Chapter 1

It was a nice sunny afternoon on the Summers' family farm on May 5, 1969. Sarah Summers was cooking up a nice lunch as usual and her sister-in-law Martha Summers was helping her. Meanwhile their husbands John and George Summers were busy on the farm as usual, with John's two daughters Mary Ann and Eileen helping out. Also helping was George's son Joseph "Joe" Summers.

Martha, whom was known as the true blue loud mouth of the family, walked out onto the back porch of the house and yelled with all her might, "BOYS! MARY ANN, EILEEN! LUNCH IS READY!"

There was no need to shout a second time. Martha was always heard the first time. As soon as they were finished with what they were doing out in the field, three hungry farmers and two weary young women raced to the house for their lunch.

Once they had all washed up, they sat down at the table and said a little prayer and then dug into the food. All except Mary Ann that is.

"Mary Ann, hon why aren't you eating? I promise theres enough for everyone, you don't have to worry about your father not getting enough to eat." Sarah assured her. John scowled across the table at her. So what if he had a healthy appetite?

"No mom its not that, I'm just not that hungry today. In fact if you don't mind, I think I'll just lay down for a while." Mary Ann didn't feel like doing much of anything.

"Oh honey, if you aren't feeling well, I have this medicine in my room that would help if--"

"No thats okay Aunt Martha, thanks, but I'll just take a nap." Mary Ann left them at the table concerned and shut her door once she got to her room. She collapsed on her bed and sighed. What was wrong with her lately? The stomach aches, the headaches, the dizzy spells...what was wrong with her? The symptoms had been bothering her all week.

She mulled over what it could possibly be. A virus? The flu maybe? It wasn't flu season. A stomach virus? Maybe. She suddenly found herself longing for Gilligan's comfort, which brought her into a field of memories. Oh how she loved him. She hadn't talked to him since April 2, when she arrived home. She began to think of the many days and nights spent with him. Which came to remind her of one of the last nights spent with him in Hawaii. That had been a wonderful night. All of a sudden their actions that night were associated with her mysterious ailment. Oh the possibility. No. It couldn't be. Could it? Nah. But what if? Mary Ann found herself being overcome by a familiar dizziness, only it was much more serious this time. She grabbed onto something to steady herself as she sat up. The next thing she knew she was pummeling in a world of darkness.

"Mary Ann? Mary Ann, sweetie, wake up." Mary Ann opened her eyes to see her mother hovering over her. "Oh Mary Ann you must be very sick, you fainted. We heard you hit the floor from the kitchen! But what puzzles me is that you have no fever. We really ought to take you to see a doctor."

"Oh mom, its not that I'm sick. Thats why I fainted!" Mary Ann cried.

"What Mary Ann? Sweetie, you're babbling. Lets get you to a doctor." Sarah Summers persisted.

"No mother, I don't think I need to see a doctor. I think I need to get a pregnancy test!" She began to sob uncontrollably.

"What? Oh, Mary Ann, why do you think that? Have you found a boyfriend already? You've never mentioned him." Sarah said, confused.

"Mom you don't understand. I had a boyfriend, I did tell you about him!" Mary Ann choked out in between sobs.

"Oh that sailor from Hawaii? But Mary Ann you didn't...did you?" She asked shocked.

"Yes mom we did. I loved him. I still do. And I think that maybe, maybe I might be pregnant." Mary Ann looked at her mother.

"Oh. Oh, I see. Well Mary Ann, in that case, we'll see the doctor tomorrow for a check up. Alright?" Sarah hugged her daughter in her comforting, motherly way, all the while wondering how she was going to tell John.

"Mary Ann, how long have you been having these symptoms?" Dr. J. Brown asked. It was the early afternoon on May 6th, and Sarah had brought Mary Ann into town for a check up.

"About a week." Mary Ann replied. "Alright Miss Summers why don't you go back into that back room down the hall second door to the right. I'll meet you in there." Mary Ann nodded and left. "Mrs. Summers if you could wait here, I'll send her back in once I'm done with the testing. Then I'll meet you two in here once I have the results." Sarah nodded and watched the doctor leave.

How am I going to tell John if she tests positive? He was so sure about getting Mary Ann to marry that young man, Phillip Jones. And a nice young man he is. But if Mary Ann test positive, the possible engagement would be ruined. John would be so disappointed. All he wants is to walk her down the aisle like he did Eileen. But Mary Ann is his oldest daughter. Eileen was second. John had always dreamed of walking Mary Ann first. But he couldn't do that. He didn't have the chance.

