During Planters’ Week, Digby keeps Elsie at Gwendolyn Gardens while Lena and Franz attend meetings. He invites Elsie on a hike to the Chair of the Goddess, where she edges toward a precipice, seemingly tempted by death. At the brink she reaches back; Digby clasps her hand and guides her to safety, and they embrace as her grief breaks.

Walking home, Digby fills the silence by confessing his own traumas—his mother’s suicide, the loss of surgery, and Celeste’s death—framing survival as a daily choice. He tells Elsie that the portrait they drew years ago freed his memory of his mother, and that she had restored him. Elsie responds with tenderness, examining his scarred hands and kissing his palms.

Digby introduces Elsie to his studio. She attacks limestone with focused energy, shedding her weariness as she sculpts. The work steadies her; even a misstep with a stone becomes part of learning. Together they stargaze at night, and Elsie is transported by the sky’s constancy. In the library, Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa ignites her ambition for big, sacred work.

Before Franz and Lena depart, Digby awkwardly asks if Elsie can remain. In private, Lena urges him to be honest and kind—“Don’t be a gentleman”—and suggests Elsie might love him too. Digby resolves to offer refuge without demands, prioritizing her healing through work and quiet companionship.

Days pass in a rhythm of sculpture by day and rooftop vigils by night. When rain drives them in, Elsie holds Digby’s hand and leads him into her room, closing the door—an unmistakable sign that, having stepped back from death, she is choosing life and a tentative intimacy with him.