In 1908 at Parambil, nineteen-year-old Ammachi wakes weighed down by melancholy and shortness of breath. JoJo tries to cheer her, but by evening her husband finds her in tears. Pressed, she admits a long-suppressed fear that her mother is suffering under her uncle’s roof, recalling a blocked visit at sixteen that left her powerless to help.

The next morning her husband and Shamuel vanish. By the following afternoon a bullock cart arrives bearing Ammachi’s mother, shockingly aged and thin, clutching a Bible, a silver cup, and a bundle of clothes. The mother recounts how the husband confronted the unwelcoming relatives, silenced their protests, and insisted she leave immediately; Shamuel gently scolds Ammachi for not asking sooner.

Ammachi settles her mother into comfort and serves a generous meal. In the quiet that follows, her mother notices the dark discoloration across Ammachi’s cheeks and nose and declares she is with child. Ammachi recognizes the truth at once.

Near one in the morning, Ammachi greets her husband returning by torch after taking a longer overland route. He washes, eats, and describes an eighteen-hour trek of over fifty miles before collapsing into bed. Ammachi places his hand on her belly; understanding dawns, and he holds her carefully, falling asleep with his hand cupping their unborn child.

At peace, Ammachi thanks God for the timing of these blessings and resolves not to dwell on past failings. The rescue of her mother and the pregnancy redefine her place at Parambil and foreshadow the matriarch she will become—Big Ammachi.