The Other Side Of The Painting

by Amelia Rey

  “Yes, I’m sorry,” said Katherine. “I’m just very excited to see you both again and to be able to tell you that I love you and that you are both like the brother and sister I never had.” In tears, Katherine hugged them both.

  Sarah and Nathaniel looked at each other in shock. They did not understand what she meant when she said she was happy to see them again because ever since Katherine’s father passed away two years ago, she and her mother Annabelle had been living in their house.

  “You sound like you have not seen us in years, Katherine,” said Sarah.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just very nervous,” said Katherine.

  “That’s understandable,” said Sarah. “All brides get nervous on their wedding day.”Sarah suddenly noticed the beautiful white lace hat that Katherine was wearing. “That’s my grandmother’s hat you’re wearing,” she said. “That’s strange. I don’t remember seeing you wearing it until this moment.”

  Nathaniel looked at the purse Katherine held on her hand. “That is a very unusual lady’s bag!”

  Katherine anxiously said to them, “If I tell you where and how I got the hat and the bag, you will never believe me. All I can tell you now is that your invention worked!” As she was about to give them more information on the matter, she was interrupted by a sweet, familiar, masculine voice.

  “Katherine!” She turned around and saw Cornelius standing right in front of her. They rushed into each other’s arms and profoundly embraced and cried on each other’s shoulders.

  Cornelius walked up to Nathaniel, embraced him, and whispered softly into his ear, “You are my father’s older son, and I’m honored to have you as my brother.”

  Nathaniel was astounded by Cornelius’s revelation because other than himself, the only other person that knew the truth was Elmirah, and he knew that she would do whatever it took to keep it hidden from Cornelius.

  Nathaniel hadn’t even brought himself to tell his wife this secret, which was revealed to him only a few days before his natural father passed away. “Cornelius, how long have you known the truth?” he asked.

  “Let’s just say I learned the truth one hundred and fifty-two years from today.”

  Nathaniel was confused by Cornelius’s words. “You and Katherine are acting very strange,” he said.

  “We will explain everything to you once all the wedding guests leave, or rather, why don’t you and Sarah meet us here at first daylight tomorrow?”

  “Cornelius, we need to have that conversation with them now,” said Katherine. “If we wait until tomorrow, our future might be seriously jeopardized.”

  “What are you referring to, Katherine?” asked Sarah.

  But Nathaniel was beginning to understand what was going on. “Oh, dear God!” he said, nervously pacing back and forth.

  Nathaniel grabbed Cornelius by the shoulders. “Tell us what’s going on right this instant!”

  “All right!” said Cornelius. “I know that you are an alchemist and that you are afraid to let anyone, especially your congregation, know that you believe that traveling through time is possible. We are here to tell you about your stunning achievements.”

  “How could you possibly know about that? The only person whom I have shared my findings with is my wife.” He apprehensively turned to look at his wife.

  “Oh, my dear! Are you doubting my loyalty?”

  “No, of course not, my dear,” said Nathaniel.

  “I told him,” said Katherine. “One year from now, Nathaniel will confide in me, and I too will be a part of it.”

  “The time machine that I’m working on—I can’t seem to make it work,” said Nathaniel.

  “Believe me, it will work!” exclaimed Cornelius. “Katherine and I have traveled over one hundred years into the future using your device. We met your great-granddaughter Ruth Miller, and she helped us travel back to our time.”

  “I don’t know what to believe,” said Nathaniel.“Maybe you and Katherine just had a little too much wine.”

  “I believe them, dear,” said Sarah. “How else would you explain them having so much knowledge of your traveling device?”

  Katherine suddenly remembered that she had the diary in her bag. She got it out and handed it to Nathaniel.

  “We had the feeling that you might have doubts,” she said.

  Nathaniel recognized his diary immediately. “That is my journal,” he said.

  “Yes, that is your journal,” said Cornelius. “You wrote in there about your whole life and specified every detail of your discoveries.”

