Page 6 of All In Good Time
Edna rose and walked to the door. Sara’s heart was aching. She could not believe she came all this way, and would not get the chance to see Logan one last time. She watched Edna leave the room, wanting to leap from the bed and beg for her help, but instead she stared at the food, her appetite completely gone.
* * *
The door closed behind Edna. She was very aware of the fact that Sara had been saddened and disappointed by her visit. She was not a hard-hearted woman, but one who had to make hard decisions with regard to who should or should not travel across the bridge through time. She hadn’t made up her mind yet whether or not Sara would be one of them. Logan wasn’t making this easy for her. She’d been trying to look in on him and from what she’d seen and with no actual knowledge of what was happening, things didn’t appear to be working in Sara’s favor.
She made her way back downstairs where Maggie was waiting for her. Together they would come to a decision about Sara’s predicament.
“Is she okay?” Maggie asked.
“She’s nae happy. I can tell ye that much.” Edna paced in front of the fireplace and then plopped down in the chair opposite Maggie. “I hate to disappoint her, but I’m not so sure she should go back.”
“Is there no hope then?” Maggie appeared saddened by this news.
“There’s always hope, but this is not a match I can meddle in.”
Maggie appeared surprised by this announcement. “Dinnae look so shocked. All the matches that have been made have been because of my… interference, if you will. Even yers, Maggie, my love.” Edna was now disappointing two people, Sara and Maggie. Her niece was a hopeless romantic. She’d been in love with love since she first set eyes on Dylan Sinclair and it was clear she wanted Sara to have the same experience.
“I ken it, Auntie. I just thought perhaps there was something ye could do to help her.”
“I’m afraid she’d be on her own. ’Tis why I’m nae so sure she should go.”
“Are ye sure ye cannae meddle, Auntie?”
“Nae. ’Tis just nae been the case in the past. I’m nae sure that it would work.” Edna fell silent and stared into the fire. Maggie had never seen her aunt at a loss for what to do.
“Ye can try though.” Maggie reached out to touch her hand. “’Tis obvious she is a determined lass. She came all this way to ask fer yer help.”
Maggie was manipulating her and it was working. Edna was feeling guilty. She could try to help her, but if things went wrong, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fix them. She’d always had her finger on the pulse of every romance she’d helped with. She knew from beginning to end just how things were going to work. This, however, was new territory to her. She’d never had anyone come out of the blue to ask for her help and yet Sara had. She sat upstairs full of hope and Edna had dashed it all. Maybe Maggie was right. Maybe she should help.
“What are ye thinking?” Maggie asked, hope in her voice.
“I’m thinking I’ve got a lot of thinking to do,” Edna chuckled.
“So ye’ll help her?” Maggie leaped up from her chair, clasping her hands to her heart.
“I’ll try. Dinnae say anything to her just yet. I must be sure.”
“Alright.”
“Keep her busy today. I dinnae wish her to be moping about.”
Maggie nodded her agreement and Edna headed back to her office to meditate on Sara’s problem and to see if Logan’s circumstance would become any clearer to her.
All she’d seen so far told her that there may be something that would stand in the way of Sara and Logan being together and it wasn’t something that Edna could fix. She hated feeling this way. She always knew what to do. It might not always be the right thing, but she always had a direction to head in and eventually things worked out. Now she sat here feeling as though there was a brick wall between her and what she was trying to see in the sixteenth century. All her years of working with the MacKenzies were not helping her now. This was a whole new ball of wax.
Edna sparked the fire in the hearth and sat in front of it. Staring into the flames, she called to Logan, but instead of his answering her, she saw a vague, cloudy image of him outside of a crofter’s cottage. It must be close to Breaghacraig, but she couldn’t be sure. A woman came out of the cottage. Again, she was quite blurry to Edna’s eyes and she couldn’t tell her age. Logan seemed to take her hand and they engaged in conversation for quite some time. Then a man came from the house and chased him off. Logan turned to leave, but first said something to the woman and the man before turning and striding off. The vision cleared and Edna felt no better off than she had before. What was going on there? She had set her intention to find out if Logan was ready for love, but all she’d seen so far were these fuzzy images. She wasn’t even sure if it was truly Logan she was seeing and if it was, who were the woman and the man? So many questions with no answers. How could she possibly send Sara back when she wasn’t sure what would transpire? She’d told Maggie she’d think about it, but so far nothing she’d seen was making her choice any easier. Perhaps she could try again a little later and see what she could see.
Edna made up her mind that was what she’d do and in the meantime, she’d come up with a way to follow Sara into the past, if she decided to let her go.
* * *
The tourof Glendaloch had its benefits, not the least of which was stopping the obsessive thoughts swirling around and around in her head. Sara was grateful that Maggie had decided to show her around the little village. It was quite quaint and, just like The Thistle & Hive, exactly what she’d pictured. She loved it here. It was so unlike San Francisco, but of course it would be. This was a tiny little place, with far fewer people. There were no fancy coffee shops on every corner, no traffic, no crowded sidewalks. It was peaceful here and she felt like this was just what she needed in her life at this point in time. Less chaos, less loneliness – or so she hoped.
“Are ye enjoying the tour, or are ye ready to get back to the inn?” Maggie put a hand on Sara’s arm, bringing her to a halt.
“This has been wonderful, Maggie. Thanks so much for doing this. I’m sure you have other things you should be doing. We can go back to the inn if you like.” Sara didn’t wish to monopolize Maggie’s time, especially since she had a job to do and had taken time away from it to show her around town.
“I don’t mind at all, but ye seem to have drifted off on me. What are ye thinking of?”