Silent Vows by Catherine Bybee Page B

sale of the candlesticks. As expected, there was a bidding war, and the antiques were sold for over half a million dollars.
    Mr. Harrison was very accommodating, and if he questioned why the check for the sale was to be made out to Elizabeth McAllister, he didn’t let on.
    He smiled. “If you have anything else you would like to sell, Miss MacCoinnich, please call on me again.”
    “That I will, Mr. Harrison. ‘Tis been a pleasure doing business with you.”
    He walked them both to the door where a security guard stood to escort them to their car. “Are you certain we haven’t met before, Miss MacCoinnich?”
    “Positive.”
    “And you, Miss McAllister? Have you been to us in the past?”
    “Sorry. I’m not into antiques.”
    “Ah well, my mistake. Thank you again, ladies.
    And Merry Christmas.”
    It wasn’t until they were back in the car that Liz 92

    Silent Vows

    explained exactly how much money half a million was. “So, it’s enough to buy the material I need to bring back with me and all the spices?” Myra fastened her seatbelt and sat back in her seat.
    “You could buy out an entire Superstore with that kind of cash.”
    “I will spend what I need and leave you the rest.
    After I pay back Todd for all he has done.”
    Lizzy laid into the horn when another driver cut her off. “I can’t accept that much money.”
    “Of course you can. And will. You never know what you might need, family helps family.”
    “But—”
    “Stop. I won’t hear an argument. Your coin will do me little good in the past. Think of it this way. If any of us need something from you in the future, we will ask for your help without worry that you cannot afford it.”
    “Fine. But I’m not spending it.”
    “As long as you have it in case of an emergency,”
    Myra said smiling. The right decisions were always the easy ones.

    ****
Myra walked into Todd’s home, as she had so many times in the last week. Only this time it felt different. After placing the key he had given her to lock up his home on the table, she took a deep breath and proceeded to the living room where Todd sat.
    Waiting.
    His back was rigid. He didn’t move when she entered the room.
    “You decided to come back?” he said.
    Myra circled the sofa, and with great care eased herself into the chair across from him. “For tonight.”
    “Then what? You’ll move in with Lizzy?”
    “I never intended to impose on you this long. Or at all for that matter. ‘Tis for the best, I think.”
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    “That’s it? Hi, let me take over your life for a couple weeks, turn it upside down, and make you take cold showers. Then you give me some far-fetched tale about being from a different time, sent here to save the world from some evil witch, and I’m supposed to believe that? And that’s it?” His tone was cold, bordering on cruel.
    “What do you want me to say?” she cried. “I know you don’t believe me, and there is nothing more I can do to convince you that what I say is true.
    All I can do now is thank you for helping me.” Myra slowed her breathing. “But it isn’t enough, is it?
    “No, it isn’t,” he spat out. He spent the entire day going over the Magicland tapes, searching for any sign that what she said was a hoax. Instead of being able to debunk her story, he found everything lining up.
    All of it.
    Her story behind her arrival, Tara McAlister’s disappearance, the question behind who Gwen Adams was. He re-studied every piece of evidence so many times his eyes were crossed. He came up with no other plausible explanation, except that what she had vowed to him was the truth. Twisted, crazy, un-deniably insane truth. A truth he had to be nuts to believe.
    That wasn’t the worst part.
    The worst part, the absolute most horrendous part was the fact that he sat in his home unable to get a hold of her for the last couple of hours, worrying that maybe she’d left. That she’d returned to her time without as much as a