WEDNESDAY

The first thing Wednesday morning, Sarah stuck her head into Adam's office. "Good morning, Mr. Von Stein."

"Sally! Welcome back! I hope that you're feeling better."

"Much better, thanks. May I close the door? I have something sorta private to talk to you about."

Adam, concerned, said, "Of course."

Sarah closed the door and came in, perching on the edge of one of his guest chairs. "I'm not sure where to begin, so I guess I'll just . . . jump right in. I understand that I'm your aunt."

"Really? You're related to Julia?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm Sarah Collins. Barnabas' sister."

"But how is that possible? You're too young . . ."

Sarah laughed. "I thought the same thing about you, too. Well, that you're either too old to be Barnabas' son, or too young. You can take your pick. But Barnabas and I had a nice long phone conversation last night, and he told me the story. The *whole* story," she added with a meaningful look.

"Well, I'll be . . . . So, how did it happen that you came to be in 1998? And didn't I once hear someone say that you were a ghost?"

"Well, I'm not sure about the ghost part. I mean, I remember everything that people say that my 'ghost' did, but for me, I could've sworn that it was just a dream."

"Really?"

She nodded, then continued, "As for how I got to 1998, well, I was told that Barnabas had gone to England, yet the night before my eleventh birthday, which was in 1797, in case you're curious, I saw him out my bedroom window. I sneaked outside and followed him back to the Eagle Hill Cemetery, where I saw . . ."

She shuddered, "Well, let's not get into what I saw. At any rate, it was unseasonably warm, and it started raining, and I got very, very ill from being out in just my nightclothes. Later I found out that it was pneumonia. My sister-in-law, Angelique, she was Barnabas' first and, I guess, second, wife, came to me and told me that she was going to take me to Barnabas.

"At first, I thought she was going to take me to England, and then I thought she was going to take me to heaven, but instead, she took me to a hospital in 1986, where they cured me. She left and promised to come back for me, but she never returned. So, they kept me in the hospital for a while, then put me into the foster care system for a year, and then the Bradfords came along and adopted me."

"But why didn't you tell them that you were Barnabas' sister? They could have found him and you could have been reunited right then."

"I couldn't remember who I was. I think that Angelique had something to do with it, because the very last thing she said to me was that I'd remember who I was when I got home."

"But you didn't, did you? You've been here for months now, and you only just remembered recently."

"I've been thinking about that, and I think I've figured it out. You see, I've been living at Collinwood, which was only just barely finished when I got sick. 'Home' to me was the Old House. I think that if I'd gone to the Old House, I would have remembered when I first got there. . ."

"But since the Old House was destroyed years ago, you didn't. So what made you remember?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "I went to the mausoleum, and I think it was seeing my parents' and . . . my graves that did it.

"Of course, I *am* still stumped about how I could see things that happened at times when I wasn't."

"When you weren't what?"

"I just – wasn't. I *was* from 1786 to 1797, and I *have been* from 1986 to today, but in . . . 1960-whatever, I *wasn't.* I mean, how could I have been there and interacted with the people then?"

She wasn't really expecting a response, so she was stunned when Adam said, "I think I may have an idea. Come with me."

He opened the door at the back of his office and led Sarah into a small storage room. "I put all of my things back here until I could find a house to rent – or to buy."

"You still haven't found a house?"

"With everything else that I have going, I just haven't bothered, honestly. Let's see . . ." Adam moved a few boxes around, finally opening one of them up. "Here we go! Take these two books home and read them. Let me know if they help you make sense out of your situation."

Sarah looked down at the covers. "{Theory and Practice of Astral Projection} and . . . {The Journal of Quentin Collins, 1823 to 1842}?" She looked at him quizzically.

"You're wondering about the journal. I can tell." He smiled at his newfound aunt. "He's an ancestor of the present-day Collinses – David, Carolyn, Beth . . . . And he had a rather interesting theory of time travel that he spells out in that journal. I think that it's somewhere between 1830 and 1838. It's certainly no later than 1840."

