At home the mother bathes Lola and, after past abuse, kneels before Ryan and Lola to apologize, saying "I will never hit you again." She offers a sealed pledge — "one hundred years, never to change" — and the children tentatively forgive her. The narrator, who in a past life dominated the business world, is surprised by a new calm and vows to raise the two children so they won't suffer again. The household shifts from fear to fragile hope, and the narrator ends wishing, If only this dream would never end.