Chapter 32 #3
“I hope so, too,” Dylan said. Jenna occupied Edna and Angus so Dylan could get a goodbye kiss in without an audience.
“How far is it to this bridge, Edna?” Jenna asked.
“Not far. It’s a lovely walk and ye’ll have company, so the time will pass quickly.”
Chester sat patiently by Jenna’s side waiting for Dylan and Maggie to finish their farewells. Angus cleared his throat as a signal that everyone was waiting on Dylan and Maggie.
“Okay. Let’s go,” Dylan said, obvious excitement in his voice.
Edna gave them instructions on where the path to the bridge was located and Dylan assured her that they wouldn’t get lost. They set off down the road, looking back to wave a final goodbye to the Campbells.
***
“Cailin,” Cormac admonished. “Ye’ll eat everything Lena gave us and then we’ll have nothing for the return trip to Breaghacraig.”
“I’ll not eat it all,” Cailin said as he rummaged through the saddlebags. “Lena gave us enough food to feed ten people. I imagine Edna told her we’d be needing extra.”
“Aye. Yer probably right, but just in case, mayhap ye should stop.”
The two were busy arguing about the food and hadn’t noticed a change in the atmosphere surrounding them.
The wind had picked up and the fog was swirling nearby.
Cormac stopped and listened. He could hear the popping sound and saw the colored lights appearing.
“It’s here,” he shouted to Cailin over the sounds of the whirlwind spinning in front of them.
The horses stopped what they were doing and pricked their ears towards the fog and Cormac and Cailin stood perfectly still, waiting.
***
Jenna, Dylan and Chester arrived at the bridge just in time to see a whirlwind of fog spinning on the other side. “That’s for us,” Jenna said.
“Are you sure?” Dylan asked, concern in his voice.
“Yeah. It’s the same thing that took me from San Francisco. Come on. Hold on to my hand and to Chester,” Jenna instructed.
Dylan did as he was told, but not wanting to take any chances, he lifted Chester into his arms and Jenna looped her own arm through his.
They walked cautiously forward. Chester was focused on the fog and started to wriggle in Dylan’s arms. “He sees something we don’t,” Dylan said.
They walked into the fog and stood there as it swirled around them and then without warning vanished.
***
Cormac could not believe his eyes as a very excited Chester came bounding towards him. Cailin took a defensive stance, but Cormac put a hand on him to stop him.
“Chester,” Cormac exclaimed as the dog leaped into his arms and licked his face.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you, my friend.
” He put the dog down and Chester immediately went to Cailin, who had never seen a dog quite as ferocious looking as Chester.
The dog wagged his stubby little tail and Cailin relaxed.
A moment later, out of the fog came Jenna, looking even more beautiful than he remembered her and along with her came her cousin, Dylan. whose face lit up when he saw Cormac.
“We did it. We’re here. We travelled through time, didn’t we?” Dylan asked.
Jenna was in Cormac’s arms in the blink of an eye. “Cormac, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you. I realized as the fog was taking me that I was making the worst mistake of my entire life. It took me a while to find Edna, but Dylan, Chester and I flew to Scotland to get her to help me.”
Dylan hugged them both together. “I’m so happy to see you, Cormac. I hope you don’t mind that I tagged along.”
Cormac was so happy he couldn’t speak. Instead he just hugged the two of them even more tightly. The sound of Cailin clearing his throat got their attention. “I’m sorry, brother. Let me introduce ye to Jenna’s cousin Dylan and I believe ye’ve met Chester.”
“Aye. This is an amazing creature. I’ve never seen a dog like this before and I’m pleased to meet ye, as well, Dylan.”
“Same here, dude,” Dylan said, sizing up Cailin. “Strong family resemblance,” he observed.
“Aye. We’ve been told we look enough alike to be twins,” Cailin said.
Jenna and Cormac were wrapped up with one another and hardly noticed anything else going on around them.
“Cormac, we should get going,” Cailin said. We can make good progress if we leave now. We’ll make camp later,” he explained to Dylan, “but we’ve got plenty of food and we’ll make a fire to stay warm.”
“Sounds great,” Dylan replied.
“Cormac, Dylan should ride the extra horse Ewan lent us and Jenna can ride with ye. Chester,” he said to the dog, “ye’ll have to walk I’m sorry to say.”
“He’ll be fine,” Dylan said. “He like to go for long walks.” Cormac could see that his brother was forming a bond with Dylan already. He was happy about that because when he married Jenna, which he planned to do as soon as he possibly could, Dylan would be family.
“Shall we then?” Cormac asked.
“You ken, this reminds me of a similar ride I took back to Breaghacraig with Ashley,” Cailin smiled.
“I’d love to hear that story,” Dylan said as he mounted his horse.
Cormac and Jenna made themselves comfortable on Saidear and were oblivious to anything but each other.
“Well, I’d be happy to share it with ye, Dylan. It looks like ye and I will have much time to get acquainted.” They all headed their horses toward Breaghacraig. With Chester trotting happily along beside them, the sound of Cailin’s voice rang through the woods as he told his tale.