Chapter 1 The Children on the River

The year is 1939, and twelve-year-old Rill Foss lives with her parents and four younger siblings on a shantyboat called the Arcadia on the Mississippi River. Their existence is humble but happy; Rill and her siblings〞Camellia, Lark, Fern, and Gabion (Gabby)〞spend their days swimming in the river, fishing, and enjoying the freedom of river life. Their father, Briny, is charismatic and full of dreams, while their mother, Queenie, though barely older than Rill herself, manages to hold the family together with love and determination.

One stormy night, everything changes. Queenie, pregnant with twins, experiences a difficult labor. Briny frantically paddles through the storm to get her to a hospital in Memphis, leaving Rill in charge of her siblings. "Take care of the littles," Queenie tells Rill before leaving. "Don't you let nobody take my babies." Little does Rill know how prophetic these words will become.

The next morning, strangers arrive at the Arcadia〞a police officer and a woman claiming to be from the Tennessee Children's Home Society. They inform Rill that her parents sent them to take the children to see their mother and new siblings at the hospital. Despite Rill's suspicions and resistance, the children are forcibly removed from their home and loaded into a truck. As they drive away from the river, Rill watches helplessly as their beloved shantyboat fades from view, a painful symbol of the life being stolen from them.

Upon arrival at the children's home in Memphis, the Foss children discover a nightmarish reality far removed from the temporary visit they were promised. The home is run by the fearsome Miss Tann, a woman whose pleasant public fa?ade masks cruelty and greed. The children are immediately separated〞the girls sent to one dormitory, while little Gabby, only two years old, disappears into another part of the building. Their names are changed; Rill becomes May Weathers, stripping her of her very identity.

The conditions in the home are deplorable. Children are underfed, neglected, and subjected to physical and emotional abuse. Rill struggles to keep her sisters together and protected, particularly the beautiful Camellia, who attracts unwanted attention from some of the staff. Their once-free spirits begin to wither under the oppressive regime of the orphanage, where children are displayed like merchandise to prospective adoptive parents〞wealthy families willing to pay substantial "fees" for their new children.

Meanwhile, in the present day, Avery Stafford, a successful lawyer from a prominent South Carolina family, returns home to help her father, a US Senator facing health issues. During a public appearance at a nursing home, Avery has a strange encounter with an elderly resident named May Crandall, who recognizes a bracelet Avery wears〞a family heirloom. This chance meeting plants the first seed of a mystery that will eventually connect Avery's life to Rill's in ways she cannot yet imagine.

As Rill endures the hardships of the children's home, desperately trying to fulfill her promise to protect her siblings, she clings to the hope that Briny and Queenie will find them and bring them back to the river. But with each passing day, as more children disappear into the hands of adoptive families, that hope grows fainter. The first chapter concludes with Rill's determination to survive, to keep her family together, and to someday find their way back to the freedom of the Mississippi.

"I learned early that you can't cry for the things you want, Rill thinks. Because crying doesn't make the wanting go away. It only makes your nose snotty and your face puffy and gives you headaches. Besides, I don't have time for it. I've got to figure out how to save us."

Chapter 2 Avery's Unexpected Discovery

In present-day Aiken, South Carolina, Avery Stafford's life seems perfectly mapped out. A federal prosecutor with political aspirations, she's temporarily back home to support her father, Senator Wells Stafford, who's battling cancer while maintaining his public duties. The Stafford name carries weight and expectations; Avery understands her role in preserving the family's sterling reputation.

Following her strange encounter with May Crandall at the nursing home, Avery can't shake the feeling that there's something significant about the elderly woman who seemed to recognize her grandmother's bracelet. When May mistakenly called her "Fern," Avery's curiosity is piqued. Could this confused old woman somehow be connected to her beloved Grandma Judy, who now suffers from dementia in an upscale care facility?

