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Daphne leaves Leda despite her sister’s impatience for the rest of the story, hurrying to meet her husband, Jonathan. On the train ride and walk through Grand Central, she reflects on their complicated family history and her mother’s third marriage to self-help author Lucas Ekker. Reuniting with Jonathan, they share sushi in the yard, and Jonathan voices unease about Daphne seeing Eddie and grief-driven longing to travel in retirement. Daphne, who won’t fly since her father Buddy’s death, resists; they reconcile before he departs for Wisconsin to help Bea clear their late mother’s house.

Driving Jonathan to the airport, Daphne reconsiders the four-day gap between the accident and her mother’s sudden decision to divorce Eddie. Instead of calling her mother, she calls Eddie. Their phone conversation rekindles warmth and sets a plan: Daphne will accompany Eddie to a black-tie anniversary at the Century Club, keeping it secret from both Jonathan and her mother.

At Leda’s apartment, Eddie arrives with lilies of the valley and tenderness for the family. Over drinks, they trade memories; Henry quietly suggests Eddie is gay. Eddie and Daphne proceed to the Century Club, where Eddie introduces Daphne as his daughter. Among old publishing friends and the Hotalling clan, Eddie delivers a moving toast to Polly and Skip. Overwhelmed, he and Daphne slip out and walk up Fifth Avenue, where Eddie resumes smoking and begins to unpack the past.

Eddie explains that he and Skip were lovers beginning as Yale roommates, then planned conventional marriages while trying to continue their bond. After Skip married Polly and moved to New York, Eddie confided in Daphne’s mother, Abigail; Eddie and Abigail briefly built a life with Daphne and Leda until, after the accident, Abigail ended the marriage, effectively exiling him. Eddie confirms he is fully out now, and Polly knows.

They detour into a lavish Plaza wedding, dance, and run into one of Daphne’s former students, who calls her “Mrs. Fuller,” delighting Eddie. They retreat to a quiet corner, where Eddie details the Yale romance, the Boston years, and how the Hotallings have been both solace and pain. He recalls a long-pursued nonfiction book about a Wyoming woman, Mary Carter, and her horse Whistler—whose photo still sits on his desk—mirroring Daphne’s old memory of his story.

Late at night, Eddie leaves by cab after promising continued contact. Daphne returns to Leda’s, confides in Henry that Eddie is gay, and sleeps in her dress. In the morning, Leda nurses her hangover and asks to hear everything, as Daphne begins recounting from Eddie’s arrival at the apartment.