Chapter 5
“We’ve got to get ye back across the bridge,” Maggie was saying as the women all hurried out of the inn.
Edna woke from her nap relieved. She hadn’t seen Evanore since the women had arrived at the inn. She hoped they would make it back across the bridge without any trouble.
She’d been able to watch them as they enjoyed their time with Maggie and Dylan. He’d served them all of the foods they’d requested, she wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Jenna had hugged and held onto him with tears in her eyes before their departure. Edna prayed they’d make it safely back.
“Is anyone going to be there when we cross?” Jenna asked, turning to Maggie as she hurried along down the path to the bridge. “I’d feel better if I knew someone was going to meet us.”
“Aunt Edna is there. Ye can no’ see her, but she’s told us that’s where she is,” Maggie assured her.
“Then it should be fine, right?” Sara sounded unsure to Edna’s ears, but Edna wasn’t feeling overly confident either. They needed to hurry before Evanore knew what was happening. If they could avoid her seeing them, then they should be fine.
As they approached the bridge, Maggie gave each one a hug. “It’s going to be fine. Doona worry.”
Ashley, Jenna and Sara went to the center of the bridge. Standing in a circle they held hands and waited as Maggie watched. The whirlwind started and Edna looked out her window, waiting for them to appear on this side of the bridge. She held her breath.
“Oh, no!” Ashley cried. “It can’t be,” Jenna added.
Edna spun around. The crystal ball was nearby as always, and that was where the voices were coming from.
“It’s the Marina Green,” Sara said.
Edna’s heart sank. The women were now even further away than they had been when they were at the inn.
“What are we going to do?” Ashley sounded as if she might lose control of herself at any moment.
“Zeke and Brenna! They’re in my house. It’s just around the corner.”
“Zeke will help us. I don’t know how, but he will. One thing’s for sure. He’s going to be surprised to see us.”
Ashley seemed to be frozen to the spot. Jenna grabbed her hand and Sara took the other one.
“Let’s go,” Jenna said, walking purposefully towards the crosswalk that would lead them across the street and closer to what used to be her home.
“This is going from bad to worse,” Edna said to William. “I’ve got to do something.”
She rose from the bed and left the room with William padding along behind her. She searched every room on the second floor hoping to find a way out, but Evanore’s spell had tightly sealed the house so that no one could enter or exit.
Edna thought about Angus and wondered where he was.
She knew he had headed home to his clan to see if she was there, but the crystal ball that was always present hadn’t shown her anything and she was worried about what that could mean.
Had Evanore placed a spell on him? One that would cause him to forget her?
Dread seized her as this scenario became a possibility in her mind.
To counteract the negative thoughts she remembered back to the first time she’d seen Angus.
He’d been on the other side of the bridge.
It was as if he was waiting for her. As if it were meant to be.
At the time, Edna had thought about joining him in his time.
She would have left everything behind to be with him, but Angus was curious.
He wanted to see Glendaloch. He wanted to know everything about Edna.
Who she was. Where she was from. He was full of questions.
Edna chuckled as the memories flooded in.
Everything had been fascinating to him and she’d been only too happy to explain it all.
Somehow the topic of going back to his own time never came up.
The days and weeks passed and he was happy.
So was Edna. She left those good memories behind as she thought about what was happening to her or because of her.
Angus was her husband. The man she loved and had spent her entire adult life with.
She had to get him back. He was her protector.
But she was going to fight for him. Angus was the one she turned to when she’d begun to doubt herself.
He didn’t always agree with her matchmaking, but he loved her and would do anything for her, as she would for him.
The colors began to swirl in the crystal ball once again. Edna was hopeful that this time she would see Angus. She waited for the swirling to stop, but when it did it wasn’t Angus she was watching, but the three lasses who were like daughters to her.
“I hope they get back soon,” Jenna said. She was sitting on the stoop of the colorful Victorian that had once been hers and that Zeke and Brenna now called home.
“I’ll bet they’re at the studio,” Sara said. “If they are, there’s no telling when they’ll get here.”
“Great.” Ashley was looking and sounding more and more depressed. “What if we can’t get back to Breaghacraig? What’s going to happen to our babies and our husbands?” Her voice cracked.
“Don’t cry, Ashley,” Jenna consoled her. “It’s going to be okay. I just know it. Edna will find a way to get everything back to normal once they find her.”
