In the morning, Alice prepares to leave Hayden’s place after a tender wake-up. Hayden notices Alice’s small mosaic titled “Nicollet,” and mentions that Nicollet is his mother’s name, uniquely spelled. He adds that his mother was adopted and born in 1967. The coincidences—name, timing, and adoption—trigger Alice’s suspicion, especially given Margaret’s past secrecy around the Nicollet name.

Alice races to Margaret’s house, reviews her notes, and focuses on Margaret’s repeated insistence on NDAs centered on Hayden. She pieces together the 1967 timeline: Margaret’s seclusion after Cosmo’s death, Dr. Cecil Willoughby’s exclusive access, and parallels to an earlier hidden pregnancy within the Ives history. Convinced, Alice confronts Margaret by thrusting the Nicollet mosaic at her.

When Alice asks if Hayden is her grandson, Margaret does not deny it. Margaret then reveals that she secretly carried a daughter, Nicollet, after Cosmo’s death. Fearing the public microscope and believing the child could never belong to herself, Margaret had Cecil confirm the pregnancy, conceal it, deliver the baby, and arrange an adoption. Margaret admits there was no appendicitis; the hospital trip and subsequent crash preceded the realization that the child’s life would be unlivable in the spotlight. After Cosmo died, Margaret resolved to “save” the baby by giving her up.

Alice asks whether Hayden knows, and Margaret says he doesn’t. Margaret further reveals that the memoir job was never real; she created the interview process to get time with Hayden, hoping to gauge whether her daughter had a good life and whether forgiveness might be possible. She says Jodi pushed the ruse by bringing in a competing writer to legitimize the project. Margaret adds that Hayden had already turned down the job the previous day, saying he wasn’t the right person and bristling at her evasions.

Pressed by Alice to tell Hayden and his family, Margaret refuses, arguing that truth no longer shapes the world and that she is “no one” to them, which is for the best. She recounts secretly finding Nicollet at age eighteen living happily in Indiana, and later, after years of failed disappearances and loneliness, traveling to Georgia to spend six months with her dying sister Laura, who made her promise to tell Nicollet the truth. Though Jodi later hired a detective, Margaret discovered Nicollet had married a small-town politician and was again under scrutiny, which Margaret sees as proof the Ives curse persists.

Margaret tries to salvage a book with Alice that omits the secret, appealing to Alice’s desire to right past wrongs. Alice refuses, saying this is about Nicollet’s and Hayden’s lives and choices. Margaret insists revealing the truth would only make things worse and says Hayden doesn’t want anything from her. Alice counters that Margaret is acting out of fear. When Margaret warns that leaving will end their collaboration, Alice tells her that choices matter and walks out.