It had only been a few weeks since Eve, now promoted to Principal Matron, had returned to the field hospital and was already under siege by a wave of patients. After hours of surgeries, treating the less wounded, and getting every patient set up, the chaos soon passed.
Eve was doing rounds late in the evening when she heard a familiar voice that caught her attention. Emilio
"Buonasera, Principessa."
She turned around and saw Emilio smiling at her while lying in a hospital bed with his leg cast and elevated.
"Buonasera," Eve returned with a smile before walking over to him, "How are you doing, Capitán?"
"Better than most," He answered, "Doc said I was lucky, if I was hit a little bit higher I would have lost my leg."
"I could only imagine how horrible of a dancing partner you would have made," Eve joked, earning a small laugh from the Captain.
"You are very funny. Maybe you should leave medicine and join Charlie Chaplin as a comic," Emilio told her.
"I'll think about it after the war," She said.
Eve noticed that Emilio was now looking at her with a gaze and she could tell that something was wrong.
"You seem upset. What is wrong?"
"I'm getting shipped home tomorrow and I'm afraid I'll never see you again," Emilio answered.
"Never say never. Perhaps one day we will be reunited," Eve said before unclasping her cross necklace and placing it in Emilio's hand, "And here is something you can return to me when we are reunited."
Eve bends down and lightly kisses him on the cheek before continuing her rounds. The morning came and Emilio was placed into an ambulance with other soldiers to be taken home. Eve slightly prayed that God will soon let them be reunited.
If one thing in the war was certain, it was chaos. Eve and a few other medical personnel from her field hospital were helping another field hospital, which was dangerously close to the front due to the war moving toward the hospital, evacuate.
Eve was helping patients into the ambulances and gathering as many medical supplies as she could before putting them into the ambulances when she spotted a child wandering away from the hospital. Without thinking, Eve ran with everything she had toward the little girl.
"Come here, sweetie," Eve said when she reached the girl. Eve points to the medical emblem on her chest, "It's alright. I'm a nurse. Let's get you back with everyone else."
Eve picks the girl up in her arms and carries her back as she ran toward the ambulance. But something was wrong, above her, Eve hears a whistling noise. Eve looks behind her and sees a bomb in the sky coming right at them. She ran faster than she ever had before in her life, but with each step, she could hear the bomb getting closer. Then suddenly, the bomb hit the ground causing Eve to be sent down by the blast. Eve used her body to protect the girl, but Eve managed to hit her head creating a small cut.
Eve awoke with her head pounding. She looked around as she slowly sat up and saw she was in a field hospital. One of the nurses notices and walks over to her.
"Eve, we're so glad that you are awake. You gave all of us quite a scare," The Nurse told her, "Colonel Blake had sent a letter to your family about your condition and said that it was stable and that you would need a few days rest."
"That sounds great, but who are you? And who is my family?" Eve asked.
The nurse looked at Eve with great concern, "What is the last thing you remember?"
Eve looked down at her hands and answered, "I remember hearing a rather ghastly explosion and that I hit my head, and then I woke up here."
"I'll be back in a moment with Colonel Blake," The Nurse left Eve's bedside and the room. Eve sat in her bed and looked around the hospital, she saw many people with bandages wrapped around their wounds, cast limbs, etc.
The Nurse soon returned with a man, whom Eve assume is Colonel Blake, who wore the same concerned expression the nurse had worn minutes ago.
"Good morning, Matron De La Cruz. I'm Colonel Blake," He greeted, "I from what understand from Nurse Baker, you don't have much memory."
"That is correct," Eve said.
"It appears the head injury was worse than we feared," Colonel Blake said to the nurse.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Matron De La Cruz, a couple of days ago while you and a few other medical personnel helped to evacuate patients from another field hospital that was dangerously close to the front, you were caught in the blast of a bomb while you helped a patient get out of the way and got a rather nasty bump on your head," He told her, "You've been unconscious for the last couple of days as a result and it would appear that amnesia is a result as well. We had notified your family that you were got in a blast, but were not seriously injured."
"Will I ever regain my memory back?" Eve asked.
"Amnesia is different with every case," He said, "Some people regain their memories after a few months, but there are a few who never truly regain it."
Eve sat in silence as she took in what she had heard, but suddenly another nurse rushes into the room and toward Colonel Blake.
"Colonel Blake! Colonel Blake!" She called with a smile on her face before stopping in front of him and beginning to pant.
