Revelation of Hearts (Stacey and Shane Mcleod, #3)

by Rikki Dyson

  “We’re doing it,” Stacey said and then asked, “Would you like to join us?”

  When Stacey told her where they were, Lora asked Richard, “Would you like to join Shane and Stacey in celebrating her birthday?”

  Unsuspecting Richard said, “Of course, where are they?”

  With a smile on her face, Lora said, “The amusement park.” Ignoring Richard’s protests she said, “We’ll be there darling, where shall we meet?”

  Not ten minutes later, Stacey’s phone rang again. This time it was Annie with the same question. Stacey gave her the same answer and invited them to join them. Stacey said, “It’ll be fun, Aunt Lora and Richard are joining us too.” They all agreed to meet at the ice cream stand just inside the entrance.

  Annie and Hugh arrived first. Hugh was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. He asked, “What are we, a pack of bloody children?”

  “Stop your grumbling Hugh. If you wanna’ be an uncle to our kids the practice will do you good. Ours will be amusement park kids.”

  Richard and Lora arrived shortly after Hugh and Annie. As they devoured ice cream, Richard admitted he had never before been to an amusement park.

  Stacey hugged him and said, “Well my new uncle, you’re in for a treat.”

  At the end of the day, it was a tired, but happy group that said, ‘goodbye,’ at the gate.

  Richard told Stacey, “Thank you for inviting us. I can’t remember having a better time. I feel like a young man again.”

  Lora took his hand and said, “Okay, young man, let’s go home. I have plans for you while you’re still young.”

  The happy group parted laughing. That night after making love to his wife, Shane held her in his arms and told her how much he loved her and how she affected everyone’s life that came in contact with her.

  He asked her, “Do you see how happy Hugh, Annie, Sir Richard and Aunt Lora are? In addition, yours truly, I am the happiest of all. I get to hold you in my arms every night.”

  Shane had surprised Stacey with a diamond and ruby necklace. As usual, she slept in them. After the hot, sticky day at the park, they showered before bed. It was no great surprise when Stacey stepped from the bathroom with nothing on but her rubies.

  Shane said, “I love the way you thank me for my gifts, I suspect we will fill your jewelry box most rapidly.”

  “It’s not necessary to buy me gifts,” Stacey said. “I would love you even without trinkets.”

  “I know that,” Shane said, “That’s one of the reasons I love buying them for you. I know you would never buy them for yourself.”

  Chapter-24

  Ancestors

  Stacey called Sir Richard and asked, “Will Wednesday evening be convenient for Shane and me to come over?”

  “Of course, my dear,” Richard said. “I have long waited for this visit. Please come and have dinner with us.”

  They were having cocktails before dinner, when Richard asked, “Stacey dear, would you care to see a painting I have in the drawing room?”

  “Yes, of course, I would,” Stacey, replied.

  Shane knew the painting to which Richard was referring. Aunt Lora had a concerned look on her face. This worried Shane. He had seen the painting back in the spring, however, he didn’t think then it would upset Stacey. Now he wasn’t sure. Stacey had never seen this part of Richard’s home. The drawing room was very elegant, charming and refined. On the wall next to the library was a covered painting. When Richard pulled back the covering and turned on the light, there stood the past. Stacey stood and looked at the painting sometime not saying a word. Finally, Shane put his arm around Stacey and asked, “Do you recognize these people, sweetheart?”

  Stacey took Shane’s hand and nodded her head, “yes.”

  “Who are they?” Shane asked.

  “It’s the Earl and Countess of Dun-Raven,” she said.

  Stacey turned to Richard and said, “This is why you thought you knew me, isn’t it? I do see a resemblance between her and me as well as him and Shane. Without the beard, the earl would look much like Shane. How did you come by this painting? I hope you don’t mind my asking.”

  “Of course not, my dear. My sister, Carla, gave it to me along with a family journal before she died.”

  “Sweetheart, do you remember seeing this painting before tonight?” Shane asked.

  “Kind of,” Stacey said. “I think it was on a wall in a big room somewhere. It’s like I read a book with pictures and a story.”