“But what if they can’t find her? ” Ashley wiped away her tears and leaned into Jenna.
“Come on. Let’s think happy thoughts,” Sara said. “We’re grown women. We can figure this out. When Zeke and Brenna get here, we’ll call Maggie and tell her what happened.”
“Right. We’ve traveled from the Marina Green before. We can do it again.” Jenna gave Ashley’s hand a reassuring squeeze.
Ashley took a deep breath, obviously trying to get a hold on her emotions. “But what if the bridge is broken?”
“Broken?” Jenna asked.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sara said.
The three women stared into each other’s eyes. None of them had thought that far ahead and now that it was a clear possibility they might never see their husbands or children again, the weight of it all settled on their shoulders.
“It can’t be broken. I want to go home.” Jenna continued holding onto Ashley.
“Me, too.” Sara took hold of Ashley’s other hand. “I just got there and it’s where my heart is.”
Ashley tugged on both their hands, causing them to look at her. “That makes three of us. Breaghacraig is our home now. It wouldn’t feel right being anywhere else.”
A car pulled up in front of the house, and backed up into the only available parking space.
“That’s them,” Sara said. She ran down the stairs and stood waiting for them on the sidewalk.
The car doors flung open as Zeke and Brenna got out. They both noticed Sara at the same time.
“Sara?” Zeke asked. “I can’t believe it. You’re here. Unless I’m seeing things.” He glanced at Brenna.
“Yer no’ seeing things. I can see her as well.” She closed her door and hurried down the sidewalk. Zeke overtook her and was at Sara’s side lifting her off the ground.
Edna smiled. If there was one good thing that was coming out of this, it was these reunions.
Sara wiped the tears from her eyes as Zeke set her back down on.
“’Tis good to see ye,” Brenna said, hugging her.
“What…” Zeke noticed Ashley and Jenna seated on the steps and paused. Slowly, his whole body went from relaxed and excited about reconnecting with his sister to tense and ready for action. “What’s wrong? Why are you here?”
Sara placed her hand on his arm, “Edna’s missing and we were trying to find her.”
He looked to Brenna, eyebrows furrowed, “And you ended up here?” Zeke sounded as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“It’s a long story,” Sara said.
Brenna went up the stairs to greet Ashley and Jenna with hugs before pulling her keys from her purse. “Come inside. How long have ye been sitting here?”
“Thanks,” Jenna said. “I’ve lost track of time. I have no idea.”
Entering the house they all took a seat in the living room. Zeke’s cat, Milly, climbed happily into Sara’s lap. “I’ve missed you, too.” she said.
“So tell us everything,” Zeke said, turning to Sara.
“This is all so weird. We’ve all been happy and loving our lives. We got word that Edna was missing and we wanted to help. That was our first mistake.”
“It doesn’t sound like a mistake. It sounds as if someone wanted you to go to the bridge to search for her and then took advantage of the fact that you were on the bridge to send you to the present.” Zeke scrubbed his hands through his hair as he tried to work it all out in his head.
“You could be right. There’s some witch. I can’t remember her name.”
“Evanore,” Jenna said.
“That’s it. She’s got Edna.”
Brenna placed a hand on Zeke’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m going to start dinner, but keep talking. I can hear ye.”
Sara explained everything to Zeke with the help of Jenna. He listened without saying a word.
When she had finished, Zeke said, “We’ve got to call Maggie at the inn. Hopefully she can fix this so you can get back to your families.”
“I’m worried about Edna. What if they can’t find her?” Ashley asked, sounding frantic to Edna’s ears. Jenna put her arms around her friend and squeezed her shoulders.
Zeke stood and paced back and forth in front of his fireplace. “We’ll have to help. I’ll contact Donal and Hamish. We all owe so much to Edna. We can’t just sit by and not do anything at all.”
“Aye. Zeke is right.” Brenna called from the kitchen.
Ashley stood abruptly and took a deep breath before heading into the kitchen, a determined look on her face, “Can I help you with anything?”
Edna relaxed a little. Ashley seemed better now that they had a plan.
“Aye.” Brenna handed Ashley a knife and a cutting board. “Ye can chop.”
“What are you making?”
“Stir fry.”
Ashley’s eyes got big then she laughed. “Wow! You’ve really settled in, haven’t you?” And just like that, the tension in the room seemed to lighten.