When You Loved Me Summary by Chapter | Beatriz Williams
Introduction
Beatriz Williams delivers a sweeping dual-timeline novel that weaves together a present-day mystery, a forbidden romance, and a 300-year-old pirate legend.
When You Loved Me Summary by Chapter guides readers through every twist in this emotionally layered story of love, loss, and redemption set on the windswept shores of Winthrop Island.
Lucy Cooper returns to the island after twelve years away, summoned by her father’s mysterious disappearance.
What begins as a painful homecoming quickly spirals into a hunt for the truth — about a cryptic key, a buried treasure, and the man she never stopped loving.
For readers seeking a deeper exploration of themes, character arcs, and similar book recommendations, visit the full When You Loved Me summary on our website.
Book Structure Overview
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Parts | 5 (plus historical excerpts interspersed throughout) |
| Total Chapters | 38 (including the opening “Ben” chapter) |
| Prologue/Epilogue | Opens with a prologue-like chapter titled “Ben”; no formal epilogue |
| Narrative Style | Dual timeline: present-day (autumn through summer) and flashbacks to Summer 2012, plus historical excerpts from 1716–1717 |
| Point of View | Primarily third-person limited (Lucy); Ben’s perspective in the opening and closing chapters; first-person historical journal excerpts |
When You Loved Me Summary Chapter by Chapter
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This section contains detailed, chapter-by-chapter plot summaries.
Part I: The Winter Before
“Ben”
Ben Ressler, a thirty-two-year-old veteran NFL free safety, is locked into a high-stakes conference championship game in freezing nine-degree weather. Playing through broken fingers and a burst suture, he sacks the opposing quarterback and basks in the crowd’s roar.
On a critical third-and-thirteen play, Ben launches himself like a missile at the tight end racing up the seam. The collision is catastrophic — number 89 flips backward, his head slamming against the frozen turf.
The stadium falls into a sickening silence as trainers rush onto the field. Ben drops to a knee, adrenaline replaced by stone-cold fear, realizing the hit was fatal and his career is effectively over.
Part II: Autumn
Chapter 1: Lucy
Twelve years after leaving Winthrop Island, Lucy Cooper returns to deliver a eulogy for her father, Bud, whose clothes were found neatly folded on Poseidon Beach. With no body recovered, the state has not issued a death certificate, leaving Lucy to manage the mess he left behind.
Her seven-year-old daughter, Elise — nicknamed Punkin — sits beside her in a black Parisian dress. During the service, Lucy spots a man in the back of the church who looks like Ben Ressler, the ghost of her island past.
She finishes her speech thanking the friends who indulged her father’s tall tales, but when she glances back, the mysterious man has vanished. Lucy is left unsettled, doubting Ben would ever return given his history with the Peabodys.
Chapter 2
Lucy recalls the agony of explaining her partner Arnaud’s murder to four-year-old Punkin three years earlier. At the funeral reception, Sedge Peabody offers condolences and mentions Bud was beaming about Lucy’s return to teach at the island school.
Punkin charms Sedge, though Lucy cringes at a minor social blunder. Sedge reveals his sister Laura — Lucy’s former best friend — is traveling through South America and Antarctica on sabbatical.
Driving back to Windward, Bud’s house, Lucy explains to Punkin that she and Laura fell out over a boy when they were eighteen. They arrive to find the home in a state of extreme hoarding, filled with nautical charts, unsorted papers, and dirty dishes — and the staircase still missing the banister Bud broke during his final fight with Lucy’s mother.
Chapter 3
Ben Ressler appears at the door, shaggy and bearded — a stark contrast to the god Lucy remembered. He holds a dog named Chief, whom Punkin immediately adores. Ben admits he found Bud’s clothes on the beach and asked police to keep his name out of the report.
He reveals he has been living in the Summerly caretaker lodge for a year, doing groundskeeping for Sedge. Lucy is stunned to learn Ben and Bud had been spending time together for months without Bud ever mentioning it.
