Page 37 of Hearts Bound By Time

“Yer a fascinating woman, Catherine and I’d like to get to know ye better.”

“I’d like that, Arthur. I’d like that very much.”

“Good. Then I’ll plan to see ye in the next month or so. Ye’ve made me a verra happy man.” Arthur thought that as an older gentleman, his chance at finding love was nonexistent, but maybe not. Maybe he could find a way to make this strange arrangement work. And if he couldn’t figure it out, he knew Edna well enough to know that she would.

He was still holding Catherine’s hand and he intended to keep holding it until she left. He had no idea whether that was appropriate in her time and he really didn’t care. Besides, it didn’t appear that she was interested in letting go either.

***

When the men finally returned, they brought Teddy and Marissa with them. He’d been at the stable visiting with her and they wanted to come back to the inn to say their goodbyes properly.

“Is everyone ready?” Robert asked as he dismounted.

The rest of the men followed suit and the goodbyes began in earnest. Everyone wanted to hug Edna, Angus, Maggie and Dylan. Teddy and Marissa joined in, hugging everyone and saying that they hoped to see them again soon. Marissa mentioned that she’d like to experience time travel as research for her book.

The flurry of activity came to a sudden stop as everyone realized that they’d said all of their goodbyes. They’d kissed everyone and hugged everyone. There was nothing left to do but mount their horses and head for the bridge.

Edna and those remaining in Glendaloch followed along on the path. Edna, of course, to make sure everything went as it was supposed to. Marissa wanted to see how it worked with her own eyes and the others just wanted to wave to their friends one last time as they disappeared from sight.

As they approached the bridge, the horses became a bit nervous, snorting and prancing in place. They were leaving with considerably more than they’d arrived with, but they’d packed everything and distributed it evenly among all the horses. They waited in silence for the fog to come and as they waited, Robert spoke. “Edna and Angus, we wanted to get ye a gift to thank ye for all ye’ve done for us, but we couldnae find a thing that would suffice. So, with a little help and magick from Maggie we found a way to send ye images of all of us from time to time. Ye’ll be able to watch yer grandsons grow. We’ll send them from every occasion. ‘Twill be as if yer with us.”

“Aye, Auntie. I’ve created a magic picture frame for each family. All they need do is stand in front of it and utter a simple spell. It will automatically transmit the photo back here to ye through a picture frame here on our end.”

Edna was speechless. Tears welled in her eyes again and Angus laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know what to say. Ye are all my family and knowing that ye are well and happy is my only wish.”

“We’d also like to extend an invitation for ye to come and stay with us anytime ye’d like.”

“That would be wonderful, Robert. Thank ye. I will definitely take ye up on that offer.”

The first wisps of fog floated across the bridge and became thicker and thicker until they covered everything. Robert turned and waved, as did the others.

“Beira will be waiting for ye on the other side.” Edna couldn’t help herself, tears continued streaming down her cheeks. Ashley blew her a kiss and Edna noted that she too had red rimmed eyes. And then before she knew it, they had all ventured into the fog and the colorful little pops of light flashed throughout, telling her that they were on their way. A few moments passed and the fog lifted, leaving an empty clearing on the other side of the bridge. They were gone.

“Shall we?” Angus placed a soothing arm around Edna’s shoulders and turned her away from the bridge. The others followed as they headed back to the inn, where life would get back to normal once more, or at least as normal as it could get with Edna around.