When Beth is 16, Lily does not come to visit. Instead, Julian, Mariana, and Beth all attend a Christmas party together. Beth is worried about Lily, who has aged out of foster care and is on her own, but she does not know how to reach her. Beth is left alone at the party and gets drunk quickly. She realizes that she is being set up with a boy by her parents. She knows that Lily was right about her parents trying to marry her off before she’s out of her teens and her being pregnant by the time she’s 20. She was brought to the party to meet Gray and would be expected to marry him someday. On the way home, Mariana admonishes her for not trying harder with Gray. When Beth says that she wants to contact Lily, her parents refuse, but she realizes that her father knows where Lily is. Later that night, Beth finds Lily's address in her father's desk and writes her a letter. She says that everything Lily said would happen is coming true, but she never receives a response.