On her wedding morning, Nora wakes anxious about sharing her bed with Neil that night. Mrs. Thompson brings her breakfast in bed and expresses hope that love will find them both. Neil has gone to pick up his parents from the train station and show them Camp Hill hospital. Nora recalls that the morning after their engagement, Neil had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.

Downstairs, she helps with preparations while Evelyn makes cookies. The wedding is set for 11 in the parlor with a Presbyterian minister. Nora wears a dark-blue skirt and ivory blouse rather than a traditional wedding dress. Her grandmother lends her a pearl brooch and gives her a new handkerchief. Fighting the urge to run, Nora reminds herself that she is doing this for the children’s security. Her grandfather walks her to the parlor where Neil waits by the fire. After a brief ceremony, they are married, and Nora becomes Mrs. McLeod.

Following a small reception, the guests depart. Nora awkwardly tells Neil she has made space in her dresser, and he promises to be a gentleman. When the boarders return from work, John calls her Mrs. McLeod, then makes a disparaging remark about Alley, showing his approval of Neil. That evening, after the household retires, Neil and Nora go upstairs to their shared bedroom. After changing, they lie stiffly in the dark until Neil begins to chuckle at the absurdity, and Nora joins in. Her blunt question about whether he is wearing anything under the covers leads to full laughter, easing the awkwardness. They bid each other goodnight and fall asleep.

The narrative shifts to Charlotte. She has settled into her new life working as a kitchen girl at Gammon’s Café while living with Winnie and Edward. In the mornings, Charlotte watches Winnie’s son so Winnie can attend war-effort committees. Winnie watches Aileen in the afternoons while Charlotte works. Charlotte gives Winnie half her wages for board and saves the rest. One evening while putting Aileen to bed, Charlotte notices changes in the child—no more laughter at their old games, new thumb-sucking—and a strange brownish mark on her stomach that Charlotte first assumes is a scar from the explosion.

Unease grows as Charlotte wonders if her head injury changed her or if she lacks mothering instincts. She feels an odd distance from the child, who sometimes seems like a stranger. Fearful of being thought “crazy” or having Aileen taken away, she keeps these concerns to herself and considers leaving Halifax for a fresh start.

Downstairs, Winnie announces she is pregnant with her second child. Charlotte feels a brief pang of jealousy but congratulates her friend. Winnie reassures her she is welcome to stay as long as she likes, calling her a sister. Charlotte reveals her plan to seek domestic work outside the city where she can keep Aileen with her, and Winnie offers to help. Three weeks later, Charlotte finds an advertisement for a housekeeper position in Chester. By mid-March, she quits the café and moves with the child to begin a new life.

On June 27, two weeks before her due date, Nora finds the summer heat oppressive. She and Neil have settled into a platonic marriage that sometimes feels maddening. Mrs. Thompson has moved back to her own house but continues to help daily, and a new boarder, Matthew, has taken the spare room after Neil moved into Nora’s.

Neil comes home early on a rare day off and suggests a walk in Point Pleasant Park and lunch out. They take a taxi, and Nora watches how naturally Neil acts as a father to Evelyn. During the walk, Nora has backaches and abdominal tightening. Resting on a bench while Neil and Evelyn explore by the water, she realizes she is in early labor and tearfully tells Neil. He calmly reassures her, and they make their way home. Nora explains to Evelyn that the baby is coming today.

At home, Neil takes Evelyn next door to Mrs. Thompson while Nora calls for the midwife, Edith Baker. Through the labor, Nora thinks of Alley, whose name she saw on a wounded list in March, and accepts that he chose not to be in her life. She feels no regret about marrying Neil. He stays by her side, holding her hand and offering steady support. After the birth, Mrs. Baker places the baby in Nora’s arms, overwhelming her with his love. Neil cuts the cord, kisses her forehead, and takes the baby to be bathed.