  “Do you recognize the children?” Aunt Lora asked.

  With a smile on her face, Stacey said, “Oh yes, of course I do. I know each of their names. After all, they’re our ancestors.” Stacey turned to Richard and said. “You know because of Rodric, Eric

  Fitz-Morgan is related to your ancestors too.”

  “Let’s take a walk upstairs. I have some lovely paintings up there.” When they came to Rodric’s portrait, Richard asked, “Do you remember this young man’s name?”

  Stacey smiled and answered, “Of course, I do. We talked about this before I went home, remember?”

  They walked around the gallery looking at portraits. Stacey asked Richard, “What is the earliest date in your family journal?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “I’ve never looked at it very closely.”

  All of a sudden, Stacey stopped in front of a portrait of a lovely older woman. Tears came to her eyes. Shame came to her immediately. “What’s wrong sweetheart? Is this lady from your dream?” Stacey just stood there not saying a word. Shane asked again, “Who is she, Stacey?” Stacey wiped her tears away and said in an older, husky voice, “Cassandra, my youngest daughter.”

  Aunt Lora, stunned at Stacey’s transformation said, “Enough of this, I’m starving let’s go eat.”

  At the table, Stacey seemed herself again. She told Richard what a lovely home he had. Richard thanked her and told her after his father died he had the whole place refurbished and modernized. It was Victorian and dismal before the decorators took over. Richard put his arm around Lora and said, “I’m sure this lovely lady will brighten it even more.”

  With a smile on her face Aunt Lora said, “Richard has invited a few of his friends in on Saturday night to introduce his wife. Would you two honor us with your presence? I want to invite Annie and Hugh too, I’ll need friendly faces.”

  Shane turned to Stacey. “Sure,” she said. “It’ll be fun.”

  “Jolly good,” Richard said. “It’ll be an honor to introduce my friends to my new family.”

  It had been a lovely evening. Nothing more was mentioned about the paintings or the people from the past. Shane was wondering if Stacey was going to say anything about the portrait of Cassandra. They said their good nights, around eleven. On the way home, they talked about the coming party and about how happy Aunt Lora and Richard are and how perfect they are for one another, but not a word about the paintings, therefore Shane was reluctant to bring it up in conversation.

  The next morning, when Shane walked into his office Aunt Lora was waiting for him. He was surprised to see her and asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “That’s why I’m here, to ask you the same thing, is Stacey okay?”

  “Yes, of course, why would you think otherwise?”

  “After her reaction to the paintings last night I wasn’t sure. Was her response what you expected?”

  Shane sat down behind his desk, ran his fingers through his hair and said, “I’m not sure what I expected her reaction to be, but I’m not sorry those memories are starting to diminish. As far as I’m concerned, they can bloody well go back to the past where they belong. You didn’t see what happened to her in Scotland when she discovered these people she knew only from her dream were actually long dead ancestors belonging to both our lineage. She went into shock; no, it was stronger than that. She was terrified of being catapulted back into the past. She held on to me for dear life. My mother and dad arrived and Dad gave her a tranquilizer to calm her. Aunt Lora, I
watched her pull herself back from that abyss, by pure will power and self-determination. I don’t want her to ever be caught up in that shadowy, dark world of the past again. She is happy and secure with me and I want to keep her that way.”

  “I think we’re on the same page Shane. Those are my feelings too.”

  Chapter-25

  Introduction party

  Stacey and Shane were getting dressed to go to the cocktail party at Sir Richard and Aunt Lora’s. It was semiformal, so Stacey was wearing her black chiffon dress she bought when at Maxwell house for the Wakefield manor party. Tonight she was wearing her ruby necklace that Shane gave her for her twenty-second birthday.

  Shane was dressed and waiting as he watched Stacey putting the finishing touch to her make-up. She still didn’t use much, just lipstick and eye shadow. He remembered the black chiffon dress fondly and how it had floated to the floor as he had unzipped it while kissing Stacey. It was the night of the party at Wakefield manor. He had wanted her desperately, however, he never dreamed she felt the same. No one was more surprised than he was while kissing her good night, she lead him into her bedroom.

