THE THORN BIRDS: THE WRONG HUSBAND

Images shot from DVD 

Meggie married Luke O' Neill but the marriage is an unhappy one right from day one. Luke was a miserly oppoturnist who'd only married her for her money; he regarded women in general as sex objects and prefered to hang out with men more often. They go to Queensland and he gets her a live-in job with a couple, Luddie and Anne Mueller who treat her very kindly. He finds himself a job as a cane cutter in a sugar cane plantation. Before he left, he arranges for Meggie's wages to be paid direcly to him and he keeps her bank book which has all her savings. He claimed he was saving to buy a homestead for both of them, but he had no intention of spending any money or give up the toil of sugar cane cutting as it is very competitive. He hardly visited Meggie and in her despair, she gets pregnant on purpose, in order to force Luke to settle down but it does'nt work, he's angry at having another mouth to feed. Most of the time, Meggie thinks about Ralph and longs to go back home, but is far too proud to tell her brothers Luke treated her badly. One of her brothers, Bob, wrote to her that Ralph visited them unexpectedly and had been upset she was'nt there & furious that they had'nt told him she'd married, and how he moped around as if she would suddenly appear. But her brothers still didn't suspect anything,they just felt Ralph missed her since they've always had a deep bond. Ralph, now an archbishop, is very sad at Meggie's absence & marriage and very worried about her. Luke did'nt sound like a nice person to him. Cardinal Vittorio, his mentor, found out the reason why Ralph had been harbouring so much sadness in his eyes for a long time when the rose Meggie had given him fell out of his missal. Ralph confessed it spoke of a love as pure as he bore God and it was for the church he'd forsaken her. Vittorio tried to cheer him up and vowed to always pray for Meggie- 'The Rose' as he called her.

Much to Luke's anger, Meggie had written to Ralph for a loan in the hope Luke would have more than enough money to buy a house instead of saving so hard, not realising he was hoarding Meggie's money with no intention of spending at all, he was merely making excuses. Ralph received her  letter in Sydney, the letter forwarded from Greece.

Meggie's due date comes and she has a very difficult labour. She bravely resists the pain but kept on yelling for Ralph. Ralph suddenly appears, much to Anne and Luddie's amazement(they had'nt expected the Ralph Meggie kept calling to be an archbishop) and immediately realise that the two were in love. Ralph asked the doctor to save Meggie if he had to chose between her and the baby- but fortunately both survive.
Meggie gives birth to a baby girl, whom she named Justine. But she wished that the child was Ralph's and accused him of ruining her life by saying he loved her but chose to remain in the church instead of marrying her and treated her as if she was still a child. Ralph is very sad at Meggie's state but leaves. Luke still does'nt come over the months to see Meggie or Justine. Meggie is yet to recover from childbirth so Anne and Luddie send her to a private resort called Matlock Island for 2 months to get her strength back. Ralph comes to see Meggie on his way to Rome and is told by Anne where Meggie was. He gets there, merely to visit Meggie and mend fences but Meggie, angry that he'd showed up to hurt her again tries to run away from him but he ran after her and caught her, kissing her passionately. A short while later the couple at long last consummated their love...