A Fall of Marigolds

Clara returns home to Pennsylvania and realizes how much she “had missed being surrounded by people who loved [her]” (287). Her mother states at one point that she wishes Clara had never gone to New York. Clara understands her mother’s sentiments but believes that her “life [is] more fully layered because of the choices [she] had made, both consciously and in ignorance” (288). However, Clara wants to be free of New York’s “dark hold on [her]” and decides to burn Lily’s letter and give away the scarf (289). She also avoids Ethan upon returning to the island, believing that she “needed to keep a safe distance from those who were tied to the life [she] was leaving behind: Edward Brim, Andrew Gwynn, Ethan Randall” (289). Dolly believes Clara is being silly, but Clara seems to feel she needs space to finish the healing process.

Unfortunately, Clara is thrust back into Andrew’s life when a private investigator hired by Lily’s husband, Angus, comes to the island. He accuses Andrew of murdering Lily for “a necklace worth fifty thousand pounds that has been in the Ravenhouse family for a century” (294). Clara denies knowing Andrew well or where he had gone after being discharged, but the private investigator,

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