A Castle of Dreams (16 page)

Before Viola could think, she was standing up and, swaying violently, she managed to lift the child and thrust him into his father's welcoming arms.

With a sob of relief, Viola watched as Fergus ran up the ladder and placed his son down somewhere on the deck.

Then he scrambled back down the ladder, reaching out towards her.

“Quickly, Lady Viola.  Take my hand!”

“Viola!  You must jump. 
Now
!”

The Duke's voice was anguished with concern.

But as she readied herself to leap onto the swinging ladder, a vicious blast of tumultuous wind sent the dinghy spiralling away from the fishing boat.

And with a scream she tumbled backwards into the cold water that was now fast filling the little boat.

The next few minutes always lived in Viola's mind as a terrifying nightmare.

It was as if the storm, now cheated of one victim, was determined to do its worst and the wind and rain blew the dinghy, spinning like a top, out of the harbour entrance where the giant waves took hold of it.

Viola felt the Duke's strong arms fasten around her, holding her safe against him.

She was aware that his lips grazed her forehead and just as a vast wave turned the dinghy over, she heard him whisper,

“I shall love you to the end of days.”

The Duke struggled to the surface, gasping and choking.

“Viola!”

He swam a few yards and stared around in despair.

There
!

With her golden hair floating around her head like a silken halo, Viola was floating in the sea.

“Viola!”

With a few powerful strokes the Duke reached her side.

She was unconscious and there was a raw mark on her dear forehead and he thought that she must have hit her head as the dinghy capsized.

‘Oh, my Lord God, let me save her!' he prayed and supporting her limp body, he began to swim towards the distant shore, letting the current take him to what he hoped was safety.

All he knew for certain was that whatever happened in the next few seconds, he would never ever let go of his beloved again.

 *

Viola was dreaming.

It was winter and she was skating on a frozen loch.  She could feel the icy wind in her face, her feet and hands ached from the cold.

But she realised she was happy because at her side, holding her hand, was the man she loved.

And she knew that if she skated just a little faster, she would ultimately reach a safe haven where nothing and no one could harm her – Viola's eyelids fluttered open.

She was lying shivering on a stony beach, her head pillowed on the Duke's arm.

She coughed, groaned and tried to sit up, trembling violently as the cold cut through her soaking wet clothes.

Immediately the Duke's anxious face bent over her.

“Viola!  Oh, sweetheart, are you all right?  Don't move.  You hit your head when you went overboard.  Dear Lord, Viola, I thought I had
lost
you!”

She felt his strong arms close round her as he lifted her aching head towards him.

Their kiss was everything she had ever dreamed of, a declaration of their deep true feelings for each other.

“Robert, my own love, where are we?”

The Duke gazed round him stroking the wet tangles of golden hair back from her temples.

“On a little beach along the coast from the Castle.  I know it well.  I played here often when I was a boy.  The current swept us here when the boat capsized.

“You are so cold!  But don't fret, Fergus will have raised the alarm by now and help will be on its way.  We will soon have you safe and sound back at the Castle.”

Viola stared into his dark eyes.

“You saved my life – ” she murmured.

“Your life is
my
life,” the Duke replied, his voice shaking with emotion.

He would never tell her of the anguished feeling of loss that had swept through his soul, when he had seen the girl he loved drifting away in the waves.

Yes, he had struggled with every fibre in his body to get her to shore and safety, refusing to let the angry sea claim her as its own.

“Viola, can you ever forgive me for my own stupid pride?  For spoiling our friendship because of my ridiculous notions of what is right?

“When I saw you unconscious in the water, when I thought I was going to lose you, I knew that nothing in the whole world was worth turning my back on our love.

“How could I have been such a silly stubborn fool?  Viola, my darling girl, could you ever love someone who is so foolish?”

The Duke kissed her again and as she drew away, Viola exclaimed with a moan of happiness,

“
I
am the one who should ask for forgiveness!

“Why on earth didn't I tell you about the wretched inheritance when we met again after the shipwreck?  It was so stupid, so childish.

“David has more sense than me.  He wanted to tell you and Meg immediately, but I made him promise to wait.

“I wanted your – friendship – so much.  I had come to depend on it as being necessary for my very being.  But I didn't trust you to like me if you knew I was wealthy.

“And then, when I realised I had to tell you because I was living a lie, the opportunity never arose.

“So, my darling man, can you ever love a girl who is so brainless!”

The Duke laughed out loud and for the first time in many weeks, the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth vanished.

“A fool of a man and a foolish girl!  Well, I think we make the perfect couple, Viola.

“I don't believe anyone else would want us, so we had better marry as soon as possible!”

He knelt at her side and Viola smiled.

Soaked to the skin, he was still looking amazingly handsome.

“Lady Viola Northcombe, I, Robert, the sixth Duke of Glentorran, do hereby ask you for your hand in marriage.  You are my life and my heart.  Please make me the happiest of men and say ‘yes'!”

Viola knelt in front of him, seemingly oblivious to the sharp stones pressing on her knees, linking her hands with his, her great blue eyes shining like stars.

“I, Viola Northcombe, now pledge myself to you, Robert, the Duke of Glentorran, for ever and ever,
amen
.”

Kneeling together in the pouring rain on that wild windswept beach, they kissed and knew that nothing and no one would ever part them again.

*

Three months later on a glorious autumn day, two riders were cantering over the moor through purple heather, busy with bees collecting the famous Glentorran honey.

The sky above them was a pale eggshell blue and somewhere a lark hovered, its piping song cascading down towards them.

As the two riders crested the hill, they reined their mounts to a halt and stared down into the glen below.

