Thinking About This Gives Me A Headache

While idly wondering about Dana's time travels and what mysterious force is bringing her to Rufus, I came upon something that just gave me a headache. And instead of being a normal person and just forgetting about it, I decided to write about it and melt my brain! Was it already predetermined that Dana was to travel back in time to take care of Rufus? It seems she's drawn to Rufus every time his life is in danger, so she can make sure Rufus and Alice will make Hagar, but what if Dana wasn't able to go back in time? Would she just never exist? I mean, sure by ensuring that Rufus lives, the chances of Dana existing are much higher than if he were dead, but if Dana wasn't the one to go back in time, would Rufus still be facing the same problems? Would he still be in these situations that requires somebody to intervene? If Dana hadn't been sent to the river when Rufus was drowning, would his father or someone else have been able to save Rufus? Similarly, when Rufus was burning the drapes, would he have survived if the fire had spread? While we can't know for certain, it's still possible that Rufus would have survived. Even if his father were to beat him for it, Rufus has said before that Margret had been able to stop Tom Weylin from killing Rufus when the stable was burned down. When she saves him from being killed by Isaac, it seemed that Alice was trying to get Isaac to stop beating the snot out of Rufus. So, if Dana weren't to go back in time, would she cease to exist? It may seem like it but maybe not. Luckily the longer I thought about this, the less confusing and headache-inducing it seemed.

But it gave me another idea. What if, instead of Dana going back primarily to make sure that Rufus is safe, she's going back to make Rufus a better person? He isn't exactly a great person at the beginning, though that might just be because he's a little kid, and not all kids are really good people at that point in their life. Though when Dana comes to Rufus recently, he seems to be both a likable and despicable person. He rapes Alice, his childhood friend, just because he wanted to be with her and she didn't. That's even worse than some other half-assed excuse. However, he does take care of Dana and makes sure she isn't bothered too much by Tom Weylin. He seems to see her as a mother figure or somebody he can rely on. He seems to need her help and company, and he even listens to what she says and follows her instructions. This seems to be a pivotal point in Rufus' life, and maybe Dana's here to nudge him on the path to being a kind and understanding man. However, this is just a theory I came up with, so it's probably not even close to being right and I'm just completely looking at this the wrong way. Either way, I want to see how Rufus turns out with Dana's influence on him. I can't wait to finish this book, but I'll just have to deal with it.