Chapter 72 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Nash striding off with Libby after Avery finishes explaining everything. Avery asks Xander where Rebecca and Thea are, and learns they're at the cottage — Rebecca had been ignoring her mother's calls but answered her grandmother's after Eve extracted the truth from Mallory.

Avery leads the boys to her room and shows them the blueprints she's been studying. Using the chronology of construction projects, she identified the chapel, built after Toby's conception, as the key location. The chapel's altar was made of hollow stone — a tomb containing no body, but a USB the grandfather must have hidden shortly before his death, plus a message scratched into the stone by Toby: a direct accusation to his father.

This message unlocks Toby's full story. After discovering he was adopted, Toby found Liam's remains, stole the Blake family seal, moved the body, left a series of hidden messages for his father, and went on a self-destructive path across the country that ended in the fire on Hawthorne Island. Avery reflects on how Toby's brokenness shaped his choices — his determination to protect Hannah, and later Eve, from the truth, from Blake, and from the poisonous tree of the Hawthorne legacy.

Avery turns to the clue about the evidence being in the darkest hole. Jameson suggests the tunnels, but Avery pulls blueprints of additions made to Hawthorne House during the window when Toby must have discovered and moved the remains. Jameson identifies the hedge maze.

They enter the maze together — eight-foot hedges, an area nearly as large as the House itself. They decide to start at the center and spiral outward. Avery knows the path to the heart of the maze; she's been there before with Grayson. Jameson asks about Grayson, and Avery says she doesn't know where he is but believes he's okay — he confronted Eve, and she thinks he finally let go of Emily and forgave himself for being human.

Jameson begins to ask the question that's been hanging between them: whether it was always going to be him. Avery stops him, then gives him the full truth. She can't say it was always going to be Jameson, because she doesn't believe in destiny or fate — she believes in choice. Jameson chose her, and she chose to open up to him in ways she never had with anyone. Love, she says, isn't just a choice — it's dozens, hundreds, thousands of choices, made every day.

She tells Jameson he taught her to want — to want things, to want him — and that she wants the world now, and she wants it with him. As she speaks, her fingers find something small, round, and metal buried in the grass — not the Blake seal, just a coin, but the size and shape matter. She says two words: dig here.

Key Events

Nash leaves with Libby after Avery's explanation
Rebecca and Thea are confirmed safe at the cottage
Blueprints reveal the chapel's hollow stone altar as the hiding place
Toby's scratched message accusing his father is discovered
Toby's full backstory is reconstructed: adoption discovery, finding Liam's remains, stealing the seal, moving the body, fleeing, and dying in the Hawthorne Island fire
The darkest hole clue leads to the hedge maze
Avery and Jameson enter the maze alone, starting at the center
Avery addresses Jameson's question about Grayson
Avery declares her belief in choice over fate and her desire for a future with Jameson
A buried coin is discovered, prompting the command to dig

Character Development

Avery reaches a defining moment of emotional honesty. She refuses to frame her relationship with Jameson in terms of destiny, insisting instead on the power of choice — a stance that aligns with her character's independence and self-determination. Her declaration that Jameson taught her to want marks a significant evolution from the guarded, survival-focused person she was earlier in the series.

Jameson shows his vulnerability beneath his usual sharp, wicked demeanor. His question about Grayson reveals the insecurity he's been carrying, and his response to Avery's honesty — moving toward her even as she speaks — shows his commitment to her on her terms.

Toby is fully humanized in this chapter. The reconstruction of his actions — finding Liam's remains, moving the body, leaving messages, protecting Hannah and Eve — transforms him from a mysterious figure into a tragic one, broken by the secrets he carried.

Grayson, though absent, is given a significant off-page moment: Avery's belief that he confronted Eve, let go of Emily, and forgave himself suggests his arc is reaching resolution.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Choice vs. destiny: Avery's central declaration — that she doesn't believe in destiny or fate, but in choice — is the chapter's thematic heart. Love is reframed not as a predetermined outcome but as a series of daily decisions.

The poisonous tree: The motif recurs as Avery reflects on Toby's attempts to protect Hannah and Eve from the truth and from Blake. The Hawthorne legacy is explicitly framed as poisonous, with Toby as both victim and protector.

The hedge maze: The maze functions as a symbol of the Hawthorne family's complexity — a constructed labyrinth of secrets that must be navigated. That Avery knows the path because she's walked it with Grayson adds emotional weight to the scene with Jameson.

The buried coin: The discovery of a small metal coin — not the seal — suggests the search is narrowing, and the physical act of digging connects to the chapter's themes of uncovering truth and committing to action.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter delivers the romantic climax of Avery and Jameson's arc while simultaneously resolving the central mystery of Toby's actions. The reconstruction of Toby's story — his discovery of his adoption, his finding of Liam's remains, his flight and death — completes the picture of the Hawthorne legacy that has driven the series. The discovery of the coin and the command to dig set up the final act of the search, making this a pivotal turning point in both the emotional and plot-driven dimensions of the novel.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Avery's declaration about choice versus fate reframe her relationship with Jameson?

Avery explicitly rejects the idea that Jameson was always going to be her choice, not because she doubts him, but because she rejects the framework of destiny entirely. By insisting that love is a series of choices made daily, she grounds their relationship in agency and commitment rather than inevitability. This reframing makes her declaration more meaningful — she's not following a predetermined path; she's actively choosing him, and choosing to want a future with him.

2. What does the reconstruction of Toby's actions reveal about the Hawthorne legacy?

Toby's story reveals the Hawthorne legacy as one of secrets and their consequences. His discovery of his adoption and Liam's remains set off a chain of actions — stealing the seal, moving the body, leaving messages, fleeing — that ended in his death. The chapter frames this as the real Hawthorne legacy, a poisonous inheritance that Toby tried to shield Hannah and Eve from. His attempts at protection, however flawed, humanize him and complicate the family's history.

3. Why is the hedge maze a fitting location for this pivotal scene?

The maze mirrors the Hawthorne family itself: a constructed, elaborate labyrinth of secrets that must be navigated carefully. That Avery knows the path because she's walked it with Grayson adds emotional complexity — she's in a new relationship in a space tied to her past. The decision to start at the center and spiral outward also mirrors the narrative structure of the series, which has been moving from the center of the mystery outward to its edges. The discovery of the coin at the center suggests that the truth, like the evidence, has been at the heart of the maze all along.