Tollkeeper’s Daughter

A timeless love solves a very cold case.

Hannah McCegue, a museum guide at the historical Tollkeeper’s Cottage, has always wondered if she was connected to the first tollkeeper of 1861. On a busy holiday weekend, she discovers a letter connected to… the end of a legend, the solution to a puzzle, an old love, a new love?

Excerpt

Hannah shook out the long navy skirts of her pioneer costume and straightened her bonnet. The old mirror reflected her rippled image… and a shadow behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Of course, nobody was there. The museum was locked and the tour didn’t start for a few minutes.

Shrugging away the eerie feeling, she thumbed off her phone and slipped it into the pocket of her coarse muslin apron. Opening the front door, she put on a professional smile, and stepped out to the small porch.

“Good morning, everyone. It’s lovely to see visitors this bright and early on Victoria Day.” Hannah surveyed the small group of bored kids and pre-occupied parents. Typical, but by the end of the tour, she’d have their attention. She always did. “Welcome to the Tollkeeper’s Cottage. I’m Hannah McCegue and I’m your guide back in time.”

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About the Story

Sometimes an idea lurks in a writer’s mind just waiting for the moment to jump up and shout, “Over here! Over here’s an idea! And I brought friends!”

The original idea came to me when I visited the Tollkeeper’s Cottage museum located on the north-east corner of Davenport Road and Bathurst Street in Toronto, Canada. I would write an historical set in the museum. Other ideas seduced me away and Historical lay dormant. Then I attended a workshop at my local chapter of the RWA on the craft of multiple timelines. Historical met Time Travel in the secret passages of my mind and Tollkeeper’s Daughter was born.

Tollkeeper’s Daughter was previously released as Tollkeeper’s Legacy in the Villainous Vacations anthology.