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"There you are. Oh, thank God you made it," she said.

Grace turned to face the newcomer and smiled when she saw her. She stepped away from Joel and gave the college-age woman a warm hug.

"I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you," the woman said.

"You don't owe me a thing," Grace said. "Your smile is my reward. I'm just glad I was able to get a message to you. I worried all morning that I wouldn't be able to."

"Well, as you can see, I got it, and I followed your instructions. I made it! I never thought I'd see this day again, but I have. We both have. You're a lifesaver."

Joel was more intrigued than ever by what he heard, but continued to hold his questions. He saw that Grace was in no hurry to shed light on the woman's comments and, in fact, seemed downright distracted. Even as the woman peppered her with a verbal barrage, she continued to look over the shoulders of others. Were there more surprises in store?

The redhead turned away from Grace and extended a hand to Joel.

"I'm sorry for not introducing myself. That was rude of me. I'm Judy Dumont and this big lug behind me is Rick Anderson. We're both graduate students at the university."

"I'm Joel Smith, Grace's husband. It's nice to meet you."

The two couples shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and separated. Grace continued to stand on her toes and move her head around, as if searching for someone or something.

"How do you two know each other?" Joel asked.

"Let's just say we shared an interesting historical experience," Judy said with a laugh. "Let me also say that your wife saved my life in a way you can't possibly imagine."

"Try me," Joel said.

"I'll tell you all about it on the way home," Grace said. "Right now I have to find some other people. It's very important I see them."

Judy looked at Grace affectionately and put her hand on her arm.

"Don't run off just yet."

Judy slipped the long strap of her purse off of her shoulder and opened the bag. She sifted through the contents until she finally retrieved what looked like a business card.

"Take this," she said. She handed the card to Grace. "Call me later this week. I really want to get together and talk."

"I do too," Grace said.

Grace took the card, put it in her own purse, and appeared to resume her search for the other people she had to see. She glanced over Judy's shoulder toward the pay phones and looked in that direction for several seconds. Something or someone had apparently grabbed her attention.

"I will call you," Grace said as she returned to Judy. "We'll get together this weekend. It should be fun."

Judy gave Grace another hug, said goodbye, and then led Rick to the exit.

"Are you going to tell me what that's all about too?" Joel said.

"I will as soon as I take care of something else first."

Joel noticed that Grace's expression had changed again. She had gone from tears to smiles to something that looked a lot like anxiety. He held onto her hand as she pulled him across the crowded lobby toward the pay phones and two people he had noticed earlier.

He could feel the tension in her hand as they drew closer to the couple. The blond-haired man and blond-haired woman, who bore a striking resemblance to the mysterious Mrs. Smith, appeared just as frightened as he had remembered them. They stared at Grace as she approached.

"I suppose you have an explanation for this," the man said with anger in his voice. "We've been waiting here for almost an hour. Who is this man? I saw you kissing him."

"Where is Captain Walker?" the woman asked.

Captain Walker?
Joel thought.

Grace released Joel and then brought both of her hands together in front of her chest. She took a deep breath and stared at the couple for a long moment, as if trying to decide how best to begin a difficult conversation.

"I know you both have many questions and I will answer them all. I promise," Grace said. "I will answer them all tonight, but first I must introduce you to someone."

Grace looked at Joel with sheepish eyes and then at the ceiling, as if seeking some sort of divine guidance. When she returned her attention to the couple, she returned with a pale face.

"Bill and Lucy, this is Joel Smith. He is a geologist here in Seattle. He is also my husband of two years and the father of my children."

Joel expected smiles and handshakes but instead got something else. Bill stared at him with incredulous eyes. Lucy brought a hand to her open mouth.

Grace took a breath and grabbed Joel's hand.

"Joel, this is William Vandenberg and Lucille Green. Bill is planning to be a Lutheran minister. Lucy is planning to be his wife," Grace said. She paused. "They are my parents."

Joel looked at Bill and saw a man stare at him as if he were the strangest thing on the planet. He didn't bother to look at Lucy. She had already fallen to the floor.

CHAPTER 69: GRACE

Thursday, October 10, 2002

"Let me get this straight. Purple sent you to the past?"

"Lavender too," Grace said. "I never got around to testing violet and periwinkle, but I'm sure they would have worked. The time portal didn't seem all that picky."

Frank Smith shook his head and took another sip of his morning brew.

"What about the theater and the movie?"

"They were part of it as well. The portal became active for a few minutes every time the screen went purple during the silent movie
Stella Maris
. Anyone wearing purple in the women's room at that time got a direct ticket to the Progressive era. Fortunately for a few of us, the portal worked in both directions."

"But you didn't wear your lavender dress," Cindy Smith said. "Lucy did. That's what Joel told us anyway. He said you came back in a white maternity dress."

"I did. I wore a gown that my Aunt Margaret had made for me. I was able to pass through the portal by wearing a purple bow in my hair. Bill got through wearing a lavender tie."

Cindy sipped her coffee.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you returned to us, safe and sound, and brought your family with you. I'm so glad that your parents made it. Where are they now?"

"They're back at the house, taking care of their granddaughters. They didn't need any guidance. They're naturals around children," Grace said with a wistful smile.

"How are they doing?"

Cindy leaned a few inches forward.

"How are
all
of you doing?"

"We're doing better."

"Just better?"

"We're talking now, if that's what you mean. I consider that progress."

"They haven't forgiven you?"

"They've forgiven me. They forgave me Sunday morning, but they're still very angry with me for not giving them a choice in the matter," Grace said. "I can't say I blame them."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You did what you thought was best."

Grace sighed and looked out the dining room window.

