Chapter 5: Dinner Lore
“Oh my goodness,” Theresa rushed over to Edith when the young, red-haired woman rejoined the group. “Where have you been?”
Lydia giggled, “Stephen was blowing a fuse.”
Edith cast a nervous glance at the tour guide, who simply said loudly to the group, “Remember, stay in the group. Let’s finish the tour for this morning, and we will visit the guest center for refreshments and a chance to dry off.”
The rest of the day passed in uneventful peace. Edith bonded with her new friends over hot cider and cinnamon buns. They discussed the ancient ruins, and the work of the coming week. The rain stopped in the afternoon, so the tour of the far side of the ruins continued. Tour guide, Stephen, kept a close eye on Edith for the remainder of the trip.
At the end of the day, on the bus ride home, Edith found herself scanning the distant horizon.
“What are you looking for?” Lewis leaned around the end of his seat.
“Oh, I saw Mr. Byrne riding one of his horses around the ruins. Did you know he owns the land?” Edith turned to her friends.
By their silence and surprised faces, she took their answers to be no.
“Interesting,” Sam mused, casting a glance at Theresa, who flicked an eyebrow.
The bus pulled up to the front of the office building.
“You’ll have to fill us in on this story on Monday,” Lydia winked. “I’ll bring coffee.
Edith lay awake for most of that night, thinking about the events of the past day. She realized she had not felt one drop of rain while she was talking to Byrne, but she knew it had rained for most of the day. Edith remembered the sound of the horse’s hooves, the smell of the evergreen forest, and the feel of Byrne's muscular waist.
“Stop it!” Edith shook her head angrily. Blaze lifted his sleepy head from the end of the bed.
“Sorry, little guy,” she sighed. “Human problems. You lived with my dad, I’d think you would have been used to outbursts like that.”
Blaze yawned and rearranged himself on the quilt. Edith pulled the blanket up to her chin and stared at the ceiling. Against her conscious thoughts, the last thing she thought of before falling asleep was Caden Byrne sitting tall and confident astride a black horse named Bracken.
She woke up to the sound of a hungry cat clawing at the bottom of the pantry door.
Groaning, Edith pulled herself out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen.
“Blaze, come on… the sun is just coming up now,” she mumbled.
The pantry door was stuck, and Edith ended up having to put one foot against the wall so she could pull the door open. A small stack of papers fell on her face.
“Geez, Dad!” Edith exclaimed. She picked up the handwritten notes, looking at the front page.
“Lore of Castrel Ruins,” it read.
Edith’s interest was peaked. She squinted as she tried to read her father’s notes.
“Meow!” demanded Blaze. “Meow!”
Edith sat the papers down on the table and retrieved a new bag of cat food from the pantry.
“There you go, you starving stray.”
“Meow,” Blaze responded sweetly.
Later in the day, as Edith stood at the foot of the bed, staring at two outfits she had chosen as her possible wardrobe for dinner, her eyes drifted back over to the stack of papers from the pantry.
“I wonder if Caden would know more about this,” she thought to herself.
Her cell phone chimed with a text notification. Edith looked at the clock, it was a quarter to six.
“I’m on my way,” came the message from Caden Byrne’s number. “Dress neat but casual. Eating at Minstrel.”
Edith felt her heartbeat quicken and she tried to shake the feeling off.
“How did you get my address and phone number?” she texted back.
There was a pause.
“You work for me,” was the only reply.
Edith laughed. Caden Byrne didn’t say much, but he seemed to have some sort of a sense of humor.
In a matter of minutes, Caden pulled up in front of the Doyle cottage on his motorcycle. Edith grabbed her purse, congratulating herself on deciding to wear pants instead of the form-fitting skirt. Opening the door, Edith gave a shy wave to Caden to let him know she was coming.
As she turned back towards the door to shut it, a blur of orange fur burst from the depths of the house.
“No!” Edith cried, chasing after her father’s cat. “Come back here, you! Blaze!”
Halfway to the road, Blaze stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the man on the motorcycle. With the deepest, longest meow Edith had ever heard, the adventurous cat arched his back before hissing and dashing back inside.
Edith looked at Caden and shrugged, “I guess I’m lucky he’s scared of motorcycles.”
Caden gave a brief smile and started up his bike. Edith locked the cottage door, climbed aboard and they were off to The Roaming Minstrel.
Caden parked his bike just outside the pub. It was bustling with activity that night, and Caden swiftly guided Edith to the far end of the place where it was much quieter. When he took her hand, his expression became puzzled, but only for a moment before he motioned to a booth.
As they waited for their meals, Edith posed her question.
“I found some of my father’s research notes this morning. Since you live around here, I’m wondering if you have heard of the Castrel Ruins?”
Caden’s face stayed serious as he blinked.
“Castrel means camp, a military camp to be specific,” he said matter-of-factly. “You visited those ruins today.”
Edith leaned forward, “Our tour guide didn’t say anything about a military camp…”
“Most historians that have come here consider that idea a sort of local lore,” Caden sipped his potato-leak soup. “But the people who live here have been told stories of those ruins for generations.”
“What kind of stories?” Edith asked eagerly.
A server appeared with more drinks, “Oh, stories of those old ruins? There are so many! Most have vampires, monsters, ghost armies, and strange sounds…”
Edith snorted, “Vampires? Monsters?”
The server nodded and leaned over to whisper to Edith, “Oh yes. That and more. It’s not a place you want to go at night, especially on a full moon.”
“Thank you very much,” Caden glared. “Let’s eat, shall we?”
The conversation fell onto the topic of horses, as Edith asked about Bracken.
“He’s doing well. He doesn’t usually like strangers, but he took to you quickly,” Caden took another sip of his soup. “You said you learned about horses from your father?”
This set Edith off to tell the many adventures she had with horses and her father. Several times throughout her storytelling, Edith noticed Caden’s solemn eyes watching her, and she tried to stop her heart from pounding in her chest.
“I’ve never ridden such beautiful, well-trained horses before,” she finished. “I must admit, I could never afford to ride a horse of that quality.”
Edith watched Caden Byrne finish his supper and dab his mouth with a napkin. He looked at her thoughtfully, tapping his fingers rapidly on the table. For Edith, it felt like time stood still.
“Why don’t you come see my horses? It has been too long since I had someone to ride with, and my horses could use the exercise,” Caden waited patiently for Edith’s reply.
“I would love to,” she blurted. “When? I mean, what day would be good for you?”
Caden shrugged, “Why not after work tomorrow? I don’t have anything planned.”
Edith thought for a moment, then sighed, “I have to return my rental car first thing in the morning. I’m sure I could easily find some sort of transportation to your place.”
“You can walk through the cemetery across from the office and you will come to my home,” Caden noted.
“You live by a cemetery?” Edith sat up.
Caden regarded Edith emotionlessly, “It’s quiet.”