Happily Ever After
- Briony is injured and sick in bed after her encounter with the Dead Hand.
- Her hand has been crushed and the anesthesia they are having her take to numb the pain seems to have an added effect of confusing time and Briony's thought processing ability.
- Briony smells mint and apple and tries to tell Brownie to go away.
- More medicine comes, and a love song from Eldric.
- Father sings her a song about mothers and eel soup; this upsets Briony.
- Eldric sits on the edge of her bed and she asks him to sing the love song again.
- He clears his throat and then Briony blacks out.
- Eldric comes to tell her about a castle Tiddy Rex and he are building, complete with a catapult and a woman's hairpin to catapult.
- Briony notices the smells of a fire, spices, and soap; she observes the sun in the window and the heaviness of her arm.
- She notices that she is in the sewing room where Stepmother was sick and died. Briony remembers the smells of her stepmother's sickness and of the eels in eel broth—she wishes for the smell of Brownie.
- Briony opens her eyes again, more aware than before. Eldric is again by her side, excited to see her up.
- Eldric looks skinny and pale. Briony tells him he looks tired, but he brushes her comment off by saying he should say the same to her.
- She asks him to talk to her even if her eyes are closed and he tells her he's been with her the whole time, skipping lessons and the hayride and other events.
- Some hours or days later (Briony is super dazed and confused), Briony asks about her hand—she thinks it has been torn off.
- Both father and Eldric try to assure Briony that she still has her hand, but they are so nervous and flustered while trying to explain the condition of her hand that she can tell it is very badly injured, "mangled" (20.82) even.
- She asks how many bones were broken and set. Twenty-seven. So she asks how many bones are in a hand. Twenty-seven.
- The next time they are alone, Eldric asks her what she was doing with a knife in the bog. He tells her they saw the cuts.
- Briony tries to change the subject to how he found her, but he answers quickly with a romantic (or stalkerish) "'I can always find you… Don't ever think you can hide from me'" (20.96), and then pushes to know what she was doing again.
- Eldric admits, after some convincing on the part of Briony, that her father wanted to talk to her that night about the details of seduction. Eldric asks what he should tell Mr. Larkin about Briony's knowledge of this adult topic and Briony says to tell him she reads a lot.
- Eldric asks her again what she was doing, but she refuses to answer him. He asks her to consider using his blood as an offering instead next time, and points out that though they are in a fraternity she has trouble asking for help and trusting him. He promises not to give up until she tells him.
- Eldric invites Briony to Blackberry Night by promising her that Reverend Larkin will not find out—apparently he and Pearl have been planning her participation in the night.
- Rose visits Briony's bedside to try to make her better. When Briony says she will get better on her own, Rose tells her she wants her to get better in a different way and it is a secret.
- Rose mentions that Eldric says Briony will be pretty again when she recovers, so Briony asks for a mirror.
- While Briony looks at her own reflection, Rose persists in trying to communicate her secret with Briony.
- Ignoring Rose's intentions, Briony asks after Eldric, and finds out that he is at his lessons with Leanne.
- Rose talks about the different look between before and after midnight and more secrets; finally she decides against continuing to try and says she will consult Eldric.
- Pearl helps Briony get dressed for a surprise tea party.
- Excitedly, Rose leads her toward the library for the surprise. The family has restored the burnt library with musical instruments and some books.
- Father, Rose, Eldric, Leanne, Cecil, Mr. Clayborne, and Thorpe (Eldric and Leanne's new tutor) are all in attendance at the surprise party.
- Rose gives Briony paper and tells her now she can write her stories again.
- Cecil offers Briony a plate of pie, and Leanne goes up to Briony and announces that Eldric has made her a gift.
- Eldric looks sick again. What's up with the people of this town? Why are they always seemingly near death? Certainly this can't be all Briony doing.
- Briony admires the chain of crystals he presents, and when Eldric's father asks when he will find focus, Leanne jumps to his defense.
- Feeling kind and thankful to Rose, Briony writes a story in which Rose is the hero, and ends the story with "happily ever after" (20.240).