Ben hands Lucy a small envelope Bud gave him days before disappearing, instructing him to deliver it “if anything happened.” Inside, Lucy finds only a small metal key with the numbers 8238 etched into the brass — a key to a lock she cannot identify.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance (October 1716)
In 1716, Hephzibah Winthrop is drawing water at dawn when a boat emerges from thick fog carrying two men and a third soaked in blood.
The injured man is Captain Ramsay, a pirate whose chest has been split open from armpit to belly and whose scalp is partially detached.
The pirates’ surgeon, Dr. Elliott, forces Hephzibah to sew Ramsay’s massive wound while he remains conscious, staring at her. A cannon shot rattles the house — the pirate ship is under attack — and the crew departs, leaving Ramsay and Elliott behind with a bag of Spanish silver and a threat: if Ramsay dies, the Winthrops are dead.
Chapter 4
Lucy and Punkin visit the island school, where Lucy will soon replace a pregnant teacher. Back at Windward, Topher Dumont — a Harvard classmate of Bud’s — arrives with a tragic expression and a large brown envelope.
Topher reveals that his father loaned Bud significant sums over twelve years, and the accumulated debt now totals a staggering $2.2 million. He delivers the crushing news that the loans were secured against the Windward property itself.
Lucy realizes her father was a fantasist who never intended to repay the debt, and her only inheritance — the family home — is under immediate threat of repossession.
Chapter 5
Lucy reflects bitterly on the family legend of Ned Ramsay’s treasure, which a developer once claimed was buried on their ten acres. Bud’s lifelong obsession with treasure hunting was, in Lucy’s eyes, an excuse to avoid real work while bills went unpaid.
Punkin continues reading about pirates, much to Lucy’s annoyance. Hoping for answers about the key, they visit Ben, who is working on a tractor. He offers to show Punkin the exact spot on Poseidon Beach where he found Bud’s folded clothes.
Standing on the shore, Ben describes the neat pile with a dull, grief-stricken expression. Lucy shows him the key, but Ben examines it and claims he has never seen it before, leaving her without a lead.
Chapter 6 (Summer 2012)
In a flashback to the summer Lucy turned eighteen, she and Laura Peabody are on the beach when Sedge arrives with his “hottest friend,” Ben Ressler — a burly silhouette with gingery hair. At dinner at the Club, Bud is delighted to meet Ben, especially upon learning he plays football for Dartmouth.
Ben bluntly reveals his father is in prison for armed robbery, shocking the Practically Perfect Peabodys. Later, Sedge confides to Lucy his concern that Laura isn’t eating and admits he invited Ben to stay so Ben could focus on conditioning away from noise at home.
Sedge jokingly warns Ben about flirting with Laura. Lucy feels a budding attraction to Ben but remains loyal to Laura, who is clearly obsessed with him.
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Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Captain Ramsay’s right hand has turned black with gangrene, and Dr. Elliott determines the arm must be amputated to the elbow.
Hephzibah assists in the brutal surgery performed by morning light; the sound of the saw grinding through bone fills the room.
Ramsay remains conscious, locking eyes with Hephzibah throughout the procedure as if she is his source of strength. Silas Winthrop faints from the carnage. After the operation, Ramsay grabs Hephzibah’s arm and whispers, “Snow — on your — feathers.”
Chapter 7
Punkin starts school, and Lucy meets with real estate agent Bixie Huxley, who informs her that Windward is essentially a teardown valued only for the land. Bixie warns they cannot close a sale without a death certificate or court petition — and reveals the property is burdened by multiple liens and two mortgages in significant arrears.
Lucy calculates her father may have accumulated nearly $10 million in debt. Determined to find what the key unlocks, she explores the dark, cobwebbed basement and discovers a heavy wooden crate nailed shut in the crawl space.
Prying it open, she finds twenty bottles of “Old Orkney” Scotch Whiskey bottled in 1926 — Prohibition-era smuggled liquor. It is the first tangible treasure she has ever found in her father’s house.
Chapter 8
Lucy brings a bottle of the vintage whiskey to the Mohegan Inn to show Sedge, who confirms it is highly valuable contraband from the island’s smuggling days. His girlfriend, Audrey Fisher — daughter of an Oscar-nominated actress — suggests selling the crate to a New York restaurant.
