Verity Chapter 16: So Be It — Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Verity describes the overwhelming reality of caring for newborn twins. She feels on the verge of a breakdown, unable to cope with constant crying, feeding, and lack of sleep. When Jeremy returns to work after two weeks, she discovers a solution: after he leaves each morning, she puts the girls back in their cribs, unplugs the baby monitors, and sleeps all day. She reasons that the crying may even be good for them. By the time Jeremy comes home, she has fed, bathed, and soothed the babies, making her appear to be a capable mother. At night, the girls are exhausted and sleep well. Verity also writes at night, advancing her career. The only area of her marriage she fears is weakening is their sex life. Although her doctor has not yet cleared her for intercourse after the C-section, she initiates oral sex on Jeremy at 2 AM, then transitions to intercourse. He is rough, and the encounter lasts an hour and a half. Verity concludes that his desire for her remains intact, and that is what matters most.

Key Events

Verity admits she was about to have a breakdown from the demands of twin infants.
Jeremy returns to work after two weeks of paternity leave.
Verity devises a routine: she sleeps all day while Jeremy is gone, having unplugged the monitors.
She presents a calm household when Jeremy returns, creating an illusion of competence.
Verity feels their sex life is jeopardized by the postpartum period and her lack of medical clearance.
She initiates a sexual encounter at 2 AM, first performing oral sex, then intercourse.
Jeremy is aggressive during sex, but Verity interprets this as sustained desire.
She notes their sheets are covered in sweat and semen, but they fall asleep without speaking.
Verity concludes that even though the twins have taken much from them, Jeremy’s desire for her is secure.

Character Development

Verity

This chapter reveals Verity’s extreme pragmatism and willingness to deceive her husband. Her solution to the stress of twins—ignoring their crying to sleep—is a drastic act of self-preservation that also functions as a performance of motherhood. She is calculating, ensuring Jeremy sees a clean home and calm babies. Her narrative voice shows no guilt or remorse, only relief that the strategy works. Her determination to maintain physical intimacy, even against medical advice and while her body is still healing, underscores her prioritization of control in the marriage. She equates Jeremy’s sexual desire with proof of her value, reducing their connection to a physical transaction.

Jeremy

Although mostly absent from the action, Jeremy appears as a man who initially respects medical boundaries (refusing sex before the doctor’s clearance) but is easily manipulated by sexual provocation. His roughness during intercourse—“pounding into me so hard, it actually did hurt”—suggests that he may be releasing pent-up frustration or that his desire overrides his concern for Verity’s wellbeing. The fact that they do not speak throughout the encounter indicates a breakdown in emotional communication.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Performance of Motherhood

Verity explicitly stages a perfect domestic scene for Jeremy. She wakes early so he can “see me caring for the girls,” then sleeps while he is away. This theme of motherhood as a role to be played, rather than an authentic experience, aligns with the manuscript’s broader motif of lies and surfaces.

Sleep Deprivation and Self‑Preservation

Verity’s choice to unplug the monitors is a raw survival tactic. She frames it as necessary for her sanity and even rationalizes that the crying “was probably good for them.” This moment echoes earlier chapters where she prioritizes her own needs over the twins’ welfare (e.g., denying them formula branding). It paints her as a mother willing to risk her children’s comfort for her own rest.

Sexuality as Currency

For Verity, sex is a tool to secure her position in the marriage. She fears a “virus” of a bad sex life infecting every other area. Her orchestration of the encounter—first denying Jeremy oral release, then offering intercourse—demonstrates a strategic understanding of desire. She is less interested in mutual pleasure than in ensuring Jeremy remains sexually attached to her.

Silence and Nonverbal Communication

The entire sexual scene unfolds without a word. Jeremy’s hand movements and Verity’s actions replace speech. This silence suggests that their marriage has retreated from verbal intimacy; physical acts now carry the weight of unspoken negotiations.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 16 is one of the most unsettling in Verity’s manuscript because it shows not only her manipulation of Jeremy but also her complete lack of maternal warmth. Her decision to ignore her infants’ cries for hours, day after day, crosses a moral line that even a sympathetic reader would struggle to excuse. The chapter forces the reader to question how much of the earlier portrait of Verity as a struggling but loving mother was genuine.

Additionally, the sexual content is Rawlings’ most explicit depiction of her control over Jeremy. It reverses the usual power dynamic: she drives him to the point of madness, then grants him release on her terms. This scene may later become evidence in Lowen’s mind of Verity’s manipulative nature—and possibly of Jeremy’s own complicity.

The chapter also advances the postpartum plotline, showing that Verity’s bond with her daughters was fraught from the start. It sets up the later tragedy by establishing a pattern of neglect disguised as competence.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Verity unplug the baby monitors, and what does this action reveal about her character?
Verity unplugs the monitors so she can sleep through the twins’ crying while Jeremy is at work. The action reveals that she prioritizes her own rest over the immediate well-being of her children. It shows a calculating side: she only makes the household appear perfect when Jeremy is present, suggesting his opinion matters more to her than the babies’ actual care.

2. How does Verity’s description of the sexual encounter differ from typical portrayals of postpartum intimacy?
Most postpartum narratives emphasize emotional bonding, patience, and healing. Verity’s account is aggressive, risky (against medical advice), and nonverbal. She treats the encounter as a test of her continued influence over Jeremy rather than a shared experience. The darkness of the scene—her focus on control, his roughness, the lack of dialogue—makes it feel like a power transaction.

3. What does Jeremy’s behavior during the sex scene suggest about his state of mind?
Jeremy’s eagerness to forgo his earlier caution, combined with his physical roughness, suggests pent-up frustration, possibly with the demands of new fatherhood or with Verity herself. The fact that he never speaks and falls asleep immediately afterward implies emotional exhaustion or avoidance. He is not participating as a partner but as someone driven by primal need, which Verity interprets as desire but may actually be a symptom of stress.