She stepped back so that we could look at each other from a more appropriate distance, “Well, I’m happy to see you too, Bri. I’m glad I caught you before you left. I don’t have a key to your new place. We need to talk right away. I have some very exciting news!”
I watched as she bounced up and down, the same thirteen-year-old trapped in a fifty-year-old’s body that she’d always been. I knew the exact instant she spotted Daniel, still holding the door wide open, watching the spectacle.
As her eyes widened, she stopped bouncing, and immediately went into flirt mode; another one of my mother’s classic qualities. “Well, hello sir. And who might you be?” She slowly stretched a hand in his direction.
“Name’s Daniel. I was just leaving.” He paused to pat me on the back and then walked through the door. “It was nice to meet you, Bri. I’ll see you at the wedding.”
I waved politely in his direction and ushered my mother inside, shutting the door behind me. She spun on me just as I’d latched the door.
“Who was that? Very handsome, but a little old for you, don’t you think, dear?”
I leaned against the back of the door and exhaled loudly. “Very long story, Mom. But remind me that I need to have a conversation with Mitsy about what exactly it is that she thinks my standards are.”
She laughed, obviously understanding the situation. “Well, seems like she understands my standards just fine. Do you have his phone number?”
I rolled my eyes and made my way into the living room. “No, Mom, I don’t, but I’m sure Mitsy will give it to you if you want. Now, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
We sat down on the couch facing each other, and Mom excitedly reached for my hand as she told me her news.
“I got the grant!”
I couldn’t help but smile at the excited expression on her face, “The grant to resume your work on Conall Castle? That’s great, Mom!”
She squealed as she continued, “Yes, Bri, that grant. It’s been nearly twenty years, but I’m finally going to get to go back and figure out what really happened.”
My mother, Adelle Montgomery as most people knew her, was a world-renowned archaeologist. Her big break had come while working on an excavating project near the remains of Conall Castle in Scotland.
The tragedy of Conall Castle was one of the most well-known legends in Scottish history, and the mystery behind the destruction of the Conall clan had remained unsolvable for over four hundred years.
Within weeks of beginning her first lead dig at the ruins, Mom had discovered an underground library that, due to the strong stone base of the castle, had survived the infamous fire. It took weeks for Mom and her team to dig their way into the library, but once inside, they found countless archaeological treasures that had brought Adelle into the forefront of archaeology. Dozens of journals, hundreds of letters, and countless documents detailing family lineage with birth, death, and marriage certificates were all found within the library.
The find had propelled her career into overdrive. While the documents found in the basement shed a great light on the mysterious clan, none of the documents had solved the mystery of who had murdered the Conalls, afterwards burning the ancient castle to the ground.
After years of unsuccessfully solving the mystery, she moved on from her work on the Conall dig to other projects that sent her all over the world during the past twenty years; all the while she had been hoping for a reason to resume her work on Conall Castle.
“And I haven’t told you the best part!” She squeezed my hand and bounced up and down like my kindergarteners before recess.
I sat quietly, waiting for her to tell me; knowing it would drive her crazy.
She stopped bouncing. “Aren’t you going to say, ‘what’?”
I laughed and indulged her. “What’s the best part?”
“You’re going to Scotland with me! I’ve already registered you as my assistant on the dig.”
I jerked up off the couch, hitting the coffee table and sloshing water out of the cup that sat in front of me. “What? You know I can’t. I have school. I teach kindergarteners. That’s like asking a substitute to walk straight through the gates of Hell!”
“Oh, hush! You exaggerate. You haven’t taken a personal day since you started teaching six years ago. I know you have a ton of days built up. Besides, we’ll only be gone a couple of weeks. And you have Mitsy. Your students will be fine. You know you’ve always wanted to go to Scotland.”
I reached up and squeezed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. Last minute travel plans did not appeal to me at all, but she was right about one thing. “I have always wanted to go to Scotland.”
“Great! I’m going to go book our flights now. We leave Sunday.”
Before I could put up a fight, she was on her way back to her car to grab her computer. Recognizing I’d been beaten, I walked back into the entryway and sank down beside the front door next to my school bag. Reaching inside, I grabbed my planner and tried to figure out what I was going to tell my principal.
Chapter 2
Scotland—1645