“The Russians were easy,” she replied. “The Queen is another matter.”
He laughed and drew her hand through his arm.
All too soon they were drawing to a halt, the steps were let down and they were admitted into the Palace.
There was a long walk down interminable corridors. Venetia told herself that she was worrying about nothing, but the fact was that she had defied Queen Victoria, the most formidable monarch in the world.
She pictured the Queen sitting aloof on her throne, looking down on them from a great height and hurling down thunderbolts of rage to annihilate them.
She would face it for herself, but she could not bear the thought that she might have harmed her beloved husband.
Then they were facing a pair of ornate double doors, which were opened by two footmen.
“The Earl and Countess of Mountwood, and Mr and Mrs Windham, Your Majesty.”
He stepped aside and Venetia received her first clear view of Queen Victoria.
She almost gasped at what she saw.
There was no sign of the fearsome monarch she had expected. Instead she saw a tiny woman of about sixty with a sad face and weary eyes. She was seated at a desk, gazing at a large picture that stood just in front of her.
It showed a very handsome young man, and Venetia recognised the late Prince Albert, the husband she had loved so devotedly and whose death, eighteen years earlier, had devastated her.
At last she looked up.
“So there you are, Ivan. And this is your wife. And this – ” she indicated for Mary to approach, “this is the young woman who defied me.”
“Oh, Your Majesty please do not be angry with me,” Mary begged. “I didn’t mean to defy you, but David and I were so much in love?”
“And you think love justifies you in disobeying your Queen, do you?”
Mary put her head up.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I do.”
There was a frozen silence. Then the Queen’s face broke into a smile.
“You are perfectly right. True love justifies any risk. When you have found it, you should fight to keep it, even if you have to fight the Queen herself. And the rewards of love are so great, you should seize them while you can.”
But then her smile faded and she turned to Venetia.
“Come here.”
Venetia approached, dropping into a deep curtsy.
“Your Majesty.”
“You cannot claim to have been in love, since I gather you had never met him before you carried Ivan off.”
The Earl stirred.
“Actually Your Majesty, I rather think it was I who carried her off.”
“Nonsense, of course you didn’t,” the Queen said with unexpected robustness. “She made a complete fool of you. If I’d known you were so easily taken in, I would not have sent you to India.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said meekly.
“So what have you got to say for yourself, young woman? You can’t make love your excuse? Were you ambitious for his title?”
“Oh no, Your Majesty,” Venetia said promptly. “I thought he needed improving and I decided I was the right person to do it.”
Queen Victoria’s lips twitched.
“Indeed? And do you think you have improved him?”
Venetia threw her husband a mischievous look before saying,
“I’ve made a start, but there’s still much work to be done.”
This time the Queen laughed out loud.
“Well, you’re well placed to do it,” she said. “He told me yesterday that he was madly in love with you. Has he ever told you that?”
Venetia blushed.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Many times.”
“And he will tell you many times more, I think. Do you love him too?”
She blushed even harder.
“Yes, Your Majesty. With all my heart.”
The Queen gave a little sigh.
“Then that is all that matters. I should never have ordered him to marry a stranger without love. I know, better than anyone, how vital love is and how sad life can be without it.”
She cast a glance at the picture of Prince Albert, and for a moment the elderly woman vanished, replaced by the eager young bride who would love one man all her life, even when he was no longer with her.
“You are wise, all of you,” the Queen said. “You know what is important.”
Her voice grew suddenly husky as she said,
“I pray that you may be luckier than I was and have long lives together.”
“Your Majesty,” Venetia sighed, torn with sympathy.
“Go now!” the Queen commanded. “We will meet again and then we will talk more. You will find my wedding gifts to you on the table. Take them as you leave. Now go.”
Their gifts, which they opened in the corridor outside, were exquisite pieces of porcelain from the Queen’s collection. She herself had handwritten the message.
“She forgave us before we came here,” Venetia exclaimed in wonder.
“Of course,” her husband told her. “She will forgive anything for love. She understands the bond that unites us, my darling.
“And she has wished us the greatest gift – that we will share long lives together. That is my prayer too, that we shall always have each other, from now until the end of time.”
“Until the end of time,” Venetia murmured. “So much and so little to want. And as we have it, we have everything.”
Mary and David had walked ahead of them and were standing in a corner, clasped in each other’s arms. They joined Ivan and Venetia and the four of them walked out of the Palace, leaving behind the woman, their Queen, who had known love, lost it and found the strength to bless them.
In the radiance of that blessing, they emerged into the sunlight and saw that it streamed ahead of them all the way into eternity.
Sailing to Love Page 14
