1940s: Homecomings
In Britechester, Grace is working hard on her studies, having spent too much of the first semester having fun
At the commons she's working on a presentation she needs to hold.
But she also find some time for a friendly game of juice pong. A girl has to have fun too, right?
Back at the dorm the girls have all pitched in to buy a radio, meaning everyone gathers in the common room at night to listen. It's a struggle on which channel to listen to at times, but in the end, some dance, others read, some chat. Grace mostly tries to keep up with the never ending homework.
Mornings and evenings the girls try to eat together at the dorm, with so much course work, it's all they can do to make sure they have time to really socialise. Around the dinner table everything from annoying professors, suitable bachelors and world events such as the start of the Nuremburg trials, the Chinese civil war that just started or that women were just allowed to vote in France.
All of those things interest Anna as well, even though ranch life is taking up most of their time as their ranch hand has left them in order to get married. "It's only natural," Johnny says. "We'll find a new one, a guy who will keep working if he gets married," he adds. Anna grumbles, but cannot but agree.
Then one beautiful winter's day, a day when you can feel spring in the air even though winter still firmly holds it's grip on the landscape, Thomas is at the gates of the farm.
Everyone is of course over the moon that he's home, safe and sound. Lots of hugs are exchanged, Nash and Josephine drive over for dinner, the conversation last well into the night.
But it doesn't take long to notice that Thomas is not himself. He can suddenly sit and stare out into space for hours, and is quiet in a way he wasn't before. His temper is hotter too and he explodes into rage in a way he did not before.
Anna urges him to be more active with the horses, Abigail takes him with her when she does charity work, but mostly Thomas just stays by himself. He takes walks as nature change from snow to green grass, and one day he starts building a treehouse in a tree just outside the farm.
"But why?" Anna asks. "There are no kids here to enjoy it?"
"Leave him be," Johnny tells her firmly. "Sometimes you just need to build something." While Anna and Abigail worry, Johnny goes out and joins him in the build without saying a word.
When the treehouse is finished, it's Thomas favourite spot. He can spend hours watching nature or just sitting staring in front of him. Late at night he sometimes goes out to watch the stars. The inactivity is grating on Anna, but she takes Johnny's advice, and leaving Thomas alone with his thoughts.
Thomas is not the only one returning home. In Willow Creek, Harold is returning too. But as he arrives, he doesn't return to his parents, but to his brother's widow.
He finds her stressed out, dressed in overalls, and annoyed because she is late for the job she need to provide for Pearl because the nanny is late.
"I'll stay with Pearl," Harold offers, but Bernadette is hesitant.
"What do you know about kids?"
"Enough that I can stay until the sitter arrives," he answers. "How hard can it be?"
Bernadette isn't convinced, but she cannot afford to lose her job. She relents and leaves.
Harold too needs to go to work, reporting to the military office in Newcrest, so with the nanny still not having shown up, he calls in reinforcements in the shape of his mother. Emily is happy to help and be a grandmother for a few hours.
Later in the afternoon, Harold returns again. The nanny never showed up at all, Emily stayed until Bernadette arrived, and then left. "That is no way to live," Harold says firmly. "A child should be with her mother."
"And how exactly is that going to work? Harrison isn't here to support us and she needs to eat and be fed! I'll just ask your mother to take her over the days, I can leave her there."
"In that vipers' nest?" Harold asks. "Don't do that to her. I'll stay, I'll provide for you. It's the least I can do for my brother's girls. You shouldn't have to work."
"And when you find a girl of your own?"
"Then we'll figure something out. It's what Harrison would have wanted."
Bernadette isn't necessarily convinced, but she does have a spare bedroom that she offers for Harold for the time being. So that he won't have to move back in with his parents. "For a few days. Then we'll see," she says.
But as days pass, she sees Harold with her daughter, reading to her, playing with her, taking her temper tantrums and having endless of patience for her. And she realises that Pearl needs this. She needs a father figure in her life, and though she can't have her own father, she can have her uncle. And so Bernadette quits the job she hates, and settles into this new kind of family life. Mother, daughter, uncle under one roof. We'll see how long it lasts, she thinks.
Everyone is of course over the moon that he's home, safe and sound. Lots of hugs are exchanged, Nash and Josephine drive over for dinner, the conversation last well into the night.
But it doesn't take long to notice that Thomas is not himself. He can suddenly sit and stare out into space for hours, and is quiet in a way he wasn't before. His temper is hotter too and he explodes into rage in a way he did not before.
Anna urges him to be more active with the horses, Abigail takes him with her when she does charity work, but mostly Thomas just stays by himself. He takes walks as nature change from snow to green grass, and one day he starts building a treehouse in a tree just outside the farm.
"But why?" Anna asks. "There are no kids here to enjoy it?"
"Leave him be," Johnny tells her firmly. "Sometimes you just need to build something." While Anna and Abigail worry, Johnny goes out and joins him in the build without saying a word.
When the treehouse is finished, it's Thomas favourite spot. He can spend hours watching nature or just sitting staring in front of him. Late at night he sometimes goes out to watch the stars. The inactivity is grating on Anna, but she takes Johnny's advice, and leaving Thomas alone with his thoughts.
Thomas is not the only one returning home. In Willow Creek, Harold is returning too. But as he arrives, he doesn't return to his parents, but to his brother's widow.
He finds her stressed out, dressed in overalls, and annoyed because she is late for the job she need to provide for Pearl because the nanny is late.
"I'll stay with Pearl," Harold offers, but Bernadette is hesitant.
"What do you know about kids?"
"Enough that I can stay until the sitter arrives," he answers. "How hard can it be?"
Bernadette isn't convinced, but she cannot afford to lose her job. She relents and leaves.
Harold too needs to go to work, reporting to the military office in Newcrest, so with the nanny still not having shown up, he calls in reinforcements in the shape of his mother. Emily is happy to help and be a grandmother for a few hours.
Later in the afternoon, Harold returns again. The nanny never showed up at all, Emily stayed until Bernadette arrived, and then left. "That is no way to live," Harold says firmly. "A child should be with her mother."
"And how exactly is that going to work? Harrison isn't here to support us and she needs to eat and be fed! I'll just ask your mother to take her over the days, I can leave her there."
"In that vipers' nest?" Harold asks. "Don't do that to her. I'll stay, I'll provide for you. It's the least I can do for my brother's girls. You shouldn't have to work."
"And when you find a girl of your own?"
"Then we'll figure something out. It's what Harrison would have wanted."
Bernadette isn't necessarily convinced, but she does have a spare bedroom that she offers for Harold for the time being. So that he won't have to move back in with his parents. "For a few days. Then we'll see," she says.
But as days pass, she sees Harold with her daughter, reading to her, playing with her, taking her temper tantrums and having endless of patience for her. And she realises that Pearl needs this. She needs a father figure in her life, and though she can't have her own father, she can have her uncle. And so Bernadette quits the job she hates, and settles into this new kind of family life. Mother, daughter, uncle under one roof. We'll see how long it lasts, she thinks.
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