Beyond That, the Sea

Gerald packs Nancy’s car, which he’s borrowing to go to Washington, DC, to march with Linda. When Chris arrives with the news about William, Gerald reschedules his plans and helps Nancy deliver the news and make arrangements. She doesn’t think she can call yet another person, so she asks Gerald to call Bea.

After Gerald hangs up, Beatrix contemplates how she was not entirely surprised at the news of William’s death, as he was increasingly uneasy and discontent throughout his life. Additionally, she reflects on the surprise and warmth she felt upon hearing Gerald’s voice after so long and how she smiled as she pictured him on the other end of the line.

Nancy watches the March on Washington with Gerald and Linda, unable to stop weeping and remembering William. She wonders if she should have persuaded Gerald to go to Washington, as he’d clearly rather be there. The previous night, the three of them looked through old photo albums and reminisced about William; Nancy noted how alike he and Ethan were, both sharing a “melancholy.” Gerald asserted that he was glad he was more like her.

Millie gives Beatrix the money her own mother gave her long ago for a trip to the US and convinces Beatrix to attend William’s funeral. Beatrix eventually accepts, gratefully, and Millie feels like she finally did the right thing.

On the plane to Boston, Bea resolves to phone Gerald and Nancy after she arrives to let them know she’ll be at the funeral service. As the plane descends, she glimpses the beach near where William died and bids him a silent goodbye.

Gerald tells Nancy that Bea will be at the funeral. Nancy wonders whether they’ll recognize Bea, and Gerald laughs, assuring her that there’s no way they won’t.

At Rose’s parents’ place after the service, Gerald introduces Bea, and Rose is struck by Bea’s beauty. When Bea meets Kathleen and mentions that she’s heard a lot about her, Rose assumes that William told her and wonders whether there was something between them.

Gerald watches Bea in the kitchen at home, unable to take his eyes off her; he was waiting to spend time with her alone. Nancy convinces Bea to stay with them that night, and Bea accepts. Instead of going home to Linda, Gerald stays, too.

Early the next morning, Bea visits Ethan’s grave and talks to him about how it feels being back. She’s particularly struck by Gerald’s transformation into a “calmer, more self-assured” man (294). Gerald finds her at the grave, and they discuss William. Gerald worries about how Kathleen and Jack will cope, and Gerald and Bea remember that they each lost their fathers young, too. Bea mentions that she has some of Ethan’s paintings, and Gerald reveals that William also took up painting after Ethan’s death. He hopes to convince Rose to let him bring all of William’s artwork back home.

Nancy prepares a grocery list for the day as she watches Gerald go to join Bea at Ethan’s grave. She hasn’t been going as much, feeling like she has run out of things to talk to him about. When Bea and Gerald return, Nancy proclaims that she’s making a special dinner for Bea, hoping she’ll stay with them a little longer; Bea promises to stay until her flight back on Wednesday.

Gerald and Bea arrive at Rose’s, and Gerald offers to take the kids to the sea for a bit. Rose gratefully accepts but joins them, holding both kids’ hands in her own in the back seat of the car.

Bea and Gerald stroll in Gloucester, and Bea confesses that she likes Rose, though she didn’t think she would. Rose recalls how William brought the kids here often as a stand-in for the ocean in Maine, and she wonders if buying back the Maine house would have kept him alive longer. She asks Bea when she last met William, and when she reveals that they met in London after Ethan’s death, Gerald is furious. However, Bea explains that William didn’t originally plan to meet her and reassures Rose that they only corresponded by mail after that.

Back at the house, Bea goes through William’s art things, which she and Gerald are packing up to take home, and finds a sketch of the dancing couple hanging in her house; she realizes that William painted it.

Gerald insists on dropping Bea off at the airport, wanting to spend time alone with her. She asks about Linda, but he doesn’t want to talk about her; Bea reveals that she recently broke up with Robert and confesses that she once loved William. At the airport, Gerald gives her the framed photograph of the three of them, as promised; on the way back home, he contemplates how he never expected Bea to say aloud how she really felt about William.

Beatrix has been quiet and withdrawn since her return to the US. Millie hasn’t heard much about it and hasn’t pried but suggested that Beatrix take a weekend holiday in Scotland. Once Beatrix returns, she asks Millie to go Christmas shopping for William’s children with her. Beatrix shares a few details about her trip. Millie tentatively asks if she enjoyed spending time with Gerald and is thrilled when Beatrix responds affirmatively and thanks Millie for the trip.

When the weather is warmer, Gerald heads up to Maine to see the house after learning that William took Rose there. He rows out to the house, and although he’s glad to see that the new owners haven’t changed much on the inside, it doesn’t feel like home anymore. Nevertheless, he sits out on the porch and watches the sunset like Ethan did years ago.

Almost a year after William’s death, Nancy finally clears out his room. Gerald and Linda are leaving the next morning for Baltimore and then going to Mississippi to teach at a summer school in July. In the morning, Nancy packs a picnic basket for them and sees them off in her car. She wonders why they haven’t married.

