The Gates of Paradise (18 page)

She then selected her very prettiest nightgown and having washed and brushed her hair, she climbed into the four-poster bed.

She could hear voices in the next cabin and knew that one of the Stewards was unpacking Michael's clothes and doubtless assisting him as Paks had done so ably.

As the Battleship began to move faster through the water, she heard the door open.

Michael came into the cabin.

In the candlelight he seemed very tall.

Then she realised it was because he had on Prince Rudolf's long velvet robe he had worn when hiding in his bedroom at the Palace.

He closed the cabin door, then sat down on the bed.

“You look so lovely,” he sighed, “so beautiful that I am asking myself if I have really been lucky enough to find anyone so perfect.”

“I hope you will always think so, Michael, because everything that has happened to us has been so unreal and so enthralling that I am now afraid that when we get back to England, you will be bored.”

He did not answer her question and then asked her,

“Do you realise I have not yet kissed you, Narina?”

“I felt perhaps you would after we were married,” Narina replied innocently.

“I wanted to kiss you from the very first moment I saw you and you had saved my life.  I knew you were more beautiful and intelligent than any woman I had ever met.  But it was not only that, it was your exquisite purity that held me at bay until I found myself in a position to offer you not only my admiration but my heart and soul as well.”

He was speaking in a deep voice and Narina asked,

“Is that really how you feel now?”

“What I feel now I really cannot put into words, my darling. I just know that you are part of me, you belong to me, and when the delightful old Priest in that Chapel married us,
God
gave you to me.  That is what I have always sought and believed that one day I would find.”

“Oh, Michael, that is the most wonderful thing to say,” Narina whispered.

Then very gently, almost as if he was savouring the moment, Michael put his arms round her and his lips came down on hers.

It was a very gentle and loving kiss.

Yet she knew it was for him something Holy and perfect as he gave her his heart and his soul.

For what seemed an age his lips held hers captive.

Then, as he drew away from her, he sighed,

“I love you beyond words, my darling, my precious wife.  I am now going to teach you to love me so that every breath we draw and every thought we have are ours for all of Eternity.”

“I believe that they are already.  Oh, Michael, I was so frightened that you would go back to India and I would go home alone and never see you again.”

“Did you really think that I could?  I think we were brought together for some very special purpose and now in our own way we have helped to save Alexanderburg from the Russians.  And who knows what work is waiting for us when we reach England?”

“Anything will be exciting if it is with you.”

“It will not only be exciting, but I think, although I am not sure yet what it is, there is work for us to do which will help others and justify the happiness we ourselves are feeling.”

He kissed her again.

Now his kisses were becoming possessive and more passionate.

It made her feel as if something strange, wonderful and wildly exciting was rising within her.

It was moving from her lips down into her breast.

“I love you, Michael, I adore you.”

Michael rose from the bed.

He took off his robe and climbed in beside her.

He did not blow out the candles.

“You are so ethereal,” he whispered, “and I cannot believe you are really mine, but I will kill
anyone
who tries to take you from me.”

“But no one could, because I am yours completely and absolutely.”

“Not yet quite absolutely and that, my precious one, is what I am going to teach you now.  But I am so afraid of frightening you.”

Narina gave a little laugh.

“How could I be frightened, Michael, when I am so happy that I feel I am flying in the sky, touching the stars and am part of the moonlight.”

“That is just what I feel too – ”

Then he was holding her closer and closer until he was kissing her and carried on kissing her.

Narina felt as if her whole body melted into his.

The Gates of Paradise opened for them.

They were no longer two people but one.

*

A long time later Michael murmured,

“Do you still love me, my darling wife?”

“I did not know that love could be so wonderful,” Narina whispered.  “And I did not know that I was capable of feeling anything so unbelievably marvellous.”

“My precious, I will love you until the whole world is filled with love and that is exactly what it will always be now and in the future for us.”

“But you must take great care of yourself, Michael.  How could I lose you now?”

 “You will never lose me, Narina, we have become part of each other and now you are really mine.  Our love will last not only in this life but for many lives to come.”

“Do you really believe that, Michael?”

“Of course, I believe it.  I do know that I have been searching for you in a number of different bodies in some very unusual places, but you have always eluded me.  Now we can
never
be separated –
never
torn apart.”

“That is a marvellous way to think.  Oh, Michael, you have so much to teach me and I want to love you the way you want to be loved.”

“Which is the way you are loving me now and the way I love you. It is what everyone hopes for and prays for in their lives, but few are as fortunate as we are to find each other.”

It passed through Narina's mind that even now at the last moment fate might have kept them apart.

Michael could have easily been killed, if not by the first assassin, then by the second one.

Then she knew that God had blessed them.

They had both survived it all.

As Michael believed, having found the perfection of their love, it would be absolutely impossible for them to lose it, whatever happened in the future.

“I love you,” she repeated over and over again.  “I love you so much, Michael.”

Then as she felt his heart beating against hers, she knew that once again the Gates of Paradise were opening.

As Michael made her his, he carried her up to the sky.

The God who had blessed them was blessing them again.

Whatever happened in this world or the next they would never lose Love.

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