Forever Young The Beginning (65 page)

He mounted a horse that had been
brought from a stable nearby and was handed a document. He turned
his mount and walked it to the gate, cantering away. Ian followed
him to el Banco de Rodriguez and then he took the hood off and
waited. Soon Roberto came out of the bank and Ian stepped out of
the shadows saying “Hello Roberto.”

The man whirled, startled and then
smiled and said “Ian, you did this?”

“
Let’s say that Senor Chavez
and I have an understanding now. I believe he has seen the error of
his ways.”

“
He has, and he is seeing to
it that Alicia is released too.”

Ian smiled and nodded as the man
stepped forward and grabbed him in a bear hug and then stepped back
and kissed both of his cheeks. “How did you do this?”

“
I can be
persuasive.”

“
Ian, how can I ever repay
you?”

‘
Friends don’t repay friends
but with friendship. I’ve acted toward you as I would for a valued
friend anywhere. You might ask around and see if there is a bank in
Portugal that might be interested in partnering with Banque de
Lafayette. If not, don’t be concerned. Are you going
home?”

‘
Yes. I leave now. I’ve left
written instructions for the manager here to detail any damages
here and at my apartment, and to ascertain that all of our records
are intact.”

‘
If the least thing is not
to your satisfaction, you have only to tell me via our bank
couriers. Via con Dios, Roberto.”

‘
You are leaving for
Barcelona then tonight?”

‘
Yes. I miss Alandra
already.” he said with a laugh. “We’ll see both of you soon at our
home?”

‘
Yes.” They embraced and
each said goodbye again. Ian waited until Roberto was out of sight
and followed at a distance, choosing a spot to wait and see if any
pursuers came. In two hours he saw no sign of any pursuit so he
bounded away in the night towards the north.

Dinner was done. Alyssa and Damien sat
holding hands across the table, talking about nothing in particular
as young couples often do. “Are we going to see Celeste at her next
performance then?” said Damien.

“
Yes, I always want to
attend one when it is in Paris. She always gets four good seats for
Aunt Caryn and me.”

“
So you met her through
working for your aunt then?”

“
Yes. .Ian brought her here
when she was around twelve years old. The Lafayettes had found
her.”

“
They have a sterling
reputation. I’ve heard that their estate east of Marseille is
magnificent.”

“
Oh, it is, Damien! There is
a waterfall there that you can jump off of, and many scenic things
to see. The chateau is magnificent, but rarely full. Most of the
time there are only maybe six people there besides staff, and
sometimes only two or three.”

“
This Ian fellow, I forget
his last name…”

“
Ian McCloud?”

“
Yes. He always comes to her
concerts when he’s here. She introduced him to the audience once
when I was there. She said something about him saving her life. He
has the reputation of being a savvy banking expert and an
adventurer of sorts. There was all of that business what with him
rescuing that ambassador’s daughter from pirates and
everything.”

“
That’s all true. He married
that girl that he helped rescue too, you know. They live in Spain
now, although he travels to Paris regularly with her. I’ll tell you
something else, Damien. I’d be dead if not for him.”

“
What?”

“
Yes. I was kidnapped a few
years ago. Ian broke into the place and saved me.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes. I was sure that I’d
die that night but he got me safely to my home at that
time.”

‘
Why haven’t I heard of
this?”

“
He asked me not to tell it
and I never have except to you and Celeste. You’re never to breathe
a word about it. He was quite clear about that, and he is no one to
trifle with.”

“
You seem to know him well.
If you don’t mind my asking, were the two of you…
involved?”

“
Well, yes… now and then. He
is sweet by nature but restless also at times. I loved him very
much. He has suffered grievous losses, private things that I won’t
divulge.”

“
You needn’t talk about it
more than you wish.”

She smiled warmly at him and took his
hand as she continued. “He has to travel a fair amount and I’m
always tied up with my career. We had a type of on again off again
thing. I spent too much time with my career to nurture our
relationship when I shouldn’t have. I didn’t realize that at the
time but I do now. I know of no one that I respect
more.”

“
I’m glad that you are so
forthcoming with me about this. I was involved with a girl myself.
I thought it would lead to something better, but it didn’t. I never
felt about her the way I do about you though.” As he spoke, Alyssa
thought
I had my chance, an open
invitation to join them. I could have taken it and had only to ask
and Ian himself would have seen me through the process. We might be
together this day had I only accepted his offer. I closed that door
when I didn’t act at that time I suppose. I was foolish, but what
is done is done.

Lifting his dinner napkin he exposed a
golden ring with a very large exquisite diamond. “Alyssa, will you
marry me? If you say yes, I’ll promise to try to make you the
happiest woman alive. And you’ll make me the happiest man in the
world.”

She sat smiling brilliantly
at Damien thinking
so it’s taken out of my
hands in a manner of speaking. I do love Damien, but I’ll always
love Ian too. I wanted to be a part of Ian’s life and a part of his
entire circle of… others…. He’s married now and lost to me. I’ll
marry Damien then after all. It will be good, and he’ll be a good
husband to me. I’m getting too old to remain single if I want to be
a wife and mother as well as a fashion designer.

“
Yes, Damien. I’d be happy
to be your wife.” She leaned halfway across the table as he did to
meet her halfway with a kiss.

***

Ian and Alandra had a long
visit with her family and went to a number of events with them, and
had them out to their home for dinner several times. The work
at
Barcelona House
was nearing completion. Ian loved to watch Alandra with the
children at those times. He felt bad that he was incapable of
fathering a child, and it was a thing that nagged at him from time
to time, especially when watching her with the children in her
care.