Against the backdrop of political obligations and her engagement to her childhood friend Elliot, Avery begins a quiet investigation. She returns to the nursing home under the pretense of community outreach but with the real intention of learning more about May Crandall. During this visit, she discovers a photograph in May's room〞a black and white image of a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to her grandmother.

When questioned, May becomes evasive, alternating between clarity and confusion, revealing only fragments of a past life on the river and siblings named Camellia, Lark, and Fern. "Some secrets are better left alone," May warns, but Avery can't heed this advice. The photograph and these mysterious connections compel her forward, even as her mother Leslie warns her against stirring up trouble that could affect her father's career.

Avery enlists the help of Trent Turner, the grandson of May's nursing home roommate. A former attorney turned boat renovator, Trent offers a fresh perspective away from Avery's privileged world. Together, they begin piecing together clues, discovering that May Crandall was once known as May Weathers〞and before that, possibly someone else entirely.

Their search leads them to the river, to old newspaper archives, and eventually to records related to the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Avery uncovers disturbing information about Georgia Tann, the woman who ran the organization from the 1920s through 1950, and her system of kidnapping children from poor families to sell to wealthy ones. The more Avery learns, the more she suspects that her grandmother might not be who everyone believes she is.

Meanwhile, back in 1939, Rill continues her struggle at the children's home. The beautiful Camellia draws the unwanted attention of a worker named Mr. Riggs, whose predatory behavior terrifies the girls. When he takes Camellia away one night, Rill is powerless to protect her sister, a failure that will haunt her for decades to come. Upon Camellia's return, the once-spirited girl is withdrawn and traumatized, further fueling Rill's determination to escape.

As Avery digs deeper into the past, uncomfortable questions arise about her family's history. The foundations of her identity begin to crack as she contemplates the possibility that her grandmother's privileged life might have been built on someone else's tragedy. Her growing closeness with Trent also forces her to question her planned future with Elliot.

"Family trees with their ever-reaching branches must find their beginnings somewhere. For the Stafford family, that place is here in Aiken. But what if that's not the truth? What if we're actually planted in soil somewhere else entirely, our roots reaching into places〞and people〞we've never known?"

The chapter concludes with Avery's discovery of adoption records that suggest her grandmother Judy might actually be one of the Foss children〞possibly Fern〞separated from her siblings at the Tennessee Children's Home Society. This realization sets Avery on a collision course with her family's carefully guarded secrets and May Crandall's painful past.

Chapter 3 May's Fight for Survival

1939 continues to unfold in Memphis as Rill〞now forced to answer to the name May Weathers〞faces the harsh realities of life at the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Weeks have passed since she and her siblings were taken from the Arcadia, and hope of returning to their parents grows dimmer each day. The home operates as both a prison and a marketplace, with Georgia Tann as its merciless overseer, selecting children based on their marketability to wealthy families seeking to adopt.

Rill struggles to keep her sisters together, but the task proves increasingly difficult. Sweet, gentle Lark becomes ill with a high fever that goes untreated by the staff. When Lark's condition worsens, Rill begs Miss Tann for medical attention, only to be met with indifference. In a devastating blow, Lark succumbs to her illness, leaving Rill devastated and racked with guilt for failing to save her sister.

Camellia, once vibrant and defiant, has become withdrawn following her abuse by Mr. Riggs. When a wealthy couple shows interest in adopting Fern, Rill makes a desperate attempt to keep what remains of her family together. She convinces Camellia to misbehave during the meeting, hoping to discourage the potential adopters. The plan backfires terribly when Miss Tann discovers the deception and, as punishment, arranges for Camellia to be adopted by a different family〞separating the sisters as retribution for Rill's interference.

Desperate and increasingly alone, Rill formulates escape plans, but each attempt is thwarted. After a particularly brutal punishment for one such attempt, she meets a sympathetic janitor named Silas, who offers small kindnesses and eventually information about her brother Gabby. He tells her that the boy was quickly adopted because of his blonde hair and blue eyes〞features highly prized by adoptive parents seeking children who could pass as their biological offspring.

