56 pages 1 hour read

The Heiress

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

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Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary: “Camden”

As they drive up the mountain road toward the house, Cam reflects on the last time he was on that road, driving away from Ashby House, crying and trying to drown out his thoughts with loud music. Now, he hits a rough patch of road that Ruby left purposely uncultivated to keep away the curious. Cam feels claustrophobic and stops at the gate, lost in thought until Jules prompts him. They drive through the gate, and Camden feels like he’s succumbing to Ashby House.

Chapter 5 Summary: “Jules”

Jules falls in love with Ashby House the moment she sees it—Cam, however, just looks weary and guarded. As they get out of the car, Jules is surprised that Nelle, Ben, and Libby aren’t there to welcome them, but Cam isn’t. A white Audi races up the driveway, nearly hitting them before coming to a stop. Libby McTavish gets out of the car. Jules recognizes Libby because Jules began following her on Instagram after she and Cam started dating. Cam doesn’t know Jules follows Libby—he might ask uncomfortable questions about things she doesn’t want to explain yet.

Although at first Libby looks perfect, Jules can see the imperfections up close, like the coffee stain on her white jeans and her flaking makeup. Libby is confrontational with Cam and rude to Jules, who responds the same way, surprising Libby and making Cam smile. After Libby goes inside, Cam apologizes for her behavior. Jules reminds him that she grew up in Florida and can handle “overly tanned bitches who drive Audis” (81). Cam kisses her, and Jules takes a moment to remember their quiet life together in Colorado and everything they are leaving behind by returning to Ashby House.

Chapter 6 Summary: “Camden”

Upon entering the house, Cam experiences a strong sense of nostalgia. He and Jules are confronted with a large portrait of Ruby hanging at the top of the stairs. It was painted by her third husband, Andrew, and in it, she wears a green evening gown. Jules comments on the opulence of the place, wondering whether it would be possible to have a regular childhood there. Her attitude makes Cam think that she might be able to change the place and that it might not overcome her as it did everyone else.

Ben, Cam’s cousin, comes down the stairs and introduces himself. Cam notes that he looks nearly the same and again has a strange sense of the past blending with the present. Ben punches Cam’s arm, just as he used to, and introduces himself to Jules. He comments on the fact that she kept her last name, and when she responds sarcastically, he doesn’t know how to react. Cam reflects that because of Ben’s entitlement and wealth, people don’t confront him very often.

Ben tells them Nelle has a headache, and he and Libby have things to do, so they will be alone for dinner. Cam watches Ben run up the stairs and imagines his cousin slipping and falling to his death. He looks up at Ruby’s portrait, knowing that she would be proud of him for that thought.

The chapter ends with Ruby’s third letter, dated March 14, 2013. In it, she continues the story of her marriage to Duke Callahan. Over the years, she has imagined different decisions she could’ve made, but in the end, believes it couldn’t have ended any other way than it did, with Ruby kneeling in a pool of blood next to Duke’s body.

The honeymoon was wonderful at first; Ruby thought herself lucky right up until the first time he hit her, five days after the wedding. Duke returned to their cabin late and drunk, and when Ruby confronted him about it, he punched her. The next morning, he was apologetic, blaming the alcohol, and Ruby forgave him. When they arrived in Paris, it was initially perfect. Ruby had several gowns made at Dior, including a beautiful emerald-green one. Although she and Duke were fine during the day, he frequently hit her at night. Every day, Ruby hoped it would be different.

The night of Duke’s death, Ruby went home from a party early and fell asleep. She woke up to Duke pulling her out of bed. He taunted her with a rifle and, although Ruby was scared, she didn’t truly fear for her life. Finally, Duke put the gun down and turned away. Ruby’s fear turned to anger, and she picked up the rifle, familiar with guns from hunting with her father. She called Duke’s name and when he turned around, she shot him. While she considers the first shot accidental, in her mind, the second shot makes her a murderer because she did it with the full understanding of her actions.

She immediately moved into action and created a scene that fit the story the police eventually decided on: that someone followed Duke home from the casino and robbed him. Afterward, all she felt was relief. At first, she thought that once she got over the shock, she would feel guilt and grief, but she never did. Whether or not people believe the story, Ruby got away with it, and that’s all she cares about.

After Duke’s death, Ruby created the Duke Edward Callahan Memorial Scholarship at the Preston Boys Academy, where Duke went to school. It is given to “a graduating senior who best exemplifies the qualities Mrs. Callahan says were most present in her husband: a love of knowledge, a curiosity about the world, a skilled analytical mind, and, most of all, kindness to his fellow man” (111).

Chapter 7 Summary: “Jules”

The morning after they arrive, Jules sits on the back veranda with her coffee and feels her worries fade. She meets Cecelia, the housekeeper, who is genuinely happy to meet her and to have Cam back at Ashby House. Jules follows Cecelia into the kitchen, where she finally meets Nelle.