  Nathaniel was amazed by his handwriting and anxious to know more about his invention. He flipped through the pages nervously. When he read the part about his wife’s death, he was saddened.

  “What is it, dear?” Sarah asked her husband.

  “It’s nothing,” said Nathaniel. “I’m just a little overwhelmed by all this information.”

  But Sarah did not accept his explanation. She grabbed the diary from his hands, and as she did, a photograph, which was inside, fell to the floor. Sarah picked it up and was startled at the strong resemblance that the gentleman in the photograph had to Nathaniel.

  “Oh, dear, you really need to take a look at this,” she said. She handed the photograph to him.

  Nathaniel was also astounded when he saw the photograph. “Who is this gentleman who resembles me so strongly?”

  “I had no idea there was a photograph in there,” said Cornelius. He looked at it and said, “That gentleman is your grandson, Timothy Miller, and the young lady is his daughter, Ruth. When we met Ruth, she had already aged, but I still recognize her.” Cornelius then noticed that the photograph had a dedication. “You need to read the dedication,” he said as he handed the photograph back to Nathaniel.

  Nathaniel read the dedication aloud, “To my great-grandfather and grandmother, Nathaniel and Sarah Miller. Reading about your life and getting to know you both through your journal has been a wonderful experience. I feel very honored to be your descendant. As your descendant, I want to beg you to please destroy your invention. Innocent people will suffer because of it. Love, Ruth Miller, your great-granddaughter!”

  Nathaniel and Sarah were in shock. They stared at the photograph, and they were deeply moved by Ruth’s written plea; her words of wisdom truly touched their hearts.

  Cornelius broke the silence. “Nathaniel, we have to destroy this time machine.”He reached into his pocket and held the device in his hands.

  Nathaniel walked up to Cornelius and grabbed the device from his hands.

  “Be careful!” Katherine and Cornelius simultaneously shouted.

  Nathaniel was startled by their reaction and stood still.

  “You might trigger the starter on the device,” said Cornelius.

  “This is incredible,” said Nathaniel. “What right now is just a theory in my mind has already proven to be a fact in the future, and I’m seeing the fruit of my future invention before I actually invented it! How strange is that?”

  Sarah had always been very supportive of her husband, but this time, she teamed up with Cornelius and Katherine and tried to talk some sense into him. “Darling, we need to consider their suggestions to destroy the device and everything pertaining to it. Who better than them, who have seen and lived the damage caused by it, to know with certainty the danger of this unnatural object?”

  “Destroying the device is not an option!” Nathaniel firmly said.“Think of how much humanity can benefit from my invention.”

  “You fail to see the magnitude of your invention,” said Katherine. “This device can be used to destroy humanity in the wrong hands. It is our responsibility to prevent that from happening.”

  “I understand your concerns,” said Nathaniel. “But you both need to analyze things through my perspective. You and Katherine have unraveled the mystery of time traveling thanks to my invention; unlike me, you probably never even dreamed about it, and the thought of traveling through time never crossed your mind until you stumbl
ed upon my invention.

  “I have spent most of my life searching even for the slightest possibility that would allow me to break the barrier of time. Traveling through time has been my lifelong dream. Now that the time has come for me to fulfill that dream, I’m not going to let the opportunity pass me by.

  “I’m not planning on traveling through time to make any changes to any event. I just want to see what the future looks like one hundred years from now.”

  “We can tell you that,” said Cornelius.

  “That would not be the same,” Nathaniel answered. “I want to have the satisfaction of experiencing it myself.”

  “All right, Nathaniel,” said Cornelius. “I know that nothing we say would change your mind, but from this day forward, my wife and I want nothing to do with your invention. I want you and Sarah to give us your word that no matter what happens, we will never talk about this matter ever again.”

  Nathaniel grabbed the Bible from the desk, and he and Sarah swore on the Bible never to talk to Cornelius or Katherine about his invention or anything to do with time traveling ever again.

