“No, it seems the old man as just disappeared since you saw him at the inn. Jimmy says he hasn’t been in for any ale at all and his cottage is all but deserted.” Connor rested his chin on top of Emmy’s head and held her close. “I still don’t understand it all, how it happened.” He had become content with thinking it God’s power for as superstitious a lot were the Scots, sorcery still seemed too implausible though Emmy blamed him entirely.
“I know, I don’t get it either. After all he’s just a man” she admitted unconsciously turning back to the castle. “How could he do it? I was just standing here, just like this. The sun was setting and I raised my camera to take a picture…” she lifted the camera in demonstration, “and I felt…”
A wave of vertigo assailed her and Emmy stumbled to the side holding a hand to her temple as her vision swam. “Connor?”
“Emmy! Em!” His voice called her name hollow as if through a long tunnel and she turned at the note of panic in his voice. “Emmy, come back! Nooo!”
Chapter 44
“Lassie? Are ye ready to be going then?”
Emmy swayed dizzily. “What?” She raised a hand to her brow as the swell of nausea subsided.
“I asked if yer ready to be returning to Craignure, lass.” She turned to see Donell leaning against the fender of the shuttle looking at her expectantly. She looked in confusion between him and the shuttle bus. “The ferry will be leaving within the hour and the next isn’t for several hours,” the old man went on. “I don’t think ye’ll be wanting to miss it, if yer done here?”
“O...kay,” she stuttered moving automatically to the bus and climbing numbly on board. She dropped heavily into the seat and stared at the castle wondering what had happened. What was going on? Why was she back? Emmy shook her head hard. She looked back at Duart and noticed the aged and crumbling exterior. It was not what she had become used to seeing every day.
“Didn’t even see ye come out of the old keep, lass. I hadn’t even been waiting too long, just reading my paper,” Donell said cheerfully as he took his seat and pulled the lever closing the door.
“How long was I in there?” she formed the question numbly.
“’Bout an hour, I’d say?” he answered. “Did ye ha’ a nice time?”
Why was he acting like he had no clue what had happened, Emmy wondered. “Donell? What have you done?”
“Lassie?” he questioned. The confusion in his voice seemed genuine but Emmy pressed on.
“Don’t pull this bullshit with me! Send me back, Donell, right now!”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, lass. Ye want to go home, right?” His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. “That is what ye want? Ye have yer new job waiting for ye. Didn’t ye mention that before? And ye said ye didn’t need a second chance. That ye had all ye needed of life? Or perhaps, ye needed something to remind ye that life here isn’t always perfect?””
It was like he had been able to hear the conflicting thoughts racing through her mind all day. The doubts, the uncertainty. She had been looking forward to her new job, but what of the new patients she had in Duart?
“Of course, ye miss yer friends…” Donell went on.
It finally occurred to Emmy that she had gone on vacation alone because she really didn’t have anyone that she had wanted to share it with. Not like she wanted to share the world with Connor.
What did she really want?
She hadn’t known an answer, she realized. Her mind had been filled with questions for days. On one hand, her future as she knew it. On the other, Connor.
“So what did ye think of the castle, lass?” Donell went on in his gravelly brogue as if taunting her with her own doubts. “The castle is a bonny place but I’m sure ye got the sense that life wasn’t so simple as ye had thought, now didn’t ye? Hard to imagine living like that, eh? Hard life to be sure. None of them…what do ye call them? Amenities that you have in the States, eh?”
“No, none,” she replied tonelessly. “At least the toilet flushed though.” Emmy rode the quick trip in silence as the bus rumbled back to Craignure. She watched the power lines loop along the shore. Up, down, up down. The haze of shock was starting to lift and heartbreak was quickly taking its place. It was over. Gone. Connor was gone. An hour? Had it even been real?
A flash of panic. What if had been only a dream? A daydream! Fantasy. No, no, no! she thought as she dug out her camera again and powered it on. Pushing the play button, she scrolled through the pictures in the memory. The ferry, Craignure, Donell in front of the bus. “Come on, come on,” she urged as she repeatedly hit the right arrow. Duart, Duart from the north again, again. She sped through them relaxing and finally let out a sigh as she found those of Connor on his horse and then the two of them together.
“Thank God!” she sighed out loud.
Emmy rubbed her temples as Donell pulled the shuttle up to the ferry terminus. “There ye go, lass,” he called opening the door. “I hope ye enjoy the rest of yer holiday.”
“Send me back, Donell,” Emmy stayed in her seat and stared him down.
“Castle’s closed, lass.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she insisted keeping her eyes locked with his.
“A person can’t live a life filled wi’