Every Sunday in July, Bea writes letters to Gerald in Mississippi. She receives long letters back, filled with news about his time teaching there, which thrills her. She wonders how, of the two brothers, Gerald ended up living the exciting life. She wonders whether he’d have done so if William were still around.

Rose visits Nancy every afternoon for two weeks because Nancy worries about Gerald down in Mississippi. Rose persuades Nancy to go for a walk and visit Ethan’s grave. Nancy sits down on a bench near it, grateful that someone installed it, and Rose smiles to herself, not revealing that Gerald is the one who did so some years back. Rose apologizes for not letting William be buried there, but Nancy brushes it off, stating that he always felt like more a part of her family than his.

Millie meets a wealthy older man named Alan, who asks her to marry him after just six dates. She turns him down, having been married thrice already, but he insists, and she promises to think about it. Back home, she wonders to herself why not, realizing that she’s an optimist about love.

Gerald now shares a house with five other teachers. He and Linda broke up when she suddenly took a job in Baltimore after their month in Mississippi. After breaking the news to Nancy, he stayed away for a while, and the space seemed to do Nancy good.

Nancy goes to Gerald’s for dinner, and his housemates ask her for stories about his childhood. She tells them about how Gerald and Bea played Monopoly for hours and how he was closer to her than even William.

Bea writes to Gerald, inviting him to London for her mother’s wedding in December. She wants to see him and doesn’t want to attend the wedding alone; all her friends are married and have kids now, and though they compliment her on her career running a school, she still feels lonely. However, she and Millie repaired their relationship over time, talking through their issues. Bea receives a call from Gerald, confirming that he’d be thrilled to come for the wedding.

Nancy is thrilled to receive a wedding invite from Millie but doesn’t think she’ll actually go, until Gerald reveals that he was invited too. Now she looks forward to the trip abroad with her son, marveling at how, despite Ethan’s and William’s deaths, she and Gerald have recovered.

Nancy and Gerald bring back gifts from London for William’s children and tell Rose about the trip. From the way Gerald talks about it, Rose realizes that he’s in love with Bea. Rose tells them about her job, too: She now works in the offices of the state senator. Together, they wonder about whether, if William were still around, things would have been different—whether he and Gerald would have found common ground or would have continued to fight bitterly. Nancy doesn’t think people can change, but Rose reflects on how she’s holding down the fort with her family and a new job, which she could have never imagined for herself.

Millie and Alan meet Beatrix for dinner, as they do regularly a couple of times a month. Millie asks after Nancy and Gerald. She’s curious about the friendship that rekindled between Beatrix and Gerald during her trip to the US and, after watching them together at her wedding, is convinced that they’re in love. Beatrix reveals that Nancy and Gerald have invited her there for Easter, and Alan offers to pay for the trip. Millie urges Beatrix to take him up on the offer. Just like she has finally found love with Alan, she counsels Beatrix that one loves different people differently, adding, “Young love isn’t necessarily the best love” (335). Beatrix understands that Millie is referring to William’s visit many years ago.

Bea and Gerald watch a baseball game. They remember William, and Gerald asks what happened between them when he came to London to see her. Bea tells Gerald that nothing happened because she and William were too different by then and he was marrying Rose. Gerald relaxes, and Bea thinks about how not telling him the truth is simply a way to protect what she and William had; it doesn’t reflect what she feels for Gerald now.

On Bea’s last night in Boston, she and Gerald sit together in the living room and talk. Bea reflects on how Jack reminds her of William, and Kathleen of Gerald, though she has Ethan’s brain; Bea and Kathleen have been playing postal chess. Gerald asks which of her parents she’s more like, and Bea explains how it’s not as clear for her because she had four parents and carries a little of each. However, this is the place she thinks of as home, always, and she’s glad to return. Gerald pulls out the ring box Nancy gave him years ago and asks Bea if she thinks she could make it her home forever. She smiles in response and holds out her hand, asking him to take a walk together.

Gerald watches the sun and sea on a summer afternoon from the porch in Maine. It would be William’s 50th birthday. Gerald and Bea bought the house and island back earlier this year. He now runs a counseling and tutoring center in Dorchester, managing numerous sites and employees, and although his work is exhausting, he loves it. Nancy is in the kitchen making dessert and is thrilled to be back home. Earlier that day, Gerald caught bluefish for dinner and then rushed home to check on his daughter, Nell, before crawling back into bed with his arms around Bea.

Bea watches Gerald and Nell, their 11-year-old daughter, swim to the floating dock. After Bea and Gerald got married 12 years ago and she began running the lower school, they started putting away money, hoping to buy back the house one day. Now that they have, Bea knows they bought it as much for themselves as for the people who are gone, like William and Ethan. Rose and her husband, Frank, came up for a weekend, with a sign that says “WHAT’S PAST IS PROLOGUE” as a housewarming gift (348); she works at the State House, where she loves her job, and has become a close friend of Bea’s. Kathleen and Jack are coming up later that day to celebrate William’s birthday; they both live in New York. Bea watches Nell dive and swim to the shore, where she’ll be waiting with a towel. Later, Bea will run her a bath, and as the room fills with the scent of lemon soap, they’ll chat about plans for Kathleen and Jack’s visit, among other topics.