"You're right. I did what I thought was best – for me. I never gave their interests a second thought. I never considered for a moment that they might want to stay in
their
world and fulfill
their
dreams. I never considered that they might want to see their relatives again. I considered only what I wanted and pushed them through that door."

"Do you regret bringing them back?" Cindy asked.

"No. That's the thing. I know what I did was selfish, extremely selfish, but I'd do it again if given the chance. I'd do it a thousand times. I will never second guess that decision."

"I assume you told them what happened to them the first time around," Frank said.

"I did. It's not easy telling people they've already died once – and violently, no less. Lucy took it the hardest. She could not believe I had managed to carry on after their accident. I told her that my parents, and particularly my mother, had given me the will and character to do so."

"What are they going to do now?" Cindy asked. "They're not even married."

"They will stay with us until they are ready to step out on their own. I will see to their needs for as long as it takes. I figure that that is the least I can do."

"What do they want to do?"

"They want to carry on as before. They see no reason why they can't pursue the same goals, even in a vastly different world. Bill has already contacted a local church about serving as a youth pastor. He plans to enroll in the seminary here again in the fall."

"How about Lucy?"

"She's no different. She's content to be Mrs. William Vandenberg. My mother is kind of like her daughter that way. She's very domestic. My guess is that they will be married in a few weeks and try to start a family soon. I'm still trying to get accustomed to the idea of having siblings – siblings that are younger than my own children."

"Speaking of which, how is your pregnancy coming along?"

"I saw my obstetrician yesterday, and he said I'm five months along. The baby is definitely a boy, by the way. We're going to name him Thomas, in honor of Tom Carter," Grace said. "We considered William and Benjamin, but we like Tom better and think it is more appropriate. Tom meant a lot to us, just like Ginny and Katie."

Cindy smiled slightly and touched Grace's hand in a way that suggested she approved of the name but also had something more on her mind. As it turned out, she did.

"Grace, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Grace felt the knot in her stomach tighten. She knew what was coming.

"I guess it depends on the question. But go ahead and ask."

Cindy tilted her head, leaned forward, and looked at Grace closely.

"Who was John Walker and what did he mean to you?"

Grace sighed as she looked at her mother-in-law. She knew Cindy Smith and others would eventually ask about John. She knew they had a right to ask. Grace had befriended a single man, after all, and become pregnant during the course of an eighty-minute film. But that didn't mean she looked forward to discussing a matter she considered deeply personal.

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

Cindy returned a sympathetic smile.

"I just want to be sure that Joel has the facts," she said. "Your absence and your pregnancy came as quite a shock to him. I don't want to see him get hurt."

Grace loved Cindy dearly and understood her motives, but she still bristled at her words.
She
is the one who had suffered the trauma in the theater and the separation from her family –
not
Joel.

"You want the facts? I'll tell you the facts. I'll tell you what I told Joel Monday night," she said. "When I passed through that portal I thought I had taken a one-way trip to the past. I thought I would never again see Joel or Ginny or Katie or anyone else from this time. For all practical purposes, this time and everyone in it were dead to me."

Grace looked at Cindy and saw her expression soften. She suspected that Joel had told his mother few specifics about her experience in the past.

"Shortly after I arrived in Seattle on October 5, 1918, I met Captain Walker, a neighbor of my uncle's. He had been sent home from the war several weeks earlier with shrapnel wounds. When it appeared that I would never again be able to return to 2002, I began spending more time with him. We started dating and eventually became engaged."

Frank put down his coffee and stared at Grace with eyes she could not read. He too seemed very interested in what she had to say.

"John Walker was a good man, a decent man, someone who saved me in a number of ways. I loved him and I had a difficult time leaving him. But I never stopped loving your son, I never stopped thinking about him, and I never broke the vows I made to him. The child I carry is Joel's and he will always be Joel's."

"I'm sorry for asking, Grace," Cindy said. She seemed genuinely remorseful. "You've told us more than we have a right to know. You did what most people would have done in the same circumstances. You moved on with your life and tried to make a future for you and your baby. That's what matters."

Grace glared at her mother-in-law with moist eyes and spoke to her in a firm voice. Cindy Smith wasn't off the hook just yet.

"I had an opportunity to stay in the past. I had a chance to build a future with a wonderful man, someone who had served his country and shown me every kindness. But I
didn't
stay. I instead left that wonderful man abruptly, even thoughtlessly, and returned to the man I married, the father of my children, your son. I think that speaks volumes."

"It does, honey," Cindy said as he put a hand on Grace's. "It does."

CHAPTER 70: GRACE

Saturday, December 21, 2002

Red and green dominated the splashy living room in the house in Madison Park. Red stockings hung from the fireplace, red ribbons adorned wreaths and displays, and red and green packages sprang from the bottom of a hopelessly green Christmas tree. Purple was not on parade in the home of Frank and Cindy Smith, and that suited Grace just fine.

"Are you feeling OK?" Joel asked his wife. They sat on a loveseat facing the fireplace. "You haven't said much since we left home."

"I'm fine. I've just been thinking a lot."

"Thinking about what?"

"I've been thinking about us, this baby, and perceptions people may have."

Grace settled into the sofa and placed a hand on her belly. At thirty-two weeks, she was more than just visibly pregnant. She was walking up labor's driveway.

"Haven't we gone over this? You don't owe me any more explanations."

Joel put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I believe you, Grace. I see the truth in your eyes, just as I see the love in your eyes. That's good enough for me. That's always been good enough for me."

Grace smiled sadly at a husband she adored and snuggled closer.

"I hope so. I don't want doubt to ever come between us."

She looked at the flames in the fireplace and thought of Christmas Eve 1918, the night she thought she'd never return to the comfort of her husband and children and a modern age she had begun to call her own. She thought too about the people she had left behind, particularly the Green family and John Walker, and how they had managed in the years following her departure.