Sarah sat their lost in her thoughts for the next twenty five to thirty minutes, until Mary Ann finally returned and sat down beside her.

"How'd it go? Everything alright so far?" Sarah asked her.

"So far." Mary Ann said nervously.

About ten minutes later, Dr. Brown returned and sat down across from Mary Ann and her mother. "Mary Ann, I don't know if this is good or bad for you, but the test results have shown through as positive. You're going to have a baby. It should be due around December 25th, Christmas time." With that, Dr. Brown showed them to the door. Once home, Mary Ann collapsed on her bed and cried into the arms of her faithful little sister Eileen.

Meanwhile, Sarah went to John of the news. As expected, he wasn't at all happy.

(9 Months Later)

It was a sunny but very cold winter day on December 23, 1969 and Mary Ann was feeling anything but sunshine. She had been feeling like dirt all morning and now at 11:45 AM she was feeling no better. Thats when she started feeling the sharp pains that stabbed at her like knives. "MOM!" She screamed louder than her Aunt Martha.

"What? What is it Mary Ann? Are you hungry again? I'll get you something." Sarah said.

"No no, mom, its not that, I think I'm about to have the baby!" She felt tears rolling down her cheeks because of the numbing pain.

"Oh, OH! OH Mary Ann! John! JOHN!" She yelled out into the field. "Quick! Mary Ann's going to have the baby!" John, George, Joe, and Martha all stopped what they were doing and raced to the house. John quickly started the truck as Sarah, Martha and Joe helped Mary Ann into it. Sarah then got in and George, Martha, and Joe followed them to the hospital in their own truck.

(15 Hours Later)

Mary Ann sat up in the hospital bed as a nurse walked into the room and handed her her baby. "Congratulations, its a girl." The nurse smiled and Mary Ann couldn't help but smile too.

The next thing she knew, her parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, and sister (whom Joe had called) and her brother-in-law had swarmed around her bed oohing and awwing at the baby girl.

"She weighed five pounds, nine ounces, and was 19 inches long." The nurse supplied. "And I have to say that she has the most beautiful blue eyes I ever saw." The nurse said.

"She has her daddy's eyes." Mary Ann couldn't help smiling as she said that too.

(One Week Later)

Mary Ann was in thought as she held her precious one week year old baby girl. Should she tell him? Should she tell Gilligan that he has a daughter? But it would be so sudden. She hadn't talked to him since April 2, 1969. It had been nine months. Nine months! She couldn't just show up all of a sudden with a baby he didn't even know about. Why put that on his shoulders? What if he didn't want anything to do with the baby? What if he didn't like her. What if he didn't even want anything to do with the mother of this unwanted child? What if it came in the way of his current life. Maybe he loved someone else now. He would.t want anything to do with this baby. Cute or not. Whether it was his, he wouldn't care. No, Mary Ann could not just tell him of their baby.

(Three Months Later)

Mary Ann sat at the table feeding baby Samantha Marie, who had been dubbed "Sam," and smiled as little Sam giggled. Sam liked to giggle. She giggled allot. Sometimes Mary Ann would wake up in the middle of the night to hear Sam giggling at nothing in particular at all. She also liked to sleep. Naps were her favorite activities. If you could call napping an activity. She was a beautiful baby. Her dark brown hair matched Mary Ann's, and her beautiful blue eyes were sincere. She was also a very social baby, even at three months. She constantly threw out two syllable made up words and screamed when she was left alone to jibber-jabber to herself. She sometimes looked at people and giggled at them just because they were there. Mary Ann loved her baby. But something was missing. Not only in Mary Ann's life, but mainly Sam's. Mary Ann wanted a husband to help her take care of the baby, someone for her daughter to call daddy. She wanted Sam to grow up to know her father, to be able to go to her father when needed. This is what caused her to buy an airplane ticket to Honolulu.

She would go see Gilligan, explain herself and Sam, whether he wanted her or not. For some reason though, she thought Gilligan would be the type to be a great daddy. Somehow she knew that anyhow, Gilligan would fall in love with this baby. It was in his nature. So when Mary Ann and Sam's plane arrived in Honolulu, she wasn't as nervous as she used to be.

