Tommy and Maribeth’s meeting in Grinnell sets in motion a relationship built first on friendship and practical care. For Maribeth, who has been sent away from her family while pregnant, Tommy becomes a dependable source of support; for Tommy, the friendship creates a way back toward intimacy and family life after Annie’s death. Their bond helps bring the Whittakers into Maribeth’s story and ultimately shapes the private adoption of her daughter by Liz and John.

Circumstances of the Meeting

Maribeth arrives in Grinnell after leaving the Sisters of Charity convent, where she had seen other pregnant girls’ experiences reinforce her sense of isolation. One girl’s newborn was taken to waiting adoptive parents without the mother seeing the baby; another, fifteen and expecting a child fathered by her uncle, was taken to hospital after a difficult labor and did not return. Once both girls were gone, Maribeth was left alone with the nuns. That history gives her later connection with Tommy a particular weight: he meets her not simply as a newcomer, but as someone already separated from home and facing pregnancy without family support.

Tommy says that he met Maribeth that summer, and explains to his parents that she had become pregnant in Onawa before moving to Grinnell. Her father had sent her away until after the baby’s birth; she had gone to the convent, found it unbearable, and come to Grinnell in June. Tommy had not caused the pregnancy, but by the time he tells his parents, he has been seeing her and is deeply concerned for her welfare.

Friendship and Practical Support

The relationship develops through ordinary acts of attention. Tommy visits Maribeth at the restaurant where she works, drives her home, and spends time with her outside work. He knows he cannot stay away and wants to know that she is all right. His concern is not abstract: he recognizes that she needs a doctor, and, despite his own nervousness, arranges an appointment with Avery MacLean, the obstetrician who had cared for Liz and delivered both of her children.

To secure the appointment, Tommy borrows his mother’s address and telephone book, finds the doctor’s contact information, and calls under the name Mrs. Robertson. He pretends to be Maribeth’s husband, saying they have recently moved to Grinnell after marrying and that she needs a checkup. The deception reflects the social and practical obstacles surrounding Maribeth’s unmarried pregnancy; Tommy uses it to get her access to medical care. When he tells her about the appointment, she is frightened about what to say to the doctor, but his initiative has already begun to turn their friendship into concrete protection.

Tommy also becomes the person Maribeth trusts with the truth about her circumstances. When his parents learn that she is six and a half months pregnant, he explains that she came from Onawa and has no one to help her. He admits that he delayed telling them because he feared they would disapprove, though he had thought they would like her. His account makes clear both the closeness that has formed between them and the limits of what he can do alone: he can accompany and support her, but he hopes his family will also help.

The Whittakers Become Involved

Tommy’s decision to tell Liz and John shifts the relationship from private friendship toward shared family responsibility. Liz initially reacts with alarm, then begins to understand that Tommy has been seeing Maribeth while the family itself has grown distant after Annie’s death. She recognizes that no one had been paying attention to Tommy, and her questions turn from surprise toward concern for Maribeth’s care. The disclosure therefore exposes two linked vulnerabilities: Maribeth’s isolation during pregnancy and the Whittakers’ estrangement from one another.

Liz’s bond with Maribeth strengthens as they work together. She admires Maribeth’s intelligence and her persistent effort to improve herself, seeing education as her hope for a future. When Maribeth prepares to leave the restaurant and return to her family for the birth, her coworkers give her a baby shower. Their gifts include knitted clothes, a blanket with ducks, a teddy bear, toys, diapers, and a high chair. The objects make the child’s impending arrival newly real to Maribeth—and make the prospect of giving the baby up newly painful. She calls Avery MacLean to ask whether he has found adoptive parents, unwilling to bring the baby home only to surrender it later and unable to imagine returning to the Whittakers with a child.

Adoption, Loss, and a Future

Maribeth eventually makes a different request: she asks Liz and John to adopt her baby. Her proposal changes the meaning of the friendship that began with Tommy. The child will remain within the circle of people who have supported her, but Maribeth understands that this does not make the loss easy or erase the difference between biological and adoptive motherhood. After Kate is born, Maribeth signs the adoption papers three days later, waiving the waiting period. She signs with a shaking hand, embraces Liz, and asks that the baby not be brought to her that day so she can begin to mourn.

The family’s first hours at home underscore the emotional cost of the arrangement. Liz carries Kate to the car while John takes photographs. When Kate cries, Liz goes to her and Maribeth tries not to listen or approach; she forces herself to keep distance because she does not want to mother a child who is now Liz and John’s daughter. Maribeth knows Kate will always have a place in her heart, but expects that, if their lives remain connected, she may be a friend rather than a mother. The adoption thus gives Kate a home with the Whittakers while requiring Maribeth to relinquish the daily role of parent.

The Whittakers also offer Maribeth a future beyond the immediate crisis. They give her the education fund they had set aside for Annie, so she can finish school and attend college, and invite her to return to their home if she chooses. They agree that Kate will initially know Maribeth as their friend, not as her birth mother. Maribeth is expected to go home and make peace with her father before moving on to college; she admits that returning home is painful to contemplate. Tommy promises to visit, and both know the separation will be difficult but not permanent. Their meeting therefore leads not to an uncomplicated romantic resolution, but to a durable bond expressed through care, a painful adoption, and support for Maribeth’s independence.