Wish You Well

On the first day of the trial, the courthouse is packed with spectators from 50 miles around. Cotton is shocked to find George Davis is on the jury. Both Lou and Oz must be removed from the court when they loudly voice their objections. The judge hints to Cotton that Davis’s presence is a good thing. If Cotton loses the case, Davis is the perfect excuse to file an appeal.

Goode calls the head of a Roanoke asylum as a witness, who offers the opinion that Louisa is mentally deranged. He then calls the local doctor who gloomily predicts that Louisa is unlikely to recover. Cotton does what he can to chip away at the credibility of these witnesses. When Oz is called to the stand, Goode insinuates that the children will be sent to an orphanage if the matter of Louisa’s estate can’t be handled in court.

That night at the farm, Cotton tells the demoralized children that he will take care of all of them, no matter what happens. Later that night, Lou tearfully tells Amanda that she loves her, unaware of the tear that slips down her mother’s cheek. While talking to Oz about their mother’s letters, Lou has a brainstorm. She drags her brother back to the wishing well and offers the packet of Amanda’s letters to the well in exchange for Louisa’s recovery; “And then they ran as fast as they could away from that place, both hoping and praying that there was just one wish left in that pile of old brick and stagnant water” (366).

During that same evening, Cotton has a brainstorm of his own. “Minutes later Cotton came into Louisa’s room. He stood by the bed and gripped the unconscious woman’s hand. ‘I swear to you, Louisa Mae Cardinal, you will not lose your land’” (367-68).  

The following day, before court convenes, Lou spends a few minutes with Louisa. When she tells the old woman that she loves her, Lou can see Louisa mouthing the same words back to her. At that moment, Eugene calls her to the courtroom. She fails to see Louisa sit up in bed and look out the window at her beloved mountain before lying back down and growing still.

Back in court, Cotton declares that the law says no one is allowed to profit from a crime. He calls Lou and Eugene to the stand to question them about the explosion in the mine on the day that Diamond died. Their testimony proves that the immense noise of the blast and its radius both prove that dynamite wasn’t the cause of Diamond’s death. Cotton contends that the illegal drilling performed by the gas company released gas into the mine. They never posted any warning about the danger because they had been drilling illegally on Louisa’s land in the first place.

During the closing arguments, Goode dismisses much of Cotton’s case as mere speculation. Cotton addresses the jury with an appeal not to give away their homeland. He points out how the lumber and coal companies both abandoned the mountain after they had depleted its resources. He ends by asking the jury to let Louisa keep her land:

You can’t let Southern Valley steal the woman’s family. All folks have up on that mountain is each other and their land. That’s all. It may not seem like much to those who don’t live there, or for people who seek nothing but to destroy the rock and trees. But rest assured, it means everything to the people who call the mountains home (390).   

The children return to the farm to await the jury’s verdict while Cotton remains in town. The jury deliberates for hours. When they return, they find in favor of the gas company. Cotton is dismayed: “Cotton sat back. The legal process had had its day; the only thing absent was justice” (393). The lawyer receives an even more crushing bit of news when he learns that Louisa has died in the hospital. Unable to bear any more grief, he hurls accusations at the jury and the gas company men.

At that moment, everyone turns to see the courtroom doors open. Lou and Oz enter, accompanied by their mother. Amanda has emerged from her catatonia at last. When Cotton tries to introduce himself, she says, “I know who you are, Mr. Longfellow. I’ve listened to you often.” (396). 

Many decades after the events in the story take place, Lou writes the conclusion. Her mother married Cotton, and they spent four happy decades together. Oz moved to New York, where he pitched for the New York Yankees and later became a schoolteacher. Lou moved away to raise a family before returning to the mountain in her later years. Eugene started a family of his own but remained nearby.

Lou herself wrote 14 books and became more commercially successful than her father. She concludes by saying, “It is a true comfort to know that I will die here on this high rock. And I fear my passing not at all. My enthusiasm is perfectly understandable, you see, for the view from here is so very fine” (399).