Chapter 15: The Book

Kate's hands trembled slightly as she picked up the book and slowly read aloud the handwritten title above the first page. "Look ... Out ... Seattle"

Candy’s eyes flashed and she squealed, "Oh my goodness Biddie you’re right! I do remember now. That was one of Maggie's best stories "

"Oh Doctor Mike," she turned to her friendly physician, who appeared as much in the dark as she had been. "You would love it! It’s all about this young woman named Kate who moves from New Bedford to Seattle, but it all takes place a hundred and sixty years in the future and this world is full of so many amazing things."

"Yes, oh my gosh," Biddie gushed, "Everyone traveled in horseless carriages that were faster than steam locomotives and there were huge flying ships called jets, that could carry people from New Bedford to Seattle in hours."

Candy smiled dreamily, "I think my favorite was tele-phones. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be if you could hold something in your hand that allowed you to talk to someone in New Bedford and ... and they could talk back to you?"

"I loved tele-visions," Biddie offered her favorite futuristic device. "People in the future would sit for hours and hours watching the window on a magic box that was filled with moving pictures and sounds so real that you could hardly tell the difference between it and the real world.

"But the storyline really drew me in too," Candy said as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Just like Biddie said, Kate was this young woman who graduated college, left her family in New Bedford to find a new life as a writer in Seattle, but ... she carried with her a secret. A deep dark secret that she could never share for fear no one would ever look at her the same again."

"And don’t forget the villain Candy," Biddie reminded her. "Every story needs a villain, and this one was the worst! He was this evil man who became king, and he did terrible things to people. And the worst was, he started chasing Kate, threatening to expose her secret. Finally, he caught her in Seattle. She had no way to escape and she didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that she’d rather die than give in to this tyrant."

"So ..." Doctor Mike begged, having become entangled herself in the plot web being spun, "What happened to Kate? Did this evil king win, or did she find a way out?"

Candy and Biddie exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders as they spoke in unison, "We don’t know. Maggie got sick and she never finished the story."

It was at that moment they realized Maggie had been a silent spectator since Biddie dropped the book in her lap. Her gaze was locked onto the open pages almost as if she was in a trance.

Doctor Mike reached out and took her hand gently, "Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

"Could ... could it be true?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper, and she appeared to be asking herself the question rather than answering the Doctor’s own.

She thought she’d covered every explanation possible, reluctantly even death.But she had never dreamed, never considered, that she’d gotten reality and fantasy backwards. It was just too incredible, too frightening, too close to total insanity to even contemplate.

But there it was, undeniable, right in front of her eyes and written in her own hand. It was surreal, almost laughable, if the joke hadn't been on her. It was something right out of a Twilight Zone episode, but ironically she’d have to wait a hundred years to see how it ended.

She wanted to run, just like she had wanted to run in that other existence, but there was no escaping her fate then and no escaping it now. She had to speak it into existence. Her eyes pleaded with Doctor Mike’s. "Could it be true? Could it really be true? Could my whole life as Kate just be a story I wrote?"

Years and years of medical training did not prepare or qualify her to answer the question. All she could do was speak from the heart. "Honestly, I know you don’t want to accept what I’m about to say, but yes ... my professional opinion would be that your life as Kate and all the memories you have of it, were drawn from the story you wrote. A story that incidentally has similarities to your own life.’

Tears welled in her eyes as she picked up the book, literally holding her life in her hands. "But it seems so real and I have all these memories. How is that possible?"

"There’s so much we don’t understand about the mind. Recently, doctors who call themselves psychiatrists have devoted themselves to studying cases just like this."

Kate’s eyes went wide, "Psychiatrist? Are you telling me I’m crazy and ... and I’m going to end up in an asylum."

It didn’t matter if she was Katie or Maggie, she knew the conditions within an 1860’s asylum and she wanted no part of them.

Doctor Mike tried to calm her immediately, "No, you’re not crazy, and you’re not going to an asylum." She paused trying to choose her words carefully. "My professional diagnosis is as such: you are perfectly sane. You are a young woman with an incredible imagination and writing talent who has been very ill with a high fever for nearly two weeks. Fevers of that height and length often include bouts of delirium. As the fever began to subside, your mind sought to reconstruct reality. Since that story was fresh in your mind before taking ill, and because of that incredible imagination of yours, your mind confused fantasy with reality. That created the situation we have now, which with time and rest should correct itself without any adverse effects. Of course that's just my theory."

