Forever Young The Beginning (63 page)

She got to see
Angel’s Care Orphanage
and was impressed at the efficiency of the place and how the
children learned skills which would enable them to take their place
as responsible French citizens. Alandra resolved to expand
Barcelona House
to
include remedial education at first and later maybe animal
husbandry and agriculture using some of the land at their home in
Barcelona. She wanted to build a dormitory of sorts there for a
select group of older children to stay while learning practical
things. The sewing facilities at
Angels’
Care
and the fact that all of Marie’s
facilities even made their own clothes impressed her greatly. Ian
was delighted to see her so animated and pledged his entire support
for anything she wanted to try at
Barcelona House
. He promised her that
they would hire more workers as soon as they returned.

When they said their goodbyes, Marie
and Henri each held Alandra and told her that she was their
daughter now, just as Ian was their son. The two women cried a bit
and a promise was made that Marie and Henri would bring Louis and
Mustafa to Barcelona when Celeste came to Madrid to sing. They
would make it a special event and spend some real quality time in
Spain with the two of them. There was also talk of meeting in
Paris, and maybe traveling to London together as well.

***

In a few days, they arrived
in Barcelona and set to work expanding the staff at
Barcelona House
and
making plans to add a classroom to the place. Ian had already drawn
plans for a basic playground of sorts and a way to utilize the
creek that passed through the property for watering a sizable
garden. The time flew by and in three weeks they departed for
Scotland by way of Paris. Alandra had never seen the southwest
region of France so Ian took her that way. They took three weeks to
reach Paris.

In Paris they went to see Caryn and
Celeste at Caryn’s home. Even though she knew the story of
Celeste’s rescue, Alandra was surprised to see the love that
Celeste had for Ian. She was nineteen now and yet she greeted him
with the unrestrained joy of a little girl. When Ian introduced
Alandra to her as his wife, Celeste’s eyes widened and she put her
hands to her cheeks and jumped up and down like a little girl and
then hugged Alandra and kissed her cheeks. Alandra took an
immediate liking to her as well. They stayed at Marie and Henri’s
spacious suite on the Champs Elysees. Celeste took them all over
Paris and showed them things that Ian had never even seen
himself.

When the three of them were
alone, Alandra questioned Celeste about the kidnapping and was
fascinated to hear of her visions of their rescue before it
happened. She realized that this vivacious young lady had had a
nightmarish life as a child and with love and help from Ian and the
Lafayettes had become this wonderful person. There was a kinship
with Celeste being as they were both young human ladies who knew
and loved several vampires.
There can’t be
too many like us around, after all
she
thought. They soon became fast friends. Celeste was excited at the
prospect of singing in Madrid and promised a performance in
Barcelona as well while there. She now had standing invitations in
London, Vienna, Berne, Lausanne, Brussels, and Paris. They decided
to stay in Paris and go to one since she could appear there in a
week if she chose to. The arrangements were made.

The eve of the performance, Caryn, Ian
and Alandra sat in the box seat reserved for Marie, Henri and the
senior officers of their bank in Paris. Celeste stood on stage in
her signature formal white gown as the curtain rose. She gave a
short testimony for those who had not heard before about her being
an orphaned girl and about her life being saved by a man in the
audience tonight. She asked the audience to welcome Ian McCloud and
his wife Alandra. They both stood to a warm round of applause. She
also introduced her aunt Caryn and had her stand to applause as
well

Her performance was stellar. At the
end, she blew her signature kiss toward Ian and the others in that
box, and another to the crowd. She stood as always then, head bowed
towards the audience as the curtain dropped. Ian and Alandra stood
in applause and shouted “Viva Celeste!” with the entire audience.
The applause was deafening.

Afterward they toasted her success
with champagne at Caryn’s home. As the group talked happily,
congratulating her, Ian was taken back to the first time he had
ever seen her in a filthy cell under a dilapidated house in
Marseille. He shook his head in amazement at how far she had come
from that unlikely beginning.

***

Roberto Rodriquez was finishing his
last day at his bank in Madrid. He would be departing for Almeria
the next morning. Suddenly there was an outburst in his outer
offices. He got up to see what was the cause of it and his doors
burst open. In came four of the King’s men and laid hold of him. A
tall middle-aged man with cruel eyes then stalked into the room and
said “Senor Rodriquez?”

“
Yes, I am he.”

“
You’re under arrest for
sedition and for plotting against the King.”

“
What. Who are you to arrest
me anyway?”

“
I’m Lord Enrique Chavez,
prosecutor for the Crown.”

Roberto stared at him
speechless. This was maybe the most feared man in all of Spain. He
was the father of the man who had killed his son in a duel in
Barcelona some years earlier. More than one pillar of Spanish
society had gone to the hangman on the directive of this man.
Roberto thought
what can he possibly
know?

“
I’ve done no such thing.
I’ve been a loyal subject of the King all of my life and am known
to be so by everyone in my community.”

“
You’ve grown to be quite
wealthy being so…loyal, have you not, Senor?”

“
Is that a crime then? To
become wealthy in one’s later years after a life of hard work is
sedition against the crown?”

“
There is the question of
whether or not you’ve paid all of the taxes due to the crown all of
those years.”

“
I’ve always paid my taxes
when due every year. I can prove that too, even though I have since
sold all of those business interests.”

“
Yes. Well, a full
investigation will be made, Senor. Of course these things take time
and we will want to be thorough on behalf of His
Majesty.”

“
So I’m to be held in Madrid
while you investigate my business dealings for the past thirty
years?”

“
You do live in Almeria and
there is the danger of you leaving by ship to go somewhere, perhaps
to France where you are known to have…friends.”

