At the silent auction, Max explains the bidding system to Avery while gleefully driving up prices on items other guests want. Max treats the auction like a game, and Avery is struck again by how unreal her new life as an heiress feels.

Following Alisa's instruction to participate, Avery looks over the luxury items but finds that none of them feel like her. Avery finally bids on a simple grandfather clock, then on a cowboy sculpture, a baking lesson for Libby, and a mink teddy bear for Max. When Avery notices one of Grayson’s photographs, Zara appears beside her, comments on Grayson’s talent, and then silently outbids Avery on the clock, turning the auction into a pointed social challenge.

Xander returns and explains that he has been helping Rebecca with her mother, whose drinking has become a problem at the event. Before Avery can ask more, Alisa escorts Avery and the others to dinner, where Avery manages the formal meal without incident.

The evening is disrupted when Rebecca’s intoxicated mother crashes into the displays for Emily’s memorial and the chapel plans. Rebecca tries to help her, and Thea steps in, creating an emotionally charged moment that visibly affects Rebecca. When Libby also tries to help, Rebecca’s mother lashes out, accusing Libby of being with a Hawthorne boy and warning that Hawthornes take everything.

Humiliated by the attention, Libby runs from the room, and Avery follows despite Alisa calling her back. As Avery passes Rebecca, Thea, and Rebecca’s mother, the grieving woman collapses into sobs and repeatedly asks why all her babies die, exposing the depth of her loss and tying the fundraiser’s polished surface to unresolved family grief.