Full Circle , livre ebook

Full Circle
Daisy Wood
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-01-31
Full Circle About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgment Prologue Chapter One Stewart Chapter Two Andrew and Elizabeth Chapter Three Lady Margaret Chapter Four Alexander Chapter Five St Michael’s Chapter Six Revelations Chapter Seven Isle of Wight and More Revelations Chapter Eight Wheatley Chapter Nine The Unexpected and First Child Chapter Ten Exeter and Lady Catherine Chapter Eleven James Fairweather, Bearcroft and Exeter Chapter Twelve To Speak the Truth Chapter Thirteen The Inquest Chapter Fourteen The Thank You and Spike Chapter Fifteen Christmas 1786 and the Threat Chapter Sixteen Inquest of Lord Stanhope, Laudanum and the Inner Temple Chapter Seventeen The Telling and the Birth Chapter Eighteen Daisy, the Journey to London and Vindication Chapter Nineteen Return, Confessions and Threats Chapter Twenty Spike, Secrets, Cousin Charlotte and Re-Interment Chapter Twenty-One Cousin Charlotte’s Letter, Second Child and Alexander’s Story Chapter Twenty-Two Affection and Baptism Chapter Twenty-Three The Letter, Sorrow and the Mending Chapter Twenty-Four Wheatley’s Wedding Chapter Twenty-Five William Master, a Sister and a Betrothal Chapter Twenty-Six Margaret and Charlotte Chapter Twenty-Seven The Loan and Compassion of a Debt Paid Chapter Twenty-Eight An Unexpected Proposal Chapter Twenty-Nine Charlotte and Alexander’s Wedding and a Father’s Pain Chapter Thirty Letters, Men Bearing Shovels and Disclosures Chapter Thirty-One The Ride to Bath and the Dual Chapter Thirty-Two Oblivion and Recovery Chapter Thirty-Three Convalescence, a Journey and the Precious Gift of Healing Chapter Thirty-Four Home and Another Letter Chapter Thirty-Five The Voyage, Rapallo and Healing Chapter Thirty-Six Abduction Chapter Thirty-Seven Return Home Chapter Thirty-Eight The Letters and Jane’s Birth Chapter Thirty-Nine Elizabeth’s Letter, Spike and Pip Chapter Forty The Journey to Dumfries and Forgiveness Chapter Forty-One Reconciliation and Renewal of Love Chapter Forty-Two Redemption of the Mind and the Taking of Catherine Chapter Forty-Three Catherine and Northcott―The Chase Chapter Forty-Four The Rescue Chapter Forty-Five The Sword of Damocles Chapter Forty-Six The Ides of November Chapter Forty-Seven Baia Della Pace Chapter Forty-Eight Deliverance from Evil and Family Lost Chapter Forty-Nine Memories Resurrected Chapter Fifty James and Catherine Chapter Fifty-One Alison Northcott and Exoneration Chapter Fifty-Two The Dinner and Family Reunited Chapter Fifty-Three Scotland Chapter Fifty-Four The Man with Scar Chapter Fifty-Five Journey to Midcraven Hall, Christmas, Scotland and a Betrothal Chapter Fifty-Six The Threat and the Return Chapter Fifty-Seven Death, Birth, a Father’s Love and Rapprochement Bibliography Glossary
About the Author
Daisy Wood has lived in London for most of her life. She started writing this book when she was 20, but then life took a different path and it was left. Many years later when she had retired, she found her work hidden at the back of a cupboard where it had lain for nearly 50 years. Having time on her hands now, she decided to finish the story, which has taken two years to complete, never dreaming it would be published.
Dedication
For my mum and dad, because they always believed in me.
Thank you.
Copyright Information ©
Daisy Wood (2020)
The right of Daisy Wood to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528911351 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528959773 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgment
First and foremost, I thank my family. They are all within the pages of this book, and many characters bear their names, as well as their personalities, gentle kindness and humour. They were my inspiration. Especially my maternal grandparents, who take on the roles of Mrs Cottle and Spike. It was while researching my ancestors that I also gained a wealth of knowledge regarding certain places in England.
I thank my friends Beryl Watson and Eileen Jones, for though they are unaware that I have written this book, they too are hidden within the story. Throughout our friendship, they have encouraged me, believed in me and given me support without their even knowing it.
I give a special thank you to my friend and work colleague Paola Leonardi, who helped me with the Italian translations. Bless you.
Also, to another Italian friend of my youth, Marisa – it is nearly 50 years since I last saw her, but it was through her that the Italian connection came into being. I know not where you are Marisa, but thank you.
Finally, to my publishers, Austin Macauley, who took a great leap of faith in publishing this book. Without them this would never have happened, and for that you have my heartfelt thanks.

’Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
as dreams are made on; and our little life
is rounded with a sleep.’
The Tempest Act 4, scene 1
William Shakespeare
Prologue
The year is 1786 and the small Willows Estate nestles deep in the quiet countryside of Wiltshire, not far from Mere. The roaming country manor “The Willows” in the heart of the estate has been in the family for some generations. It was an estate once owned by the late Earl of Fenwick, and was inherited by his great nephew George MacMartin from Lochiel who left Scotland and took up residence there in 1716, later marrying the Lady Abigail Pembroke from Wilton in 1717. They had had two children, George and Jane, but tragedy struck the family just four years after the birth of their daughter, Jane, when in 1724, Lady Abigail died of a fever that took only two days to consume her, leaving her grieving husband to care for his two small children. They lived their lives in relative peace till the son, it was said, met with an untimely death while serving with the army abroad. It was after his death that George MacMartin changed his name to Martin, devoting his life to his daughter Jane, wanting above all else to keep her shielded from the world around him. She was, after all, his sole heir.
While visiting a friend’s home in London, Lady Jane, at the impressionable age of nineteen, met her mild-mannered Scotsman Charles Hamilton who hailed from Edinburgh. Lady Jane’s heart was his from the beginning, but when Charles Hamilton offered a proposal of marriage to her father, he met stern opposition. It was only after much pleading and many tears that her father consented to the marriage with the proviso that they made their home in The Willows in the West Country; he would not have his daughter taken from him to live in some wild remote area of Scotland―he loved his country but he knew only too well the dangers there.
Charles Hamilton was the third-born and youngest son of a family of five; his father was a Scottish Lord of the house of Hamilton from Edinburgh. Being the youngest son, he had no claim to title or lands, just money left to him by his grandfather. So when they married in 1739, Lady Jane’s father made the estate over to his daughter and Charles Hamilton, to be held in custody for their first born son. If there be no son, then the first born daughter. In the event of no children and Charles Hamilton survived his wife, he would inherit. Their happiness though was to be short-lived; for just over a year into the marriage in 1740, Lady Jane died in childbirth. Four years later, her father George Martin was also dead, some said of a broken heart; he had already lost his son, and when he looked at his granddaughter Elizabeth, he could see only his beloved daughter Jane―their deaths were too great for him to endure. Charles Hamilton bereft with grief himself, having been married only a year, never re-married, but lived his life through his only daughter, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Hamilton (like her mother Jane) also married for love. She met Andrew Duncan when his family visited the willows in 1759. He was the second-born son from the Duncan’s of Dundee, and likewise had no claim to lands, just monies endowed to him by his mother. For Andrew Duncan it was a good match. He had no inclination to go into the clergy, which was expected at that time of the second-born male child of any noble family, for he would then become the owner of a substantial estate, albeit in the south west of England. Things were fine within the family until Elizabeth’s father died of the lung sickness which consumed him within six months, just three years after the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth in 1763, but not before he had seen his only grandchild Stewart come safely into the world in 1762.
It was only then that Andrew Duncan changed in character. During the next few years, and after having sold off many acres of land from the estate to pay debtors, he left Elizabeth to go back to Scotland, under circumstances Elizabeth knew only too well. Over the years since then, these dark secrets within The Willows have been bubbling like a cauldron, keeping its occupants in constant reminder of what had happened all those years past. Circumstance and fate will determine the outcome now; and it is very close to surfacing…
Chapter One

Stewart
The hot July sun came streaming through the latticed windows onto the l