Chapter 28

Fern spends nearly a week in Toronto with Will, Annabel, and Sofia, helping with mornings so Will can rest and Sofia can get to camp. She and Will agree to try long distance with weekend visits, nightly calls, and small rituals to stay connected. Back at the resort, Fern gives Peter Margaret’s last diary, hoping it comforts him, and throws herself into work and community while quietly missing Will at night.

Through autumn and winter, Fern builds a fuller life: game nights with friends, planning with Jamie, mornings in the pastry kitchen, and teaching herself guitar. On New Year’s Eve, amid music and lights, Fern asks Will to consider moving to the lake. Will smiles, and over the following months he rearranges work so that by May—one year after Margaret’s death—he moves into Fern’s house and uses the sunroom as his office.

Will keeps close to Annabel and Sofia, commuting to Toronto weekly; Fern readies a purple guest room for Sofia’s summer stay. Fern hires a new executive chef and renames the restaurant Maggie’s, finding comfort in the dining room and on the family dock. Even on hard days, Will’s presence steadies her; when he can’t sleep, he sketches, and Fern coaxes him back to bed.

On June 14, Fern and Will canoe to the shoreline where they sat the previous year. After swimming and a picnic, Will kneels with a green velvet box. Overcome, Fern accepts before he can speak, then learns the ring is his grandfather’s, resized for her. Will declares Fern his soulmate and best friend, and they cry and kiss as nearby teenagers cheer.

Returning to the dock, they find Annabel, Sofia, Peter, Jamie, Whitney, and Cam waiting. There are hugs, jokes about an inevitable engagement party, and the girls take the canoe for clumsy loops as Will and Fern watch from the dock where they once planned to meet years ago. They sit together until sunset, talking about the future and affirming they are exactly where they’re meant to be.