Carolyn Muir was sitting at her desk in her home in the small town of Schooner Bay working on one of her many publications that she now did for

magazines and quite proud of her work. She had lived at Gull Cottage for the past seven years and had never been happier.

She was the proud mother of two children Jonathan and Candy. Jonathan had been very young, just turned six years old when she had picked up

everything she owned in Philadelphia and moved to her new home in Schooner Bay. Candy had been a little older just eight years old when they

had moved. They had moved in on that fateful day to the place they would call home along with their dog and their ever faithful housemate and

keeper Margaret Grant.

When they had first come to stay at the cottage to their dismay they discovered that the house was a haunted home. The man that haunted the

house was an old Sea Captain from the 19th Century. At first he had tried to act gruff and unwelcoming, but he had allowed them to stay and

had become part of their family. Everyone loved and accepted him and her children now thought of him as family as well as she and Martha

Grant did.

Carolyn's parents now knew about the captain and had accepted him into their life as well. Her thoughts turned to her father and how he had

been suffering declining health in the last few months. Six months ago he had a minor heart attack and had not been well since. He had been

seen by the best cardiologists and had gone through a triple bypass surgery. He had been very weak. Carolyn had spent six weeks down in

the city with her mother to help with him and he had seemed to get better.

But this morning the children were in school and Martha had gone to town to do some shopping. It was a beautiful day and the captain and

Mrs. Muir were in their room. She was busy at work and he was stationed at the telescope. Captain Gregg had just leaned over to see what

she was writing when he stopped.

The captain knew right away that something had happened. He look up from Carolyn's work to see Carolyn's father Brad standing

in the room with a smile on his face. Brad Williams had passed on just moments before and before he went to the other side he had wanted

to give his love to his daughter and his grandchildren, The captain bowed to him and Brad vanished.

It was one of those moments when Captain Gregg wanted to take the woman he loved in his arms and hold her, but that was not possible

at this time. He looked at Carolyn and asked her "Please stop work for a moment. I need to talk to you my love."

Something in his tone frightened Carolyn. They had been having a quiet day and without warning he had spoken to her in a way that he did

only when something had happened. She looked at his face and saw just a dash of sorrow on his face. She knew then what had happened. Her

dad had died and he had stopped to see the Captain. With tears in her eyes she looked at Captain Gregg "Did my father die?" she asked him

with a quivering voice.

"I am very sorry my love. He stopped to let me know how much he loved you and your whole family. He wants you to know that he is all

right and that he is at peace. "

This was the worst news that she Carolyn could imagine. She knew that this was going to leave her mother alone. Her mother was now in

her late seventies and she did not want her alone. She picked up the phone to make a reservation to take the next plane to Philadelphia and

then put the phone down. She wanted to have the whole family come with her. t would be al long drive but if they left today they could get

there to her mothers by tomorrow night if they left today.

Carolyn thought about it. She would need to get the whole family down and then they would have no car to get around except for her mother's

and decided that the best thing to do would be to drive. When Martha got home she would tell her what happened and then after everything

was packed they would pick the children up at school and be on their way.

She was just about to start packing when the phone rang. It was her mother telling her the bad news. "Mom I am so sorry, but dad wants

you to know that he is ok and that he will see us all once again."

Although Emily Williams loved and accepted Captain Gregg like the rest of the family sometimes she forgot who he was. She asked Carolyn

with a little quiver in her voice "Did he talk to the Captain?"

"Yes. I did not see him but he spoke to the Captain and he told him to tell us that he is all right and that he will be waiting for us on the

other side." she told her mother with as much love as one can convey over the phone.

"I will be packing some bags and be on my way towards your home sometime this afternoon. I will call you when I leave. I love you." and

with that she hung up the phone.

Carolyn had just taken out the suitcases and had started to pack them when she heard the front door open and Martha come in. Carolyn went

down to the kitchen and told Martha the news. Martha had always thought of Carolyn's parents as family and wanted very much to go with them

to Philadelphia. The two women had the car packed and were on their way to get Jonathan and Candy from school . They headed out of town

at just a little past noon. Carolyn was sure that they were going to have to make a stop at a hotel. It was over 500 miles to her parents house

and she only had Martha and her to drive

The captain would stay back at Gull Cottage and keep an eye on things. He also would see to it that Scruffy was fed and watered. He also promised

to let him out everyday for a while too.