Lucy asks how long Ben intends to stay on the island. Sedge is shocked she hasn’t heard about Ben’s “media shitstorm” and reveals Ben was an NFL star with three Super Bowl rings who killed a player on the field last January by snapping his neck.
Lucy is horrified. Her perception of Ben shifts instantly from neighborly caretaker to killer.
Chapter 9
Lucy searches for Ben Ressler online, watching videos of his shocking tackles and ruthless style. She is disturbed by the savage joy in his highlights. When Ben knocks at her door offering to trim her boxwoods, Lucy avoids his eyes, picturing the menacing gaze she saw through his helmet cage.
She confronts him by describing the murder of her partner, Arnaud, on a Paris sidewalk — emphasizing the horror of one person taking away the entire life of another. Ben responds with gentle, dove-gray eyes, saying one can only “live with what we’ve done” and “make amends.”
The school calls: the teacher Lucy is replacing has gone into early labor, and Lucy is needed immediately.
Part III: Holidays
Chapter 10 (Summer 2012)
In a flashback, Lucy recalls a summer morning when she went wild swimming at Poseidon Beach and was pulled toward open water by a powerful current. Just as she was losing consciousness, an arm like iron grabbed her — Ben Ressler had been doing hill sprints nearby and swam out to rescue her.
They agreed to keep the rescue secret to avoid drama with the Peabodys and her father. Ben admitted his mother pushed him into football so he wouldn’t end up like his criminal father; he liked the sport because he could channel his anger into something the public cheers.
Later, Bud showed Lucy the 300-year-old journal of Hephzibah Winthrop, convinced it would lead to Ramsay’s treasure. Laura visited and confessed she had a visceral nightmare about Lucy and Ben together, admitting she was insecure and obsessed with him.
Chapter 11
In November, Sedge and his grandmother, Mrs. Peabody, visit Windward to invite Lucy and Punkin to Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. Peabody mentions Bud used to consult her for her expertise in island history. Sedge reveals Audrey found a buyer for the vintage whiskey crate.
Lucy starts her teaching job and finds herself reminded of her early days with Arnaud in Paris. Punkin insists on making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, treating it as a challenge to their French culinary skills.
On Thanksgiving morning, Ben arrives in a tweed blazer to escort them to Summerly in a golf cart. Lucy is struck by how solid he looks — a bulwark against her recent disasters.
Chapter 12
On the drive to Summerly, Ben admits to Punkin that he used to be kind of rich but wasn’t happy. At the Peabody Thanksgiving, Lucy meets David and Lola Peabody, who reveal Ben’s fiancée dumped him immediately after the accident — and that Laura encouraged Sedge to offer Ben shelter.
Sedge announces his engagement to Audrey. After dinner, the children play on the beach in the dark, and Lucy suddenly hears Punkin shriek. Ben retrieves a wet, sobbing Punkin from the water — Tanner Peabody held her head underwater.
Ben confronts Tanner’s father, Harry, calling Tanner a “fucking maniac.” Harry shouts back that Ben is a “killer.” A traumatized Punkin asks Ben, not Lucy, to carry her inside.
Chapter 13
Punkin admits she provoked Tanner by insulting him in French. Upon returning to Windward, they find the house flooded — a hot water tap in the master bathroom was left running. Ben rushes to Summerly for a wet vac and helps Lucy clean up into the night.
Lucy breaks down in tears, realizing she was wrong to judge Ben for his past. He holds her and invites her to scream the frustration into his chest. He points out that a faucet doesn’t turn itself on and warns her to start locking her doors.
Lucy asks Ben to coach the girls’ basketball team, hoping it will give him a sense of purpose. He says he’ll think about it but worries about being recognized.
Chapter 14 (Summer 2012)
In 2012, Lucy encounters Ben at the library and they go for ice cream at the marina. Ben reveals he is a classics major who reads Tacitus in the original Latin and credits nuns with saving his life. Laura interrupts, visibly jealous, and invites Ben to a Monk Adams concert.