In the present day, Avery's investigation gains momentum as she connects with Georgiana Purdy, a former employee of the Tennessee Children's Home Society who has spent decades helping victims and families affected by Georgia Tann's operation. From Georgiana, Avery learns the full, horrifying scope of Tann's crimes: over 5,000 children kidnapped, records falsified, birth certificates destroyed, and identities erased〞all with the complicity of judges, politicians, and law enforcement.

Through Georgiana's records, Avery confirms her suspicions: her grandmother Judy Stafford was born Fern Foss, taken from the shantyboat with her siblings in 1939. This revelation explains the connection with May Crandall, who Avery now understands must be Rill Foss〞Judy's long-lost sister. The weight of this discovery is staggering, forcing Avery to reconsider everything she thought she knew about her family history.

Back in 1939, a turning point comes for Rill when she learns that her parents did not abandon them as Miss Tann claimed. Silas secretly shows her a newspaper clipping reporting that Briny and Queenie Foss died in a fire on their shantyboat shortly after losing their newborn twins. The revelation crushes Rill's hopes of rescue but also removes the burden of her parents' perceived abandonment. With nothing left to lose, she becomes more determined than ever to protect Fern, her only remaining sibling at the home.

When an opportunity for adoption arises for both Rill and Fern together, Rill faces an impossible choice: remain in the nightmare of the children's home or enter an unknown future with strangers. The prospective parents, the Seviers, seem genuinely kind〞a stark contrast to the cruelty of the orphanage. Mrs. Sevier, in particular, shows compassion that Rill hasn't experienced since being taken from the river.

"Sometimes," Mrs. Sevier tells Rill during their meeting, "you have to accept that the best way to love someone is to let them go toward their own good future, even if you're not in it." These words resonate deeply with Rill as she contemplates the sisters she has already lost.

The chapter ends with Rill making the heartbreaking decision to accept adoption by the Seviers, taking Fern with her〞not out of desire for a new family, but out of desperation to escape Miss Tann and protect her youngest sister. As they leave the orphanage, Rill silently vows to never forget her true identity, her lost siblings, or the river that flows in her blood.

Chapter 4 Uncovering Family Secrets

Avery Stafford's investigation deepens as she arranges a private meeting with May Crandall, determined to confirm her suspicions about her grandmother's true identity. The meeting proves challenging; May alternates between sharp lucidity and guarded reticence, protective of memories that have caused her pain for over eighty years. When Avery directly asks if May knew her grandmother Judy, the elderly woman's eyes fill with tears. "I knew a Fern once," she replies cryptically. "She was my sister."

This confirmation sends Avery's world spinning. With Trent's help, she discovers that the Seviers, who adopted Rill and Fern Foss, were a wealthy Memphis couple unable to have children of their own. Christine Sevier, a woman with political connections and social standing, had been one of Georgia Tann's high-profile clients. Records show that the girls' names were legally changed〞Rill became May and Fern became Judith. The pieces begin to align with devastating clarity.

Meanwhile, the narrative returns to 1939, where Rill and Fern adjust to life with the Seviers in their grand Memphis home. Unlike the horrors of the children's home, the Seviers offer comfort, education, and a measure of kindness. Mrs. Sevier particularly grows attached to the girls, treating them with genuine affection. Mr. Sevier remains more distant, concerned primarily with appearances and his wife's happiness.

Rill struggles with conflicting emotions〞gratitude for their escape from Miss Tann, guilt over the siblings left behind, and resistance to abandoning her true identity. She secretly maintains her river traditions, telling Fern stories of the Arcadia at night and keeping a jar of river water hidden beneath her bed. "We're still river gypsies inside," she whispers to Fern, "even if nobody else knows it."