When Neil returns with the swaddled infant, Mrs. Baker helps Nora begin breastfeeding while Neil sets up the cradle in their bedroom. When he asks about a name, Nora tells him he is the baby’s father. They choose James, after Jimmy, and Cameron, after Neil’s brother—James Cameron McLeod. That night, Neil comes to bed smelling of spirits, and Nora realizes he is unhappy with their arrangement. In the morning, she reads that the hospital ship Llandovery Castle has been sunk, killing 14 nursing sisters, and reflects on joy and sorrow existing side by side.

Charlotte has been working as a housekeeper for the kind Zwicker family in Chester for several months and feels her mind has begun to heal from the trauma of the explosion. However, she has come to the realization that the child with her is not her daughter.

She now believes that grief and desperation after the explosion led her to mistake another child for her own. The proof came last week when she recognized that the brownish mark on the child’s stomach is a permanent birthmark, which her Aileen did not have. Terrified by what she has done, Charlotte fears what has happened to her actual daughter. She worries she will be arrested if she confesses but rationalizes that if the child is an orphan, perhaps they were meant to be together.

The two youngest Zwicker children, Elsie and Constance, ask to play with Aileen. Charlotte reflects on the family’s kindness—Mr. and Mrs. Zwicker and their 11-year-old son, Alan. Mr. Zwicker lost a hand in the war but has rejoined his father’s shipping business. Despite knowing the truth, Charlotte grapples with holding both grief for her lost daughter and love for this child. She hugs the child, resolving that they were brought together for a purpose and that no one can ever know the truth.

On September 3, Nora works in her garden while worrying about the encroaching Spanish flu. Neil comes home early with a grave expression. While Nora breastfeeds baby James, he asks if she is happy. She says she is content with their new family, though she misses nursing. Neil explains that with the flu worsening in Boston, Canadian doctors and nurses will be sent to help, and he wants to volunteer.

Nora is shocked and afraid, arguing that he is needed at home and has family responsibilities now. She accuses him of needing to be a self-sacrificing hero. Neil replies that he must go precisely because he has a family to protect, and the knowledge he gains will help them. In the argument, Nora accuses him of marrying her out of pity. Neil shouts that it was not pity; he married her because he loved her from the first time he saw her and hoped she would come to love him too. He reveals the pain of lying beside her each night without touching her, giving everything and asking for nothing in return.

Stunned, Nora says that was not their agreement. Neil curses the agreement. When she confronts him about getting drunk on their engagement night and the night James was born, he says he did so because he could not have what he wanted. Resigned, Nora asks when he would leave; he says probably in October.

After their argument, Nora feels utterly alone and homesick for Chester. She feels as if she has been living Jane’s life in Halifax and needs to make her own. That night, she tells a withdrawn Neil she will move to the house in Chester for a while, wounding him by saying her only family is there. He suggests Mrs. Thompson might manage the Halifax house so that the boarders won’t have to move; Nora agrees to ask. Although Nora loves James, she regrets having a child.

By October 10, Nora, Evelyn, and James are settled in the family home in Chester, while Neil is in Boston. Nora finds she is happier than she has been in months and enjoys making a home. Mrs. Thompson allowed Evelyn to bring Buttons, who now curls by the warm stove. One morning, Evelyn tearfully asks if James can be her brother instead of her cousin and if Nora can be her mummy because she misses having one. Nora comforts her, pulls her onto her lap, and agrees, telling her that mummies love their children no matter what. Evelyn then asks if Uncle Neil can be her daddy.

The question makes Nora realize how much she misses Neil and how completely she has taken him for granted. In his absence, she understands she has fallen in love with him and wants a real marriage. The next morning, Nora’s brother William visits and takes Evelyn to their grandparents’ house to pick apples. After breakfast, Nora takes James in his carriage and walks into town to run errands, feeling renewed hope for the future and certain that the war will end, and Neil will return. At the post office, she mails a letter to Mrs. Thompson about the Halifax house.

On the street, Nora sees a woman with a slight limp holding a small child. She freezes, recognizing the child as the image of her deceased niece, Clara—blond curls, blue eyes, and the distinctive right-cheek dimple. She recalls that Clara’s body was never found. The woman notices Nora staring, pales with fear, and quickly turns away. Shaken but convinced she is right, Nora follows, determined to learn the truth.