The doctor stopped when she saw all three women looking a little shell shocked from medical overload. "Ladies," she broke them from their trance. "She’s going to be just fine. She just needs a little time and rest. Although a bowl of hot soup might speed her recovery."

Candy and Biddie immediately headed to the galley to fill the doctor's prescription, leaving her a little alone time with her patient who was obviously still grappling with reality, as she now had to accept it.

When she saw her still holding the book and staring intently at it, she took it from her hand gently and closed it

"Maggie ... is it okay if I call you Maggie?"

The young lady answered with a smile and a hint of the old Irish. "Of course ya can. Tis me name isn’t it?"

"Yes, yes is it," Doctor Mike returned the smile, "but I don't want you trying too hard to convince yourself of that. I want you to rest, relax and above all else, I want you to leave your journals and stories alone for a while and that’s doctor’s orders young lady."

"Yes ma’am," Maggie crossed her heart with one hand while unbeknown to the good doctor, her fingers on the hand beneath the quilt were crossed.

Chapter 16: Joshua

"Is the patient allowed visitors?"

Both doctor and patient turned to see the familiar face of Joshua Bolt, the middle brother of the three. He was tall with sandy blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and like all the Bolt men, very handsome.

The Doctor did not miss the rosy blush that filled Maggie's cheeks as she gave her a wink before responding. "Only if the visitor is named Joshua Bolt, but for only a few minutes, my patient needs her rest."

Joshua nodded and walked toward the end of Maggie's bed as Doctor Mike packed her bag to leave. "Oh Doctor Mike ... I was wondering if maybe Maggie might be well enough for a little stroll on deck this evening. I was thinking maybe the fresh air might do her some good," He turned his gaze toward Maggie, smiling hopefully. "That is, if she was up to it."

The doctor didn’t need her medical degree to diagnose the love bug bite she saw in their eyes. "I think that's a wonderful idea. In fact, consider it doctor's orders, but not for too long mind you. As I said earlier, she needs her rest."

"If you two want," everyone turned at the sound of Candy’s voice, "you can go with Jeremy and I when we go walking."

"And I’ll be there as a chaperone too!’ Biddie included herself as she brought in a small bowl of soup.

Doctor Mike nodded approvingly. "I’ll say goodbye for now, but I will be back in the morning so I expect you to be well rested. If you need me before then, send someone to my quarters."

They waved and watched the doctor leave. Biddie brought the soup to Maggie and gave her a spoon. "Honestly, I don’t know what kind of soup it is, but nobody got sick from it, so I think it's okay."

Maggie laughed and Candy shook her head. Oh Biddie ... sometimes ..."

Maggie sniffed the soup and frowned as she sat it on the nightstand beside her.

Candy frowned. "Doctor Mike said ..."

"I know ... I know what Doctor Mike said and I'll eat it. I promise I will, but I just want to rest first."

Candy eyed her suspiciously. "Well .. okay but we'll come back to check on you later."

"I should probably get going too," Joshua turned to head for the door. "I’m supposed to meet Jason and Jeremy to go over some logging contracts, but I will be here by 7 if you feel up to it

"Oh, she’ll be up to it.," Biddie answered with a giggle, which got her an elbow to the ribs from Candy, and turned Maggie’s cheeks crimson.

"I’ll see you at 7." Maggie finally found her voice and then slowly started sinking down into the quilt from embarrassment.

Joshua smiled and then he was gone. Candy started to scold Biddie, but Maggie waved her off. "It's okay ... really it is, but honestly," she covered her mouth as she yawned, "I'm really tired. If you don’t mind, I'm going to take a little nap, okay?"

Candy nodded and then fluffed Maggie's pillow. "I’ll be back to check on you."

"And we'll both be back to help you get ready for Joshua," Biddie giggled .

Maggie settled down in bed. "Thanks for everything and we'll ... I’m sorry about what I said ... you know ... saying you weren’t real. It’s just that when I woke up I was so confused and ... and ... I thought I was going mad."

Candy smiled lovingly, "It’s okay ... really it is ... honestly sometimes I think about being on this boat with 99 other women, three thousand miles from home, going to the wild frontier to find a husband and well ... I think I must be mad too "

Maggie returned the smile and opened her arms. "You’re both such good friends."

As the three embraced, Maggie was reminded of another aspect of this life, she was surrounded by friends who cared and loved her. That didn’t just tip the scale in her favor, it knocked it over.

Candy and Biddie finally left her to rest, but not without reminding her to try to eat, and that they would be back in a few hours to help her get ready for her walk with Joshua.