At a beach bonfire later, Ben warns Lucy that Sedge’s girlfriend Nerissa is using cocaine. He also admits he knows about Laura’s eating disorder. Walking home through the beach roses, Ben and Lucy share their first intense kiss.
They realize they have been thinking about each other for weeks. Lucy is torn by loyalty to Laura but agrees to meet Ben for a swim the next morning — choosing to step into a new future.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance (December)
By December, Ramsay has recovered enough to walk and practices fighting with an iron poker while Hephzibah watches.
Dr. Elliott reveals the Royal Navy is hunting their ship for mutiny — Ramsay led a revolt against the cruel Captain Harte but spared Harte’s life, and now Harte is vengefully pursuing him.
Silas’s brother Enoch visits, expecting to inherit the farm if Silas dies. The family hides Ramsay’s identity by introducing him as “Cousin James.” Ramsay promises Hephzibah a hundredfold return for her hospitality once his men come back. Hephzibah feels a growing thaw in her heart toward the pirate.
Part IV: Winter
Chapter 15
Two days before Christmas, Lucy receives a certified letter: Topher Dumont’s lawyers are starting repossession proceedings on Windward for over $2.3 million. Lucy and Punkin search for an old springhouse mentioned in Bud’s maps as a potential burial site.
They run into Ben, who has successfully coached the basketball team through several wins. Lucy gives him a bottle of vintage Scotch, and he promises they will open it together. Ben reveals he is spending Christmas in Boston with the Peabodys, leaving Punkin heartbroken.
While searching the meadow, Lucy finds a rusted shovel head buried in the grass. She looks up and sees a mysterious man standing by a tree, watching her and Punkin from a distance.
Chapter 16
Lucy experiences a traumatic flashback to Arnaud’s murder as she runs toward the intruder with a rock, but the man flees in a car. Punkin is safe, but Lucy is deeply shaken. The guardhouse claims no unknown cars passed through, suggesting the intruder knows the island’s private routes.
Ben calls and learns about the shovel; he mentions he has been missing a shovel since summer. On Christmas morning, Lucy’s mother and several siblings arrive unexpectedly at Windward. Ben also arrives, having driven back from Boston early because he was worried about Lucy.
Chapter 17
Ben spends Christmas Eve with Lucy’s eccentric family, and everyone gets along surprisingly well — including her protective brother Matthias. Lucy asks Ben about Bud’s missing laptop, but he doesn’t know where it is.
While filling Punkin’s stocking in the dark parlor, Ben and Lucy share a tender moment. Lucy admits she should have been there for Bud more; Ben comforts her, saying they both just needed the other to care.
Lucy’s mother comes downstairs and identifies the mysterious key with the number 8238 — it belongs to a safe-deposit box at a bank in New London.
Chapter 18 (Summer 2012)
In 2012, Ben and Lucy continue their secret morning meetings at Horseshoe Bay. Ben admits he wants to play pro football only to set his mom up right. They struggle with the intensity of their attraction, and Ben asks Lucy to consider applying to American colleges.
At the Club’s Luau Night, they share a stolen kiss behind the pro shop. Laura tells Lucy her father is an asshole who has had multiple affairs. The next morning, Ben and Lucy lose their virginity together on a blanket at sunrise — a moment Lucy will carry on her skin for the rest of her life.
They promise to meet in London on New Year’s Eve, but the morning ends with news that Lucy’s mother has been hospitalized, forcing Lucy to leave the island immediately without a proper goodbye.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
In January, Ramsay and Hephzibah spot Captain Harte’s ship anchored in the bay — Harte has returned to hunt the mutineer. Hephzibah hides Ramsay and Dr. Elliott in the springhouse dug into the hillside. Harte arrives with armed men, searching the property.
Beulah and Silas lie, claiming they turned the pirates away months ago. Hephzibah confronts Harte in the barn, and he seizes her chin, threatening to punish her wickedness if she has shared Ramsay’s bed. Harte eventually leaves as the tide turns but promises to return at first light.
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Chapter 19
In early January, Lucy visits the Chase Bank in New London to access Bud’s safe-deposit box. The manager reveals another woman claiming to be Lucy Cooper tried to access the box the previous week but was turned away for lacking proper ID.