The turning point in their new life comes when Mrs. Sevier discovers Rill's secret treasures〞items from their former life that she's kept hidden, including a small photo of their siblings. Instead of anger, Mrs. Sevier responds with compassion, gradually earning Rill's trust by helping her search for information about Camellia and Gabby. This shared mission creates a bond between them, though the search yields no results.

In the present day, Avery finally gathers the courage to visit her grandmother Judy at her care facility, armed with photographs and questions. Though hampered by dementia, Judy experiences a moment of clarity when shown a picture of the Arcadia. "We weren't supposed to talk about the river," she whispers, confirming Avery's suspicions. This brief connection to her grandmother's hidden past strengthens Avery's resolve to uncover the full truth.

The investigation leads Avery to a retired social worker who had access to sealed adoption records. Through these documents, she discovers that Camellia Foss was adopted by a family in Chattanooga but died under suspicious circumstances only two years later. The social worker's notes suggest abuse at the hands of her adoptive family〞a common fate for many of Tann's placements, where follow-up supervision was minimal or nonexistent.

This revelation devastates Avery, who now understands the weight of secrets her grandmother and May have carried. She also learns that Gabion "Gabby" Foss was adopted by a couple in Georgia and his records lost in a courthouse fire, leaving his fate unknown.

Back in Memphis, 1940, tragedy strikes the Sevier household when Mrs. Sevier is diagnosed with cancer. As her condition deteriorates, she extracts a promise from twelve-year-old Rill to take care of Fern and to embrace the opportunities this new life offers. "You can't change what happened," Mrs. Sevier tells her, "but you can make something beautiful from it."

After Mrs. Sevier's death, Mr. Sevier becomes increasingly distant, eventually sending the girls to boarding school. Though materially provided for, Rill feels the loss of yet another mother figure. The distance from Mr. Sevier proves to be a blessing in disguise, however, as it allows the sisters to form a tight bond away from his controlling influence.

"People don't know what they take from you when they tell you not to cry," Rill reflects. "Years it's been since I've been able to let the tears come. I learned too young to keep everything inside, because what you show to the world, they'll use against you."

The chapter concludes with a pivotal moment in the present, as Avery arranges for May Crandall to visit the Stafford family estate during a weekend when her grandmother Judy will be there. Though risky given her grandmother's condition and her father's political concerns, Avery becomes convinced that these long-separated sisters deserve a chance at reunion before it's too late. The approaching meeting holds the potential for healing〞or for opening wounds too painful to bear.

Chapter 5 The Search for Identity

As the years progress in the historical timeline, Rill〞now firmly established as May Sevier〞grows into a young woman of privilege. After Mr. Sevier's death, the sisters inherit his fortune, providing them with financial independence rare for women in the 1950s. Despite her outward success, May cannot shake the memories of her river life and lost siblings. While Fern adapts more easily to their adopted identity, eventually attending Vanderbilt University and meeting a promising young law student named Wells Stafford, May remains haunted by the past.

May's search for her siblings becomes a lifelong mission. She hires private investigators, follows leads across multiple states, and keeps detailed records of every potential connection. The devastating news about Camellia's death leaves a permanent scar, and the mysterious disappearance of their brother Gabby torments her. When she finally locates Lark's grave in a small cemetery behind the former children's home, she establishes a ritual of visiting each year on her birthday, bringing river stones as remembrance.

In contrast, Fern〞now fully embracing her identity as Judy〞chooses to look forward rather than back. Her marriage to Wells Stafford elevates her into South Carolina's political elite, and she becomes determined to protect her new family from the shadows of her past. This fundamental difference in coping strategies creates tension between the sisters that lasts decades, their relationship marked by love but strained by Judy's refusal to acknowledge their shared history.

In the present day, Avery's planned reunion between the elderly sisters approaches. Consulting with her mother Leslie, Avery is surprised to discover that her mother knows more than she initially revealed. Leslie explains that Grandma Judy had shared fragments of her history years ago during a difficult pregnancy, swearing Leslie to secrecy out of fear that the truth might harm the family's reputation.

