Chapter 1

Their carriage rolled along with such grace and ease, it was as if the clouds descended from the heavens and made a road for them to ride upon. Margaret, in love with the day, and life itself, slipped her arm through her husband’s arm and cuddled close. “Where are you taking me?” her voice was soft and sweet.

“Oh, you’ll see,” he answered.

Soon the mansion came into view. “Look at that place on the hill,” she remarked. “It’s very striking, isn’t it?”

“It just so happens,” he announced, “that’s exactly where we’re headed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me we were calling on folks? I would have dressed for it. You’ll embarrass me!”

“Not at all,” he assured. “The people who live there are the nicest people anyone would ever want to know, you’ll see.” Michael and Margaret alighted from the carriage and rang the doorbell which summoned the butler he had just hired. “Will you announce us?” Michael asked with a wink in his eye.

“Certainly Sir.” A servant attended to their coats and hats, then escorted them into a very large reception room. Michael excused himself on a pretext and laughed as he and his butler, Charles, were about to play the joke on his wife. A few minutes had passed before Charles entered the reception room. “Madame,” he announced, “the master of the house!”

When Michael turned the corner, Margaret stared at him with a puzzled expression. “Ta da ,” he sang out. She was still bewildered. “Don’t you see my dear?” he announced to her. “We are the people who live here.”

“What?!” she gasped, flinging her hands to her bosom as she fell into a nearby chair. “Wait,” she insisted. It took her a few minutes to regain her breath. She gazed about the room, then looked at her husband whose eyes were fixed on her. “This is ours? We live here?” Needless to say, she fell in love with the gift, so much so, that tears of joy fell from her eyes as she sat there in happiness. Michael watched her every expression and felt completely satisfied by her sincere responses. It was worth it!’ he thought to himself. ‘It was really worth it!’

Margaret’s feelings for him deepened that very moment, feelings which were revealed in her gaze. A trickle of real happiness rippled through Michael’s heart, but the material bliss from the pride he was experiencing pushed aside that true happiness and commanded his full attention once again. As happy as Margaret was at that moment, sadness for her was looming on the horizon, because from that time on, Michael was to be no home body.

More often than Margaret liked, the flair for business and the desire for the sea arose in him prompting him to leave her and Peter home alone again and again, sometimes even for years at a time.