(Honolulu, Hawaii)

William Gilligan or aka "Gilligan" as he always went by his last name, had long since rejoined the Navy since being rescued. He had also went through a whole year of misery. Why? It was heartbreak. Mary Ann's departure had left him with a shattered heart and he never quite repaired it. He couldn't find another girl as wonderful as Mary Ann. He longed to call her but then, he remembered, their was no telephone at Mary Ann's residence. His friends had long since given up on trying to cheer him up. It was no use, what could they do? And Skipper was tired of watching Gilligan sulk around work all day, but what could he do? And of course, Gilligan's younger sister Susan was no help being she was too busy with her husband, whom by the way, Gilligan didn't much like. So when Mary Ann showed up that day, you could imagine he was overjoyed to tears.

It had been another long day of work at Pearl Harbor, it always was. As usual, Gilligan sulked home to his small but cozy apartment and immediately changed into something more comfortable which usually consisted of a sweater and a pair of jeans. Today he wore a blue sweater and blue jeans and collapsed on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, bored to tears. He wasn't hungry, he wasn't sleepy, just bored. He was almost asleep when a knock on the door made him jump. Now who could that be? As if expecting someone, when he really wasn't, Gilligan walked into the bathroom, combed his face, checked his face, and walked to door. He nearly fainted when he opened it to see who it was. There, standing on his front steps, was Mary Ann. The girl he had been moping over for a whole year. The girl who had caused his heart to shatter into a million tiny pieces. And she was holding a baby!

He paused hesitantly, then stuttered, "M-M-Mary Ann- W-What are you doing here?"

Mary Ann didn't say anything. She just rested the baby on her hip and hugged Gilligan feeling the tears well up in her eyes.

When she pulled back, Gilligan looked shocked and also had tears in his eyes. He didn't seem to be trying to hide them this time though. "Why?" He whispered unbelievingly.

"We need to talk Gilligan. But first things first. I've missed you. Have you missed me?" Mary Ann asked hopefully.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I've missed you Mary Ann..." He suddenly couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears he had been holding in escaped their way down his cheeks which caused Mary Ann's own tears to do the same.

"Can we come in Gilligan?" Mary Ann asked. We? It took a moment for Gilligan to remember that Mary Ann was holding a baby. "Oh yeah, sorry, come in." Gilligan ushered her in and closed the door behind them.

Suddenly a giggle pierced the atmosphere out of nowhere. It took Gilligan a moment to realize it was the baby. He gestured to the baby. "Who might that be?" He smiled through his tears at the giggling baby.

Mary Ann smiled back. "This is Samantha Marie. I call her Sam. She's what caused me to come back. Well, she's most of the reason anyway. Gilligan you might want to sit down."

Gilligan did as he told. "So you uh, met someone else, huh?" He tried not to shoe his disappointment.

"No Gilligan, I didn't. I'm glad I didn't. Gilligan, I love you. Still do, always will. I realized that I can't go on anymore denying that. You might not want me back, but I just want you to know that you'll be the only man I'll ever love for the rest of my life." Mary Ann looked down.

Gilligan gently lifted her chin out of pure joy. "I still love you too, Mary Ann. I've moped over you or a whole year. I love you, Mary Ann. And only you." He gently kissed her and looked back at her.

She looked back at him lovingly and kissed him back, then sighing with relief. "Oh Gilligan..." She whispered. They shared a moment or two before pulling back from their embrace.

"I wish I could leave things at that Gilligan, but Sam concerns you. In a way you're not going to believe." Somehow Gilligan began to put together what she was trying to tell him.

"Remember that night when you and I...?" Gilligan nodded. There was no need to explain further. "Well, I didn't know until about a month later, that I was, Gilligan I found out I was pregnant. She pulled baby Sam up closer to her chest. "She's yours Gilligan. This is your daughter."

She gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. After a minute, Gilligan swallowed and looked up at Mary Ann. "Mine?" He squeaked out. She nodded. He looked down at the baby. "When? When was she born?" He asked feeling the tears coming back to his eyes.

"December 23, 1969. She weighed five pounds, nine ounces, and was 19 inches long. She has your eyes." Mary Ann watched Gilligan closely. All of a sudden he surprised her by letting out a sob and burying his face into her shoulder as he sobbed with more emotion than Mary Ann had seen him show all her life. All she could was hold him, and comfort him, through what she didn't know yet. She didn't know what exactly had caused him to break, but she didn't mind, as long as he wasn't angry.

After awhile, Gilligan stopped sobbing and pulled back from her shoulder. He smiled through teary eyes as Sam let out another giggle. "Can I hold her?" Gilligan asked.

Mary Ann nodded and handed her over to him. She watched he gently cradled the giggling baby and laughed along with her. She smiled, knowing everything would be alright.