“There!”

The Duke pointed with his whip.

“See, my darling, that is where the new hospital is being built.  They have already dug the foundations and by next year the new Duchess of Glentorran Hospital will be up and running.”

Viola smiled in delight, her golden hair escaping from the small, blue close-fitting hat she wore, its feather curling round to touch her cheek.

She had been so thrilled when the Duke had agreed that she could finance the construction of a hospital for the local district.

She could still remember with great amusement, the horrified look on Lewis Wilder's face when she had told him of her plans.

“But financing a hospital, Lady Viola!  It will take an enormous amount of dough for years and years to come!

“Do think about it – not only the construction work, but paying doctors and nurses and from these plans you've shown me, you want an operating theatre as well!”

“Certainly!” Viola had replied firmly.

There would then be no further need for the people of Glentorran and the surrounding district to travel miles and miles for treatment.

No one would die from lack of basic medical care, not while she had a penny left in her bank account.

Lewis Wilder had been bemused and bewildered, but, seeing she could not be moved and most impressed by the glittering emerald and diamond engagement ring on her finger, he had accepted defeat.

He had returned to America and Viola was sure that secretly he was quite pleased to be left in charge of the oil business out in Texas.

The Duke's business manager had agreed to keep a watching brief on how the Northcombe Oil Fields were run and Viola was certain that she could leave it in his capable hands.

She realised that she could not be involved herself.

She would have far too much to do helping Robert run the estate.

They had such great plans.

The next year would see the building of a second school in Glentorran village so that the older children could continue their education if they wished.

Her money was now being put to good use for the benefit of the district just as she had dreamed.

As their ride ended and they turned back towards the Castle, Viola reached out her hand and the Duke took it in his own.

Even when they were riding out they found every opportunity they could to be close to each other.

Stirrup to stirrup, they rode down the hill and into the Castle grounds that were now a hive of activity.

All the old gardens were being brought back to life and new beds were being carved out of the surrounding land.

A great water feature was being constructed.

A small spring high on the moors would run down through a long series of channels and lakes to cascade over a sparkling waterfall and into a deep pool where great koi carp would swim.

Architects, designers and workers from all over the district were busy every day at Glentorran.

The whole local population was feeling the benefit of the Glentorran expansion.

Jobs were being created everywhere, especially in the Castle itself.

Mrs. Livesey was now like a cat that had licked the cream – her dour expression had vanished as she was now in charge of a large and growing staff.

All the rooms that had been closed for years were being opened, cleaned and redecorated.

Once again the great kitchens were in full use and cook could be heard singing songs from popular operettas because she was so happy.

The Duke had big exciting plans to open the Castle grounds to the public on certain days of the year.

There would now be a chance for people to come to see how wonderful Glentorran was and to purchase such products as plants, flowers, honey and other items made by the crofters and estate workers.

“Dear old Angus is in his element making an Italian garden to enhance the Castle grounds,” Viola enthused.

“It was such a kind thought of yours, Robert, to involve him by giving him his own project.  I am certain he would have been deeply upset to have all these ‘foreigners' working in his gardens.”

The Duke smiled.

“The Italian Garden!  It is well named.  I still cannot believe how much money I received for those old Italian paintings David found in the attic!  A small fortune.

“To think they were sitting up there all this time, unrecognised!”

Viola laughed.

She could recall the look of bliss on her brother's face when Robert had carried her back into the Castle after their adventure in the harbour.

He had been less excited by their engagement than by his news that he was sure he had discovered a collection of very rare and extremely valuable paintings abandoned in the Glentorran attics.

“Your grandfather so obviously thought his brother, your great-uncle, had bought a load of useless rubbish with him when he returned from Italy.

“Goodness, Robert, he might have had them burnt or destroyed!”

The Duke chuckled.

“No, he was far too canny an old gentleman to ever throw anything away, be it priceless paintings or old broken chairs.  It was all stored away in the attics in case it came in useful some day.  And Glentorran has now to thank him for his wise ways!”

They reached the drive that led to the Castle with its towers and spires reaching up to the sky.

The Duke reined to a halt and turned to look at his beautiful fiancée, his face suddenly serious.

“Next week, Viola my darling, you will become the Duchess of Glentorran.  I am worried.  Is it too much of a burden to ask you to bear?  Life will not be easy, even with our money, and you will find that you have little time for yourself.  You will belong to the people of Glentorran as much as to me.”

Viola stared up at the great Castle.

It was indeed a most intimidating sight as well as a vast responsibility for someone as young as her to carry.

She turned and gazed into Robert's dark eyes.

“I cannot wait, my love,” she said simply, “and we will be doing everything together, so that any burden will be shared between us.”

*

Seven days later all of Glentorran was bedecked in tartan and bunting for the wedding of their beloved Duke to Lady Viola Northcombe.

The Duke had decreed that the wedding would take place in the Castle Chapel and not in a bigger Church in a faraway town where they knew no one.

He wanted everyone in Glentorran to attend if they could.

So many of the great and good of Scotland, Earls and Countesses, Dukes and Princes, crofters, fisherfolk and everyone who loved and admired the young couple, were gathered to witness the joining of two people who were so much in love.

In the front pew, resplendent in deep ruby velvet, sat Lady Margaret, now the new Countess of Northcombe, her pretty face aglow with happiness.

Her wedding to her beloved David had taken place a month earlier.

They had both shunned the idea of a Society affair, Meg insisting that she and David were a shy quiet couple and so would have a shy quiet wedding!

But now she was bubbling with excitement because after the ceremony, they would be setting out on their big adventure, the one they had dreamed of for so long.