Great Big Beautiful Life

Hayden abruptly ends the kiss, stating, “I’m not going to hook up with someone […] whose dream job I’m about to take from them” (104). Alice feels humiliated and incensed that he thinks he has already won the competition. For the next few days, she avoids seeing him around the island.

Alice arrives at Margaret’s house for another interview, meeting with Margaret in her workshop, where she creates art from sea glass and other things she scavenges from the beach. Alice notices that the floor is a labyrinth mosaic. Alice corrects that it’s a “unicursal” or a path with one entrance and exit, not a puzzle. Alice wants to ask Margaret more about the Ebner but decides not to push too much. Instead, they pick up the story where they left off.

When Lawrence was 40, he married Amelia Lowe, the daughter of a wealthy railroad family. Amelia’s parents disapproved of the union, so the couple eloped. Lawrence subverted Amelia’s father’s anger by featuring the story of their marriage, which brought together two powerful families, in all four of his newspapers. Amelia’s father and Lawrence became business partners. In 1875, Amelia gave birth to Gerald, Margaret’s grandfather, who Margaret says was “the one who built the House of Ives” (109).