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  It was a wonderful evening, especially when Carol called her baking an art. Megan thought of it as an art, but no one had ever said that to her before.

  The evening ended with the two of them sitting and staring at each other for the longest and most wonderful time.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  June 5th, 1901

  Boise, Idaho

  CAROL HAD BEEN so nervous when Megan came into the dining room, she almost couldn’t stand.

  Carol had buried Megan three times, yet here she was again, walking across the warm, sunlit dining room like an angel.

  There was no doubt it was the same Megan that Carol had fallen so completely in love with. And now seeing Megan like this again was like a dream.

  All Carol wanted to do was hug her.

  But she didn’t.

  This was going to be impossible, but to save Megan’s life, Carol had to try to give Megan time to trust her.

  But not take a lot of time.

  That would be a very fine balance.

  Thankfully, the dinner went well as it had in the last two timelines, and again they met the next morning for breakfast in Megan’s apartment.

  Carol touched Megan’s beautiful patchwork quilt when she came in, knowing that it was also in her condo on her own couch in 2019. She had spent a lot of time wrapped in it this last month, not wanting to think about being in a world without Megan.

  And now, she wasn’t yet again.

  The breakfast went almost identically as the first two times they had had breakfast together.

  And from that moment forward they spent every dinner together and every breakfast, until the moment when Megan asked Carol to scrub her back.

  And the romance turned physical from there, as it had the last time they had been together.

  It was now time once again to take Megan to the future, to try to save her life with a brand new heart.

  That evening at dinner, Carol asked Megan if she could get the following night off of work. She had a wonderful surprise to show her.

  Megan nodded and smiled. “I would love to start to see some of the many surprises you hold.”

  “You saw a few of those this morning,” Carol said, blushing.

  Megan also blushed. “That’s why I am interested in more.”

  Carol laughed.

  As before, it had taken Carol one month to gain Megan’s trust and love.

  And for Carol, it had been once again one of the best months of her life.

  Maybe the best.

  Because after losing Megan three times, getting to spend a wonderful month with her again couldn’t be anything more than the best.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  July 7, 2019

  Boise, Idaho

  MEGAN WAS VERY, very puzzled at the events of the last half hour and why Bonnie and Carol had taken her down into that tunnel under the Institute and then brought her back up here.

  The day had started off wonderfully, with an easy and enjoyable ride to the Institute. Then Carol had taken them down underground to a large cavern and Bonnie Kendal had been there.

  They had taken her even farther underground and then back up to the large cavern. None of it was making any sense to her, but Carol seemed to be smiling and as happy as Megan had seen her since they had met.

  It wasn’t until Megan really looked at the furniture in the large cavern room and the kitchen countertop and the things behind the counter that she started to get worried.

  “Everything changed here since we went downstairs,” Megan said.

  Both Bonnie and Carol nodded.

  “You are no longer in 1901,” Bonnie said.

  “That’s my secret,” Carol said, turning and staring into Megan’s eyes. “I am from the year 2019.”

  Megan laughed, but Carol’s expression didn’t change.

  After a moment, Megan said, slightly panicked, “You are serious, aren’t you?”

  Carol and Bonnie both nodded.

  “Come on,” Carol said, “Let me show you something.”

  “I’ll stay here and make us a light snack before dinner,” Bonnie said.

  Megan let Carol take her hand and direct her to the elevator they had come down. Now it was sleek and had a full door instead of a cage. As they approached, the door slid open silently.

  Carol stepped on and Megan reluctantly followed her.

  “Trust me,” Carol said, “this is a million times safer than that Otis in the hotel.”

  “Anything would be,” Megan said, moving on and holding onto both of Carol’s hands as the door closed.

  She could feel a slight sense of movement and then the door slid back open.

  A few moments later they were through the front room of the Institute and out onto the large porch.

  Megan was stunned at what she saw.

  In fact, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was seeing.

  “It’s early June 2019,” Carol said. “About twelve noon. Trees all now have their leaves and all those things going by are modern versions of the automobiles that were just getting started in 1901.”

  Megan just stood and stared, holding Carol’s hand as if it were a lifeline to a sane time and place. Where before it had just been the three Victorian mansions sitting on a slight hill overlooking the river, now the entire area was full of homes and buildings of all types.

  And the wagon road that had run past the mansion was now covered in some sort of pavement and strange-looking automobiles flashed past at impossible speeds.

  Finally, after almost a minute of Megan looking around, she turned to Carol. “You really are from this time?”

  “I am,” Carol said. “I am a medical doctor and an historian. I traveled back to 1901 to learn about strong women and their medical conditions for a book I am writing.”

  “So I am a test subject,” Megan said, feeling almost angry.

  “No,” Carol said, forcing Megan to look into her eyes. “You are the woman I fell in love with, the woman I want to spend lifetimes with. I had to get permission to share this with you.”

