The Five People You Meet in Heaven: Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis

Eddie is stunned to see Marguerite in heaven, and insists that it can’t be her. He falls onto her shoulder, crying for the first time since he got to heaven. The novel then flashes back to Eddie and Marguerite’s wedding. At a rented Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve, they had a modest ceremony with foldable chairs and an accordion player. They walked home together afterward, holding hands. The narrator explains that with Marguerite, Eddie found a “deep but quiet love.” After Marguerite died, he found nothing else to give shape to his life. In heaven, Eddie walks with Marguerite, as the two revel in every detail of each other’s presence. She tells him she chose a heaven full of weddings because she loves the moment when a man and woman say their vows, when they believe so deeply in the power of their love.

Marguerite tells Eddie that she also met five people in heaven, and learned things, and that she has waited for him ever since then. She tells Eddie that she remembers everything that happened when they were together, but that she now knows why it all happened. Finally, she tells him that she knows he loves her, and Eddie feels a sense of “melting warmth.” He begins to tell Marguerite all about the accident at Ruby Pier that caused his death. Eddie talks and talks, eager to tell her everything. Suddenly, he is overwhelmed by the reality that he is in heaven, with Marguerite. His emotions bursting, he tells Marguerite, “I missed you so much.”