Two months after Hope's End collapsed into the ocean, Kit has settled into a new routine with Virginia in Kit's childhood home. Virginia now lives in Kit's former room, equipped for her care, while Kit has moved into her parents' bedroom and is still processing grief over both Patrick's death and the truth about his crimes. Archie remains a steady support, but Jessie has disappeared from their lives, Carter has left town after only half-forgiving Kit, and Kit quietly helps Archie search for traces of Virginia's stolen son.

As Kit goes about an ordinary morning, she reflects on Virginia's delight in modern life, from television to music, and on the strange fact that Virginia is now the only family she knows she has left. After showering, Kit returns to Virginia's room and finds her gone. In her place is a typed poem and a long letter from Virginia.

In the letter, Virginia reveals that she survived her suicide attempt and initially remained motionless because she wished she had died. Over time, encouraged by Archie's faith that she could recover and someday find her son, Virginia secretly taught herself to move again until she could walk around her room. She explains that she never revealed the truth because she feared the changed world beyond Hope's End, wanted to remain in case her son came looking for her, and also wanted to punish Lenora by forcing Lenora to live for decades with the burden she thought she had imposed on Virginia.

Virginia goes on to explain that most nurses ignored her, but Mary helped her type, and Kit truly saw her. Virginia admits that she hid the truth from Kit because she did not want to confirm Patrick's guilt. She then reveals that Jessie had already discovered her identity and began slipping recorded messages between audiobook chapters, eventually telling Virginia that she was Marcel's daughter and therefore Virginia's granddaughter. Jessie shared that Marcel had been raised lovingly by Miss Baker, grew into a successful artist, and died in 1982, and she and Virginia secretly planned an escape together.

Virginia says that the day she vanished from Kit's house was the day Jessie came for her, and the two left immediately using a forged passport before flying to Paris. Virginia asks Kit not to resent her, invites both Kit and Archie to join her there with enclosed plane tickets, and urges Kit to claim a life of her own. A final newspaper obituary jumps far ahead, revealing that Virginia became a bestselling memoirist and celebrity, traveled the world, and died at 101, survived by Jessie, Jessie’s family, and Kit, who remained Virginia's devoted friend, caregiver, and traveling companion.