  Megan could see the worry and the love in Carol’s eyes. She was telling the truth.

  After a moment Megan nodded and kissed Carol who seemed to melt with relief in her arms.

  Then she said simply, “I have a lot to learn it seems.”

  “If we want we can stay here for a while,” Carol said. “But I would rather live in your time for now.”

  “We can go back?” Megan asked. She wasn’t sure why she thought she couldn’t go back, since Carol had gone back from here to meet her.

  “Of course we can,” Carol said. “We could spend months here and go back to within an hour of when we got off those horses to continue that wonderful day. And yet still remember the months here.”

  “Seriously?” Megan asked, actually starting to feel excited, even though what she was seeing around her scared her more than she wanted to admit.

  “Seriously,” Carol said. “Bonnie knows a lot more about all those sorts of things.”

  “So let’s go back and get a bite to eat,” Megan said, looking around at the amazing scene she never could have imagined. “And I’ll start learning about your world since you know so much about mine.”

  Megan took Carol’s hand and they went back inside. This all seemed impossible, yet Carol was very real and with her. So even the impossible might be all right as long as they were together.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  June 7th, 2019

  Boise, Idaho

  CAROL WAS STUNNED at how level Megan seemed to be in the face of such insanity, although Carol shouldn’t have been. How Megan was reacting this time was exactly how she had reacted last time. Almost down to the very same questions.

  Megan was clearly an amazing woman, of that there was no doubt, in any timeline.

  Carol and Megan and Bonnie all sat at the counter eating a light sandwich and salad.

  So after some talk about living in the past and how little time was spent
when a person went back into the past, Carol finally got around to telling Megan the problem.

  “There is another reason we brought you here,” Carol said. “It’s your heart.”

  Megan smiled at Carol and nodded. “I had a hunch that was what this was all about.”

  Carol was stunned. Megan had said that the last time and Carol had tried to be more careful about talking about Megan’s health this time around.

  Megan smiled and reached over and squeezed Carol’s hand. “Not a day goes by that you don’t ask me a few times how I am feeling.”

  Bonnie laughed and Carol just shook her head. “I was trying to be careful and not do that too much.”

  “I didn’t mind at all,” Megan said. “You say you are a medical doctor from this time. So what is wrong with my heart?”

  “Exactly what you have been told,” Carol said, turning to face Megan directly. “You were basically born with a bad heart that will suddenly stop working. It is the cause of your feeling faint and the dizzy spells.”

  “Since you are from the future here, do you know when it finally gives up?”

  “Every timeline is different,” Bonnie said.

  Carol took a deep breath and looked at Bonnie, who just nodded.

  “I need to tell you a story, my love,” Carol said. “And I promise every bit of it is true.”

  “This sounds very serious,” Megan said, smiling.

  “It is,” Carol said, leaning forward and kissing Megan lightly. “And I have no idea how I would react if someone told me this story. Just remember I love you.”

  Megan nodded.

  Carol took a deep breath and told the story of how she and Megan met the first time on the sidewalk. And what happened.

  “Oh, I am so sorry,” Megan said, squeezing Carol’s hand.

  “You had that fatal heart attack in May of 1902, so we assumed we had time,” Carol said. “I went back six months earlier and we met on a cold early November day in the restaurant, similar to how we met this time.”

  “Oh, no,” Megan said softly.

  Carol nodded. “Meeting you and falling in love with you was wonderful, as it was this time.”

  “We have done all of the last month before?” Megan asked.

  “I have,” Carol said. “We had a wonderful couple of weeks of falling in love and then toward the end of the month, you had a heart attack that killed you, that time in your apartment.”

  “So you came back earlier,” Megan said. “And now I am here and still alive.”

  “I did,” Carol said. “But once again it didn’t work out. That time you died in a hospital here before we could save you.”

  “I have died on you three times?” Megan said, her eyes round.

  “You have, my love,” Carol said.

  “I am so, so sorry,” Megan said. “How can you still want to be with me?”

  “I want us to fix your heart this time,” Carol said. “So that you and I can be together for a very long time.”

  Megan nodded, sitting there staring at Carol’s hands in hers.

  Carol let her just sit there. This was the turning point.

  Finally, Megan looked up into Carol’s eyes. “I hate that I put you through so much to get here.”

  Carol smiled at the wonderful woman sitting next to her. “Trust me, just the last month with you was worth it.”

  At that point, Director Parks came in and Carol introduced him to Megan and told her what he did.

  “Are you ready to go?” Parks asked after a moment.

  “Where are we going to next?” Megan asked.

  “Another hundred years into the future,” Carol said. “You have a new heart there waiting for you.”

  Megan just stared at Carol, then looked at Bonnie and Director Parks.

  “You are all very serious,” Megan said.

  “We are trying to save your life,” Carol said. “Just trust me a little bit more.”

