Page 79 of Awakened By Time

Chapter 22

Their last goodbyeswere said the following morning as Dougall and Helene stood in the doorway of their home and Zeke and Brenna prepared to leave.

“Brenna, take care of yerself. I hope to see ye again soon,” Helene said.

Brenna’s eyes filled with tears once again. She was sad to be leaving her brother and Helene, but happy to be going on this grand adventure with Zeke. “I’ll miss ye both so much.”

“And we’ll miss ye,” Dougall said, taking Brenna’s hands in his. “Take good care of yerself. I know we’ll see each other again.” He turned to Zeke. “I ken ye’ll take good care of me sister.”

“I will. You have my word.” Zeke said. He put out his hand to shake, but Dougall pulled him into a bear hug, slapping him on the back and then quickly letting him go. He gave Brenna a much gentler hug and held her close much longer.

“I love ye, brother,” Brenna said. “I know I’ll see ye again.”

They wavedas they walked down the path to their horses. Dougall and Helene stood and watched them as they rode off to the castle, where they were met by a large crowd of MacKenzies and MacBaynes, both adults and children, who were there to give them a proper send off on their journey. Zeke was quite surprised to see them all. It touched his heart that these people who he’d only known for such a short time, had all come out to say their goodbyes.

Mary made her way through the crowd to their horses, where she handed them a basket of food for their journey. The aroma of freshly baked bread reached Zeke’s nose. He peeked under the cloth covering the food and took a deep breath of the delicious scent. “Thank you, Mary. It smells delicious.”

“’Tis me pleasure, laddie. I wish ye both much happiness in yer new life together.”

“As do we all,” Robert MacKenzie said.

“Thank you all for your kindess,” Brenna said. “We’ll always remember ye.”

“Nae doubt ye’ll see us all again. Edna will make sure of it,” Cailin said and the others all agreed.

“Then as we say in San Francisco… later,” Zeke chuckled. Both he and Brenna waved as they set off for the bridge to the cheers of the MacKenzie clan assembled in the courtyard.

Robert MacKenzie sentfour of his finest men, led by Hamish MacBeown, to escort Brenna and Zeke to the bridge. It was a relatively short trip in comparison to the one Zeke had taken to Castle Treun on his arrival. He soaked in all of it. Every tree, rock and stream they crossed would be burned into his memory forever. He’d been on an adventure that very few people would ever experience in their lifetime. Why Edna had chosen him for Brenna was not something he thought he’d ever be able to fathom, but one thing was for sure, he was eternally grateful for her interference in his life. He didn’t think it would ever be possible to thank her enough for the wonderful gift she’d given him.

Brenna rode along beside him, wearing her excitement like the finest cloak. They were going home. He couldn’t wait to share his life with her. He expected she’d fit into it perfectly, so any misgivings he’d had at the outset of their relationship were now gone, replaced by a sense of peace that this was exactly the way it should be.

“Are you happy, Brenna?” he asked

“Aye. I’m verra happy.”

“Me, too.” He reached out to touch her hand and brought it to his lips.

Hamish slowed his horse and waited for them to catch up. “Ye ken I’d like to time travel.”

“It seems like everyone at Breaghacraig has done so,” Brenna said.

“Everyone but me. Sara’s put in a good word for me with the witch.”

“You’ll probably have to wait for her to find you a match,” Zeke said.

“Do ye believe she can find me a wife?” The look of hope on Hamish’s face was almost comical, but Zeke didn’t laugh. He knew finding the right woman was a serious business.

“If you had asked me that question two months ago, I would have said it wasn’t possible, but now I believe she can,” Zeke said, exchanging loving glances with Brenna.

As they approached the bridge, all was quiet. Not a soul was in sight.

Zeke turned to Hamish. “You can leave us here. Thank you for the escort.”

Hamish glanced around. “Where’s the witch?”

“She won’t be here,” Zeke said.

“If ye dinnae mind, I’d like to see how this works.”