"Yes, Nurse Carter?" He asked, "What has gotten you running in here like a bat out of hell?"
Nurse Carter takes a breath and recovers before announcing, "We just got a telegraph from the war office, Colonel Blake. The war is ending! On the eleventh of November at eleven o'clock!"
"My god!" Colonel Blake exclaimed, "Is it certain?"
"Yes, Sir. The war is over!"
Cheers soon erupted from every patient in the room upon hearing the news. Joy washed over the entire field hospital because of the news that the war would soon be over and they can return home and be with the ones they loved. But Eve was silent during the ordeal because she had no idea what would be waiting for her at home and the life she had.
Soon, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month arrived, and with it the end of the war. Everyone gathered in the field hospital, the medical staff stood, along with the patients that could, while others were in wheelchairs or their beds.
"When the clock strikes eleven, let us all pray to the souls that were lost to this war, from both sides of the war because even though we were enemies, they were human beings as we are, they had families who loved, worried, and grieved for them," Colonel Blake said.
The eleventh hour came and the clock chimed. Those who could stand stood at attention and everyone prayed with each passing chime before the eleventh and final chime came.
"I would like to thank all of you who have risked so much while fighting and healing in this war," Colonel Blake told them, "And may God bless you so you can live in the memory of those whose lives were cut short. God bless you all."
The day came when Eve was to return to her home and she was quite nervous about what was waiting for her. The boat and train ride seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye, and before she knew it, Eve was at the train station. She stepped out of the train car and hear her name being called.
"Miss Eve!"
She looked around and saw a chauffeur calling her name as he approached her.
"It is good to see you again, milady," He said.
"And you as well," Eve returned, having no clue who he is, but remained polite.
He grabbed her bags, "Follow me, Milady."
Eve did as such and followed the chauffeur to the car, he placed her bags in the back before opening the door for Eve to get in. The chauffeur got in the front and began to drive back to what Eve can only assume is her home. The drive took them through the countryside before coming up on a grand house. Eve saw what seemed to be the entire household lined up to welcome her home. Eve began to wonder how much Colonel Blake had told her family about her condition.
When the car stopped in front of the house, Eve could see the smiles on their faces. A man came up and opened the car door before helping her out. Another man and a woman walked toward Eve.
"Eve, we are so glad that you are safe," The woman told her.
"Thank you," Eve said, "I"m sorry, but could we perhaps do introductions?"
The man and woman's smiles fell from their faces, the same happened to the staff and the rest of the family. They were confused and worried for Eve.
"I take it that Colonel Blake did not make you inform you of my additional medical condition?"
"No, he did not," The man answered.
"Let's go into the drawing room and you can tell us everything, dear," The woman said before they all went into the grand house and the drawing-room.
They all sat down, except for a man in a wheelchair, and looked at Eve with concern and curiosity.
"Now, can you tell us what happened to you?" The man asked.
"My story begins a few days before the end of the war," Eve began," I was told that a few members of the medical staff and I were helping another field hospital evacuate. I saved a little girl and hit my head pretty hard when I was thrown forward by the blast of a bomb. Colonel Blake said that the cut I had received was minor and the only injury I had, but I was unconscious and they were hoping for the best. When I woke up, I had no clue where I was, or who I was. Colonel Blake then explained to me what had happened."
The woman who had walked up to Eve with the man reached over to Eve and grabbed her hands, "Oh, Eve, we're so sorry that this has happened to you."
"Don't be, it is not as if you had any control over it," Eve told the woman.
"And there's her American optimism," The man commented, "Well, I suppose we should get on with introducing ourselves; I am your Uncle Robert, this is your Aunt Cora, your Grandmama Violet, your Cousins Mary, Edith, and Sybil, and this is Cousin Isobel Crawley, her son Matthew, and his fiancée Lavinia."
"It is so grand to meet all of you, and I hope that with time I will be able to gain my memories back as well as new memories."
"Sybil will take you to your room to help you get settled before the dressing gong and to be reacquainted with Hera, your German Shepherd, Darling," Cora told her.
"Follow me," Sybil said. The two left the drawing room and went up the stairs to Eve's room. As they walked through the house, Eve marveled at everything she saw.
When Sybil opened the door to Eve's room, they were greeted by Hera, who jumped on Eve and knocked her down. Both Eve and Sybil laughed at what happened before Sybil helped her up.
"It is so very good to meet you, Hera," Eve smiled at the German Shepherd before the three walked into the room.
