus from her. Instead, she finds a Willy Jack who has grown and matured since his accident. He has been looking for Novalee and Americus not to hurt them but to apologize for lying to Novalee on their last day together. Willy Jack has been haunted by a lie he told Novalee: that he did not feel the baby’s heartbeat when she held his hand to her belly. When he apologizes, he causes Novalee to see how the lie she told Forney would haunt her the rest of her life if she did not make it right. The meeting leads to closure in more than one way. It allows Willy Jack to receive a modicum of forgiveness for his actions, and it leads Novalee to reach out to Forney and attempt to make things right with him.

Letts does not say if Forney will come home or if Novalee will return to him, but their words to each other express a love and a connection that will likely bring them back together. In the end, it does not really matter what happens to them romantically. Novalee has finally come to a place in her growth where she can recognize all the gifts the people in her life have given her—gifts that she would not have without Willy Jack. If he hadn’t given her Americus or abandoned her at the Walmart, Novalee’s life would have taken a very different turn, and she would not have received all she has from those she loves. That is the true happy ending of the novel—not a romantic gesture or a highly anticipated wedding. Instead, the ending is a quiet and simple realization that teaches Novalee what home truly is.