Nelle is caustic and confrontational, and when Cam appears in the kitchen, she adopts the same tone with him. Cam responds as he did with Libby, in a harsh tone that Jules doesn’t recognize. She is still convinced, however, that moving to Ashby House is the best thing for them. That night, Jules apologizes for not taking his complaints about his family seriously enough. She never believed they were as bad as he said, but they are, in fact, worse.

Chapters 4-7 Analysis

These chapters revolve around Ashby House and its residents through the lens of Jules’s introduction to them and Cam’s reintroduction. As they get closer to Ashby House, Cam notes everything from the varying textures of the road to the gate. On the road, he remembers the nearly impassable stretch of road, “pitted with holes, thick tree roots bumping us along hard” (67), left purposely so by Ruby to keep the curious out, and the gate, which he remembers as “looming up to the sky, bars thick and black, locking McTavishes inside, locking anyone else out” (72). Now, he notices that “the bars are thinner than [he] remembered” (72). With Cam’s observations, Hawkins establishes both the passage of time and the powerful ways that perspective can shape memory. Each time Cam experiences this blending of the present and the past, he is Rediscovering the Past From a New Perspective.

The shift to Jules’s perspective in Chapter 5 allows the reader to meet Libby for the first time at the same time that Jules meets her. The reveal that Jules has been following Libby on Instagram for nearly 10 years, however, shows that she is not completely unbiased. At first, Jules is slightly star-struck, but soon, she is met with the reality of Libby, whose first words to Cam are, “Did you close the fucking gate?” (79). Jules begins to see Libby’s flaws, observing that “the concealer under her eyes is maybe a shade too light, her mascara flaking. Bright pink lipstick covers her mouth, […] and there’s the faintest brown splash on those white jeans, right on her thigh” (79). Libby’s imperfections beneath her glamorous facade are Jules’s first indication that the McTavish family is not what it appears.

Libby’s behavior is a preview of how Cam and Jules will be welcomed, and Cam’s reaction shows how he will handle it. He surprises Jules with a shift in behavior as his “mouth curls into a sardonic smile, lips pressed together so hard that a dimple [Jules] never noticed dents one cheek” (79). Cam’s facial features themselves change when he arrives at Ashby House. Jules even sees a resemblance between Libby and Cam: “A corner of [Libby’s] mouth kicks up, and it startles me how much that expression, just for a second, makes me think of Cam. He does that same thing” (81). It’s even stranger and more notable because, as Jules says, “They’re not blood related, so I can’t chalk it up to a fluke of DNA” (81), showing The Influence of Family Culture on the Individual.

As the introduction to Ashby House and its residents continues, the characterization of Cam and Libby deepens through their respective reactions to the McTavishes. When they first enter the house, they are confronted by a portrait of Ruby, and Cam again experiences disorientation, “thrown back in time so violently that [he] half expect[s] to look down and see soccer cleats on [his] feet” (83). He is again Rediscovering the Past From a New Perspective, but Jules is seeing everything for the first time, and again she gives an outsider’s perspective when she meets and reacts to Ben. With Ben, Jules shows her characteristic resilience and confidence—she is not cowed by Ben’s insulting behavior and instead turns it around on him. He attempts to use his social status to put Jules in her place, but when he tries to shame her about keeping her name after marriage, she is both unapologetic and sarcastic, replying dryly, “I would rather die” (87). This is the approach that Jules will adopt with all the McTavishes. In addition, with Ben’s behavior, Hawkins again illustrates The Influence of Family Culture on the Individual. Ben’s response is telling, as Cam notes: “Ben looks at her, a half smile playing around his mouth like he can’t tell if he’s being made fun of or not. Men like him aren’t used to being mocked, which is probably why men like him exist in the first place” (87). This behavior is not surprising to Cam because, despite what he thought about Ben’s email, his cousin hasn’t changed.

In these chapters, Ruby also relates the story of her first husband’s death. She is committed to telling the truth in the letters and even stops herself when she begins to prevaricate; when she says that she “didn’t even think the gun was loaded,” she quickly stops herself, writing, “Ah. And there I go again. Giving you lies when I promised truth. Let me try again” (106). Along with this scrupulous honesty, Ruby is characteristically unapologetic. This attitude extends to the first of Ruby’s charitable contributions after Duke’s death. The scholarship in Duke’s name is given to a boy who exemplifies, most of all, “kindness to his fellow man” (111). This is ironic because Duke was none of those things but also because, when Ruby wonders about the origins of Duke’s abuse, she thinks, “I wonder who taught him that […] A sadistic teacher at that all-boys school he went to in the mountains of north Georgia?” (105). From this perspective, Ruby’s scholarship can be seen as an attempt to stop the creation of another Duke.

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