Rosalind's heart started beating at a frantic pace. She had been so happy about Skye and Jeffrey, and now...she was still happy, but it was a desperate happiness. Some instinct was telling her that Tommy was here for her, so things would be ok. When things weren't ok. That instinct needed to die.

"We can send him away," Jane whispered. "Say the word, and we will send him away."

"But also if you have things to say to him, we don't have to," Skye added.

"Rosie, we'll do anything you ask," Batty said.

Rosalind looked at her three sisters and nodded.

"Let him in," she said.

Jane rose and drifted to the door.

"Oh, hello Tommy Geiger," Jane said. "God of the Goalposts."

Jane had not called Tommy by a silly football-inspired moniker for about ten years.

"Jane," Tommy said. "I was hoping to see Rosalind, if that would be alright with her?"

Rosalind felt her lip tremble at his voice. He was so hesitant and yet so determined.

Jane stepped aside, and Tommy entered.

Rosalind sat at the table. Batty and Skye flanked her. Jane walked over to stand by Skye.

Rosalind felt strong with them there. Like a queen in her throne room. Batty was her kind-hearted shadow and devoted advisor. Skye was her brave warrior and commander of her armies. Jane was her wise historian, recording everything that transpired.

"My mother wouldn't let me say the wedding was off," Tommy said. "She wouldn't even let me explain anything."

In fact, Mrs. Geiger had given Tommy a speech he would never forget. Tommy described how she had said of course Rosalind was nervous about the wedding. Mrs. Geiger had nearly had a panic attack the day before her own. And in fact, there had been some days, when Nick and Tommy were kids, that Mrs. Geiger had looked out the window and wondered how she had ended up spending her days doing laundry and making sandwiches for ravenous little boys and she had wondered if it was all a waste of her potential.

Mrs. Geiger told Tommy he had absolutely no idea what it was like to be a young woman on the cusp of marriage, knowing that the decisions you make now will dictate the rest of your life, and there's no erasing any of it. There are no easy do-overs. Once a woman has a child, she has a child. Once a woman reaches a certain age, there's no turning back the clock.

She told Tommy that Rosalind was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he hadn't even had to do anything to earn her. He had just grown up on Gardam Street, right across from the most wonderful girl in the world. And if he was going to let Rosalind slip through his fingers because he couldn't listen to her or understand her fear, then he was an idiot and didn't deserve her in the first place.

Tommy explained that he had been mad over that conversation with his mother for six hours. And then he had been sad for another 24 hours after that. Then for the next day or so, he had been scared. Truly terrified that if he waited by the phone, she would never call. That if he went to her, she wouldn't see him. That he was going to mess up the only thing that mattered.

Finally, he had gotten in the car and driven up to Point Mouette.

After explaining all this to Rosalind, as her sisters stood by in silence, he asked if, please, they could talk.

Rosalind inclined her head and stood up. She stepped towards him. She grabbed his hand and led him down to the beach.

"We can cancel the wedding, Rosie," Tommy said. "If it's what you want, we never have to get married or anything. I'll even move out, if it makes you happy or you want space or need to slow down. I'll do anything, but I just don't want to lose you. I can't lose you."

Rosalind's breath caught in her throat.

"Tommy, you don't have to do all that," she said.

"But I want to," Tommy said. "I know it's scary, I know it feels like a lot. And if you tell me you don't ever want to get married for the next fifty years, that's fine. As long as I can be with you for those fifty years. Please. We'll do anything you want. We can move to Chile or Alaska. We can quit our jobs or buy a farm, or I don't know. Anything at all, as long as we're together."

"You should definitely not quit your job," Rosalind said with a grin.

"Are you laughing at me?" Tommy said.

"No," Rosalind said. "Well, yes, a bit, but it's only because I love you."

"You do?" Tommy asked.

Rosalind wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him long and deep. Tommy felt like a feather could knock him over.

"Of course I love you," she said. "And I know I've made the past few days very hard for you, and I'm sorry. But I've sorted a lot of things out up here."

"So, you'll stay with me," Tommy said. "We'll work this out?"

"I want to marry you next month," Rosalind said.

Tommy furrowed his brow.

"The wedding was scaring me because it felt like an ending," she said. "Like it was just the safe option. The only option. But now I know you're willing to do anything, any sort of option. I don't feel trapped anymore. I want the wedding because I want it, not because everyone expects it."

"But we don't have to, Rosie," Tommy said.

"I want to," she said. "I felt like everything was moving too fast, and I have to tell you, I was scared about having kids. I want kids, but I just got so terrified over how I feel like I've been acting like a mother since I was young, and it's hard. I was scared I would be unhappy with all that. But my sisters reminded me that I don't always have to be the perfect oldest. I don't always have to give, sometimes I can take from them."

Tommy leaned back and grabbed her shoulders.

"We can wait," he said. "We can wait as long as you want, and we can even adopt if you're nervous about being older."

"Really?" Rosalind asked.

"Of course," Tommy said. "I want to raise our children together, I don't care when we have them or what specific DNA they have."

Rosalind hugged Tommy as hard as she could then.

The next few hours were a blur of explaining and clarifying.

First Rosalind had to explain to her sisters how Tommy was wonderful, he had always been wonderful, she had just needed to think some things through, with their help of course. Then she had to tell them that they were her miracles, every single one of them, and that they had helped her so much.

Then they all had to congratulate Tommy once again and greet him properly and apologize for being so cold when he arrived, they only did it to protect Rosie.

Next, Tommy and Rosalind called Mrs. Geiger, and Rosalind thanked her over and over into the phone, and Mrs. Geiger teared up and told Rosalind that she loved her, she would always love her.

After that, Jeffrey showed up, and the Penderwicks had to announce the happy news about Skye and Jeffrey to Tommy. Jeffrey was mad that Skye had told her sisters before he got there, but she told him that Rosalind had seen them, and they had all yanked the confession out of her. So Jeffrey hugged Skye and told her that he didn't care who saw them, from now on.

Then Tommy joked about a double wedding, and Rosalind did not miss the thoughtful look that passed between Skye and Jeffrey.

Finally, Jane disappeared to the porch and then emerged clutching her computer. She announced that she had something to share, if they were in the mood to listen. They all piled onto the couch, Rosalind next to Tommy, with Batty curled up into Rosalind's other side, and Jeffrey with his arm around Skye.

Jane sat across from then, and she began to read some of her recent writings. It was a passage about Rosalind, giving the baby Batty a bath. So clearly and tenderly had Jane rendered the moment, Rosalind felt a rush of emotion, and she squeezed Batty's hand as hard as she could. Then Jane read another passage about Rosalind teaching her little sisters how to say a vow she had made up. It was for a secret ritual, a Meeting of Penderwick Sisters.

When Jane finished, she peered out at them all, her eyes full.

"I was thinking," Jane said. "That this might be the next thing I write. A story about us. If that's alright."

Rosalind pulled herself out of the couch and rushed towards Jane.

"Of course it's all right," Rosalind cried. "Of course you have to write it."