While Lily and August put labels on the honey jars, they talk. Lily begins thinking about the picture of the Black Madonna and how her mother looked at the same picture. August explains that she read about Black Madonnas in school and learned they aren't unusual in Europe. When Lily asks why she labeled her honey that way, August explains that she wanted to give the Daughters of Mary a divine being that is their own color. August then further enumerates her beliefs, including the idea that the spirit of Mary is alive everywhere in nature. Then she talks about her grandmother (who taught her about beekeeping) and her mother — Lily realizes for the first time that August misses her mother, too.
Lily hears August's story about her parents and also her opinions about marriage. August's father was a black dentist in Richmond, which was where he met August's mother, who was working in a hotel laundry. August she spent her childhood summers with her grandmother. She then went to college and was a history teacher for a few years, until her grandmother left her the house and 28 acres, where she has lived for eighteen years. When Lily questions August about love and marriage, she explains that she fell in love once but loved her freedom more. She does not plan to marry, because it would restrict her life.
