Chapter 11

As he moved quietly down the corridor, he remembered his encounter with her last night. She tasted so sweet and now he had to know how she was this morning. He must be careful not to be caught wandering into her room at this time. As he placed his hand on the doorknob, he slowly turned the handle and began to open the door. It creaked in the stillness of the empty hall so he stopped and waited. Listening to the silence and noticing there was no movement in the hallway of the servant's quarters, he continued to open the door wider.

Closing the door behind him, he approached her bed and noticed a familiar fragrance. Watching her sleep for only a moment, he moved closer to the bed and knelt down to look into her beautiful face. She looked so peaceful sleeping but that worried him. She should not still be asleep at 8 o'clock in the morning.

"Anita? Wake up, dear," he whispered, bending over her. Anita stirred but didn't open her eyes. He looked closer at her neck and saw a bandage. Worried, he sat on the bed and touched Anita's shoulder.

"Wake up, Anita, it is 8 a.m." He shook her harder.

"What, what is it?" Anita began to open her eyes and sat up quickly. She grabbed her head and groaned. Oh, my head, she thought, why do I have such a headache?

"Anita, are you ok, dear?" asked the familiar voice.

"William, is that you? What are you doing here?" Anita leaned towards the lamp and turned it on. "I need to sleep so I can get up early in the morning to prepare the food," the sleepy Anita said, a little disoriented.

"Anita! It is morning." William said alarmed, pointing to the clock. "What is the matter with you; and what happened to your neck? You didn't have that bandage when you left me last night!" William lightly touched her neck and she jerked away from her.

"I'm ok William! Really, now leave me so I can get dressed and start cooking," Anita said quickly moving his hand away from her and climbing out of bed.

"What happened when you left me? You seem different, Anita," William jumped quickly off the bed to move out of her way.

"Nothing happened," she said annoyed. "I came home and went to bed, that's all." Anita explained, although not quite sure herself, as she moved over to the washbasin. Looking into the mirror, Anita quickly looked under the bandage and covered it back up again. William watched her carefully and saw something in the mirror.

"What is that? Let me see!" William moved next to Anita and removed the bandage before she could object. "You did hurt yourself!" William examined her neck, though she tried to move away from him.

"William, you are being overprotective. It's nothing," she exclaimed as she cleaned her wound and replaced a clean bandage over it. "It was dark last night and I was not watching where I was going. I walked into a tree, which had something sticking out. It hit me in the throat. I'm ok, honest, dear," she said affectionately and kissed him. After reassuring him, she hurried him out of her room so she could get ready for the day. Closing the door behind him, she wondered what really happened and why she lied to him.

Outside her room, William thought angrily, 'I've seen marks like that before and it was not made by any tree.'

Sitting at the desk in her room, Max looked down at the diary that had baffled her for years. As a little girl, every time she tried to read the diary, she would develop a splitting headache, resulting in nightmares. After a while, all she had to do was open the book and she would get an immediate headache. After that, she refused to examine in it again but the nightmares continued nonetheless. The last time she tried to open the diary was on the flight from London to Maine. Afterwards, she had her nightmare. Since the journal was a link to her real mother's past, she refused to throw it out.

Looking at the photograph of herself as a little girl, which she carried around with her for years, Max recalled last night's experiences at the Old House. The little girl named Bree looked just like Max as she did in her photo. 'Could she be me in an alternate reality?' Max wondered. 'If that is so, then my parents' names are Barnabas and Julia. David said Julia was a doctor and the content of this diary has mathematical formulas in them.'

Max picked up the book and held it for several minutes, debating on whether to attempt to read it again. Something dropped out and landed on the floor. Picking up the small paper, she noticed it was another photo of a woman and infant. Looking on the back, she read the inscription. 'This is interesting,' she noted. Slipping the photo in the back of the diary, Max opened it to the front page, noticing she didn't get a headache. For the first time, the contents became clear to her as she read it without experiencing the same painful results. It described an experiment.

In another room down the hall, Carolyn was helping Roger get ready for the brunch.

"I don't understand why you have to fuss over me, pumpkin. I am capable of dressing myself. I have been doing it for over 70 years." Roger tried to move Carolyn's hands from buttoning his shirt. "Now stop that."

"Uncle Roger, I don't mind helping you get ready. You have done so much for me over the years. I think it's quite fitting for me to pay you back." Carolyn smiled. Whenever she looked at Roger's face, she saw her mother and felt that much closer to her.

Roger looked down into his niece's face and saw two beautiful blue eyes and golden yellow hair, which he guessed had dye in it. He lifted his hand and affectionately touched her silky hair, causing her to look up at him and smile. As her smile softened him into submission, she continued to help dress him. When he spoke again, Carolyn began to worry about her uncle.

"Carolyn? Do you think your mother invited Barnabas and Julia to the brunch?"