Maggie began thrashing about in her sleep, mumbling something unintelligible. Her sandy hair clung damply to the edges of her face. Joe reminded himself this was all normal for a fever, pandemic or otherwise, as he doubled down on his hope for reinforcements to arrive soon. Supposedly it was cyanosis - turning blue due to a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream - and internal bleeding that were the biggest causes for alarm in these cases. As Maggie herself had mentioned, many of the patients who ended up dying had progressed to pneumonia, with the lungs filling with fluid and ultimately hemorrhaging. But - Joe peered closely - so far there was no sign of blood, either from her nose or mouth. And her skin was still pale. Thank God.

At that moment, Maggie's eyes opened and she seemed to register Joe's presence at her bedside. Apparently asking for further information was too taxing at present, as her eyes closed again.

There was a quick knock at the door as Chuck stepped into the room with Grace, both wearing gauze masks. They must have intercepted the boys somewhere along the way, for their wagon held a tub of ice.

"Bad news, Joe," the veterinarian said as he removed his coat. "Gabriel and Mary Louise are sick now too. So we're moving the other kids over to my mom's house for a few days, our Emma included."

Joe was surprised. "I have to admit, that's not the first person I'd think of sending them to," he said. Chuck stifled a laugh.

"Well, Emma's her grandbaby," he said. "She's kind of obligated with that one. But since she adopted Fred last year, she's really softened toward the others. And even though the circumstances aren't great, I know that Fred will be really excited to spend a couple nights with the others again, like old times."

Chuck disappeared, reappearing almost instantly with the tub of ice. He dragged it to the side of Maggie's bed.

"Doc Shepherd's gone to check up on some of the more severe cases," he said. "He's got more aspirin and some sort of paregoric he wants to try. He's also got a wagon full of food the good ladies of Hope Valley sent over, for the folks who are too busy taking care of their sick family members to cook the usual meals."

Joe felt a rush of gratitude for their neighbors, who were always quick to lend a hand whenever they were needed. "You make sure he thanks them from us," he said. "And I sure will personally next time I see them. Let me guess - Rosemary Coulter, Elizabeth Thornton, Florence Yost and Molly Sullivan were probably at the head of it, organizing everything?"

Grace smiled. "You know it."

Then everyone turned to the business at hand.

"Joe, help me lift her into the tub," Chuck requested. "We'll have her soak a few minutes while in her nightgown, then Grace can change her into a dry one."

Nodding, Joe reached carefully under one of Maggie's shoulders as Chuck reached beneath the other. Together they set her gingerly into the water. As they might have expected, the reaction of even a semi-conscious Maggie was not favorable. She made a small gasping noise, shuddering, as Grace rubbed her arm reassuringly.

"Hang in there, Maggie, it'll be over soon," she said soothingly. "This is going to help you feel better."

Maggie heard her voice, but in her current state wasn't entirely sure whose it was. One of her sisters, perhaps. And was it her father next to her? But what would her father be doing at her bedside? Somehow the fact that she was in Canada, a place where no other member of the Parsons family had ever stepped foot, did not enter her thoughts.