The Latecomer

When they meet Ephraim’s mother, they recognize Stella from her Wikipedia article. After a moment of surprise, she hugs them both. Phoebe realizes that Lewyn was the only triplet who did not know about Ephraim or Stella, but she can see the resemblance between the two men. Lewyn feels foolish for not knowing, but Stella explains the lengths that the family went to keep it from him, even though their lives kept intersecting. Ephraim has always known the truth, even though Salo had died when Ephraim was young. Stella also tells them about Salo’s car accident when they were in college.

After dinner, Ephraim tells Phoebe about a journalism piece he is working on about a well-known white person who has been passing for Black but does not go into detail. When they return to Stella and Lewyn, she is telling him about the Rizzoli collection. Phoebe tells them that Harrison knows where the Rizzolis are, and they begin to strategize about how they can get Harrison to reveal the information.

Phoebe goes to Rochelle Steiner’s law firm in Manhattan, and Rochelle asks how much she knows about the clambake. Phoebe replies that a lot has happened with the family in the past several weeks, and she is working to figure it out. She then tells Rochelle about the Rizzoli collection, asking what she can legally do to find out its location, but Rochelle advises her that she can only ask.

When Phoebe asks if Rochelle is married, Rochelle says she is not anymore. Phoebe is surprised she answered such a personal question and asks why. Rochelle tells her that she is off-balance because her mother died recently, and she is daunted by the prospect of cleaning out her house. As a way of thanking Rochelle for her advice, Phoebe says she knows someone who could help with her mother’s house.

When Sally arrives at Rochelle’s mother’s house, Phoebe and Rochelle are waiting for her. Sally maintains her distance from Rochelle but is compassionate and nonjudgmental. Phoebe has taken time off school, claiming to work on college applications, although she has already applied to the one she plans to go to. It takes three days to clean out the house, and during that time, Sally and Rochelle make peace. At the end, when Phoebe asks if she can visit Rochelle and bring Lewyn, Rochelle says yes.

Phoebe is accepted to Roarke in December, much to Harrison’s delight. A few days later, she, Harrison, Lewyn, and Ephraim have lunch at the Harvard club. Ephraim’s article has been printed in the Yale Daily News and has gone viral. He has proven that Eli Absalom Stone is not a Black man. Eli, whose real name is Rowan Lavery, is white; he grew up in an affluent home in West Virginia and attended public school. With the help of his mentor, Dr. Gregories, he had stolen Eli A. Stone’s identity, a Black boy about his age who had died. The doctor helped him write his book and darken his skin color. After the article was published, Eli Absalom Stone disappeared from the public eye under the castigation of every institution that had valorized him.

On the day of the Harvard Club lunch, Lewyn is distracted by his and Rochelle’s recent determination to try a new relationship. When they see Harrison, he is reserved, and upset by Ephraim’s statement that he had gotten into Harvard, and then gone to Yale instead. When Harrison tries to defend Eli, Ephraim dismantles his arguments one by one. When he asks Harrison if he ever doubted Eli, Harrison admits that, in the plagiarism scandal, he had not believed Eli so much as chosen a position. They are all stunned, because it is as close to admitting a wrong as Harrison has ever gotten. Lewyn tells Harrison that he is available if he ever wants to talk, and Harrison gruffly accepts.

When Ephraim says he would like to be Harrison’s brother, Harrison returns to his acerbic self, but humorously says that it is “insupportable” that Ephraim was accepted to Harvard but went to Yale. Lewyn begins to laugh, Ephraim joins him, and even Harrison smiles.

The next summer, the Oppenheimer siblings, Ephraim, Johanna, and Rochelle, return to the Martha’s Vineyard cottage. Johanna has, over the last months, come around to meeting Ephraim, although she will never forgive Stella. She finally tells them that, after Salo’s death, she had gone to the warehouse for the first time with the appraiser. While there, she had seen Stella and Ephraim in one of the house’s backyards. When the appraiser found the Rizzolis, she immediately understood the significance and had put the collection in a storage space in Queens.

Lewyn and Rochelle are getting married this weekend, although Stella will not attend, so that Johanna can enjoy the event. Harrison and Ephraim have become close—they breakfast weekly, where they debate vociferously. Sally has slowly healed as she worked through her feelings with Johanna and Stella and has introduced the family to Paula.

Phoebe will go to Roarke after the wedding, and flies to Martha’s Vineyard to help Johanna get the house ready. She finds Johanna more relaxed and loving than she has ever been. When she asks Johanna about her comment to Debbie, her mother admits that she did not trust her siblings, and had not confided the truth to Debbie.

Johanna sees a therapist now and tells Phoebe a little bit about what happened the night of the clambake. She has realized that Salo had not been happy with them because he did not think he deserved it. When he found happiness, it had been with Stella. Johanna says that Phoebe had not been an afterthought, but in fact is the center of the family, and they all owe her their gratitude for bringing them back together. She is going to give the Brooklyn Heights house to Lewyn and Rochelle and stay on Martha’s Vineyard.

On the night of the wedding rehearsal, which is also the triplets’ birthday, Johanna hires the same clambake catering company. The next day, Lewyn and Rochelle are married in a small ceremony, making the anniversary of Salo’s death their wedding anniversary as well. In the days after the wedding, some of the family leave, but the triplets, Johanna, and Phoebe stay for another day. The following morning, they all leave on the ferry together, and see Phoebe off to begin college at Roarke.