"Your grandmother believed that being a Stafford meant protecting certain narratives," Leslie tells Avery. "But I think she's carried this burden long enough. Some secrets aren't meant to stay buried forever."

With her mother's blessing, Avery moves forward with the reunion plans, though she worries about her grandmother's frail health and fragile mental state. Trent Turner becomes an increasingly important ally and confidant, his outsider perspective helping Avery see beyond the constraints of family expectations and political considerations. Their growing closeness forces Avery to confront her doubts about her engagement to Elliot, whose career ambitions and family connections suddenly seem less important than authenticity and emotional connection.

The reunion itself unfolds with tender uncertainty. When May enters the Stafford family garden where Judy sits in her wheelchair, both women show signs of recognition despite Judy's dementia. May approaches cautiously, carrying a jar of Mississippi River water〞a tangible connection to their shared beginning.

"Fern?" May whispers, using her sister's original name for the first time in decades.

Judy looks up, momentarily lucid. "Rill? You found me."

The sisters' hands clasp around the jar of river water, a symbolic reconnection to their true origins. Though Judy's moments of clarity are brief, the emotional impact of the reunion is profound. May shares stories of their river life, awakening flashes of memory in Judy and filling in gaps in Avery's understanding of her family history.

Through this emotional encounter, Avery learns that her grandmother's decision to suppress her past wasn't merely about protecting the Stafford reputation, but about creating distance from traumatic memories. For Judy, reinvention had been a survival strategy, while for May, remembrance had been a form of loyalty to those who were lost.

As the reunion concludes, May entrusts Avery with her lifelong research〞files documenting her search for Gabion Foss, who might still be alive somewhere. This passing of the torch represents both a burden and a privilege, an acknowledgment that some quests span generations. Avery accepts this responsibility, recognizing that understanding her grandmother's journey is essential to defining her own path forward.

"The river takes everything in the end," May tells Avery as they part. "But while we're here, we get to choose what to hold onto and what to let flow by. Your grandmother chose one way, I chose another. Neither of us was wrong."

The chapter ends with Avery standing at a crossroads in her own life. Inspired by her grandmother's journey and May's unwavering commitment to truth, she begins to question the carefully planned future she has accepted without examination. The political dynasty, the strategic marriage, the calculated career moves〞all suddenly seem less important than authenticity and the courage to chart her own course. With newfound clarity, she makes two life-altering decisions: to end her engagement to Elliot and to continue the search for her long-lost great-uncle Gabion.

Chapter 6 River of Secrets

The search for Gabion Foss becomes Avery's mission, a purpose that feels more authentic than the political trajectory her family had planned for her. With Trent's help, she methodically reviews May's extensive research files, which contain decades of correspondence with adoption agencies, private investigators, and state offices. The trail had gone cold at a courthouse fire in Georgia that destroyed adoption records from the relevant time period.

Avery's professional skills as a federal prosecutor prove valuable as she pursues new angles, accessing databases unavailable to May during her earlier search. Her first breakthrough comes when she discovers birth records for a Gabriel Wingate, born in the same year as the Georgia courthouse fire. The timing seems suspicious〞many of Georgia Tann's victims had their records deliberately destroyed or falsified to prevent biological families from finding them.

Meanwhile, the historical timeline focuses on May's life in the years following her rediscovery of Judy. Despite the emotional reunion, the sisters maintain a complex relationship. Judy, even in her more lucid moments, remains reluctant to fully acknowledge her past, while May cannot understand this willful forgetting. Their interactions are loving but strained, each woman shaped by different responses to the same trauma.

May eventually settles in Memphis, living alone but surrounded by river artifacts and mementos of her original family. She never marries, devoting her life instead to advocacy for adoption reform and support for victims of historical child trafficking. Through her activism, she becomes a quiet force behind legislation to unseal adoption records in Tennessee, though she carefully avoids publicity that might connect her to the prominent Stafford family.

