After the storm ended more than two hours later, Jem returned to Ingleside while Faith went to the manse. When the Merediths saw Faith, she was assaulted by shrieks of delight and quickly found herself nestled in the eager arms of her family, everyone vying to give her the first hug at the same time.

"Faith Meredith, why on earth didn't you tell us you'd be home today?" exclaimed her astonished father, who had practically leaped out of his chair to greet her with a big hug.

"I wanted to surprise everyone by coming home a fortnight early, but you surprised me by not being home," Faith said, laughing good-naturedly as she looked around at the happily startled faces in front of her. The Merediths couldn't have been more delighted if Santa Claus himself had walked through the front door bearing gifts three months earlier than expected.

"At last all of our children are where they belong," said Rosemary thankfully.

"This is a wonderful surprise!" Jerry said as he kissed his sister on the cheek.

"Welcome home, Faith," said Bruce as he threw his arms around her.

"Oh, my goodness, Bruce! I think you've grown two feet since the last time I saw you! When I left you were just a boy, and now you're practically a man!" Faith exclaimed, resulting in a proud smile appearing on her little brother's face.

The rest of the afternoon was spent excitedly exchanging news and stories and simply enjoying the company of family. In the middle of the joyous reunion, Anne Blythe called and extended the invitation to supper, which the Merediths happily accepted.

When the Merediths arrived at Ingleside, Faith and Jem were filled with the nervous giddiness of two young people about to attend their first grown-up party. They had hoped to make their announcement first thing, but had to wait because Dr. Blythe was out on a call. When he finally returned, he looked very tired.

"How's Mrs. Drew?" Anne asked him.

"She's more upset than anything else," Gilbert said, shaking his head. "Her daughter came home today and announced that she will never go back to her husband – no matter what."

"Miss Cornelia said from the beginning that the marriage was a mistake, and I guess she was right," commented Anne. "They only married because he had just enlisted and was about to go overseas, and it seemed to be the romantic thing to do under those circumstances. They barely knew each other."

"The same thing happened to my cousin's daughter," Rosemary said, "only she had known the young man her entire life. They rushed into marriage because of the war, and from what my cousin tells me, all they ever do is quarrel now that he's home."

"I've seen many similar situations recently," Rev. Meredith said solemnly. "Young people who hurried into matrimony, never considering the effect the war might have on them and their feelings. We can be grateful none of our children hastily entered into marriage during the war."

"Yes," agreed Anne. "Thank goodness we've been spared that worry. You know, I've always considered myself a romantic, but I've heard so many stories about young people who rushed into marriage after the war started that I'm inclined to think that what they did wasn't romantic, but irresponsible."

Faith and Jem looked at each other in disbelief. They couldn't have been more astonished if their parents had announced that Canada had just outlawed the institution of marriage. Completely crestfallen, Jem and Faith knew, without exchanging a word, that they couldn't possibly tell their families about their marriage now. For almost two years, they had believed their families would be happy to learn they were married. How mistaken they had been!

Oddly, no one detected the shift in Faith and Jem's attitude from gleeful excitement to grim bewilderment. With the exception of the dejected young couple, everyone enjoyed a pleasant evening of good food and agreeable conversation. However, because all the Merediths were tired from their journeys, the evening ended at a rather early hour.

When the Merediths returned to the manse, Faith said good night to her family and went to her room, knowing the other members of her family were also ready to retire for the night. From her window, she could see Ingleside and the lights that burned inside the house. Silently but impatiently, she waited for those lights to go out, knowing that Jem would meet her in Rainbow Valley as soon as he could get away. After what seemed like hours, Ingleside was dark, and Faith quietly sneaked out of her room, tiptoed down the stairs, and slipped out the front door.

Although the calendar said early September, it definitely felt like a crisp and clear early autumn night, complete with a full moon illuminating the translucent sky, stars twinkling playfully in the heavens, and a cool soothing breeze offering comfort to the natural environment that earlier in the day had been disquieted by storms. If ever there were a perfect night for a clandestine lovers' tryst, this was it. Unfortunately, Faith Blythe was oblivious to it all. The storms that had disrupted the Glen several hours earlier had now moved into her heart, a heart that was suddenly murky, somber and tumultuous. If only what she and Jem ought to do weren't so plainly and painfully obvious to her.

