Page 1 of A Keeper of Time

Chapter 1

Startled awake from a sound sleep, Angus Campbell sat bolt upright in his bed, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. His breathing was heavy and his pulse raced. He calmed himself with a deep intake of breath and remembered where he was. What had awakened him? He glanced to his right to see if he’d disturbed his wife Edna, but was shocked to find that she wasn’t there. Angus was a light sleeper and if Edna stirred in the least, he was always there to wrap a protective arm around her and pull her close. So it was odd that he was unaware she’d arisen.

“Edna?” he softly called into the darkness, but there was no answer. She must have gone downstairs for something. She’d be back shortly. He lay back down, adjusting the pillow under his neck. He listened intently for the sound of Edna’s feet on the stairs, but the inn was dead quiet. The feeling that something wasn’t right kept assailing him and he scrambled from the bed.

Angus threw on his kilt and padded from the room in his bare feet. Where could she be? Perhaps she’d awoken and gone to the kitchen. He headed down the stairs. When he reached the landing he called for her once again. “Edna!” Nothing but silence. Surely if she were in the kitchen she would have heard him.

Why did she no’wake me? he asked himself.

Passing through the dining room he glanced out the windows at the darkened street. A quick look at the clock told him it was three a.m. Nothing good ever happened at three a.m. Something’s not right. A sense of foreboding came over him as he rushed through the door into the kitchen where he flipped on the lights. Edna wasn’t there. He moved to the back door and gazed over the colorful garden Edna so carefully tended. Even though it was the end of summer the flowers bloomed in a riot of color, lighting the path to the small cottage where Maggie and Dylan lived.

“Edna!” he called, this time with a sense of urgency that caused an uncomfortable feeling to arise in the pit of his stomach. “Edna!”

The lights went on in the cottage. Perhaps she was there. It made no sense to him, but that must be where she’d gone. Running towards the door, it opened before he could reach it and a sleepy Dylan Sinclair peeked his head out.

“What’s wrong, Angus?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I can no’ find Edna.” His head swiveled back and forth as he searched the familiar garden for any sign of her.

“She’s not in your room?” Dylan asked. He appeared to suddenly realize how incredibly ridiculous his question was. “Sorry, of course she isn’t.”

“She’s no’ anywhere inside or out here. Where could she be?” He could hear the anxiety in his voice as adrenaline began coursing through his veins.

“What’s wrong?” Maggie appeared in the doorway, tying her robe around her waist. “Uncle Angus?” She was at his side before he could speak. “Is it Auntie?”

“I canno’ find her,” he said. His emotions laid heavily upon his shoulders. Something was very wrong.

Maggie immediately took charge of the situation. “Let’s go inside.” She grasped Angus by the arm and they headed back to the inn. “Doona worry. We’ll find her.”

Angus patted Maggie’s hand where it circled his arm. She was a dear lass. Edna was so proud of her and he was too. She’d been honing her skills as a witch under the tutelage of Edna, but more than that she was a kind, caring young woman who was always there to help no matter what was needed. He had no doubt she’d be a big help to him now.

They entered the dining room and sat by the fireplace. “Do ye think she’d have gone to one of the neighbors?” Maggie asked.

Angus shrugged his shoulders as he thought about who she might have gone to see.

“I mean someone might have needed her help. She probably did no’ want to wake ye, so she was quiet when she left.”

“Mayhap,” Angus conceded. It was possible and the thought made him feel a wee bit better, but there was a nagging feeling in his gut that something was out of the ordinary.

“So it could be Dr. Nichols. He’s back in town for a short while. Or Mrs. MacDougall at the stable. Or Teddy? Doona ye think?”

“I’ll call them,” Dylan said.

“Nay,” Angus said. “I’m going to go look for her.”

“We’ll come with ye,” Maggie said.

“We can split up. I’ll check the stables and that end of town,” Dylan said.

“I’ll go down to Dr. Nichols’s and see if he kens anything. Then I’ll stop by Teddy’s.”

Angus stood. He knew where he needed to go. “I’ll go to the bridge.”

Maggie stared at the fireplace.

“I canno’ believe she would have gone off without telling me. The only thing that could possibly cause her to run off would be that damn bridge.” Angus had always had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it had brought Edna into his life and in doing so had given him a life he could have never imagined possible. But it also kept Edna tethered to it, unable to ever be very far away in case she was needed.

Maggie’s brow furrowed as she stood. “I’ve been trying to contact her this whole time, but she’s no’ answering me. I did no’ want to upset ye, but I believe yer right. Whatever caused her to leave so suddenly must have involved the bridge.”