The Hawthorne Legacy

Avery successfully trades Alice’s ring for Tobias’s. Before the trade, Avery notices numbers engraved on the inside of Alice’s ring: “8-3-75” (203). After the trade, Avery notices numbers engraved on the inside of Tobias’s ring: “9-7-48” (204). Avery knows that these numbers are the clues she needs and decides to let Zara keep both rings.

Avery gets a message from Libby and Nash in Connecticut. They didn’t find Toby/Harry, but they found a friend of his, who gave them a message for Avery: “STOP LOOKING” (207). Back at Hawthorne House, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander try to figure out what the numbers engraved inside the rings mean, with no luck. Avery returns to Toby’s bricked-up wing (Mr. Laughlin walled it up again), where Jameson meets her.

Avery and Jameson take down the brick wall blocking off Toby’s ring. Avery tells Jameson about Toby/Harry’s message: “He doesn’t want me to find him” (210). Avery is upset that Toby/Harry (who she thinks is her biological father) wants her to stop looking for him. To forget her hurt, she kisses Jameson: “It was gentle and slow and terrifying and perfect. For once in my life, I didn’t feel alone” (211).

The next day at school, Jameson, Xander, and Avery realize that the numbers engraved inside the rings are coordinates. The coordinates indicate Cartago, Costa Rica—where the Hawthornes have another vacation home. Avery assumes that Jameson will want to go to Costa Rica to chase the clue. He surprises her by suggesting she send Libby and Nash.

Avery and Max discuss why Jameson would want Nash and Libby to go to Cartago. Avery tells Max, “It makes no sense […]. Jameson never lets up on a puzzle. What’s his angle here?” (217). Max and Avery’s conversation is interrupted by Melissa Vincent (“Mellie”) bringing in fresh linens. Mellie is a young girl Nash took under his wing, getting her a job at Hawthorne House; previously, Avery suspected Mellie of trying to hurt her. Now, while restocking the linens, Mellie discovers a rattlesnake in Avery’s bathroom.

Grayson invites Max and Avery to join him in the game room. They are joined by Jameson and end up playing strip bowling. Xander arrives from Rebecca’s. He reveals new information:

Toby was a Laughlin. Rebecca didn’t know. No one did. Her parents were forty when they had Emily, but twenty-five years earlier—for the math-minded among us, that would be forty-two years ago—when Rebecca’s mom was a teenager living in Wayback Cottage… (223)

Rebecca’s mom got pregnant, and the Laughlin covered it up and made her put the baby up for adoption.

The Laughlins didn’t tell Rebecca’s mother that the Hawthornes were adopting the baby. Rebecca’s mother only figured out the truth as Toby got older. Xander says Rebecca’s mother has banned her from interacting with any of them because she blames the Hawthornes for Toby’s death. Avery is distraught by this news, especially because she realizes that Rebecca’s mother and Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin mistakenly believe that Toby is dead.

The next day, Avery tells Mrs. Laughlin the truth. She tells Mrs. Laughlin that she knows that Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin covered up Rebecca’s mother’s pregnancy, forcing her to put the baby up for adoption. She tells Mrs. Laughlin that she knows that baby was Toby—technically the Laughlins’ grandson—and that Tobias and Alice adopted him. Finally, she tells Mrs. Laughlin that Toby is alive and shows her the photos of Avery and Toby playing chess together in the park and Avery’s birth certificate, which has Toby’s unique signature (the mix of cursive and print) on it. Mrs. Laughlin believes Avery and hugs her.

Avery and Rebecca talk about the new revelation. Avery jokes, “Don’t expect me to start calling you Aunt Rebecca” (229). The revelation brings the girls closer.

Alisa and Landon tell Avery that Skye and Ricky are offering themselves to the media as an interview package. Alisa and Landon believe they can prevent the interview from happening by buying off the media to bury it and by promising them an alternative, a joint interview with Avery and Grayson.