"No, no there truly is not a choice to be made. And I strongly suggest you ask no further questions. I ask you accept what you see and search no further. All is well and she is now back in her home and safe, you have my word as a Captain and a gentleman."
"Come now, while I may not be able to fathom how this works, we both know gentleman is a stretch of the word."
Laughing, both Captain Greggs turned to look at the blonde woman buried under the arms of Candy and Jonathan.
Carolyn, looking up from the embraces of her children, looked longingly at the two Captains. "Daniel," she called. As they both turned, she smiled at them both. "Thank you for now and for what is to come, thank you for everything. It won't be in a way you can imagine, but you have my word, we do find one another again. Until that day my love". Nodding once, her husband quickly wiped a tear away and raised a hand in farewell. They watched one another until the light finally faded and neither one was in sight.
The ghostly Captain returned to her side. "Time to go M'dear. Time for the family to get home to Gull Cottage." As the light between the worlds went dark, they heard one last question crossing to them, "Mine, was she truly mine?" "Absolutely," Carolyn answered. "I remember so much of it now. I had been a sad wife who became a lonely widow with only two wonderful children, plus a friend and housekeeper. I've never belonged to anyone as I belong to you." Looking up at the Captain beside her, she added, "I now know what it is to be loved completely. Now and always."
As the light faded, Daniel Gregg stumbled out of the cave. Rain pounding around his shoulders somehow found the strength to make it up the hill alone and back into the house.
His next conscious thought was finding himself next to fireplace in the parlor, Martha's warmest comforter around his shoulders and a hot toddy in his hand.
"My boy," Martha crooned, "she left? How was that possible? I never saw anyone so in love." "That wasn't the issue," he offered, taking a long gulp. "Her family came for her, how could I be selfish enough to keep her for myself when she had so many people at home who missed her, who loved her. "
"In the storm, on the beach, in a CAVE?" Caleb said with disbelief. "That isn't reality, it's a fairy story, it's like something from the Arabian Nights. Such things don't exist in the real world my boy."
Standing up, he looked as lost and forlorn as any human. He stared at the couple silently and then moved to the stairs. "Perhaps that is all this is Caleb. Perhaps it's only a story of lost love, and love to be found again one day. What would YOU do if a future vision of yourself told you what must be done, had to be done? If I hadn't seen her disappear with my own eyes I would have thought myself delusional. Yet, I have the promise of finding her again. Let me go to bed and know I'll be one day closer to having her in my arms again one day."
Entering the Master Cabin, Daniel Gregg looked about, seeing traces of his vanished love in every corner. Closing the windows against the storm, and the curtains against the dawn he didn't want to see, he turned down the gas light and lay down on their bed. Eventually, in his pain and exhaustion he slipped off into a troubled sleep, never noticing when his foot hit the gas heater by the foot of the bed.
As they stood at the side of his grave, Caleb and Martha silently looked down into the darkness. "Do you think we did the right thing airing the room so no one knew what had happened?" "Dearest," Caleb answered, "the man had enough pain, why would we add the specter of suicide to those who want to make his passing a subject of gossip. What did the judge say when you gave him the will?"
"Nothing really. He said it would go on file. Until Carolyn Gregg returns, the house is ours. It was good of her to make sure we were taken care of here. I suppose now it is our duty to try and find another Gregg heir, if there is such a thing in the world."
In his ghostly silence, Captain Gregg stood beside them, listening and nodding. 'Glad they saved me that pain,' he thought. 'Now how do I find her, when?"
Sitting around the kitchen table, the children and Martha watched as the Captain took Carolyn up in his arms and disappeared with her to the Master Cabin.
"Well, as good as it is to hear everything, heavens! Just once!" Martha grumbled, "If just once he had been man enough to admit he could do that, how many arguments would that have saved?" "Yeah", Jonathan agreed, "but maybe it was always meant to be this way, after all, how else could they have gotten married?" "True", Candy agreed, "and now we're a real family". "Indeed," Martha smiled, "and a growing one at that. It'll be interesting to see how we explain that one, eh? Glad you two are older now, if this had all happened when we first came to Gull Cottage, well THAT would have been an awkward set of circumstances to explain to you two".
"And just how are we going to explain this?" Carolyn asked putting his hand where the baby was kicking furiously. Holding a cold cloth to her head, the Captain sat close to Carolyn and just shrugged. "This is not the first mystery we've had to make reasonable to the townsfolk, surely your imagination hasn't run dry, has it?
Reaching to sooth her growing child, she felt her hand touch the ghostly impression of his own hand. "Speaking of imagination, you might have told me this was possible. If I recall you were adamant that touching, or any contact was outside of your powers." Unwilling to meet her eyes, he looked away, "It seemed . . . more appropriate, perhaps even more practical, but yes", he paused finally turning toward her, "always more painful. I'm sorry beloved that I kept that barrier between us. I thought it was the right choice."
"Given everything that has happened, I have no choice but to forgive you, but no more secrets, all right?" Looking intently into her green eyes, he suddenly was overwhelmed with the memories of her time with him in the past, especially of the pain the living Captain Gregg's had overwhelming his spirit." "No more secrets, agreed?" she said again, watching the anguish crossing his face. "Ah. . ." he started, "of course. But even if some things might be better left unmentioned? What then?"
Pushing herself upright with effort, she leaned forward and grasped his face with both hands. Bemused that this was finally possible, she allowed herself a moment to reach toward the back of his head and play with the curls she always longed to touch. "Mention them", she said with her most beguiling whisper.
"Very well", he cleared his throat, "Once you left this time, as long as we were awake and aware, we could sense the alterations that your presence in the past was creating. There are many changes you made both in my life then, and our world today. To help you understand, roughly each month you lived with me then, equals about a single day in this world". Raising an eyebrow, she started to speak, but he raised a warning finger, and merely nodding, she let him continue. "What I was sensing right now is how painful it was to lose you in my past. It appears November 13, 1869, the day then that you returned, was always meant to be my last. I'm recalling that my last memories before sleep that night were of you, and my heartfelt prayer to see you again one day."
Leaning forward, he pulled her close, "and whatever magic or mystery made this possible, I thank it. I was never one to believe prayers were answered. I've never been more pleased to be wrong". Snuggling closer, she sighed, "I'm so sorry to have been the cause of such pain. But I have to admit hearing you admit you COULD be wrong convinces me that this all must be real. I've never imagined you saying that, not even in my dreams."
Giving her a long kiss, he smiled. "We're long past dreams now my Carolyn." Lying down beside her, he pulled her close. "Rest now love, the world and all its realities will arrive soon enough."
Carolyn tucked his arms around her and closed her eyes. And even her fractious child settled down to rest safely in the embrace of its family.