Summary

Chapter 25 opens just after Flora, Julian and Ruby return to Stoneham with Ruby, who has fallen into a deep sleep. Watching the lights in the hemlock trees, Julian gives Flora a long kiss, which she allows before telling him to stop and then saying goodnight. She imagines how different things would be if she had never found the ring, then recalls Maud's once telling her about choosing the truth, even when painful. Flora feels the time has come to confront Margot, and sends her a text which to which Margot responds immediately. Later, the two meet for a walk away from the crowds and Flora asks Margot point blank just what she had been thinking by not telling her of Julian's affair with Sydney as soon as Margot had found out so many years earlier. Margot begins to cry and explains that back...