What Happens in the Third ‘Maxton Hall’ Book? Ruby & James’ Fate and More Details

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers from Save Us by Mona Kasten and Maxton Hall — The World Between Us Season 2.]

If that Maxton Hall Season 2 cliffhanger left you reeling, you can rest easy: Prime Video has already given the go-ahead for Season 3. That means that the final book in Mona Kasten’s trilogy, Save Us, will make its way to the screen, wrapping up James (Damian Hardung) and Ruby’s (Harriet Herbig-Matten) love story.

Fans of the books know by now that the show has strayed from its source material quite a bit over the past season, which is something it didn’t do the first time around. Still, Maxton Hall Season 2 more or less ended in the same place as Kasten’s Save You did, so you already know that we read ahead to find out Ruby and James’ fate.

Save Us stands apart from the other two books in that it includes more character POVs beyond the main couple. We hear from Graham (aka Mr. Sutton), Wren, Ember, Alistair, and Lydia throughout the book. (And from what Herbig-Matten and Hardung told Swooon, it sounds like Season 3 will have that in common with the book.) Still, just so we don’t keep you here forever, we’re only fully breaking down what happens to the central couple in Save Us.

Do Ruby and James get their happily ever after? Does Mortimer finally get what’s coming to him? Keep reading for all of the answers.

Do Ruby and James end up together in Save Us?

Short answer: Ruby and James get their happy ending! They deserve it after all of that angst, right? If you want the long answer, which involves significantly more angst, then get ready to scroll.

At the end of Save You, Ruby finds out that James took the photo that got her suspended from school, which is something the show hasn’t touched on yet. Reeling, Ruby leaves school to go find her sister, but crosses paths with Wren in the process. He encourages Ruby to hear James out and get the full truth. They wind up at Alistair’s, with Ruby (understandably) using whiskey to cope. When James joins the party, Ruby hears him out, and James promises to get Cyril to tell the truth about the photos of Ruby and Sutton.

That’s right: In the book, it’s Cyril who puts the photos in Mortimer’s hands. Mortimer then edits the photos to make it look like Ruby and her teacher are kissing. In the show, Mortimer acts alone. Cyril instead has a compromising photo of Lydia and Sutton, but he hasn’t done anything with it. Yet. But we digress.

Ruby finally tells her family about Mortimer’s vendetta. Later, when James comes over to Ruby’s house with her homework, Ruby’s mom hugs him and offers to help him out. At this point, James is still living at home and not rocking the boat, for Lydia’s sake. He confronts Cyril and gives him a week to tell the school the truth about the photos.

Gordon Muehle / Amazon MGM Studios

When he sees Mortimer trying to bribe Graham for his silence, something in James snaps. He gets the courage to tell Mortimer that he’s done. He’s going to sell his stake in the Beaufort company. In Mortimer fashion, he kicks his son out of the house. (Remember, James and Lydia have already had these conversations in Season 2, and they’re already living at Cyril’s house in the finale.)

In the book, James goes to Ruby’s house, and he moves in with his girlfriend, which we seriously hope the show finds a way to make happen. Living together gives Ruby and James an opportunity to bond further and ask each other questions. They also make a promise to share a kiss in Oxford.

Once Cyril gets over himself and sends the original photos to James, Lydia shows them to the headmaster, and she tells him the full truth. Ruby goes back to school, and finally, all is right in the world. James and Ruby get some much-needed happy time together. James opens up about his dreams of traveling instead of going to Oxford. Meanwhile, Mortimer is emailing James, trying to get him to come back to the company. The group also smooths things over with Cyril, though all isn’t yet forgiven.

Then we get peak-happy RubyJames: He whisks her away on a weekend trip to Oxford. He surprises her with an apartment hunt, explaining his plan for them to each follow their different dreams but still be together. James plans on using his cash from the Beaufort shares, in case you were curious. Ruby is on board — and it’s finally the right moment for them to go all the way. You go. RubyJames!

Do Lydia and Mr. Sutton end up together in Save Us?

We’ll give you the short answer again: Yes, the teacher and student do end up together. We know, they met before Mr. Sutton (who’s 24 in the book) started working at Maxton Hall, but it’s still hard to root for them. But we’ll still give you a brief overview of what happens to them in Save Us.

The book actually begins from Mr. Sutton’s perspective, detailing his firing from Maxton Hall. A short while later, Lydia calls Mr. Sutton, telling her she’s going to confess, but her dad rips the phone out of her hand. Lydia drops a major bombshell on Mortimer by telling him about the pregnancy, which Mr. Sutton still doesn’t know about at this point. It goes over about as well as you’d expect, with Mortimer kicking his daughter out and accidentally hitting her.

From there on out, Lydia lives at her aunt’s house, where she learns that her mom left Mortimer everything in her will. (Season 2 had the twins find this out already.) That aforementioned bribe attempt takes place, but Mr. Sutton tells Mortimer to get lost. James tells Mr. Sutton where Lydia’s living, and she finally tells him about the baby, something that’s already happened in Season 2. Once they confess to the headmaster, Mr. Sutton and Lydia are happily together. The latter also manages to become friends with Cyril again.

How does Mona Kasten’s Save Us end?

In true Maxton Hall fashion, there’s one big event in the final act, where sh*t hits the fan. This time, it’s Lydia’s baby shower, where all the characters reunite. Even Cyril and Percy! Ruby catches Wren and Ember getting cozy, which is the first major issue to go down, but Mortimer crashing the party is what really brings down the mood.

He’s there to convince James to come back to the company. James, naturally, says that he’s out of his mind — until Mortimer threatens to ruin Ruby’s parents’ lives by getting them fired from their jobs. (Something you’ll remember already happened in Season 2.) He also threatens to make Ruby lose her grants to Oxford. (Again, already happened.) Hopeless, James gives in. He’s still with Ruby, but he’s stuck in the old life that he hates, living at home and working for Beaufort.

Gordon Muehle / Amazon MGM Studios

Thankfully, Percy comes in clutch. At first, he’s worried about losing his job, but he tells James that Mortimer made a suspicious phone call the night Cordelia (the twins’ mom) died. He also drove Mortimer to see a lawyer right after that. Percy also reveals that, a few years earlier, Cordelia gave him a key to protect with his life.

Percy doesn’t know what it opens, so James and Ruby go to his mom’s bedroom to investigate. (Mortimer’s out of town, thankfully.) Lo and behold, they find a jewelry box containing Cordelia’s real will. Mortimer had one forged that left Beaufort and her fortune to him. Cordelia wanted her sister to take over until her kids completed their education. James and Lydia got equal inheritances, leaving Mortimer with nothing. Backed into a corner, Mortimer steps down. Good riddance!

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‘Maxton Hall’ Season 2's Biggest Book Changes From 'Save You'

In the epilogue, Ruby and James have gone to Thailand together, just like James always wanted, and Lydia’s twins have arrived. Ruby’s thriving at Oxford. James is about to go on a trip to Bali to take a journalism course. In case you were wondering, Kash and Alistair end up together, as do Wren and Ember.

And there you have it! Again, Maxton Hall has already proved that it isn’t afraid to change things up, but it’s certainly a good sign that Ruby and James get their happy ending in the book. Hopefully their journey doesn’t involve too much trouble in Season 3. (That’s probably wishful thinking. And would it be Maxton Hall if it didn’t sprinkle in some serious suffering into their romance?)

Maxton Hall — The World Between Us, Season 3, TBA, Prime Video