RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
A turning point for Rupert is the death of his father, who means that he is the Earl of Wroughton. When the earl died, he was out, and Diana finds Rupert silent and meditative often. Then he comes to tell her that he is going to the front to fight. In this conversation he tries to tell her that when his father died, he was with his current male lover, but Diana still doesn't understand because in her world that doesn't exist. Rupert worries that his behaviour may ruin her and their son, and it can mean even jail. So he thinks it is just right that he does his bit in the war.
In the front things are not easy. Laura and her girl fellows struggle to help with their old ambulance. Louisa is not so happy because seeing so much death and destruction is too much. Laura is now getting restless and wants to do something else. There are more and more women helping, and Laura realises that there is not a place for them to go to after the long day, just like the male club the men have. So she starts to plan how to manage to get one for all these women. She gets together with Major Ransley, who help her get contacts, and it is Lady Overton from London who funds the project. Laura and Major Ransley find an old hotel which they will turn into the women's club. Louisa is not happy because I think she is jealous of the relationship between Laura and Ransley. Actually, Laura and Ransley seem to be sweet on each other. They manage to start the club, and then a volunteer comes, offering her services to help, Veronica Milday, and Louisa is not happy either.
In this year Sadie has had two suitors. When Private Sanhill asks her to go to the pictures with him, she accepts, but for her he is only a friend. Yet, when he shows that he is in love with her, Sadie is categorical and says that she doesn't like him that way. Later in the year Sanhill is transferred somewhere else, and Sadie is sad that he has to go, but she is also relieved because since he told her about his feelings, things haven't been right. Another man she goes out with is Christopher Beresford, the young man who had partnered with Edward in the Ministry of Food. Sadie also thinks that Christopher is just a friend, and she hopes that he doesn't get any ideas, but so far he has only shown friendship. The man Sadie loves is John Courcy, and she hopes to see him soon, but she fears that for John she is only a young girl.
David and Antonia marry and move with the Hunters. Antonia is a good additon to the household and everybody loves her. Then she and David announce that she is expecting a baby.
In December Diana also announces that she is expecting. It happened when Rupert was on leave. During that leave Rupert talked to his mother-in-law about what he knew was happening between her and Louis. Rupert assured her that her secret was safe with him because he had secrets of his own. Beattie never admitted that there was anything between her and Louis, but the fact that Rupert knows makes her nervous.
William has now left school. In the summer he tells his father he doesn't want to go to the sixth form college or Oxford. What he wants is to learn how to build planes, and there is a factory nearby where he can do an apprenticeship. Edward would have liked him to go to university, but he agrees to let him do what he wants, and William is now a very happy apprentice.
Edward has stopped seeing Elise. She now has friends from her job as a dance teacher, quite the bohemian sort, and when Edward sees them, he realises that he cares too much for Elise, and he knows he has to stop seeing her. Elise wants to know why he doesn't see her any longer, and he has to tell him the truth. He speaks about honour as a married man, and this is something he is not ready to betray.
Beattie gets a letter from Louis's servant, telling him that Louis is wounded and in hospital. When she goes to see him, claiming to be his sister, she is told that Louis lost one eye and the doctors think they won't be able to save the other one. He is virtually blind. Beattie goes to see him every day, and he talks about them going to South Africa together. Beattie knows that it is time for her to make a decision. Now that he is in this condition, she feels she has to stick by him, which means she will have to leave Edward, her children, her home, everything... This is something that hurts her. On Christmas she needs to be with her family, and she tells Louis that he won't be able to visit him. Edward then tells him that he has good news and he has been given a knighthood, which means that she is now Lady Hunter, something she deserves. It is at this point that Beattie cries for the first time in front of Edward. This is something that complicates things for her.
In the last months not only Louis has been wounded. There have been many casualties. Oliphant, David's friend, has died, and so has Warren, who used to be Edward's secretary, and Donald has been wounded in the leg and abdomen. Too many losses of friends and family.
And that Christmas Fred appears at the Elms to see Cook, and she has no other option that to tell everybody she has beau in the servants' hall. Everybody seems to welcome Fred. The young girls, Lilian and Emily, decided a while ago to work for the munitions factory much to Cook's consternation, but Emily was adamant. Some weeks later Emily returned, thin and sick. She had been injured in the factory and infection was in her body. She cried that she didn't have money to eat because the girls she shared the boarding house with took it from her. When Cook told Beattie, she wasn't happy for the change of heart of Emily, but she agreed to take her back, and the girl had to recover in bed for a few weeks.
I am really enjoying this series. I don't know how Beattie's story is going to end but I am afraid that there is going to be heartbreak. I don't like what she is doing to Edward, who doesn't deserve her deceit. I know that Edward also has Elise, but he knows where his loyalties should be. I think he loves his wife, but I think Beattie's attitude is killing his love little by little.
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