Sarah went to leave, "Thanks for the books. I'm sure that once I've finished reading them, I'll have lots of questions for you."

"Oh, and Sarah?"

"Yes?"

"Are you going out of town for Christmas?"

"Yes."

"When are you leaving?"

She began to wonder if Adam was planning to ask her to work late or something. "Why are you asking?"

"Because my daughter, Azura, is living in town now, and her employer is having a big dinner for her and me on next Tuesday, and I thought that it would be a good opportunity for us to spend some time together, since we're family."

Sarah smiled at her nephew. "My flight out is Wednesday morning, so I'd be delighted to have dinner with you next Tuesday, Mr. Von Stein."

"All right. I'll call you up at Collinwood and give you the exact time once I have it. Oh, and since you're my aunt, please call me Adam."

TUESDAY

Carrying a bottle of red wine in her hand, Sarah knocked on the door of the lighthouse keeper's quarters.

A young brunette answered the door. "Hi! You must be my aunt Sarah! I'm Azura!" Azura stepped aside to admit Sarah into the house.

"Let me take that from you," Azura indicated the bottle that Sarah was carrying. When she took it, she looked at the label. "Oh, good! Margaret was saying that we needed a good Chianti in our wine cellar!"

"Margaret?"

"Oh, she's the chef. She lives up the road, but Mr. Chance, he's my employer, has hired her to cook for us while she writes a book."

"Is it really true that no one ever sees Colin Chance?"

Azura nodded. "Well, other than Zoe, that is."

Just then, the eight year old in question came down the stairs. "Hi, Miss Bradford!"

"It's good to see you again, Zoe!" When she noticed Azura looking at her curiously, Sarah explained, "her previous governess, Lana Thorne, was an old college friend. She introduced us."

The trio walked into the living room, where Adam was already waiting. "I'm really glad you could make it, Sarah."

"Thank you for inviting me, Adam. I know that we have to keep businesslike most of the year, but can we be huggy on this occasion?"

When Adam nodded his assent, she walked over and gave him a hug. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Sarah."

Azura then held her arms out to hug Sarah. "Welcome to the family."

"The same to you. I understand that you've only just found out that you're a Collins, yourself."

Azura nodded and rolled her eyes. "Yep."

"Well, anytime you want a tour of the old family estate, just ask. I'll be happy to show you all of the highlights, like Widows' Hill, and the place where the Old House used to stand . . ."

Margaret came in. "Dinner's ready."

The newfound family shared a companionable meal, Adam and Azura talking about their plans to return home to Seattle for the holiday, and Sarah regaling them with the tale of how she was taking not only Barnabas, Julia, Ben and Tori to meet her family, but David as well.

* * * * *

When Sarah returned to Collinwood, a taxi was waiting outside the house. She literally ran into Javier, who was on his way out the door, suitcases in hand.

Once they recovered from the collision, he put down the suitcases and said, "I'm off to the railroad station. I'll see you on Sunday."

The two housemates shared a friendly hug, and Sarah said, "See you then."

Javier climbed into the cab and they drove off.

* * * * *

After she helped Margaret clean up from dinner, Azura retired to her bedroom. There, on her nightstand, she found a paperback copy of Diana Gabaldon's book {Outlander,} with a note in a bold block-style printing fastened to the front with a paperclip.

{Azura,} it began, {I just finished this, and you were right. It is an excellent book. I know that you didn't bring much with you, and so, on the chance that your copy of this is something that you don't have with you, I would like you to have this. CC}

Azura sat on her bed for a long time, staring at the note, feeling that this might have been the nicest Christmas present she had received in a long time.

{I've got to come up with something nice to do for him,} she thought as she took the note off of the front and gave herself up to the world that Diana Gabaldon created.

Rosario paid the parking lot attendant and pulled out of the airport property onto 281 South.

"Do you mind if I turn on the radio?" Javier asked.

"Go right ahead," his sister replied.