  Chapter 15

  A year had passed since that promise was made. Katherine and Cornelius anxiously awaited the birth of their first child. Cornelius settled the problem with his mother about Nathaniel’s right to inherit half of their father’s fortune, and he also convinced his mother to accept the marriage proposal from Dr. Richard Zenger, an honorable man whom Cornelius admired and respected like a father. Katherine’s mother was also persuaded by Nathaniel and Sarah to finally accept the marriage proposal from Henry, Cornelius’s uncle. Henry’s wife, Mary, passed away of consumption fifteen years before, and he had been pursuing Annabelle for the past five years without success. Annabelle was a widow herself. She loved Henry very much but felt a little uneasy knowing that his sister, Elmirah, would give her a hard time just as she had done with Katherine and Cornelius.

  Nathaniel and Sarah were also expecting. Even though they never spoke again about the time machine or any related subject, Cornelius had the feeling deep inside that at one time or another, Nathaniel had traveled into the future. He just prayed that Nathaniel was conscious of the severity of his actions because any mistake would trigger irreparable alterations to their present, past, and therefore future.

  Every Sunday afternoon, Nathaniel and Sarah visited Cornelius and Katherine’s house. During one of those gatherings, Katherine and Sarah were taking a walk around the garden when Katherine began experiencing some discomfort. Sarah noticed that Katherine’s beautiful pink dress was also wet. She immediately called to Annabelle to help bring her inside. Henry left to call on the doctor.

  Sarah and Annabelle immediately prepared to bring Katherine’s child into the world. As the pain progressed, Katherine screamed louder. Henry and the doctor had not yet arrived. Downstairs, Cornelius apprehensively walked from one end of the house to the next. Nathaniel walked right behind him, attempting to calm him by reading aloud from the Bible. He then realized that in two months, he would be the one to nervously walk around the house while Sarah gave birth to their child.

  Katherine’s pain was intensifying as the child became closer to birth. Her screams were so loud that downstairs, Cornelius was getting impatient. He wanted to go up to the bedroom and see if there were any complications with the delivery. But Nathaniel did not let him. He held him every time he tried.

  Suddenly, the screaming ceased. Cornelius looked at Nathaniel in anguish. “Why did she stop screaming?”

  Cornelius nervously placed both hands on his head, as all sorts of thoughts invaded his mind. The memory of Katherine’s death in 1990 upset his spirit. What if Ruth’s theory was correct and Katherine was destined to die anyway?

  Cornelius couldn’t take not knowing what was going on in the bedroom where his wife was giving birth for much longer. Thankfully, a moment later, they heard the infant cry. Cornelius rushed up the stairs and threw open the door to the bedroom where his wife lay in bed, holding a beautiful baby girl, who had gracefully attached herself to her mother’s breast.

  Katherine looked at Cornelius in such a joyful and peaceful manner, as if with her eyes she was trying to convey the wonderful feeling she was experiencing inside. “Darling, come closer,” she said.

  Cornelius approached her; he ran his hands through her hair and kissed her on the forehead. “That’s my daughter,” he said with joy. When the child heard Cornelius’s voice, she began to cry.

  “Don’t cry, my little angel,” Katherine said softly to her as she tried to calm her down. But the baby kept crying louder.

  “Let me hold her,” said Cornelius. He sat down on the bed, and Katherine put the baby in his arms.

  “Meet your daughter, Sarah Annabelle,” said Katherine. As soon as Cornelius held her in his arms, the baby stopped crying. Cornelius was overcome by the wonderful new emotions of fatherhood.

  Katherine smiled. “All she wanted was to be held by her father.” She then turned gently on the bed while firmly pressing her hand on her stomach. “Are you all right, Katherine?” asked her mother.

  “No, Mother. The pain in my stomach is unbearable.”

  Cornelius sat in a rocking chair next to the window holding Sarah, but he was worried about his wife. “Will she be all right, Annabelle?” he asked anxiously.

  “I think she’ll be fine once the bleeding ceases,” said Annabelle. “When the physician gets here, he’ll give her something to help with the bleeding. For the moment, she just needs to rest. She lost a lot of blood.”

  “I’ll go down to the kitchen and make her chicken soup,” said Sarah.