Jem arrived in Rainbow Valley feeling extremely frustrated by the evening's events. Since his return to Canada five months earlier, he had felt, for the first time in nearly five years, that he was in control of his life. But now he felt as if his fate was once again in someone else's hands. However, his frustration dissipated momentarily when he caught site of his wife's curvaceous silhouette in the moonlight. Memories of that morning saturated his mind: the taste of her lips lightly brushing against his, the soft touch of her skin, and the intimacy of holding her close. He had had to leave her behind so many times in the last five years, and it had been agonizing each time. Since they had been married, however, their separations had become almost unbearable. How could he face a year at Kingsport without her after the closeness they had shared twelve short hours ago?

"Oh, Faith," he said softly, as he leaned forward to kiss her softly on the lips. When he released her from his embrace, he gently caressed her face with his fingertips and gazed into her eyes. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too."

"We made a terrible mistake tonight. We should have told them. I can't stand the idea of leaving you tomorrow."

"I don't want to spend another day without you, either. But we have more than ourselves to consider."

"Why?" he asked. "Haven't we made enough sacrifices in the last five years?"

"Yes. But we made those sacrifices for our country, not for our parents."

"I love my parents as much as you love yours," he told her. "But if it is a choice between them and you, I choose you without reservation."

"If only it were a choice, Jem. But it's not. We're not talking about giving up our marriage or each other, just living apart for a little while longer."

"For nine months, Faith. That's a long time when I'm not with you. Do we want to put ourselves through that just because our parents may wish we had waited until the war was over before getting married?"

"They've suffered so much. You can see it in their faces. At first, I thought it was just your parents because they lost Walter. But when I saw my father and Rosemary today, I could see that the agony and worry of the war had affected them, too. After all they've been through, do we want them to worry about us?"

He knew she was right. The toll the war had taken on his parents was obvious and had troubled him all summer. Yet he still couldn't accept the idea of leaving her in the morning. "There's no reason for them to worry about us. They'll be pleased about our marriage. I know they will."

"If that's the case, why didn't you tell them at dinner?" she asked quietly.

He gazed into her loving, yet anguished, golden brown eyes. He didn't have an answer. For a long time that night, Jem and Faith discussed their unexpected predicament. Jem finally had to admit to his wife that as much as he wanted her by his side as he finished medical school, he would have a hard time forgiving himself if revealing their secret caused their parents undue anxiety. So reluctantly Jem and Faith decided to continue masquerading as an engaged couple.

"If you hadn't enrolled in the accelerated medical course, and we were facing a two-year separation, I'd say let's be selfish and tell them," Faith had said. "But you'll be back here for good in less than a year. And as lonely as this separation will be, it will be easier than the other ones because I'll know that you're safe."

"We are luckier than many of our friends," he had said, also trying to look on the bright side. "At least we still have a future to look forward to. But there's something I want you to know, Faith. Despite our decision tonight, I don't regret marrying you in London. I'd do it again and without a second thought. Even though our wedding day was nothing like we originally planned, it was the happiest day of my life."

She smiled and said, "I feel the same way. When I married you that day, I made a pledge from my heart I'd wanted to make for a long time. I'll never be sorry I chose to do so then."

Exhausted and emotionally drained from the day's unforeseen events, Jem and Faith parted and returned to their separate homes, sneaking back to their beds in an attempt to get a few hours' sleep before they had to say goodbye at the train station. During their brief slumber, the weather changed yet again as more clouds drifted in from the west. As they stood on the platform and exchanged one last kiss before Jem boarded the eight o'clock train, mist began to fall from the gray and overcast sky, creating a mood that reflected their sad hearts and deflated spirits that morning. But determined to make the best of their situation, Jem and Faith clung to the knowledge that their circumstances, like the weather, were only temporary.