Missing Quail Crossings 3 - The End (Pages 145 - end)

 RATING: NICE

SPOILERS!!!

Alice and James decide to travel to find out more about Ellie, and the discover that the girl was ill treated, and in the last family she set fire to the house accidentally. The family did not believe her and they reported her. Alice and James are determined to help Ellie to feel happy. On the way back Alice wants to find out why her friend, Jacob Henry, has not written. They find the house where he lives, which is in a state of disarray. Jacob eventually opens the door, and they discover that he lost a leg during the war, and his wife left him. James and Alice tell him to come with them to Quail Crossings, and Jacob agrees to do so during the winter.

Jacob is finally lodge in a small flat in the butcher's shop that Elmer and Tiny now run. Elmer has bought the butcher's shop after the previous owner left. Since Tiny is pretty nauseous all the time, Elmer asks him to work for him. Jacob is apprehensive for what happened five years ago when he was beaten up for being black. Yet, he is surprised when the man beat him up turns up one day to tell him thank you. He says that when he was fighting the war, a black man saved him when he pushed him when a bomb fell, and the man died instead. That made him think, so that is why he decided to come and ask Jacob for forgiveness.

And Robert is back! Evie was already losing hope when months succeeded and nothing was heard. Then in the middle of a terrible blizzard Robert appears. Gabe found him in London. Apparently, Robert was caught in enemy territory, dressed in civil clothes and without his tags, and he was thought to be a Nazi spy, so he was arrested. That is where he was all those months, and even though Robert kept saying that he was an American soldier, he was not believed. Thankfully, Gabe sorted out the mess.

Gabe returns home as well, and he says that he wants to marry Dovey at once, and they marry within days to the happiness of the whole family. 

The last part of the book kept me on the edge of my seat. Ellie is cooking and accidentally sets fire to the stove. and burns her arm. Now Ellie panics and runs from the kitchen after putting out the fire. She does believe that Dovey and the others will ask her to go. Tiny, who is in Quails Crossing as she has been prescribed bedrest for the remainder of her pregnancy, smells the smoke and when she goes to the kitchen, Ellie is gone. It is Tiny who sets the alarm, and everybody starts looking for her. Even little Joy helps, thinking it is a hide-and-seek game. Joy finds Ellie in the barn, in the hideout that Alice showed her. Ellie, who now realises it is useless not to talk, tells the child to leave her, but Joy tells Alice, who goes to find her.

Dovey makes Ellie see that they love her and she is already part of the family. Dovey calls the doctor because Tiny starts to feel pains again, and she wants Ellie to be seen to about her arm. Ellie does not want to see Dr Hushton, who I already suspected knew her from the scathing remarks he makes about her. 

Dr Hushton is not happy to learn that Tiny has been taking walks, following Dovey's advice and ignoring his own recommendations. The doctor is very critical about Dovey, and Ellie decides to stand up to him. That is when his mask is lifted and he shows his true colours. Dovey grabs her shotgun to threaten him when she realises that the man is dangerous. Yet, the doctor grabs the shotgun and hits Dovey with the gun, and when Elmer comes out, he shoots him. Ellie panics and decides to run so that the man race after her with the intention of losing him and then return. 

Tiny discovers Dovey and Elmer hurt. She manages to wake Dovey, and they drag Elmer inside. Tiny then calls one of the local cafes where Evie is, and she tells her about what has happened, and she also calls the police. The family and the sheriff rush to Quail Crossings.

Ellie keeps running, but unfortuantely, she trips on some boards and falls. The doctor grabs her, and to her horror the man uncovers a hole where dozens of snakes slither. The doctor says that Ellie ruined his life, and he intends to push Ellie into the hole. Yet, Ellie defends herself, and the doctor ends falling into the hole himself, and as the snakes start biting him, he cries out. Ellie feels unable to leave him there, and goes back to help him out of the hole, and in the process she is bitten by a snake. The doctor is totally heartless, and when he is out of the hole, he grabs her again, intending to push her. Thankfully, Dovey, who heard the cry, turns up and shoots him, and the man ends up falling into the hole, where he dies.

Dovey, Elmer, Tiny and Ellie are taken to the hospital. Dovey, Elmer, and Tiny are soon discharged, but Ellie is in a coma as infection from the bite and the burnt flesh has affected her. The doctor tells Dovey that she needs to get ready to lose her. Dovey reacts angrily, saying that she believes in Ellie, who is her daughter, and in that moment Ellie wakes up, and recovers.

At the end of the book Ellie is happy at Quails Crossing. It seems that she has been left with some physical problems because Alice says that she won't be able to be like them. And Tiny has a baby boy, who she Calls Benjamin Thomas.

I really love the stories of this family, and the addition of Ellie is a great one.