The radio was set to 94.1 FM. :: Yo tenía una esperanza en el fondo de mi alma Que un día te quedaras tú conmigo,:: sang Selena, but Javier soon put a stop to that when he hit the scan button.

96.1 followed, :: I will Do such things to ease your pain Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed.:: He punched the scan button again.

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:: When I first saw you, I saw love. And the first time you touched me, I felt love. And after all this time, you're still the one I love.::

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::Porque esto sí fue amor, Por mi parte, lo más lindo, el más grande amor::

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::I'm Burnin', Burnin', I got the fever I know for sure, there ain't no cure::

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::Countinuous Country Favorites - Y100::

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:: I must follow him, ever since he touched my hand I knew That near him I always must be And nothing can keep him from me He is my destiny::

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:: And I miss you - like the deserts miss the rain::

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:: I was wrong And I find Just one thing makes me forget::

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:: I just need your body baby From dusk till dawn::

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::Won't you give me forever to show All of the love I have here for you. And give me my reason for living To love you, I love you, I do.::

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::Necesito todo todo tu cariño, Ven y calma este dolor que llevo dentro::

He punched the number 1 button on her radio, taking it back to 94.1 :: Me siento tan perdido sin ti No se como sobrevivir.::

Sighing, he began another circuit of the FM dial.

"Pick a radio station and stick with it, or I'll pick one for you, and you won't like it!" Rosario snapped, never taking her eyes off of the road.

"All right . . ." he sighed, putting the radio on 99.5 and leaving it there.

WEDNESDAY

Just before sunrise, Sarah headed out to Eagle Hill. She didn't bring anything to decorate the grave that she was visiting, as there was nothing she could bring that wouldn't elicit questions from her housemate and her boyfriend. She hadn't visited this grave since he had been placed under the soil of Eagle Hill two centuries ago.

At length, she reached the cemetery. It was a cold morning, so she was grateful that the evergreens surrounding the graveyard shielded it somewhat from the piercing wind. There it was, a significant distance from the family crypt. And there, standing, staring at the headstone, was . . . "Barnabas," she whispered.

She approached him timidly, placing her hand on his elbow as she reached him.

He started, then turned to face his sister.

"It was 202 years ago today," he whispered. She could hear the pain in his voice.

She nodded wordlessly, wishing she could find the words to tell him how she empathized with him.

"Does Julia know why you're here?"

He smiled bitterly. "No. I've always honored the vow we made to Father.

"I didn't mean to do it, Sarah. I fully expected him to kill me. He was always the superior marksman."

"I know."

Then they were silent for a while, looking at the carving on the headstone:

{Jeremiah Collins Born 1765 Died 1796}

"Barnabas?"

"Yes?"

"I know that I was awfully young at the time, but I seem to recall that they changed the spelling of his first name on his headstone."

"They did. Before Father ordered us to stop talking about him, it was spelled correctly."

"Then Father decided to pretend that he and Uncle Jeremiah were the same person, and they changed the spelling?"

He nodded, wordlessly.

"We didn't celebrate that Christmas," she said.

"Father never celebrated Christmas again. He raised Daniel to not celebrate Christmas, and he passed it on to his children, and they to theirs. I can't even recall when we resumed celebrating it. No, that's a lie. I can. It was the first Christmas after Roger, David's son, was born. Hallie insisted that she wasn't going to raise her children without Christmas, and now, 15 years later, it's like we never stopped."

"Well, I'm certainly glad that you started again. You'll just love the Bradfords." They continued standing there in silence. Then she roke the silence, to say, "Do you ever think that we should tell the truth about Jerimiah?"

Barnabas smiled when he heard the {i} in the name. "All the time. But Father made us promise . . ."

"To Hell with what Father wanted!" Sarah burst out. "What did he ever do for us?"

"Sarah!" her brother was aghast.

"At least, could we consider letting someone find out the truth? Then we can *finally* claim Jerimiah for what he was. Our brother."

* * * * *

"You've been awfully quiet," David said as they turned onto the campus of Logan University.

