To Heaven With Love Page 14
Ashburton Hall looked so empty and sad beneath the dark clouds.
The front door was locked and no one came when she rang the bell, so she went to the back door, where so often she had run out to visit the woodland garden.
The house was very quiet.
As Dorianna made her way through the boot room and into the entrance hall, she saw that all the furniture had been covered with white cloths.
Then she heard a clattering noise from below stairs and ran to the kitchen to find Mrs. Bertram wielding a large iron poker and turning over the logs on the fire.
“My Lady!” she gasped, her face shiny with sweat from the flames. “Why – we all thought you were gone for ever!”
She reached out and hugged Dorianna, just as if she was still a child making gingerbread at the kitchen table.
“Please, please, Mrs. Bertram! Where is Mama? Why is the Hall all closed up?”
Mrs Bertram took her hand and held it tightly.
“First, my dear, don’t fret for your Mama. She is safe and well – ”
For one terrible moment, Dorianna thought that the cook was trying to tell her that her Mama had died and her heart beat fast with fear.
But Mrs. Bertram was still talking.
“She has gone to be with Mr. Bentley and look after him in his illness. No one knows apart from me and a few other trusted souls who wish her no harm. And that husband of hers – why – he is well out of the country by now, so I believe.”
Dorianna’s tightly held breath escaped in a great sigh of relief.
“Thank God! I thought – I felt so bad leaving her – but, Mrs. Bertram, what about Ashburton Hall?”
The cook shook her head.
“It is up for sale, my dear. I’m just waiting here to keep the place occupied and show anyone round that come to view it.”
Dorianna struggled to hold back her tears.
It was all her fault.
If she had only stayed and married Lord Buxton.
Mrs. Bertram patted her hand kindly.
“Tea, my dear, that is what you need. I will ask no questions, as I am glad that you are safe and I know your Mama will be too – we must send a message to her as soon as we can.”
The delicious tea along with several slices of Mrs. Bertram’s cake revived Dorianna’s flagging spirits
She then left the kitchen table and went to the boot room and wrapped herself in one of her Papa’s old coats.
‘Mama and I will find a rented room somewhere,’ she told herself. ‘We are both of us in disgrace for running away, but we will find a place where no one knows us and live there quietly.’
She knew that was what must now happen and yet her mind refused to think about it too much, for the pain of leaving would be terrible and her heart was calling her to fly to the woodland garden.
The sky was dark and rain dripped down from the trees, but Dorianna was dry and warm inside Papa’s coat as she hurried down the path.
‘I am back here again at last,’ she murmured, as she saw the soft white glimmer of Aphrodite ahead of her.
The little Goddess was still smiling her secret smile even though raindrops trickled like tears down her face.
Dorianna reached out to touch her cold stone cheek.
‘I think I can now understand why you smile, but I am afraid that I will soon forget again. I cannot take you with me to a rented room in Bath or wherever it may be.’
Aphrodite smiled away inscrutably, her marble eyes gazing into the distance, as if she could see the sun blazing down over blue sea and the wild rocky island of Kythira.
A twig cracked in the night from the woods behind her and she jumped with shock.
Someone had followed her into the garden!
She turned round to see a tall figure stepping across the grass towards her draped in a long hooded cloak.
“What – what do you – want?” she stammered, her legs shaking too much to run away.
“Only to see you,” the figure replied and came up to stand by Aphrodite.
Speechless, Dorianna watched as the hood of the long cloak fell back, revealing the Earl’s dark hair.
“But – how?” she whispered.
“I have been just a little behind you all the way,” he told her, his voice low and gentle. “Lady Carysfort came bustling up to me at Gibraltar and told me that she had seen you and that you were on your way to Dover. I just could not let you go.”
He reached out and took Dorianna’s hands and she felt herself filled with warmth and sweetness.
“But – Greece – you wanted to go there so much.”
“And I shall go, but only with you at my side,” he replied and drew her close to him, so that her whole body flooded with light, as if she had stepped out of the rain and into the glory of the blazing sun.
“I do want to say ‘you are mine’, Dorianna, and yet, most truly, I can only say ‘I am yours’.”
Dorianna was trembling so much that she could not speak. She clung to him, tender as the delicate vine leaves embroidered on her dress.
“Are you mine?” he whispered.
She could only nod her head and, as she held him, she felt a tide of bliss pass through him, a tide that lifted her heart and thrilled her with a sudden happiness she had never felt before.
“If you are truly mine,” he said, “then all I have is yours. My heart, my soul, my body – everything I possess is yours. I love you beyond this world and the next.”
Dorianna felt all her worries, fears and anxieties –the images of a dark little rented room with her and Mama alone in exile – melting away in the warmth of his love.
She smiled at him, a smile that rose up like a flower from the depths of her being and the Earl fell to his knees in the wet grass and held her hands to his face.
“My dearest love, Dorianna, if you can – will you be my wife?”
Again she could only nod her head, a tiny whisper “yes” escaping from her lips.
And then, she felt the heavenly warmth of his lips upon hers, as he sprang up and caught her in his arms.
Neither of them knew how long they stood together kissing in the rain under the trees, but at the same moment, they both realised that the sky was growing darker, not with clouds but with evening.
“We must go inside,” said the Earl. “I encountered a most formidable lady in the kitchen and I am afraid that she may come in pursuit of us if I don’t return you to the Hall at once!”
“Oh, Mrs. Bertram!” laughed Dorianna, as hand-in hand they made their way out of the garden.
“She is our wonderful cook and so very dear to me. Do you know, she told me once that she has always wanted to go to sea – ”
The Earl smiled at her.
“I believe she would make a better job of looking after us on our travels than Mrs. Farley – don’t you? That good lady could remain at Uplands Park, which is what she has always wanted.”
Dorianna stopped in her tracks and the Earl asked her what the matter was.
“It is real,” she sighed, “this feels like Heaven, but it is not a dream, it is real. We will go to Greece – and we will be together, we will be married – but the Hall is being sold – and Mama – ”
“We are together,” the Earl replied, “and all will be well. We shall not go away, or indeed, be married, until all the problems that have distressed and plagued you have been resolved.
“My darling Dorianna, we two have been sublimely blessed by your Aphrodite here in this magical garden and we will be together for all Eternity.
“You are the one special love I have been waiting for all my life.”
Once more he drew her to him and pressed his lips to hers in a Divine kiss.
And this time she knew with every inch of her body and soul that all was really well and that the Heaven they had found would stay with them for the rest of their earthly lives and beyond.