Before We Were Yours: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

It’s the present day in Aiken, South Carolina. Avery takes a breath and prepares to exit the limo—which is surrounded by cameras—with her father. She wishes she could forget why she came back to Aiken, but she can’t. Her father’s hair is standing up a little in back and Avery wishes she could reach over and fix it but doesn’t because it’d be “a breach of protocol”; although Avery knows her father loves her and her sisters, he doesn’t vocalize it very often. Avery knows she’s his favorite daughter, but that he’s also confused by her because she went to college for a degree instead of to catch a husband. However, for this same reason it’s become a silent understanding in their family that Avery will follow in her father’s footsteps. In her thoughts, Avery tries to convince herself that this is what she wants.

Even though Avery is certain she wants to take over for her father, she still hopes that she won’t have to quite yet, that both Wells Stafford’s (her father) cancer and his political opponents will be beaten so she can return to her former life for a little bit longer.

Wells asks Avery if she’s ready and she says she is. To herself, she says that she hopes she won’t have to become her father’s caretaker and be faced with the same tough choices that Wells recently had to make for Judy, Avery’s grandmother. Judy has been put into an upscale “facility,” but Wells and Avery can’t talk about it in public due to a recent scandal involving other senior care facilities in South Carolina. Avery knows that political opponents would accuse Wells of turning a blind eye to the plight of lower-class seniors in these facilities if it helps his friends and contributors. This makes Avery mad because she knows the decision to put Judy in a facility was very difficult and even embarrassing.

Thinking about Judy prompts Avery to think of the dragonfly bracelet she’s wearing. It used to be Judy’s and Avery is wearing it as a reminder that “Stafford women do what must be done,” no matter what. Avery needs this reminder because she’s about to enter a nursing home, which makes her uncomfortable. She and Wells are there to help one of Wells’s long-time contributors celebrate her 100th birthday. As Wells and Avery pose for photos with a few people inside the nursing home, Avery realizes she’s having fun. Still, she worries about the scandal involving undermanaged nursing facilities, one of which has been tied back to one of Wells’s best friends. Wells and Avery walk into the common room for the birthday party.

From inside the room Avery sees an old woman standing alone outside. Avery watches her for a while but forces herself to pay attention to the party so none of the photographers catch her looking distracted. The director of the nursing home talks about the woman whose birthday they’re celebrating and her decades-long marriage to her husband. While she listens, Avery wonders if she and Elliot will have a similarly happy marriage. While the party attendees sing “Happy Birthday,” Avery watches the woman outside slowly turn back towards the building. Her father’s assistant, Leslie, whispers to Avery that she needs to focus. When the cake comes out, Avery feels someone grab her wrist—it’s the woman from outside. The woman looks at Avery and says, “Fern?”