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Grace was about to say more when she saw John and Bill approach. They had already torn into a box of Cracker Jack.

"This is for you, Lucy," Bill said. He handed her an unopened box. "Are you ladies ready to go inside?"

"I am," Lucy said.

"I am too," Grace added.

"Very well then," John said.

With that, two happily engaged couples walked across the lobby to a pair of heavy wooden doors that separated the lighted area of the theater from the darkened part. They entered a nearly full auditorium to a movie in progress.

When they reached the walkway that spanned the width of the chamber, they looked for seats and found the pickings slim. The center section appeared packed. So did the balcony and most of the right side. The near section, however, offered possibilities, including four empty seats near the aisle about halfway to the screen.

"Those look pretty good. This way, folks," John said.

Captain Walker led the group to the appropriate row.

"Do you care where you sit?" he asked the women.

"I prefer something close to the aisle," Lucy said.

"Then I'll just lead the way."

John took the fourth seat in, followed by Grace, Bill, and Lucy.

When Grace found her seat, she put her purse on the floor and settled in. Then she lifted her eyes to the screen and nearly went into shock. Instead of
Little Women
, she saw a little woman. Mary Pickford had returned to the Palladium and now appeared in a movie Grace had seen twice.

For nearly a minute, Grace Smith watched Stella Maris prance across the screen and tried to reconcile what she saw with what she had expected to see. Nauseous and dizzy, she patted Bill's hand to get his attention.

"I have to go," she said. "I'm not feeling very well."

"Do you need me to come?" John asked.

"No. Stay here."

Grace stepped past Bill and Lucy. When she reached the aisle, she clutched her purse, and raced toward the doors. Seconds later, she entered the lobby and moved quickly to the restrooms. She nearly fainted when she glanced at the ladies' room on the right and saw the Braille sign.

Now in full panic mode, Grace scanned the lobby for a theater employee. She saw a patron walk into the men's room but no one else. The chamber, incredibly, was empty. Then she turned toward the front doors and saw a man in a striped vest walk briskly toward the theater offices. She ran to him with a racing heart.

"Excuse me, sir. Excuse me. Why are you showing
Stella Maris
? You're supposed to show
Little Women
tonight. You're supposed to show
Little Women
!

"You're right, lady. We were. But the shipping company fouled up. They gave us
Stella Maris
instead. It's a good movie. Enjoy the show."

"But . . ."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'd like to talk, but I have an emergency to deal with. Excuse me."

Grace put a hand to her stomach as she walked away. She felt a cramp, a serious cramp, and hoped it was nothing more. The last thing she needed now was a miscarriage.

She took a few breaths, ran to the entrance of the auditorium, and leaned against the doors. She looked up at a nearby clock. Eight twenty. She had five minutes to decide her life.

Grace glanced back at the women's room one more time and saw the brown sign. It was still there. She closed her eyes and asked for guidance as her head swam and her body grew weak.

Then just that quickly she made the call. This was it, she thought. This was it. This was her one and only chance to go home and take her parents with her.

She steeled herself for unpleasant moments and bolted into the darkened chamber. She reached her friends just as the movie appeared to near its end.

"There you are," Lucy said. "I was about to look for you."

Grace grabbed her hand.

"You're coming with me. Now. Please come now!"

"But I want to see the end of the film."

"No! Come with me now. You too, Bill."

"What's this all about, Grace?" he asked.

"I'll explain later. Please. Just come with me now!"

"OK."

Grace pulled Lucy gently into the aisle and then did the same with Bill. When she looked at John she saw a face that betrayed confusion and concern.

"What are you doing, Grace?"

Grace looked at him and exploded into tears.

"Please don't ask. I don't have time. I don't know if I can do this."

"Do what?" he asked.

Grace heard the fear in his voice and almost collapsed as the cold reality of what she was doing set in. She wanted to go home. She wanted nothing more. But she didn't know if she could leave a man she had promised to marry. Not now. Not like this. For a few seconds, she considered rushing into his arms and calling it off. God had dealt her a hand called 1919 and she had a moral obligation to play it. She grabbed the back of the aisle seat to keep from falling.

"Grace? What's wrong?"

Lucy's voice snapped Grace out of her daze and brought instant clarity. She was here to save one part of her family and return to another. She had to follow through.

"I'm sorry," she said to John. "I'm so sorry."

She grabbed the hand of her would-be mother.

"Come with me," she said.

Grace pulled Lucy and Lucy pulled Bill up the aisle and out the doors to the lobby. She led them a few steps farther, toward the restrooms, when Bill stopped and pulled Lucy back.

"I won't take another step until you tell me what this is all about," he said.

"I don't have time!" Grace snapped. "Now, come with me."

Grace again pulled Lucy who again pulled Bill and led them to the restrooms. The entrance to the room on the right still sported a Braille sign.

"Go in," she said to both. "Go into the ladies' room or I'll push you in."

"I'm not going in there," Bill said.

"Yes, you are, Dad, or I'll never speak to you again!"

Bill gave Lucy a puzzled glance.

"Did she just call me Dad?"

"She's probably not feeling well, Bill. Just do as she says."

Grace didn't wait for her parents to weigh the pros and cons. She put her hands on their backs and guided them toward the women's room. They eventually got the message and entered on their own. Grace began to follow them in when she heard a familiar voice in the lobby.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" John asked.

Grace threw her hands to her forehead, sighed, and walked out of the ladies' room. She met John in the nook between the two restrooms.

"What are you doing, Grace? Where did Bill and Lucy go?"

Grace shook her head as she fought off the tears and considered two impossible questions.

"I have to go, John. I'm sorry. But I have to go."

"Go where? Let me come with you."

The tears flowed even harder.

"You can't come. You
can't
. I'm sorry."

