The Dutch House

Maeve meets with Lawyer Gooch, a longtime friend of Mr. Conroy’s, for legal advice following his death. Afterward, she tells Danny the news: Andrea, as their father’s legal wife, is entitled to everything, and Maeve and Danny are essentially on their own. Their father left behind no will. After two weeks settling into Maeve’s apartment, they invite Sandy and Jocelyn over. It’s a happy reunion, but it’s also sobering—Jocelyn reminds Danny that he must pay more attention to Maeve’s energy and blood sugar. As the four catch up, Danny learns more about his late mother. Elna spent most of her days searching for people in need who she could help.

The following Sunday, Maeve urges Danny to go to Mass, but he refuses. He maintains that no one is forcing them to go anymore, so they can make their own choices. Maeve attends the service and Danny stays home, realizing that he always spent most of Mass thinking about basketball, anyway. A week later, the siblings meet with Lawyer Gooch, and he tells them Mr. Conroy established an educational trust before his death. The fund covers tuition for Danny, Norma, and Bright, but not Maeve, who’d already graduated college. Maeve decides that Danny will enroll at Choate, a boarding school in Connecticut, to improve his chances of getting into a top university and graduate school. But Danny resents the decision, feeling as though his future is being decided for him.

Many years later, as Maeve and Danny sit parked in Maeve’s car outside the Dutch House on Easter, Maeve idly dangles her hand out the window—by this time, she has given up smoking. The siblings talk about Mr. Conroy’s old knee injury from the war. Danny had always believed he’d been shot in the knee, but Maeve corrects him: the injury was from a parachute landing gone wrong. She then recalls a time when she and their father had talked about selling the Dutch House and buying a ranch so he wouldn’t have to climb any more stairs. He had laughed, and she remembers how rare, and nice, it was to hear.

Flashing back to the day when Maeve drove Danny to  Connecticut to begin his schooling at Choate, Danny recalls feeling unmoored, face-to-face with an uncertain future. He had always imagined taking over Cyril’s business, but Andrea sold the company before he ever had the chance. Maeve, however, envisions a different future for her brother—one that includes medical school. Danny suspects she is trying to use up as much of the educational trust as possible, ensuring less remains for Norma, Bright, and, by extension, Andrea. Though he insists he doesn’t want to be a doctor, Maeve ignores him.