Cold Sassy Tree: Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Summary
 
Will finds out about Miss Love’s rebellion while he was gone camping. She had gone to the store in a red dress and announced to customers that she was keeping her maiden name, and that she was only a housekeeper, not really a wife. Grandpa tells her to be quiet because it is nobody’s business, but Love is mad and says she will quit talking when others stop talking about her. She explains that Grandpa deeded her the house, so the town will know everything.
 
Grandpa laughs it off and supports Love, and even Will’s father, Hoyt, feels sorry for Love. Mary Willis and Loma, however, are furious, especially when they go to their father’s house and see how nicely Love has fixed it up. They are angry that she has changed things. Will feels embarrassed for Mattie Lou who could never afford to have nice things. Love gives Mattie Lou’s personal things to the daughters, but she will not give Loma the piano because the furniture is legally hers.
 
Will feels Love has started a war with his family and the town, and he is sad because he likes Love.
 
Chapter 29 Commentary
 
It seems odd the way Grandpa gives in and supports Love when he was so hard on his first wife. He seems to respect her and her temper, perhaps because it is like his own. Grandpa had told her to keep quiet, and the gossip would die down. Love, however, fans the flames with her anger.
 
Love’s holding on to the piano is not spite. The piano is a way to keep her spirits up. It comes out later that the piano was as much an incentive for her to marry as the house. Loma, on the other hand, does not play the piano. Loma says she will tell her daddy to give her the piano, but Love points out she legally owns it and will not give it up. She softens by giving Loma an heirloom that she wants that Love does not value.