Unable to tell him the full story without violating a family confidence, she prevaricated. "I know. It's just nerves, I guess. I mean, my parents are going to meet my boyfriend and my biological brother on the same day."

David nodded, understanding.

They passed the statue of the town's, and college's, founder, Theodore Logan, with his most famous quotation carved beneath it in block letters: {ESSERE ECCELLENTE L'UN L'ALTRO}

"The place hasn't changed." David said.

"Really?"

David nodded. "I did my undergrad work here, you know."

"Then I guess you can keep up the conversation with Brad on the way to the airport and just let me sort of space out over here," she said with a smile.

They pulled up in front of Brad's residence hall and Sarah walked into the lobby, where her brother was waiting with his suitcases. The siblings exchanged hugs and he picked up his suitcases.

Sarah walked Brad back to David's car and introduced the two men. "David, this is my brother, Brad. Brad, this is David Collins."

The two men nodded at each other, and then Brad climbed into the back seat. David put the car into gear and they headed off to Bangor.

* * * * *

After parking the car and checking their baggage, David, Sarah and Brad met Barnabas and his family at the gate.

"Brad, this is my brother, Barnabas, and his wife, Julia, and these must be Ben and Tori," Sarah indicated her niece and nephew.

Overwhelmed by all of the new faces, Brad simply nodded in their direction.

"At this rate, we're going to have to charter our own plane to get anywhere in a group," David said with a smile. "Especially if I bring my brood with me."

"Barnabas! Sarah!" Sarah spun around to find Adam and Azura walking towards them. "We were just on our way to the gate for our flight to Seattle, and we saw you standing here, so we thought we'd come by and wish you all a Merry Christmas."

Adam and Sarah shared a hug, then Adam moved on to hug Julia. He shook hands with Barnabas. Things might be forgiven between them, but they weren't so far beyond it that they could hug, especially not in public.

"And this is?" Adam indicated Brad.

"One of my two *other* brothers, Peter Bradford, but there are so many of those in our family that we just call him Brad," Sarah said. "And you remember David, don't you?"

"Ah, yes. Hello, David."

"It's good to see you again, Adam."

Barnabas then took over the introductions. "And these are your brother and sister, Adam. Ben and Tori."

"Tori? Are you named for -- ?"

"Yes, Adam. She's named after Victoria Winters."

Adam shook hands with his newfound brother and hugged his sister. Then Sarah made her move. "Adam? Can I talk to you about something?"

Adam allowed Sarah to take him aside. "I've been reading the books you loaned me, and I think I understand what you were getting at. You think that my {ghost} was me astrally projecting myself, and that I stumbled across the passage through time that Quentin Collins theorized about."

He smiled. "Exactly. I didn't think that I could explain it as well as it was necessary, so I let you read it in Quentin Collins' own words."

"That's not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about," she continued. "You're family, and so you're the only one that I can talk to. I guess I could talk to Ben and Tori, but I don't really know them. You're the first person I met in Collinsport, so I guess I feel close enough to talk to you about this."

Adam nodded, indicating for her to continue.

"Barnabas and I weren't our parents' only children. Barnabas had a twin brother, Jerimiah."

"Is this the Jerimiah who married Josette?" he asked.

Sarah nodded. "Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, the story has always been that Jerimiah was our uncle."

"Why?"

"Our father was very upset with Jerimiah running off with Barnabas' fiancee, and so he effectively disowned him. Then when he was killed," Sarah couldn't bring herself to say how he had died, "Father had to give him a decent burial, but instead of burying him under his correct name, he buried him as if he were Father's brother, Jeremiah, who was buried in Portland, and he forbade us to speak of our brother again."

"OK. So your father had a brother named Jeremiah and you and Barnabas also had a brother named Jeremiah."

"Sort of. They were spelled differently, though. Our brother's name was "J-e-r-*i*-m-i-a-h."

"So what do you need my advice for?"

"Well, hiding the truth about Jerimiah is really wearing on Barnabas, and since Father forbade us to speak about him, I was wondering if you could think of a way that someone could sort of discover the information by accident."