  When he realized he was her first, a possessiveness, and then love over took him. Stacey was so different from any other woman he had ever known. She was great fun to be with and a joy to behold. She brought vitality to his life he had never before known. From the age of seventeen, his life was consumed with his desire to be a doctor. Of course, there had been other women, however, nothing serious. The fire of his soul burned to be a doctor of neurology and the best neurosurgeon. This was his life and his love. Marriage and children did not enter into the equation. Not until Stacey walked into his well ordered life and turned it upside down.

  At the get, ‘Acquainted Party,’ Stacey and Shane were among the first guests to arrive. Aunt Lora was a bit nervous about meeting Richard’s friends. Stacey told her, “There’s nothing for you to be nervous about. You’re a beautiful, red headed, Texas woman. You’ll knock’em dead.”

  Lora was wearing a mint green chiffon halter cocktail dress with a bare back that came just above her knees. Lora had the body and legs of a much younger woman. Richard was so proud of his wife and was anxious to introduce her to his close friends. Richard had been a confirmed bachelor for so many years. Now everyone was curious to meet the woman who had won his heart.

  The evening was progressing well. Most of Richard’s friends were around his age. Shane, Stacey, Annie and Hugh were the youngest guests there. Shane had met and was having a conversation with the father of a patient he had once had. They were standing at the far end of the drawing room. Shane looked up and noticed Stacey was standing alone in front of the portrait of the Fitz-Morgan family.

  Shane excused himself, and went to join her. When he put his arm around her waist, Stacey smiled at him and said, “They were such a happy family.”

  “Yes, they look happy,” Shane, said. “Do you think we resemble them?”

  Stacey studied the painting, and then said, “Maybe when we’re their age we will. Shane, I think it’s time I go to York. Do you wanna go with me?”

  Shane leaned over, kissed her hair and said, “Yes I do, they’re my ancestors now too. I have been with you from the first of this; I want to be with you at the finish also.”

  Stacey a bit agitated said, “No Shane, not finished, closure maybe, but never finished. As long as you and I live and our descendants, hopefully there’ll never be a finish.”

  Shane turned her towards him and said, “Well, now that you put it that way I do see your point. Maybe we should go home and start doing something about creating these descendants.”

  Stacey smiled at her husband and said, “Give me a minute to check on Aunt Lora and we’ll make our getaway.”

  Aunt Lora was caught up with a matronly lady, who was showing her photographs of her children and grandchildren. When Stacey came to her rescue, she said, “Oh, thank you darling. I didn’t know how to politely get away from her. I must load up with photos of you children so I can bore the knickers off of her.”

  Stacey laughed and said, “I see you’re holding your own quite well, so Shane and I are leaving. He’s in the mood for creating descendants and I really don’t wanna miss out on that. I hope you understand.”

  Lora laughed, hugged her great niece and said, “Oh yes, I understand quite well. Carry on my darling. I’ll call you in a day or two.”

  Stacey hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, “Do you think Richard would mind if I took his family journal home with me, so I can familiarize myself with it? I feel there must be a closer tie than the one I know about for his family to have paintings of the Dun-Raven family.”

  Aunt Lora got the impression Stacey was distancing herself from the Fitz-Morgan’s, by referring to them as the Dun-Raven family. “Stay right here darling. I’ll go ask him,” Lora said.

  Shane came to where Stacey was waiting. She told him why she was waiting. Aunt Lora was back in no time with the journal.

  Chapter-26

  Trip to York

  Shane’s usual half day off, was Wednesday afternoon. He and Hugh often spent it together playing golf, rugby or working out at the athletic club, where they both had been members for the past few years. It had become, almost a ritual, for Stacey and Annie to meet their husbands for supper at the club every couple of weeks or so, but Stacey had been thinking more and more of going to York to resume her search for information on the people from the past.

  Shane wasn’t about to let Stacey go to York without him, so he canceled his appointments and booked a flight for himself and Stacey to leave for York on Tuesday night and return on Sunday. He felt sure they would find whatever there was to find in four days time.

