With Marin unable to say yes to returning home, they have come to her and brought Christmas with them. Hours after Mabel has left, she reappears at the dorm with her parents. After three days, she says goodbye to Mabel, her healing coming along enough that she’s able to call one of Gramps’s friends to check in. Marin, deep in grief and loneliness, is unable to accept this offer, though she grows to want to accept it as the days pass. Mabel tells Marin that her parents want to unofficially adopt Marin they’ve prepared her a bedroom of her own and want to be her new home for school holidays and beyond. Though talking is at first difficult, Mabel persists, and Marin tells her friend more of her secrets and fears.

This is a massive betrayal, as Marin had long struggled to recall even a single memory of her mother and believed there were no remaining pictures of herself as a baby or with her mother.ĭuring Mabel’s visit, Marin is able to open up and reconnect with her friend, allowing her to begin the process of healing. He had hoarded Birdie’s possessions and photographs but had never shared any of them with Marin. After his disappearance, Marin discovers that Birdie is her late mother and that Gramps has been writing letters both to and from her for years, either pretending they were real or delusional enough to believe it. For many years, Gramps had a pen pal named Birdie with whom he exchanged frequent letters. Along with the mental health problems, Gramps was also coughing up blood and seemed weak, suggesting his physical health was also fragile. Gramps suffered from an unknown mental illness he was hospitalized once for it when Marin was a child and, toward the end of his life, was behaving oddly with angry outbursts and paranoia. Though her grandfather cared deeply for Marin and provided a good life, it becomes clear that the loss of his wife and daughter irrevocably changed him. Over the course of Mabel’s visit, the flashbacks reveal the state of Marin’s former life and the shocking truths that emerged after her grandfather’s disappearance, all of which helps to explain the depths of Marin’s grief.

Alles okay by Nina LaCour