"The Shawl"

Carolyn turned and looked at the Captain as he placed the shawl

about her shoulders again. He had just said it really belonged to

her, and that though the past was a pleasant place to visit, he much

preferred the present. A shiver ran through her slender frame, and

she pulled the shawl around her more closely. Strange, the first and

last time she had tried on this shawl, she had had the same shivery

feelings, almost making her dizzy. THEN she had assumed it was

because as soon as she had tried it on and was told she wore a shawl

with a flair, the Captain had asked her to give it to Vanessa. She

had slipped it off again at that time, battling the jealous rage that

rose from nowhere deep inside her. The feeling had receded. But now

that she was wrapped in it again, eyes caught in the mesmerizing blue

of the Captain's, she felt it back, and stronger than ever. She

almost swayed under the intensity of it.

The Captain smiled slowly, then disappeared. Carolyn's fingers

clenched on the shawl, and she closed her eyes for a moment against

the lightheadedness she was experiencing. When she opened them again,

she gradually became aware that something was different in the house.

The whole FEEL was different. She looked around carefully, not moving

from her place by the fire. Well, that was ONE thing different.

There was a fire burning in the hearth. Presumably to take the chill

off the room. Carolyn shivered again, and pulled the shawl tighter

still. The furniture looked different ... the lamps were missing ...

Her wondering eyes moved from one thing to another.

"Carolyn? Where are you, my dear?" she heard a deep, familiar

voice from the hallway, and an instant later, the Captain came to the

door of the room. His face broke into a smile. "Ah, here you are!

I'm just off to the harbor for a while, to make sure all is ready for

our voyage tomorrow."

Carolyn said nothing, frozen in shock. The Captain LOOKED

different ... more solid.

He came up close, and his fingers touched her cheek. Her eyes

widened in shock. Mistaking the look for a reaction to his cold

fingers, he smiled and dropped a kiss on her parted lips. "Sorry, my

darling. I shouldn't be upsetting my lovely wife at this time, should

I? Or my son!" and his hand moved gently over her slightly swelling

stomach.

Carolyn knew instantly she was pregnant, even before the baby

kicked against the pressure of the Captain's hand. She drew in a

sharp, disbelieving breath, and the Captain chuckled.

"Feisty thing, isn't he? Or a girl of spunk like her mother! Take

care, my darling ... I'll be back in an hour or two." He gave her

another quick kiss, then was out the door, striding determinedly down

the walk.

Forcing herself to move, Carolyn went over to the windowseat and

looked out the window, watching him go down the road out of sight.

WHAT was happening? What was going on? She looked down at herself,

at her long, full dress of a green wool that smoothed over ... a

baby. The Captain's baby. She swallowed, and her hand came up as the

baby moved again inside her. In her preoccupation, the shawl slid

gently off her shoulders to the floor. Again a wave of vertigo passed

over her, and Carolyn closed her eyes, reaching out blindly to steady

herself with the wall.

When she opened her eyes, it was to see the familiar living room of

Gull Cottage -- with Candy's book on the windowseat. Carolyn looked

down at herself, at her hand on her flat abdomen, no longer dressed in

a floor-length dress, but in her own clothes. "What WAS it?" she

whispered to herself, bewildered.

"Madam?" the Captain was suddenly at her side. She jumped. "Is

anything the matter? You appear ... distressed."

"I ... I ... must have been dreaming ..." Carolyn stammered. She

saw the shawl at her feet, and picked it up, folding it carefully.

Was it something to do with the shawl? THAT seemed rather far-

fetched, but then, not so long ago, she hadn't believed in ghosts,

either, as the Captain had reminded her just three days before. An

over-active imagination? More plausible. But the sensations -- she

HAD been pregnant, HAD felt the baby moving within her, HAD felt the

touch of the Captain's lips on hers, the gentle tickle of his beard

and mustache against her soft skin.

"Mrs. Muir!" Martha's voice came from the entry, and the Captain

disappeared as the housekeeper bustled in. "So Vanessa has left, has

she? She's not going to buy the house?"

"No." Carolyn tried to gather her scattered thoughts. She seemed

to have traveled so far in so few minutes! Vanessa seemed so long

ago.

"Did I hear something about a letter?" Martha pressed.

Nodding, Carolyn said, "She found another letter from the Captain

to her great-great-grandmother, breaking off the engagement."

"Why would the letter be here? Wouldn't the grandmother have

gotten it?"

Carolyn shrugged, and grinned suddenly, "I don't know, and to be

perfectly honest, I don't really care WHY she went. It's nice to be

back to just ourselves here."

"I see she left the shawl you found in the attic, too." Martha

looked at the shawl in Carolyn's arms.

"Yes." Carolyn's hands tightened on the shawl.

"Well, it'll be good for those cold nights when you insist on

working up in your room with the windows open!" Martha said, firmly,

and bustled out again.

Ah yes, it would be warm, but did she dare wear it? Carolyn

smoothed the shawl again, thoughts distant. Would she find herself

back in time again in Gull Cottage? Married to the Captain? Pregnant

with his child? Could she bear it if she did? Worse, could she bear

it if she DIDN'T?