November 11, 1918 - Armistice day and celebrations!

As William and Edward turns 10, midway through their childhood years, it's a quiet day in the junior Whittaker household. Harold is sick, and there is no birthday celebration for the boys. Grandpa and Abigail comes by to say hi and give gifts, before returning home to William and Josephine. All that marks the day is a quiet family dinner, with mum's cooking. That does not bode well. It's in all account a fairly awful birthday as far as Edward is concerned.

But as sad as this is for Edward (and he's sure bestie William is feeling the same), Emily is relieved, because by nightfall her youngest recovers from his second turn with the flu. So far, and she's keeping her fingers crossed, no one else seems to have caught the illness either.

That night, there is more news, as she recognise the symptoms of yet another pregnancy. Her fifth. Does she really want another child? Of course she does. How silly of her to think otherwise. Even if it does mean loosing her sewing room to make another nursery. Then again, that does give her an excuse to do something other than chores. How she will manage without a maid in the house when the baby comes she has no idea, but perhaps by then they will have found a new one? She can always hope, even if she has read in the paper that the entire country is in a national domestic worker crisis. At least the new nursery looks good:

The next morning the news is all over the newspaper. An armistice has been signed - the war is finally over!

In spite of the ongoing pandemic, spontaneous celebrations break out in the streets at the news spread from household to household. The young men will return! All is well. Some, like the Edwardsons, cannot share in the celebrations, having lost their only boy to the war, but others rejoice at the return to normal. Emily, Frank and the kids rush over to the senior Whittaker family, where Josephine is especially elated at the news. Nash is coming home! They can set a date, get married, get on with life. She is jubilant. So is Abigail and Joseph. Anna can return home again! Finally! After more than three years, they will at long last see their beloved daughter again.

Meanwhile in France, Anna and the others are celebrating with the rest of the town in the bar. Racheal is playing the piano, people are drinking, hugging, kissing and dancing. There has probably never been so many people in the bar at all as nurses and soldiers come from nearby towns to celebrate the news. Some soldiers has already started returning, others are still in need of care and it will be a while before they can all go home, but for Anna tonight is especially joyful. Soon. Soon. She will see her beloved Maurice again! He might not have returned at once, but the front is long and she knows that she will need to wait. Tonight nothing can diminish the joy she is feeling. The war is over! Tomorrow they can start patching up the last wounded soldiers. Tonight they will celebrate!