In a poignant flashback to 1962, we see May's encounter with Georgia Tann's legacy during a chance meeting with Silas, the janitor who had shown her kindness at the children's home. Now elderly, Silas provides May with crucial information about the corruption that enabled Tann's operation〞judges who signed falsified documents, police who helped seize children, and politicians who protected the lucrative adoption business in exchange for favors and donations.

"She kept records on everybody," Silas reveals. "Used them to make sure nobody talked. Even after she died, people stayed quiet because they were afraid those records would come out."

This information deepens May's understanding of the systemic forces that destroyed her family, strengthening her resolve to expose the truth no matter how powerful the people involved.

Back in the present, Avery follows the Gabriel Wingate lead to a small town in northern Georgia. Public records show he lived a modest life as a high school mathematics teacher, married with two children, and died five years earlier. His obituary mentions military service and community involvement but nothing about his early childhood or adoption.

Reluctantly, Avery decides to contact his widow, Beth Wingate. Their initial phone conversation is awkward, with Beth understandably suspicious about Avery's interest in her late husband. However, when Avery mentions the Tennessee Children's Home Society, Beth's tone changes dramatically.

"He always wondered," Beth says quietly. "He knew he was adopted, but his parents refused to discuss it. Said it was better to leave the past buried."

Avery arranges a meeting with Beth, who agrees to share what little she knows about her husband's origins. Trent accompanies Avery on this journey, their growing closeness providing emotional support as she navigates these complicated family discoveries. During the drive, they discuss the ethical dimensions of disrupting people's understanding of their own identities and family histories.

"Some truths heal and some truths just cause pain," Trent observes. "How do you know which is which until it's too late?"

This question haunts Avery as she meets Beth Wingate, a gracious woman in her seventies who welcomes them into her home filled with family photographs. Beth shares that Gabriel had always felt a strange pull toward rivers and boats, building a small fishing cabin where he spent much of his free time. She produces a box of his personal effects, including a small, smooth river stone he always carried in his pocket〞a talisman whose significance he could never explain.

The most compelling evidence comes in the form of a photograph. Among Gabriel's possessions is a faded image he'd found among his adoptive parents' papers after their deaths〞a small, blurry picture of a river boat with several children on the deck. He had kept it his entire life, sensing some connection but never knowing its significance.

When Avery shows Beth the clearer photographs of the Arcadia that she received from May, the resemblance is unmistakable. The final confirmation comes from comparing childhood photos of Gabriel with images of Briny Foss. The family resemblance〞particularly around the eyes and jawline〞is striking.

"He spent his whole life searching for something he couldn't name," Beth says, tears gathering in her eyes. "I wish he could have known where he came from. I wish he could have met his sisters."

The discovery that Gabriel Wingate was indeed Gabion Foss brings a bittersweet resolution. Though they've found proof of his identity, the revelation comes too late for an actual reunion. Yet Beth finds comfort in finally understanding her husband's lifelong sense of disconnection, and Avery gains a new branch of her family tree〞Gabriel and Beth's children and grandchildren, blood relatives previously unknown to the Staffords.

The chapter concludes with Avery arranging a meeting between May and Beth, allowing the last living member of the original Foss family to connect with her brother's widow. The women share stories, photographs, and tears, piecing together the separate halves of Gabion's life. For May, this represents the completion of a lifelong quest; for Beth, it provides context for her husband's unspoken yearnings; and for Avery, it demonstrates the power of truth to heal even decades-old wounds.

Chapter 7: Rivers Return to the Sea

In the final chapter, the narrative weaves together the remaining threads of both timelines, bringing the story to its emotional conclusion. In the present day, Avery organizes a family gathering at the Stafford estate, bringing together the previously separate branches of the family tree. Beth Wingate and her children and grandchildren meet the Stafford clan, including Judy, who experiences one of her increasingly rare lucid days.