“
Run away to France
penniless with my wife, at my age?”

“
Your wife will be arrested
and jailed in Almeria no later than tomorrow. And you’re hardly to
be considered penniless when you’ve just made a partnership with
the
Banque de Lafayette
. That is a very convenient friendship you have suddenly made,
Senor. As chief prosecutor for the crown, one cannot be too
cautious in these matters. Rest assured Senor, we
will
be thorough.” And
here he smiled coldly, continuing “no matter how long that takes.”
Turning to the guards he said “Take him to the prison now.” He
thought
now I’ll have plenty of time to
see if you hired that man who killed my son in a duel. Perhaps
you’ll admit it if I promise to let your wife out of
prison.

The packet ship neared Dover as Ian
and Alandra stood near the bow, watching the great chalk cliffs
draw nearer. Ian stood with his arms around Alandra, and had been
telling her some things about the British Isles and about Scotland.
She gazed with wonder at the sight of the great cliffs stretching
off to the north in a white line all the way to the horizon. They
caught another packet northbound for Edinburg, and spent the night
in it in their private cabin. She found that she had missed the
sounds and the feel of sleeping in a ship at sea. She had to admit
that she loved it as long as the weather was fair, and it didn’t
hurt one bit that Ian was there, holding her.

They arrived in Edinburg the next
night on a strong southerly wind. Ian prevailed on a merchant who
he knew from childhood to allow him to take his horse drawn wagon
to the McCloud home. They arrived just before bed time and
completely surprised the family. Elsie and Mary greeted her like a
long lost daughter and fussed over her so that she felt like their
daughter. She was introduced to Ian’s younger brother, Stuart. He
was nearly now as big as Ian was, yet Ian grabbed him and ran out
the back door with him over his shoulder, both of them
laughing.

“
Oh, Alandra, pay him no
mind. Ian’s been doing that since Stuart was a toddler.”

“
Yes, I’ve seen him do that
in France with Louis and Mustafa. He tells them the same thing,
that they’ll never be too big for him not to toss them over his
shoulder like a sack of beans.”

“
There must be something
about living in the southern lands, Alandra. Ian just doesn’t seem
to age. He’s very polished and his English now sounds more like
that spoken in England or France than that spoken here. We’re
amazed at his musical talent. He’s really done a lot of his growing
up at sea with Angus. Those two know what each is thinking, I would
swear it!”

Alandra thought
a mother always sees things. Be careful here
now
. “Well, he does seem to age well. I’d
never guess him to be near thirty now. He looks
younger.”

“
There’s something else
there. I just can’t put my finger on it.” Alandra thought
I can still hardly believe it myself!

“
I want to say that I’m
honored to meet both of you and now I can say that I have met the
namesake of
Elsie’s Cloud
as well.” She then asked if she could go to their
room since she was tired from all of the traveling.

The next day they all sat down in the
parlor and Alandra related everything that had happened to her from
the day she’d met Ian. The two ladies hung on every word and Mary
said “Why Ian, I had no idea that you were such a dashing romantic
one!”

“
Nor did I Aunt Mary. Of a
truth, nor did I!’ he said, laughing.

“
Oh I thought he was a
pirate at first what with him wearing that bloody shirt and kicking
my cabin door in and everything.” The two ladies laughed at that
and other recollections of hers.

That afternoon they went sightseeing
around Edinburg. Ian showed her the college and other sights
including the bank which he had brought into partnership with the
Lafayettes. They went to church with his mother and aunt and the
sermon was on the baptism of Jesus by John the baptist. Alandra
listened intently to it and when they were home, she asked to see
their family Bible so she could look it up. Mary found it for her
and she read the gospel accounts several times. She announced at
the supper table that she wanted to be baptized while she was in
Scotland. Everyone was surprised and supportive. Elsie finally
asked her why and she said “I was christened when I was a baby in
the custom of my country. It seems that few people have Bibles in
the Spanish language in their homes. I want to be baptized exactly
as was done in the time of Christ.”

Three days later she was baptized in a
small river nearby and was exceedingly happy. Several members of
the congregation witnessed it including Ian and his aunt, his
mother, and his brother, Stuart. Ian confided in her that he and
his brother had been baptized in the same place.

That night she asked him if Cosette
had been baptized. He replied “Yes. Cosette was a Huguenot. They
baptize as we do. They are very secretive for fear of persecution
in France. Henri and Marie are both believers in the ways of the
Swiss and Italian Waldensians and of Calvin, so they are Huguenots
at heart themselves.”

All too soon they were saying their
goodbyes and regrets for having missed Angus. They sailed for
Amsterdam with a fair westerly wind and made it in two days. Again
Alandra was warmly received, this time at the Vandenoever home. She
loved his grandparents and bonded warmly with them. They privately
told Ian how glad they were to see that he had such a wonderful
wife after losing Cosette and how fortunate he was to have found
love like that again in his life.

The two stayed there for nearly a week
before departing. They traveled by way of Brussels to Reims and
then to Paris. Ian had an urgent message awaiting him at Banque de
Lafayette. When he had opened it, Alandra noticed the frown on his
face and how his jaw muscle clenched. His knuckles turned white as
he gripped the letter tightly.

“
Ian, what is
it?”

“
That damned Chavez has
locked Roberto and his wife in prison on some trumped up charges.
We need to find out more if we can. I’ll send a courier to Henri to
see if there’s more information. We’ll depart for Barcelona
tomorrow. Let’s go and see Caryn and Celeste today at
least.”

They did see Celeste and Caryn and
stayed that evening until bed time. Celeste knew something was
bothering Ian and finally when Caryn was out of the room she asked
him what was wrong.