Julie Goes to Atlanta to Rejoin Russell

Julie Devereaux’s move to Atlanta reunites her with Russell after a period of marital separation and turns an uncertain attempt at reconciliation into a shared new start. The novel reports the move retrospectively: by the time William Henry Devereaux, Jr. reflects on it in August, Julie and Russell are together, working, and considering a home of their own.

The Journey to Atlanta

Before Julie joins him, William Henry Devereaux, Jr. sends Russell to Atlanta, booking him on a commuter flight to Pittsburgh for a connection onward. The return is left open-ended, and William gives Russell money for expenses. Russell objects to the commuter flight but makes no substantial protest; his resentment shows instead in his refusal to let his father-in-law carry either of his bags.

William urges Russell to call Julie once he arrives and advises him to present the trip as his own idea, believing she will respond better that way. His practical help is thus accompanied by a small piece of marital strategy: Russell is being sent away, but also encouraged to make the decision feel like his own and to take responsibility for repairing the relationship.

Julie Rejoins Russell

By the third week of August, William reports that Julie joined Russell in Atlanta the previous month. The reunion is conveyed through its ordinary consequences rather than through a scene of arrival or reconciliation. Julie has found work, Russell has already been promoted, and the couple is doing well enough to consider buying a house.

Their prospects remain qualified by money. William does not know how they expect to pay for a house, so the possibility marks a new plan, not a settled purchase. Even so, the movement from separation to shared employment and a possible home gives the reunion practical substance: the couple is attempting to build a life together again.

Family Ties and Aftermath

William learns that the couple is doing well through reports from Atlanta, while Lily and Julie speak almost every day. Lily does not share the phone bills with William, a detail that hints at the private channel between mother and daughter and at William’s partial distance from Julie’s life. His involvement in sending Russell south has not made him the source of every update.

The move also changes the meaning of the couple’s former home. By August, a new family has rented it with an option to buy. Julie and Russell’s return to one another therefore coincides with their departure from the house associated with their life in Railton. The narrative presents reconciliation not as a restoration of the old domestic arrangement, but as a fresh beginning elsewhere, still shadowed by financial uncertainty.