Roberto and Alicia came to stay with
them for two weeks. All of Roberto’s troubles with the Spanish
Crown had vanished as if they were never there. There was news of a
large increase in the numbers of guards posted in the King’s palace
for some reason. Speculation was varied about why that had
happened. Roberto had laughingly related that to Ian who only
smiled and rolled his eyes skyward, never commenting.

After Roberto and Alicia
departed, they packed and took a ship for Marseille. Tom and Celita
remained in charge of
Barcelona
House
and were told that they might not be
back until late spring or early summer. Ian wanted to take Alandra
to the Swiss Confederation and spend a winter there with
her.

The reunion at the Chateau was a
joyous one. Marie doted on Ian and Alandra. Alandra had grown to
love Marie and Henri and she was beginning to think of them both as
a mother and father. Li and Sophia were there, living in Ian’s home
nearby. The boys, Louis and Mustafa were nineteen and twenty one
now, and were both handsome men.

There were several weeks of idyllic
days then, filled with activities such as horseback riding,
swimming and sightseeing as well as wonderful evening
gatherings.

One evening while sitting in the large
parlor of the chateau with everyone Henri mentioned how that
Cosette would have loved to see her brother so nearly grown and
would have been so pleased with his infatuation with Celeste. That
pricked Ian’s’ heart and he thought that of all of the strange
events that had happened to change his life, losing Cosette was by
far the worst.

Alandra and he were sitting
together on a sofa. His eyes moistened as he dwelled on
that.
I’ll never completely get over
losing Cosette
he thought. A hand warmly
took his and he turned to see Alandra smiling sympathetically. He
smiled, blinking away his tears and gathered her into his arms then
and kissed her face softly. “You can tell when I hurt, can’t you
lassie?” She nodded and took one of his hands and kissed it
tenderly, laying her head on his chest.

Marie looked upon the two and caught
Henri’s eye and both smiled at each other. After a bit, Louis had
joined everyone and Henri said “I have something to say to everyone
here. I have been conferring with other colleagues including Karl,
Robert, and Willy. We’ve concluded that France is approaching a
political and economic tipping point. The excesses of the crown and
their foolish wars have bankrupted France. A violent change will
come to France. It may not be until around the end of this century,
but we believe it will come.”

“
Will there be a revolt
against the King then?” asked Louis.

“
We think so. France lost
all possessions east of the Mississippi River in North America to
Britain and Spain after signing a treaty in Paris in 1763 as we all
know. The monarchy has continued to borrow from the human banking
cartel and has accumulated enormous debt, far more than can be
serviced with a sane tax rate. This is happening in Britain, Spain,
and Prussia too. It has started in Italy more recently, but is
worse here. We believe that a revolt could happen and we think that
afterward there may be a dictator put in place by the cartel to
rule France.”

Li asked “Is there no way to be able
to tell when this will happen?”

“
No, but we think it is
years away, even a decade or more. We will take the name of Laforge
for our next move and we’ll relocate to Zurich in the Swiss
Confederation. Steps are now being taken for the Laforges to appear
to be buying some Lafayette enterprises. This will be ongoing over
several years. It will sometimes be done through proxies so as to
appear to be only a string of unrelated events.”

Li asked “Should we look to leave
Europe then?

“
Ian, Marie, and I all think
that America is where our future lies; but there is a lot of unrest
there now and a lot of growing resentment.”

Alandra asked “Will they revolt
against the British Crown? My father tells me of a lot of trouble
over there.”

“
We think so, and we think
it will happen soon. Britain could head that off by simply allowing
the colonies to have representatives in their house of commons. We
think that they won’t do so.”

Li said “Why is that? It seems
sensible to allow their colonies to have some representatives in
the parliament. It would surely be a lot less expensive than
billeting large masses of British troops over there and supplying
them.”

“
My sources say that bad
advice is being given to King George now, coupled with enough
cartel credit to run the government from day to day. The Crown
wants to squeeze as much revenue from their colonies in a short
time as possible to offset their expensive past wars with Spain and
more recently, France and India. It has been costly for them to
both defend their colonies and to drive France out of North
America. Regarding their tax policies and the way they treat their
colonies, they are as short-sighted as the French aristocracy
is.”

Louis said “Do the colonists have a
chance at succeeding?”

“
Likely not without some
help. We think that opportunities will present themselves along the
way when that time comes.”

“
So we’re going to stay out
of that until it is underway then?” asked Mustafa.

“
Yes. We think that Europe
will be torn by wars for decades to come given patterns that are
emerging. America can be isolated from that by her great distance
from Europe. It’s in our long term best interests to go to
America.”

“
Will we go after it’s time
to leave Zurich then?” asked Sophia.

“
That could be about right.
We’ll know more as the time approaches. We’ll leave this chateau in
a few more years and can’t return to it for around forty years if
ever. I hate that because I love it here as all of you do, but it
must be done. In the long term Ian will be asked to start two or
three banks in America. Louis and Mustafa will take over what he
does here in Europe.”

Turning to Louis and Mustafa he said
“Unless you oppose it, you two may be brought over any time from
now to maybe one to two years from now. Alandra has the option of
remaining human or of being brought over when she wants to. It is
to be her choice as Ian’s wife. We all support that.”

Ian said “I’ll remain in
Spain with Alandra. We won’t move but we’ll come and stay with you
all every year. We’ll keep our house here on our place east of the
chateau for a while. I’ll take Alandra with me when I go to America
to start the banks, but she and I will live in Spain when we’re not
with all of you. We have a vested interest in the
Barcelona House
facility
and will be always expanding it.” He turned to her and took her
face between his hands and said “My life is where her life is,
forever.” He saw her eyes looking adoringly at him as he bent to
kiss her.