The Last Carolina Girl

Mrs. Griffin leaves Leah with a long list of house chores before she leaves to run errands. She specifically tells Leah to spend extra time tidying Michael Henry’s room. Mary Ann excitedly tells Leah about a planned play date with a school friend on Tuesday, and Mrs. Griffin confirms that she has a meeting with the other ladies on that day. Mrs. Griffin asks Leah to find her pair of missing shoes as she walks out the door.

Leah remembers Mary Ann wearing and hiding the shoes; she locates them immediately and carries them to Mrs. Griffin’s closet to reshelve. She finds a large pile of shoeboxes and searches for the appropriate match, instead finding a shoebox full of letters from Jesse. Leah sits on Mrs. Griffin’s bedroom floor, crying as she reads through Jesse’s messages about Tulla, Maeve, school, Harley, and Emma’s shells at their gravesite and everything else important to Leah. He reports that Mr. Barna fixed Harley’s cottage, which is in better condition than before.

Leah hears the front door close. She dashes out of Mrs. Griffin’s room, hiding Jesse’s letters in a laundry basket. She slips into Michael Henry’s room and begins cleaning; Michael Henry enters his room and closes the door behind him. Leah suggests that they take their secret trip to the beach on Tuesday when everyone else leaves the house. Michael Henry agrees and asks Leah to help him practice dancing for the ball. He presses his face to Leah’s temple while they dance, which makes Leah laugh.

Mrs. Griffin abruptly enters Michael Henry’s room, shocked at the sight. She suggests that Leah has seduced Michael Henry, loudly calling her a “whore.” Mrs. Griffin spots the letters from Jesse and calls Leah a thief before slapping her across the face. Leah retreats to her room, where she hides under her quilt.

Tuesday arrives, and Leah anxiously prepares to meet Michael Henry in the cemetery, where he waits in a friend’s borrowed car. However, when Mrs. Griffin prepares to leave the house, she insists that Leah accompany her. Leah tries to resist, faking a stomachache, but Mrs. Griffin grabs Leah by the arm and forces her into the car. They drive to Dr. Foster’s office, much to Leah’s surprise. Leah assumes that the meeting will occur in his office, and she devises a plan to sneak away unnoticed and run to the cemetery.

Once inside, Leah is escorted to a procedure room and instructed to wear a paper gown. Confused, Leah attempts to leave. Mrs. Griffin blocks the way and reminds Leah of the stomachache she mentioned earlier. Dr. Foster appears and tells Leah that she will have an appendectomy. He looks confused when Leah declares that she doesn’t have appendicitis, clearly baffled that Leah knows such a large, technical term. The nurse and Mrs. Griffin force Leah onto the operating table, and Dr. Foster shouts at Leah to listen to her aunt’s instructions. Time stops for Leah as she realizes that Mrs. Griffin is her aunt; she thinks that she must be her mother’s sister. The nurse uses Leah’s hesitation to administer sedatives.

Leah cannot remember traveling back to the Griffins’ house. She feels a sharp pain in her side when she begins to drift in and out of consciousness. In her retrospective narrative voice, Leah describes an emotional pain that will linger for years from this procedure.

Mary Ann appears with stolen soda crackers, sneaking them to Leah. She also produces a letter from Jesse; Mary Ann snuck Leah’s letter into a public mail collection box during their trip to Charlotte and stole Jesse’s response from Mrs. Griffin’s mail pile. Leah cries uncontrollably, wanting to tell Mary Ann that they are biological cousins. Mary Ann curls up next to Leah, quietly allowing her to cry as much as necessary.

Aside from Mary Ann, the Griffins leave Leah alone in her room until Saturday, the day of the ball. Mr. Griffin gently asks Leah to assist a very stressed Mrs. Griffin with numerous preparatory tasks. Leah asks Mr. Griffin why he never told Leah that she is his niece, but Mary Ann interrupts their conversation. Leah’s abdomen aches as she helps Eva Jane and Mrs. Griffin dress. She looks forward to returning to her room. Just before their departure, Mrs. Griffin tosses a blue dress at Leah, instructing her to change and accompany the family to the ball, where she will serve punch.

Leah admires the dancers and enjoys watching Aiken dip Eva Jane dramatically on the dance floor. When Michael Henry’s date excuses herself for the bathroom, he apologizes for Mrs. Griffin’s behavior and suggests that they try for the beach again soon. This proclamation distracts Leah while she pours punch, and she spills the liquid on the blue dress. Mrs. Griffin scolds Leah and instructs her to clean up.

Leah overhears Mrs. Griffin lamenting about Leah to a friend before discussing Leah’s sterilization procedure. Until that moment, Leah believed that Dr. Foster had performed an appendectomy. She throws her apron on the ground and walks out into the night.

Leah returns to the Griffins’ house, changes into the house dress in which she originally arrived, lights a fire, and burns the blue dress. The Griffins arrive home not long after Leah; the house is filled with smoke since Leah didn’t know to open the chimney flue. Mr. Griffin rectifies the situation and sends the other children to their rooms.

Leah confronts Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, who reveal that Mrs. Griffin is actually Leah’s father’s sister. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin lived in poverty in their youth; they’ve since worked hard to create a better, more affluent life for their children. Mrs. Griffin was appalled when Emma sacrificed her upper-class life for Harley, and she sees Leah as a reminder of the life she worked so hard to escape. Leah recognizes Harley’s facial features in Mrs. Griffin and recalls times when her accent slipped to sound like Harley. Leah understands that Mrs. Griffin only ever saw her as an opportunity for a free housekeeper.

Mr. Griffin encourages Mrs. Griffin to forgive the past while redefining her future with Leah, but Mrs. Griffin declines. He is appalled to learn that Mrs. Griffin hides Leah’s letters from Jesse, and he promises to return Leah to the Barnas’ house the following day. Leah wants to hug Mr. Griffin, but she retreats to her room. She considers saying goodbye to the other children, especially Mary Ann, but decides to leave quietly.

The drive to Supply, North Carolina, feels longer than Leah remembers. She feels weak, her side hurting when they finally arrive. Tulla waits for Leah on the front porch, and she runs to help Leah stand as Leah stumbles from the car. Mrs. Barna follows suit, collecting Leah from the other side and carrying her to the porch. Jesse emerges from the Barnas’ house and wraps his arms around Leah. Leah feels at home with the Barnas. 

Leah never forgives the Griffins for sterilizing her, and she struggles with her grief of not being a mother for decades. However, her life improves drastically with the Barnas. Leah lives in their house until she legally becomes an adult. She never returns to school. Instead, she tends to Mr. Barna’s garden and orchard, opening a produce stand. When her efforts prove successful, Mr. Barna allows Leah to sell produce in his stores. Leah moves back into her cottage when Jesse leaves for college. She misses him while he’s away, especially when he enlists and fights in World War II. She finds peace walking among her birthday trees and shells.

Romance blossoms when Jesse returns home. The young couple builds a house on Holden Beach, watching the sun set over the ocean daily. Leah cannot remember an evening as beautiful as the double rainbow she witnessed with Harley.