  “Make sure you eat something, too,” said Annabelle.

  Henry finally arrived with a physician who was not their regular doctor.

  “Where is Dr. Seymour?” asked Sarah.

  “Dr. Seymour was passed out drunk in his office. I had to go to the next town and fetch Dr. Allen.”

  Sarah went back upstairs to show Dr. Allen to Katherine’s room.

  After Dr. Allen thoroughly examined Katherine, he approached Cornelius and whispered something very low so that Katherine would not hear. Katherine noticed the worry on Cornelius’s face and suddenly remembered that day in 1990 at the cemetery with Officer Zack when she saw a tombstone that read “Katherine Montgomery. 1816–1840. Beloved wife and mother.”When Katherine was in the year 1990, she completely forgot about that incident. She didn’t even mention it to Cornelius, but now she realized that by returning to her rightful time, life would follow its natural order. Annabelle and Sarah both looked concerned as well. As Sarah walked the doctor to the door, Cornelius asked her to tell Nathaniel to come quickly to Katherine’s room.

  Katherine felt excruciating pain; she constantly turned on the bed, and with her hands on her stomach, she screamed in agony.

  Chapter 16

  “Oh, Mother, do something! Please, make it stop!” A woman repeatedly and desperately screamed.

  “The coma patient is waking up!” shouted Mrs. Kennedy as she rushed to the patient’s room. The rest of the nurses on the third floor at County Memorial Hospital were also rushing through the hallway after noticing on their patient monitor that a woman who had been in a coma for the past two years had finally woken up.

  Mrs. Kennedy was the first nurse to arrive in the room. She was also the nurse on duty when the woman was brought there, half-dead, two years ago. No one believed back then that she would even make it through the first night. “Where does it hurt, sweetie?” Mrs. Kennedy asked the patient.

  “Oh, my dear Sarah, my stomach hurts terribly,” the patient replied as she reached for Mrs. Kennedy’s hand.

  The nurses looked at each other, and one of them said, “That must be her name.”

  “Sweetie, is Sarah your name?” asked Mrs. Kennedy. Right before the patient could answer her question, the doctor walked into the room.

  “How long has the patient been awake?”he asked.

  “Just a few minutes,” Mrs. K
ennedy replied. “The poor creature woke up screaming in agony. She said her stomach hurts terribly.”

  “Let’s do a sonogram of her stomach immediately,” the doctor said. “I also want to check her brain activity now that she’s awake. Take her downstairs for an MRI as soon as her sonogram is completed.”

  Four hours later, the patient was feeling better. Her stomach pain, which was due to a mild case of an ulcer, had disappeared with the medication, and the MRI showed no abnormalities in her brain. Now that she was completely awake and fully relaxed, the doctors and nurses had a series of questions to ask her.

  Mrs. Kennedy sat next to the patient. As she held her hands, she asked her, “Who is Sarah?”

  “She is Reverend Miller’s wife and also Katherine’s best friend,” replied the patient.

  “Who is Katherine?” asked the doctor.

  The patient gazed up to the ceiling without saying a word.

  “Do you know where you are?” asked the doctor.

  “No,” replied the patient.

  “You are in a hospital where you have been in a coma for the past two years,” said the doctor. “Do you remember anything about your life?” he asked.

  The patient was nervous and confused. She didn’t know what to say.

  “What do you remember about your life?” the doctor asked again.

  “What year is it?”she anxiously asked.

  “It is the year 2000,” replied the doctor. “Can you tell us anything about yourself?” he asked again.

  “My name is Katherine Johnson Montgomery. I was born in Greene County, New York, in the year 1816. My father was Zachary Johnson, and he was born in Dutch County, New York, in the year 1792. He and my grandfather, General Jeremiah Johnson, fought together in the War of 1812 against the British.

  “My father was honored to have fought side by side with a brave soldier like his father, who in the year 1775, at the age of eighteen, joined the continental army and fought beside many other brave colonists to end British control over the colonies in the War of Independence.