She stepped toward him and gave him a long, passionate kiss.

"I love you. I do. I really do. I'm sorry. Goodbye."

"Grace?"

The veteran time traveler released John's hands and turned toward the ladies' room. She glanced at the wall, saw the brown sign, and walked into the facility. She moved quickly past the sinks to the far wall but did not see what she had hoped to see. She did not see Lucille Green or William Vandenberg or even a diaper changing station. She did not see a hand dryer on the wall.

When Grace ran out of the restroom, she
did
see John Walker. She also saw dozens of others leave the auditorium and spill into the lobby. Something was not right.

Pushing panic away, she ran back into the ladies' room and called out for Bill and Lucy. She heard no reply. So she opened each stall but saw nothing but unoccupied toilets.

She looked again at the walls in the room but saw no changing station or hand dryer. Panic and nausea set in as she ran out the door. The lobby was filled with people in transition.
Stella Maris
had ended. When she saw John, she looked at him with terrified eyes.

"What is happening?" she asked. "What is happening?"

He stared at her with wide eyes but did not answer.

Grace ran to the unmanned information counter and then to the front doors. She saw people in 1919 attire. She did not see modern vehicles parked in front or two fast food restaurants across the street. She saw a world much as she had known it for five months.

She ran back across the lobby, looked at John, and then returned to the entrance of the ladies' room, where she saw the sum of all her fears in one wall. The Braille sign was gone. So were her parents and her last sliver of hope.

With nothing to do but face the people in the lobby, Grace did just that. She walked into the crowd and put her hands on her head. She screamed and fell to the floor.

CHAPTER 66: GRACE

Sunday, March 2, 1919

She heard the first of many expected sounds at noon. A car door slammed, then another, and then two more. She heard voices and questions and finally silence as four people she knew and loved entered the residence.

Grace awaited, but did not anticipate, another sound. She knew it would only be a matter of time before Alistair came to his den and knocked on the door. He would have questions, she knew, a lot of questions. She could only hope that she could offer satisfactory answers.

She pushed away the pen and paper, leaned back in a rigid chair, and put a hand to her stomach. If there was one good thing to come of Saturday night, it's that the trauma of losing her parents a second time had not caused her to lose a baby she wanted now more than ever. That would have been too much.

Grace had risen at five, after a sleepless night, and gone right to work dissecting the most horrible experience of her life. She had gone over what she had seen and done, considered possible answers to the central mystery, and finally settled on an answer and a course that made sense.

She hoped they made sense, anyway. She hoped the remedy worked, because she knew now that she'd never again have the chance to try something else.

Grace picked up her pen, wrote a few more lines on Alistair's stationery, and then folded a sheet in thirds. She slipped the letter in an envelope, sealed it, and placed it atop a mahogany desk next to a candlestick telephone she had used twice that morning. She was about to get up from the chair when she heard a knock on the door.

"Grace?"

"Come in, Uncle."

"What are you doing in here?"

"I'm waiting for you. Please pull up a seat. We have to talk."

Alistair grabbed a nearby chair, dragged it to the other side of his den, and placed it near the side of his desk. He sat in the chair, looked at Grace, and brought a hand to his chin.

"I just came from Lucy's room. I saw three full suitcases and a new dress spread out on her bed. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

Grace got out of her chair, turned it toward her uncle, and sat down. She took a breath and braced herself for a conversation she wanted to complete without dissolving into tears. She knew this was a time for clear talk and cold calculations, not weepy regrets and pleas for forgiveness.

"We went to the movies last night, all four of us, just as we had planned, and arrived at the Palladium during the showing of the first film. The first film, as you know, was supposed to be
Little Women
. What you don't know, and what I didn't know until eight fifteen, is that the theater showed
Stella Maris
instead. I believe I once explained the significance of that movie."

Alistair closed his eyes.

"Yes, you did."

"When I discovered that
Stella Maris
was playing and nearing its end, I panicked. I literally dragged Bill and Lucy to the ladies' room and pushed them through what I believe to be a portal to another time – my time. Or at least I hope I did. I have considered the possibility that I did not send them to the future at all but rather to a horrible death. I have wrestled all morning with the knowledge that I may have killed my parents a second time."

Alistair sighed.

"Why are you still here?" he asked.

"I hadn't planned to be. I had every intention of following Bill and Lucy into the restroom and into the future, but it didn't work out that way. John called me out at the last second. He understandably wanted to know what I was doing."

"Did you tell him?"

"No. Not in detail. I told him only that I had to go and that I had to leave him behind," Grace said. "It all happened so fast. I didn't have time to explain my actions. I had time only for a quick goodbye, and I was unable to manage even that very well."

"What happened?"

"When I finally entered the ladies' room, I found that it was not as I had expected. I did not find any modern amenities from 2002. I did not find Bill and Lucy. I instead found a restroom that was just a restroom, not a portal to another time. When I ran back into the lobby and saw that I was still in 1919 – and stuck in 1919 – I screamed and fainted. John took me home when I finally came to."

"Have you given him an explanation?"

Grace shook her head.

"No. I gave him a lie instead. When he asked where Bill and Lucy had gone, I told him that they had wanted to spend the night together and would take a taxi home. I didn't know what else to say. I was scared and confused and needed to buy some time."

"So what do you plan to do now?" Alistair asked.

"I plan to meet John this afternoon and tell him the truth. I called him this morning, shortly after I called a woman I met a few weeks ago. She figures into this as well. John and I are going to the matinee today. He will come for me at one."

"You're going back?"

"I'm going back.
Stella Maris
is playing at two, followed by
Virtuous Wives
. They are the last movies that will ever play at the Palladium Theater."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

Grace grabbed the envelope on the desk and handed it to Alistair.