The Echo of Old Books: A Novel

Ashlyn wakes up next to Ethan feeling content and happy. They decide to head to a bookstore after breakfast to look through Hugh’s books and see if he has written about Marian. Before they leave, Marian calls and invites them to Boston, so they can meet Ilese. They accept.

At the bookstore, Ethan and Ashlyn read the synopses of Hugh’s novels. While there are no resemblances to Hemi and Belle’s story, every cover sports a woman who looks like Marian. Ashlyn sees the author photo inside one of the books, and the face is exceedingly familiar. She shows it to Ethan, and both of them see the resemblance to Zachary, realizing Hugh is Zachary’s father. They divine that this is what Marian’s defensiveness was about, as Hugh doesn’t know about his son.

Ashlyn and Ethan meet Marian, Ilese, and Ilese’s daughters for dinner in Boston the day before Marian’s award ceremony, and the group gets on extremely well. As Ilese talks about her childhood growing up with Zachary, Ashlyn and Ethan exchange knowing glances, which alerts Marian to the fact that they know the truth.

Eventually, Ilese enlists Ethan’s help to carry the three sleepy girls up to bed in their hotel room.