May Crandall, now accepted as family rather than a potential threat, becomes the center of this gathering. Despite her advanced age, she demonstrates remarkable clarity as she shares stories of the original Foss family〞giving Gabriel's descendants a connection to their heritage and helping the Staffords understand the journey that brought Judy into their lives.

"Family isn't just about blood," May tells the gathered relatives. "It's about who stays by your side and who keeps your memory alive."

In private conversation with Avery, May confesses her final secret〞that her decades-long search wasn't motivated solely by sisterly love but also by guilt. As the oldest, she had promised to protect her siblings, a promise repeatedly broken as they were separated at the children's home. Finding them had been her attempt at redemption, at fulfilling her childhood responsibility despite the impossible circumstances.

Avery assures May that she did all anyone could have expected, her persistence over eight decades demonstrating extraordinary loyalty. This absolution from Briny and Queenie's granddaughter brings May a measure of peace she has sought for a lifetime.

Meanwhile, the historical timeline reaches its conclusion with snapshots of May's life in the decades following her separation from the river. We see her visiting the site where the Arcadia was moored, returning year after year to maintain her connection to her origins. We witness her quiet support of Judy from a distance, anonymously contributing to education funds for Judy's children and grandchildren without revealing her identity or disrupting the Stafford family narrative.

In a particularly moving scene set in 1995, we see May finally returning to live on the water, purchasing a small houseboat where she spends her remaining active years. "The river always calls you home," she tells a curious neighbor. "Sometimes it just takes a lifetime to answer."

In the present day, Avery faces the consequences of her investigation and the choices it has inspired. Her broken engagement to Elliot causes political complications for her father, but Senator Stafford surprises her with his support. Having learned the true story of his mother-in-law's origins, he gains perspective on what truly matters beyond political expediency.

"Your grandmother reinvented herself because she thought she had to," he tells Avery. "But you don't have to make the same choice. Times have changed. You can honor where you came from and still decide who you want to be."

This blessing frees Avery to pursue a relationship with Trent, whose straightforward values and emotional honesty have become increasingly important to her. Though their future remains undefined, they commit to exploring possibilities together, unbounded by family expectations or predetermined paths.

The story's climax comes with a pilgrimage to the Mississippi River, where Avery arranges for May, now in a wheelchair, to visit the waters where the Arcadia once floated. Judy is too frail to join them, but she participates through video calls, witnessing May's return to the river from her care facility.

On the banks of the Mississippi, May performs a ritual decades in the making. She opens her collection of river water jars〞samples taken from significant locations throughout her life, including the spot where the Arcadia was moored and the places where she found traces of her lost siblings. One by one, she pours them back into the flowing Mississippi, symbolically reuniting the scattered family.

"Rivers don't just flow in one direction," May says as the water rejoins the current. "They're part of a cycle that goes on forever. The water that carried us then is still flowing now. Nothing's ever really lost if you know where to look for it."

As the last jar empties, May asks Avery to read aloud the names of the original Foss family: Briny, Queenie, Rill, Camellia, Lark, Fern, and Gabion. The names drift over the water like a benediction, acknowledging both what was lost and what endured.

In the final scene, back at her care facility, May shares one last story with Avery〞a recollection of a night on the Arcadia when the northern lights appeared over the Mississippi, a rare celestial event that her father Briny interpreted as proof that magic existed in the world.

"That's what I want you to remember about us," May tells Avery. "Not just the tragedy, but the magic. We had both."

The novel concludes with Avery standing alone by the river after May has been taken back to her room. In the water's reflection, she sees not just herself but the echoes of all those who came before〞the river gypsies whose blood flows in her veins alongside the Stafford legacy. This dual heritage no longer feels contradictory but complementary, each stream contributing to who she is becoming.

As twilight deepens, Avery turns toward her future, carrying with her the hard-won wisdom of her grandmother and great-aunt: that identity is both inherited and chosen, that family can be lost and found, and that even the most deeply buried truths eventually find their way to the surface, like rivers returning inevitably to the sea.