"If you want I can help you pick something out to wear for dinner?" Sybil asked.
"I would very much appreciate it," She replied, "I'm afraid I'll pick the wrong dress and be the main topic of conversation."
Sybil chuckles before saying, "Don't worry. Based on how things are, I would say that your memories would be the topic of conversation tonight, not how you dress. Take a seat at your vanity."
"Of course," Eve said before taking a seat and looking at herself in the mirror. As she stared at her reflection, Eve began to wonder what her life had been like before she lost her memories.
"Where's your cross necklace? Or do you have it on you?" Sybil asked.
Eve turned around and saw Sybil looking through her bags, "What do you mean?"
"Your silver cross necklace, belonged to your mother when your father had given it to her as a gift. It had belonged to his mother, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother. It seemed to have gone back generations," She explained.
"I can't say I know where it is," Eve replied, "Something must have happened to it before I lost my memory. I feel so terrible for losing it."
"Don't be," Sybil told her, "I'm sure it will turn up eventually. Like you always said, "Good things come to those who wait."
"I hope it does turn up."
The two went on with getting Eve dressed for dinner and Sybil told Eve some stories about the two of them. A few were about their childhood and what they did before and during the war. Sybil told her that they helped someone from downstairs get a job as a secretary.
"Was I close with those downstairs?" Eve asked.
"You were," She replied, "You would sometimes go down to the servant's hall to have breakfast with them or you would even go down to spend time with them. They were like a second family to you."
"Do you think that they could tell me some things about myself? What they thought about me?"
"They probably could. There all done," Sybil said.
Eve looked at herself in the full-length mirror and barely recognized herself. She wore a simple but elegant blue dress. Her hair was up in a bun and held up by a golden rose pin.
"You look beautiful."
"Thank you, Sybil," Eve said.
Sybil and Eve left the room and went down the stairs to join everyone in the drawing room, waiting for dinner to be ready. What was mainly talked about both during their time drawing room and dinner was Eve, her memories, when and if they will ever return, what will she do now without her job as a nurse, etc.
Eve was tired of being the main topic of every conversation and wanted the evening to be over so badly. But she stuck through it and listened as everyone talked about her, hoping that something they said would unlock her memories. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful.
After dinner and while everyone went into the drawing room, Eve went downstairs to the servant's hall. When she arrived downstairs, she saw all of them sitting at a table and talking to one another before Eve walked in, and they all stood up from the table.
"Please, don't stop on my account," Eve said.
"Is there something with can help you with, milady?" Mr. Carson asked her.
"While Sybil and I were in my room earlier, helping me get settled, she told me that I was close with all of you and I was hoping that you all could tell me some things."
"Of course, Milady," Mrs. Hughes said, "Why don't you sit down," Eve took a seat by Anna and everyone sat down, "What would you like to know Milady?"
"I suppose you can start when I first arrived here at Downton," Eve said, "I was told by my Aunt and Uncle that my parents had passed when I was very young and I was then sent here to live."
"Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Patmore, and I were among the staff back then when you first arrived at Downton, Milady" Mr. Carson spoke.
"You were a shy thing, Milady. You didn't speak a word to anyone, eventually, her ladyship gave you a little chalkboard to write on," Mrs. Hughes told her, "It had been a few months after you had come to Downton, it was after dinner and you had snuck down here. You gave us all quite a fright, Milady. I asked you why you were down here and not in bed. And what happened next was quite a surprise to all of us."
"What happened, Mrs. Hughes?" Eve asked.
"You spoke for the first time in months," She answered, "You said that you couldn't sleep and you wanted a sandwich. Mrs. Patmore made you a sandwich, and you sat here and eat it while we told you a few stories before you got tired, and I brought you back to your bed and tucked you in."
"Sybil told me that I treated all of you as if you were my family and I couldn't ask for a better family than the one I have in this house."
"Thank you, Milady," Mr. Carson said.
"Goodnight to all of you," Eve stood up from her seat, as did the others, before leaving the Servant's hall and going up to her room.
After getting changed into her nightgown, Eve couldn't help but feel that something in the room was trying to tell her something. She walked over to the wall and pressed her hand against it at several places before a secret compartment opens.
Eve looked inside and saw a typewriter and a manuscript. She reached inside and pulled the manuscript out, Eve took a moment to look at the cover and saw the title of the manuscript was written in her handwriting. She began to wonder if what was in the book could help return her memories. Eve closed the hidden compartment before getting into bed and reading the manuscript.