The sudden appearance, and the question, took Jo's breath away. She had to stop and think. Would she really, truly, give her life for anyone? In her other life, as a wife and mother, there'd been no doubt she would willingly have given her life for those of her children, or her husband.
And yet, as badly as she wanted to spare her sister the pain and hardship of widowhood, could she really give up her life as she knew it - to never see Beth, her parents, or Fritz again?
And yet, facing the woman whose life had become hers for a few years, what other answer could she give?
"Yes," she said with only the slightest hesitation. "I'll give my life for his."
Instantly, she was lying on her back, staring up at a white ceiling. A whiff of the air told her she was in a hospital, and when she turned her head, she saw Dieter sitting at her bedside!
He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi." Her voice sounded shaky, uncertain.
His hand gently brushed her cheek. "You had us worried there for a while, lady."
Jo gulped. "What happened?"
She became aware of the thin wail of a newborn in the background.
"Meet our new daughter." Gingerly, Dieter helped her to sit up in bed, then placed a warm bundle into her arms. "Her name is Elisabeth Martina Baumgartner. I remember how you mentioned being fond of the name Elisabeth."
"Elisabeth," Jo echoed, her fingertips lightly touching the silken cheek. Ich weiss, dass du meine Mutter bist..."She's beautiful!" Her voice choked up, and she knew she could say no more without bursting into tears.
"She looks like her mother," said Dieter. "The Lord has not only preserved your life, but he has blessed us with a precious new little one as well. Oh, Martina, I love you so much!" He held her tight, as if he would never let her go. Memories came flooding back to her: the blood, the pain...
"Did I really almost die?" she whispered.
"The doctor said only a miracle could save you." His voice grew husky with emotion. "They had to take the baby surgically, and your womb as well. It was the only way to stop the bleeding."
"Am I going to live?" Jo asked, from deep inside his embrace.
"The doctor says the danger is over, and with plenty of rest, you should be fine in a few weeks."
Realizing how week she was, Jo felt herself slip into a deep slumber.
She awoke to a bizarre situation - she was still lying in a hospital bed in Berlin, and yet at the same time, she could see John in the twenty-first century, awakening from surgery in a recovery room.
"He's going to live," she breathed.
"You saved his life." Jo realized Martina was beside her again. "And mine as well. You see, I died in that other universe. My placenta separated prematurely, and I bled to death. They had to cut Elisabeth from my dead body, and she grew up without her mother, but now, I can live to raise her and her brothers."
The scene in the Berlin hospital vanished, and Jo found herself once again in the twenty-first century with her parents and Meg.
"He's just awakened from surgery, and will be transferred to his room soon," a nurse was saying. "You can go back and see him then."
"Thank God!" Meg cried, and she, Mrs. March, and Jo all embraced.
Later, on her return home, it occurred to Jo that she just might have, once again, returned to the universe in which Fritz didn't exist.
Suddenly anxious, she checked her phone and was relieved to see his name was still on her speed dial.
At the same time, she remembered the warmth of Dieter's embrace in the hospital and felt a longing to be held in Fritz's embrace. She called him, and when she heard his voice, a thrill went through her.
"Josephine! You are up early today."
Startled, Jo remembered they'd rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. She glanced at her watch. It was six thirty in the morning.
Had all that really happened in such a short span of time?
"Did I wake you up?" she asked apologetically.
Fritz laughed. "Oh, no. I am up as soon as the sun rises. I was just enjoying a cup of coffee while perusing the internet and thinking how nice it would be to share breakfast with a lovely young lady such as yourself."
Jo realized she was starving. "Give me an hour or so to get home and get ready, and I'll be right over with some cinnamon rolls."
"To get home?" Fritz was bewildered. "You are on your way to the train station, are you not?"
"Oh, no," Jo said, remembering. "My parents and I are on our way home from the hospital. Meg's husband's appendix ruptured last night."
"Oh, no!" Fritz gasped. "Is he all right now?"
"He will be. He has to stay in the hospital for a few days. Meg will be with him. Mom and Dad are going to take care of Johnny and Daisy."
"And you, Josephine, do you will want to journey to New Orleans?"
"To be honest, it hasn't even crossed my mind since I found out about John."
"I am not surprised, but I do have to admit I am a bit glad, as I would have missed you."
Jo felt a warm flood of affection for him. "I would have missed you, too."
Later, as she drove to his apartment, it occurred to her that at least three universes existed: one in which Dieter was hung for his work with the Resistance, one in which he survived but Martina later died at Elisabeth's birth, and one in which both Dieter and Martina survived. Which was the universe in which Fritz had never existed?
Jo fervently hoped she'd never visit that universe again.