Beyond That, the Sea

Reginald tells everyone in the pub how brave his 11-year-old daughter, Beatrix, was when they sent her to live in the US during the war in England. In reality, Bea cried and clung to him, and she refused to say goodbye to Millie, her mother, whom she held responsible for sending her away, although sending Bea to the US was actually Reginald’s idea; he forced Millie to agree but never told Bea this.

Millie lies in bed, furious at Reginald for having forcibly sent Beatrix away; she doesn’t know if she can ever forgive him.

Beatrix is on a ship with many other young children, headed for the US. She was initially scared and seasick but refused to cry because Reginald urged her to be strong. Only days have passed since she left, and already her memories of leaving are fading.

Beatrix is the last to get picked up on the dock. A boy with curly blond hair appears before her. He’s taller than her, and Beatrix knows that he must be William, the Gregorys’ 13-year-old son. A younger boy with red hair and a wide smile runs up and greets her. She realizes that he’s Gerald, the younger son, who just turned nine, and she smiles for the first time “because his accent is funny and his freckles are everywhere and he’s a wide-open American boy” (17).

In the evening, Nancy takes a box of girl things up to Beatrix’s room. Through the cracked open door, Nancy sees her talking to a picture of her father, and Nancy wipes away her own tears.

As Nancy draws her a bath, Beatrix observes that she is nothing like Millie, who’s tall and slim. Nancy admits that she doesn’t know how to be with a girl; Beatrix will have to teach her. She climbs into the tub unclothed, not wanting Nancy to leave, and relaxes as Nancy scrubs her clean. While falling asleep later, Beatrix smells the same lemon scent on her fingers that Nancy smells of.

In the morning, Beatrix descends the staircase, marveling at the grandeur of the house. She looks out onto the garden, which stretches from flower beds and a vegetable garden to a green lawn and beyond. Beatrix wonders how far the sea is and in which direction her home lies.

Ethan reads the newspaper in his study, reflecting on how he initially didn’t want to take Beatrix in since he doesn’t know what to do with girls. He has no siblings and was raised mostly by his father, who chaired the math department of the boys school. Ethan took over this job after returning from Harvard, so he works mostly with boys. His strategies and experience aren’t as effective with his own sons, however, who are very different from each other. Beatrix knocks softly on Ethan’s study door, politely informing him that Millie wants him to join them for breakfast.

Millie receives a telegram from the Gregorys that Bea has arrived safely. She’s relieved but still regrets having sent Beatrix away, and she doesn’t share the telegram with Reginald.

Two weeks have passed since Beatrix arrived. Nancy packs the children’s lunches and sees them all off on the first day of school. She hugs Beatrix and is surprised to receive a kiss in return from the usually reserved young girl.

The three children walk to school together. Gerald picks some wildflowers, and he hands Beatrix a bouquet and hugs her as he leaves to go into the lower school. In class, when asked to write about the most exciting thing that happened over the summer, Gerald writes about Beatrix joining them from London.

Letters arrive often from Millie and Reginald, and Beatrix rereads them multiple times in the privacy of her room. She writes back every Sunday with plenty of her own news but never describes the beautiful and comforting things about her new home, such as Nancy’s bath-time ritual every night or Ethan making everyone pancakes on Saturday mornings. Some nights, Beatrix can’t even remember what her parents look like.

Beatrix isn’t like any other girl William has ever met. She’s smart and serious, except when she laughs at Gerald’s antics. Her dark eyes are mysterious, and William wonders what she thinks about being sent to live here.

The week before Thanksgiving, Nancy sets the kids to work cleaning and helping with cooking. Both boys are excited, and Beatrix asks William what his favorite part of the holiday is. He teasingly responds that it’s the breaking away from the British, and she blushes and smiles in response.

Beatrix and William are both invited to a party before Christmas. Nancy takes Bea shopping, and as they leave the store, Bea spots a woman who she thinks looks like Millie. Embarrassed, she shuts down immediately, feeling especially guilty for not having thought about her mother at all. She can’t explain this to Nancy, even though she knows she has hurt the woman’s feelings. As they head home, Beatrix feels silly for thinking she could ever belong here, as she knows she’ll eventually have to return to her real home.

