Carolyn's married name does not appear in the closing credits now or in any episode before Parallel Time begins.
Willie reports to Barn that he's finished disposing of Megan and her possessions. But he can't help noticing that Barn is staring at him "like you never seen me before." He grabs the book and reads the title aloud in amazement. Who wrote it? he asks. Barnabas says, You wrote it, Willie. Willie doesn’t believe him but looks at the book. Hey, wait a minute, he protests, apparently horrified, nobody knows my middle name! He still thinks it’s some other Willie Loomis, then he sees the photo and reads the bio on the jacket back: Mr. Loomis is the author of three best-selling novels [at least two of them with surprisingly prescient titles]: "Pride of Lions," "Cold-Hearted Lover" and "The World Beyond the Doors," all of which have been made into motion pictures. You know I don’t own any clothes like that! Willie says. So Barn tells him about the room in the East Wing.
There is something written inside in my handwriting, Willie exclaims, even though I never wrote it: To the Clio who inspired me. Barnabas says Clio is the muse of history, but Willie says, The book is a pack of lies, not history: I mean, Barnabas, you never died. Not in this time band, Barnabas agrees, but in another. Barnabas gives him a one-sentence summary of parallel time theory, then adds, In that other time band, he was born in the eighteenth century, heir to the Collins lands; rich in years, died in 1830, mourned by his descendants--and most particularly by his most loving wife, Josette. He decides to read the book, then consult Professor Stokes, who will be dining at Collinwood.
Elizabeth is wearing the unfortunate yellow-print caftan with the big rolled collar (soon to be seen again in the movie House of Dark Shadows) as she chats with Professor Stokes and frets about Carolyn.
Jeb opent the door to another nondescript hotel room. Now the shadow is taller than he is. Carolyn teases him, then gets upset because he won't explain what he's all too obviously running away from. They leave quickly.
Elizabeth and Stokes are sipping sherry while Stokes attempts to comfort Elizabeth. Barnabas arrives with a manila envelope and says he would like to talk to Stokes. Elizabeth leaves to tell Mrs. Johnson there will be one more to dinner. (One wonders how poor Barnabas handles this sort of thing now that he is a vampire again.)
Stokes is always happy to expound on parallel time: The theory states that a person can be traveling down more than one time band simultaneously. The differences are differences of choice. For example, if I had chosen to marry my high school sweetheart, I would be living a totally different life somewhere with her--with several children, perhaps. According to the theory, somewhere there is an Elliot Stokes who is doing just that. Indeed, there may be many Elliot Stokeses leading all manner of different lives. Barnabas calls it fascinating, but Stokes reminds him that it’s only a theory. Barnabas announces, I have seen parallel time in the empty room in the East Wing. The foyer clock strikes 7:00 when Barnabas has finished telling Stokes about parallel Elizabeth, Julia and Willie. I wish there were a way to reach them, Stokes comments. Barnabas shows him the book, claiming it is a history of his ancestor, parallel Barnabas, who married Josette, had children and died in 1830: Of course, he adds carefully, in our own time band, he... he left Collinwood in 1779 [JF meant 1795]--and never returned. Stokes asks Barnabas to take him to the room immediately. As Barnabas leads the way out of the drawing room, Stokes says, I wonder what I am doing in that time band--or if I am even alive. When I was ten years old, I almost drowned. Perhaps in that time band, I wasn't rescued. Perhaps there I have been dead for a long time. Do you wonder, Barnabas, what your life might have been? With vast understatement, Barnabas answers, Yes, I do.
Unfortunately, after this big buildup, when Barn finally takes Elliot to the room, it's empty and dark. Barn wonders how the room can come and go, but Stokes has an answer for this too: My guess is that the time band is always here, but one can only glimpse it through the warp. Look here, I have a small rip in my sleeve. When I hold my arm in a certain way, the rip seems to disappear. To see it you have to stand in the right position and in the right light. If you don't, for you, the rip ceases to exist. Barnabas hypothesizes, I can see into parallel time because I’ve been standing in the right place and in the right light, so to speak. Stokes agrees. I wish I could see it too, he says. This is proof that parallel time exists. Barnabas plans to cross over, but Stokes sharply warns him against it. We know very little about it it, he argues, and you might become trapped between two time bands. I think you should keep watching this room, but don’t do anything that might destroy you. [It seems quite unlike the fastidious Professor Stokes to wear a damaged suit to dinner with the Mistress of Collinwood, but I guess the writers needed some kind of analogy.]
Jeb and Carolyn have returned to the carriage house. Carolyn turns on the light, and of course the shadow has followed them. Jeb roughly tells her to get out, and she runs out in tears. Immediately the pretense of anger falls from Jeb’s face as he backs away from the shadow, devastated, and turns out the light.
Carolyn and her mother embrace. Carolyn explains that only Jeb will be at the carriage house tonight and she will be staying at Collinwood. She starts crying again as she says she doesn't want to talk about it.
Barnabas returns to the Old House, and Willie rushes to help him off with his coat and find out what happened. I hope Professor Stokes understands more about this than I do, Willie says. I’ve thought an awful lot about that book. So have I, Barnabas answers, and about the life in which I loved and won Josette. If that life existed, it ended in death, Willie reminds him. Barnabas nods thoughtfully.
Carolyn (STILL in her red blouse and multicolor skirt) is sitting alone in the drawing room, crying by the fireplace and wondering why Jeb provoked their quarrel. She decides to go back to the carriage house to find out why. She finds the carriage house door closed and locked, the house dark. He’s left me already, she thinks, terrified. Go away! she hears him say as she jiggles the doorknob. She gets the door open and finds Jeb in front of the fireplace. She hurries to him, but he cringes from her touch. You must tell me what’s wrong, she says gently. He shakes his head, then hides his face. She puts the light on and returns to Jeb to put her arms around him. He looks up at her like a scared child, then she screams when she sees the shadow on the wall. Jeb puts his arms around her protectively. Leave her alone! he screams at the shadow. I didn’t want it to hurt you ever! he tells Carolyn. You must believe that! he pleads. It’s going to hurt you, she guesses--and kill you! Maybe if I sit here in the dark, it won’t know where to find me, he says desperately and shuts off the light. We have to get away from it! Carolyn urges him and starts to pull him out of the house. There is nowhere to go, he insists. It will follow us! There has to be! Carolyn insists. She finally drags him out the door, but the shadow remains triumphantly in place.....