  Stacey had been through Richard’s journal. She found a few familiar names from the past. As well as a discrepancy such as Rodric and Callie’s granddaughter, Katherine Suzanne, had been omitted and their great-granddaughter, Katherine Anne inscribed in her place. It was understandable how it happened, with their names being so similar.

  Stacey also took note that Katherine and Guy Spencer’s daughter Sarah, married Henry Ashworth, and their daughter, Rebecca had married Michael Woodstock. Stacey knew Cassandra’s daughter Eleanor had married Thomas Woodstock. Could this Michael, be a descendant? She would look into that. The old countess had had twin daughters, Jessica and Jacquelyn. Jackie had married Colin Ashworth. This Henry may have been a descendent of hers.

  When the plane landed, the fog was just rolling in. By the time they reached the hotel, it was dense. The next morning it was still thick, almost impenetrable. The main library didn’t open until nine a.m. Neither did the historical society. Stacey felt sure her answers would lie in one of these establishments. They had breakfast at the hotel, then made notes and laid their plans for the day. Stacey knew both Finwick and Falcon Crest had been destroyed around the same time as Dun-Raven met its demise.

  The library was full of information on the Plantagenet’s and the Wakefield domain. There was a reference to the earls of Dun-Raven, however, nothing personal or individual. The same thing when they found Finwick and Falcon Crest. The last lords of Finwick where Matthew and William Fitz-Morgan. Both deceased in fourteen-sixty-one at Towton. No issue. When Stacey and Shane left the library, the sun was shining. The fog had totally disappeared.

  At the historical society, they found a treasure of information, but it took much perseverance and determination to sort through it. Stacey was so glad Shane had come along. He was much better at math than she was. While she was calculating on paper, he did it in his head faster.

  Stacey smiled at him and said, “I’m so lucky I married a calculus genius.”

  Shane leaned towards her and said in a whisper, “Just one of my many talents.”

  Stacey giggled and a man down the table from them gave them an aggravated look.

  Shane quietly told Stacey, “I think we may have rankled the old boy a bit.”

  They took their books an
d papers and moved down the table a little farther away.

  Stacey took a paper with names and dates from her shoulder bag. She started her search by looking for Henry Ashworth around fourteen-seventy-six. That was when he wed Sarah Spencer. Shane was looking for Michael Woodstock around the year fourteen-ninety-six. That was the recorded date he wed Rebecca, the daughter of Sarah and Henry Ashworth.

  While Shane was looking for Woodstock’s, he found quite a few Ashworths, all the way back to fourteen-hundred. When Shane found a Payton Ashworth, he asked Stacey, “Are you familiar with the name Payton Ashworth?”

  Stacey stopped what she was doing and came to him. “Show me,” she said.

  Shane watched Stacey as she read the name. Finally, he asked, “Who was he?”

  Stacey said with sorrow in her voice, “Payton Ashworth was the grandson of the seventh Earl and Countess of Dun-Raven. He had two sons, Payton II and Ross.”

  “Look at this name sweetheart,” Shane said as he pointed to the name, Ross Ashworth, born on are around fourteen-thirty-three. Father Payton Ashworth, mother Jane Wentworth-Ashworth. Ross Eric Ashworth wed, Amy Lucille Rogers, fourteen-fifty-three, Henry Ashworth, born fourteen-fifty-three.

  Shane gave Stacey one of his devilish grins and said, “They didn’t waste anytime, did they?” They read on, Henry Ashworth wed-fourteen-seventy-six, to Lady Sarah Spencer, born fourteen-sixty-two. “What does Sir Richard’s journal say?” Shane asked.

  “About the same,” Stacey said, “But it’s just the female line.”

  “Well, there’s certainly more names here than just the one Female,” Shane said. “There were four males born after Sarah.”

  Stacey sat with her chin resting on her fist gazing into space. She turned to Shane and said, “There was no way people knew about DNA back then, so why the emphasis on the female line?”

  Shane asked, “Isn’t there an old belief or doctrine about the daughters of Eve and Adam’s first wife, Lilith?”

  Stacey looked at Shane with surprise and admiration in her eyes and said, “I’ve heard of the Lilith festival, but I didn’t know she was Adam’s first wife.”