Lucy opens the box and finds only a manila envelope containing Bud’s research notebooks and maps — no treasure, no missing laptop. On the ferry back, Ben calls to inform her the furnace has run out of oil and it is too cold for her and Punkin to stay at Windward.
He invites them to stay at his caretaker lodge. Lucy realizes someone else is actively hunting for her father’s secrets.
Chapter 20
Lucy and Punkin stay at Ben’s lodge, where Punkin is thrilled about her first sleepover. After Punkin goes to bed, Lucy and Ben share a bottle of old rye whiskey and discuss the impersonator at the bank. Ben is concerned Lucy is in real danger.
Ben reveals he actually went to London in 2012 and waited all night in Piccadilly Circus for her — but she never arrived. They share an intimate moment, and Ben prepares to take Lucy to his room. Then he stops and confesses: he had an ongoing sexual relationship with Laura Peabody during the previous summer when he was at rock bottom.
Lucy is devastated. She refuses to sleep with him and spends the night on the sofa instead, feeling betrayed by both Ben and her former best friend.
Part V: Thaw
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Starvation becomes dire; the hens have been eaten and the salt pork has spoiled. Hephzibah discovers Beulah and Ramsay sitting together by the fire and feels a sharp pang of jealousy. Beulah confesses she loves Ramsay and fears God will punish her.
Hephzibah goes into a blizzard to find the missing cows and nearly freezes before Ramsay rescues her. When they return to the house, they find Beulah in premature labor, hemorrhaging blood. Hephzibah calls for the doctor in a panic.
Chapter 21
Lucy and Punkin attend Sedge and Audrey’s wedding at Greyfriars. Lucy receives a voicemail from a computer repair shop in New London — they have a laptop left under her name in September that Bud had supposedly dropped off.
At the wedding, Mrs. Peabody casually mentions that Ben was “banging” Laura all last summer. Lucy confronts Ben in the Greyfriars library, and he explains that Laura was the only person who didn’t treat him like a wild animal after his accident.
Lucy tells Ben she plans to move back to Paris at the end of the school year. He offers her his heart and his two hands, but Lucy says she cannot put her heart back together.
Chapter 22
Lucy’s car won’t start after the wedding, and Monk Adams gives her and Punkin a ride home. On the way, they smell smoke and discover Windward is on fire. The fire chief says the blaze is suspicious — it didn’t start in the electrical panel.
Ben arrives and points out the string of strange events: the flood, the stalker, the safe-deposit box, and now the fire. Mrs. Peabody insists Lucy and Punkin stay at Summerly for safety. A remote listening device is later discovered in Bud’s study.
The next morning, Lucy’s mother calls from London begging for help — Lucy’s stepfather, Sadiq, has attempted suicide amid a fraud investigation.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Dr. Elliott determines Beulah is dying and performs a crude C-section to save the child. Beulah dies during the procedure, leaving Hephzibah devastated but responsible for the surviving puny boy. Ramsay helps clean the carnage.
They have no milk for the baby, as the cow is still lost in the storm. Ramsay goes into the blizzard once more and miraculously returns with a bucket of milk. The baby, named Edward, begins to thrive under Hephzibah’s care.
Chapter 23
Lucy arrives in London to discover her stepfather tried to commit suicide after MI5 began investigating him for a billion-dollar fraud case. Her mother reveals their assets have been frozen and they have lost everything.
Lucy’s sister Pandora has escaped rehab to help. Their mother tasks Lucy with a fire heist: retrieving hidden jewelry from a safe behind a mirror in her study. Lucy finds the key hidden in a hollowed-out book and successfully retrieves the diamonds just as police enter the room.
Lucy realizes her mother, like her father, is someone you cannot always count on.
Chapter 24
Lucy’s mother tells her to keep the jewelry as personal property for now. On the flight back to Boston, Lucy experiences a moment of clarity — she no longer cares about Ben’s past with Laura and only wants to be with him.
