The Memory Keeper's Daughter

David sits upstairs in his office watching Rosemary and her 5-year-old son, Jack, in the garden. He thinks about how much he loves engaging with Jack and helping him grow, although “it pained David that his memories of Paul at this age were so sparse” (310). He thinks of how afraid he was to tell Norah and Paul the truth but realizes that this secret distanced himself from them. Instead,he threw himself into his work, and he regrets deeply his absentee parenting. He remembers buying the duplex where he and Rosemary now live side-by-side,and he refuses to let her pay rent. Rosemary believes that this is his way of making amends for abandoning his daughter. He and Rosemary have become close, and when Paul visits, he uses Rosemary as a buffer between himself and his father. Rosemary hangs paper cutouts all over her Jack’s bedroom, which she cuts out at night. She also sells them for side money. David thinks about the unsealed door that joins their separate houses which Rosemary does not know about,feeling pride that he does not go through it and has never taken advantage of her. 

David puts on his running clothes, thinking about the difference between Rosemary and Norah giving birth.