In the Midst of Winter

Lucia and Richard return to the cabin to meet Evelyn. They decide that they should rest for the night and resume leaving Kathryn’s body at the Omega Institute the following day when they are more rested.

That night, while Evelyn sleeps, Lucia and Richard talk intimately and extensively. Richard reveals that he continued drinking during the start of his academic post at New York University in 1991. Anita would stay at home and never leave their apartment. There was an attempt to find her a psychiatrist in New York, but she refused. One weekend, Richard went away with Horacio to the cabin and was notified that his wife had committed suicide by jumping from their apartment window. This devastated Richard so much that he stopped drinking and indulging in extreme behaviors. Lucia had heard rumors of Richard’s wife’s death before this; she realizes this is the first time he has properly talked about it with another person. While Richard laments being “a drunk, for [his] negligence, for loving [Anita and Bibi] much less than they deserved” (306), Lucia consoles him. She tells him that what happened to Anita and Bibi were not his fault and that he needs to live his life.