Bixie Huxley calls with news of a $10 million cash offer on Windward. Lucy returns to the island and learns the community adores Coach Ressler. She arrives at Summerly, and Punkin pulls her into the sitting room to reunite her with her “best friend.”
Chapter 25
The surprise is a dying Laura Peabody, who has returned to the island with advanced lung cancer to die on her own terms. Laura and Lucy reconcile, and Laura admits she followed them to the beach in 2012 and saw everything — she was demented with jealousy and told Sedge about them just to cause pain.
Laura reveals she had her lung removed in August and spent her bucket list traveling South America. Ben helps a frail Laura up the stairs each night while Lucy experiences sharp pangs of jealousy.
Mrs. Peabody tells Lucy there are no cowards in her house and encourages her to stay and help care for the friend who once betrayed her.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Ramsay carries Dr. Elliott’s frozen body back to the house — the doctor lost his way in a snowdrift. They bury him next to Beulah in the apple orchard. Ramsay makes snowshoes from green sticks to help them survive.
He admits he led the mutiny because Captain Harte was a cruel tyrant. Ramsay and Hephzibah share an intensely intimate night by the fire, and Ramsay says her touch makes him feel not entirely abandoned by God. They find a brief reprieve of happiness as the snow falls again.
Chapter 26
Lucy collects Bud’s laptop from the repair shop but doesn’t know the password. Ben is digging in the apple orchard and unearths the actual 300-year-old tombstones of Beulah and Silas Winthrop and John Elliott — proving Bud’s pirate research was grounded in historical reality.
Mrs. Peabody explains she was born Emilia Winthrop in the caretaker lodge and is the last of the island’s original Winthrop line. Punkin correctly identifies John Elliott as the ship’s doctor from the pirate book.
Ben carries frail Laura to bed each night, causing Lucy continued emotional distress.
Chapter 27
The girls’ basketball team is invited to a major tournament in Providence due to their undefeated record. Topher Dumont visits Lucy again, aggressively pressuring her to sign loan extension papers. Lucy refuses and notices he is acting strangely; Laura later mentions Topher was once in rehab for addiction.
Mrs. Peabody reveals her great-grandparents used the old springhouse to hide rum-running booze and that it had a big iron ring on the door. Lucy decides to hunt for the iron ring in the meadow, hoping to discover what her father was searching for.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Silas Winthrop dies and is buried next to Beulah. His brother Enoch proposes marriage to Hephzibah, telling her she has no other choice if she wants to keep a roof over her head and care for Beulah’s baby. A wet nurse named Humility Brown arrives, though her presence is suspicious.
Hephzibah writes that she will submit to Enoch for the child’s sake but secretly pines for Ramsay’s return. Enoch tells her they will sail to the mainland in the morning to be married.
Chapter 28
Lucy confronts Ben about his closeness with Laura, and he explodes in frustration — he has been sleeping in an armchair for four nights because Laura is terrified of being alone. He asks Lucy, “When are you going to believe in me?” She texts him: “Just to be clear. I love you.”
Later, Lucy and Punkin find the iron ring in the meadow and pull open the hidden sod door of the springhouse. A putrid scent wafts out, and Lucy’s flashlight reveals a skull and a tuft of pale hair. Her father didn’t disappear — his body was hidden in the hillside.
Chapter 29
Detective Jackson arrives to investigate and considers Ben a person of interest because of his past violence. A listening device found in Bud’s study proves he was being stalked. Laura confesses to Lucy that she lied about sleeping with Ben in 2012 — Ben actually rejected her.
Laura reveals that Ben and Sedge fought because Ben was with Lucy on the beach, not over Laura’s honor. Ben returns from questioning looking weary, and Lucy goes to his lodge to tell him, “I want life.” They finally reunite physically at the caretaker lodge.
Chapter 30
After a night with Ben, Lucy goes to school and successfully guesses Bud’s laptop password: “alliswell.” She discovers emails from a man named Stephen Nye, a treasure hunter who threatened Bud for ghosting him.