  Megan finally nodded.

  “I’ll be waiting here for you three when you get back,” Bonnie said.

  Carol took Megan’s hand and they followed Director Parks across the main living room cavern and into a tunnel.

  “This is frightening,” Megan said.

  “For me as well,” Carol said. “But we’re together. That’s all that matters.”

  And for Carol at this point, that was all that mattered.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  June 7th, 2119

  Boise, Idaho

  TO MEGAN IT didn’t feel any different moving forward a hundred years than it had moving to 2019 from 1901. She just held onto Carol as if they were in bed together and a moment later, without movement or anything, they seemed to be there.

  Megan had always known she had a bad heart. She had been told that when she was eleven. And she had always known she could die at any moment. And when a person knew that sort of information, the only thing that person could do was just live normally and that’s what Megan had been trying to do.

  Until she fell in love with the beautiful Carol.

  And then learned that death had visited three times in front of Carol.

  Megan didn’t want that again and was willing to follow Carol anywhere to keep that from happening once again to the woman she loved.

  They moved from the caverns up and into where the horse stable used to be, but now held very fancy and strangely shaped automobiles that made no sounds when started.

  Director Parks had let her and Carol sit in the back and he had taken the front seat. Then he had just stated a location and the car moved on its own.

  “When we arrive at the hospital,” Director Parks said, “I have modern identification for you. You are still Megan Taber, but the two of you are married.”

  “We can do that here?” Megan asked, looking at Carol.

  Carol smiled. “We can do that in my time as well.”

  “This is really a place of wonder,” Megan said, watching the sights go by outside and being amazed that Director Parks was not doing anything to control the automobile in any fashion. But yet somehow all of the machines missed each other.

  “You can say nothing at all about being from the past,” Director Parks said. “That is very, very important.”

  Megan nodded. “I understand. So what is going to happen to me?”

  “A new, healthy heart has been grown for you here,” Carol said, “and it will replace out your old heart.”

  “They can do that?”

  Carol nodded and squeezed Megan’s hand. “And from what I understand, it won’t even leave much of a scar.”

  Megan could feel herself getting more and more tense.

  “This is all very strange,” Megan said.

  “It will all be over soon,” Carol said, “and then we can go forward with our lives together, either back in your time or in my time or both.”

  The car stopped in front of a gleaming, tall building that seemed to stretch up into the blue sky. From there, for Megan, everything went quickly.

  They had her on what looked like a stretcher but was very comfortable and then Carol said she would be here when Megan woke up.

  She kissed Megan firmly and then smiled. “Be nice to the handsome doctors.”

  “Only if they look as good as you look,” Megan said, smiling.

  A moment later there was a faint tap on Megan’s shoulder from the cart and she relaxed and drifted off into a beautiful sleep, staring at Carol’s wonderful face.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  June 7th, 2119

  Boise, Idaho

  TO CAROL, THE next hour was like a torture, with time moving so slowly it seemed to almost stop.

  Director Parks had gone back to the Institute to get some work done and said he would return when Megan came out of surgery. Carol had decided to stay. Even though the medicine of this time was far beyond what she knew, she felt she needed to be here anyway.

  Carol waited in the room where Megan would be brought after surgery. It felt modern and
comfortable, not like hospital rooms of a hundred years before, but more like a nice bedroom instead. Any equipment that was in here was well hidden.

  Carol knew there was a problem when the surgeon appeared at one hour and thirty minutes into what had been scheduled to be a two-hour surgery. From what Carol had read about this surgery in this time, everything took exactly a set amount of time.

  Carol stood.

  The doctor had that look that Carol knew all doctors had when delivering bad news. She had used that look numbers of times herself. It was a look of attempted calm radiating extreme sadness and a little anger at failing.

  “It didn’t go well, did it?” Carol asked.

  She could feel herself shutting down, going cold and numb.

  The doctor shook his head. “Far too much damage to everything around the heart. We did our best to patch, but there was no possibility of holding pressure. We never got her new heart started. I am so sorry.”

  Carol nodded and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

  Her world was just sort of drifting off into a distance.

  “Again, I am so sorry.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Carol said. “You did your best. Megan and I both knew this was a risk going in, since she had so little time without the surgery.”

  The doctor nodded and turned as Director Parks showed up.

  “What happened?” the Director asked, his voice a whisper as he watched the surgeon leave.

  “There was too much damage around the heart for them to fix,” Carol said softly.

  “Oh, no,” the director said, dropping into another chair.

  The two of them sat there silently with the empty bed.

  There wasn’t a thing either of them could say.

  PART FIVE

  No More Chances

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  June 7th, 2119

  Boise, Idaho

  CAROL AND DIRECTOR PARKS made arrangements with the hospital to take care of Megan’s body. As they were doing that, standing at what seemed to be a front desk of the hospital, Carol finally seemed to come out of her daze.