On Christmas, Reginald and Millie speak with Beatrix and the Gregorys, and Millie cries at the sound of her daughter’s voice. Rather than feeling reassured with how happy Beatrix sounds, Reginald feels unsettled by how different she sounds and the sense of familiarity the rest of the family have when talking about her and calling her “Bea.”

Gerald wakes up to a snowy morning, and he and Bea watch the snow together. He reflects on how he likes having her here; he’s even closer to her than William. He wants to put his arm around her and kiss her cheek but instead just stands next to her and feels close to her.

In the spring, Millie empties out Bea’s closet, sure that she won’t fit into any of these clothes when she returns. Millie worries that things won’t be fancy enough here for Bea given what she’s getting used to in the US.

Reginald is heading back from the pub when bombs begin to fall. He immediately joins other men to help, putting out fires and rescuing people from bombed houses, returning home only in the early hours of the morning.

Every summer, the Gregorys head to Maine, where the family owns an island with a house on it, built by Nancy’s father. The boys are excited, but Bea is worried, as she doesn’t know how to swim. She confides in Nancy, who assures her that she’ll learn fast.

Immediately after the boys arrive, they head out to swim to the floating dock. Bea hears them and wishes she could join them, feeling like an outsider for the first time in a while. The next morning, Ethan begins giving her swimming lessons, which last a week. Bea resolves to swim to the mainland alone before summer is over.

Reginald joins the Home Guard, telling Millie that he wants to contribute, but mostly to get away from home more. Millie has been angry and resentful since Beatrix left, but Reginald is still convinced it was the right decision because she’s safe and well taken care of there.

He comes home on a Saturday to find Millie reading aloud a letter from Beatrix, describing her summer exploits in Maine. Millie is harshly critical of how the Gregorys are living life as if there’s no war. She points out that she and Reginald have no idea if Beatrix is miserable despite the pretty words she writes to them.

Nancy watches Gerald teach Bea how to dive. She’s practicing to race William now, and although Nancy knows she won’t win, she’s sure that Bea will do well. Nancy watches the three kids in the water and reflects on the difference Bea has made to their family, balancing out the sensitive Gerald and the distant William, who otherwise would have been fighting by now. She decides that the family will have dinner in town to celebrate the anniversary of Bea’s arrival, as well as all three children’s August birthdays.

Bea finally swims to the mainland, thinking about her parents as she does. The ocean separating them has grown wider, and letters from both sides have become shorter and more disconnected. Bea reaches the mainland, and the Gregorys come to meet her, Ethan proudly calling her his girl. Bea feels proud but wishes she could hear her own father say this. Before leaving with the Gregorys, she turns back one last time and “faces east, back toward the island, and beyond that, the sea” (57).

Millie reflects on how dealing with the separation from Beatrix is like surviving grief. She has come to terms with being able to see Beatrix again only after the war ends since it isn’t safe to visit. Millie accepts that Beatrix is taken care of but still envies Nancy at times. Both Reginald and Millie are busy, him with his unit and her with her bookkeeping work and driving ambulances. One night while driving an ambulance, paired with Julia Ainsley, Millie tells her about Beatrix in Massachusetts but is unable to confess her biggest fear: that when Beatrix returns, she won’t recognize her anymore.

Reginald and Ethan begin corresponding regularly, discussing Beatrix but also the war and politics, and playing postal chess. Reginald doesn’t tell Millie about these letters.

One evening, after a long game of Monopoly, Gerald and Bea listen to music on the stereo. The music is suddenly interrupted by an announcement that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor.

The school sets up a platform on the chapel for faculty and older boys to take shifts watching for enemy aircraft, and William signs up for the early morning shift. One morning, Bea joins him despite his protests, and he finally gives in, instructing her not to get in his way. Afterward, he asks her not to tell anyone, assuring her that he doesn’t mind her being there. Bea is the happiest she has been in a while.

Millie remembers an Easter before the war when Beatrix and she attended a church service. Beatrix wore a dress with smocking and a Peter Pan collar, and mother and daughter wore coordinating shoes. They were close; a year or so later, however, Beatrix started to gravitate toward Reginald.

Millie brings up Beatrix’s return to Reginald, suggesting that London is now safer than the US, but Reginald flatly refuses to consider their daughter returning until after the war, as he and Millie agreed. Later that day, Millie finds Beatrix’s old Easter outfit and donates it to the church.