Lucy realizes Hephzibah’s journal implies Ramsay returned for her and they fled together — a parallel to her own situation with Ben. Ben offers to resign from coaching to protect the school, but the principal and parents refuse to let him go.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
In April 1717, Ramsay returns for Hephzibah while she is at the well. He tells her his boat is in the cove and he has silver hidden. Hephzibah realizes she is pregnant with Ramsay’s child. While saying goodbye at Beulah’s grave, she is captured by Captain Harte, who holds a pistol to her cheek and forces her to lead him to Ramsay and the treasure.
Chapter 31
Lucy, Ben, Punkin, and Laura drive to the basketball tournament in Providence, which is mobbed by media shouting questions about the murder investigation and Lucy’s stepfather. Ben remains focused on the team while parents form a protective phalanx around him.
Lucy meets Detective Jackson at the gym and turns over Bud’s emails and a photo of a woman named Jennifer Nye. Jackson reveals they found another body — an ancient skeleton — at the springhouse. Ben signs autographs, reclaiming his public identity as a hero rather than a killer.
Chapter 32
During the final game, Punkin spots the man who came to their house pretending to be Topher Dumont. Laura looks at the man and confirms he is not Topher Dumont. Lucy realizes the man is actually Stephen Nye — the Huxleys’ new caretaker, who has been hiding in plain sight.
She chases him into the gym foyer, understanding at last that he is the man who killed her father.
Chapter 33
The Pirates win the championship on a thrilling last-second shot. Lucy cannot find Punkin in the crowd and begins a frantic search. She sees a flash of blue shirt and follows it around a corner, only to run into Luke Sullivan.
Before Lucy can react, Nye slams an object into her head. She loses consciousness as Nye takes her captive in the locker room.
Chapter 34
Lucy wakes in the locker room with a broken wrist. Nye has Punkin hostage and demands Lucy lure Ben there. He admits he killed Bud because the springhouse was empty and he felt Bud had stolen his treasure.
Punkin escapes Nye’s grasp, and Lucy tackles him, but Nye threatens her with a blade. Suddenly, Laura Peabody appears and knocks Nye unconscious with her oxygen canister before collapsing.
Excerpted from The Great Snow: A Romance
Harte releases Hephzibah but prepares to kill Ramsay anyway. A shot rings out — Harte falls dead, killed by the wet nurse Humility Brown with a musket. They bury Harte in the springhouse. Ramsay dumps his treasure down the Winthrop well, calling it blood money, and declares he wants a life of heart instead. Hephzibah, Ramsay, and Humility flee the island together.
Chapter 35 (Ben)
Ben celebrates the win but desperately searches for Lucy. Luke Sullivan tells him a man attacked her. Ben and Detective Jackson find the locker room, where Ben sees Nye lunging at Lucy with a blade.
Ben explodes off the line and nails the man right between the numbers, using his football skills to save her. Nye is apprehended, and the threat to Lucy and Punkin is finally over. Ben understands his precision and execution can be used to protect the ones he loves.
Chapter 36 (Lucy)
Laura Peabody dies in her sleep, and her ashes are scattered at Horseshoe Bay. Lucy realizes she is pregnant with Ben’s child. Sedge delivers a letter revealing Laura bought Bud’s house for $10 million and left it to Lucy — ensuring she and Punkin can stay on the island.
Lucy begins writing a novel about Hephzibah and Ramsay, transforming the family’s painful history into art.
Chapter 37
In the summer, Lucy and Ben are married in the meadow. Ben becomes the school’s athletic director, and Lucy has a permanent teaching job. While renovating the house, Punkin and Chief find a loose section of the stone wall covering an old well.
They realize this is where Bud was working the night Ben saw him with a flashlight. Punkin discovers the Ramsay treasure hidden at the bottom of the well — Bud had finally found it before he was murdered. His lifelong obsession was not a delusion; the treasure was real all along.
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Conclusion
The chapter-by-chapter journey through When You Loved Me reveals Beatriz Williams’ masterful weaving of past and present.
From Ben’s catastrophic hit on the football field to Lucy’s discovery of her father’s body and the final revelation of the Ramsay treasure, every thread converges toward redemption, forgiveness, and the courage to choose love after loss.
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