Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses a man’s quasi-incestuous desire for his surrogate daughter. It also contains references to anti-immigrant sentiment.

Introducing the next scene, Alfieri says that it is the day before Christmas Eve. With both Marco and Eddie out at work and Beatrice shopping, it is the first time that Catherine and Rodolpho have been alone in the house together. In the living room, Catherine asks Rodolpho if he would consider going to live in Italy once they are married. Rodolpho explains that this idea is absurd because of the poverty there. Catherine asks if, hypothetically, he would take her back to Italy if they had to go. Rodolpho responds that he would not marry Catherine if it meant going back. He is insulted by the suggestion that he would “carry on my back the rest of my life a woman I didn’t love just to be an American” (420). Rodolpho asks Catherine why she is still scared of Eddie, and Catherine explains that she has known him all her life, and still cares about him. Rodolpho says that if one holds a bird in one’s hands and “she grows and wishes to fly” (421), one must let that bird go.