Chapter 13
The Light at the End
Wharton Manor – August, 2012
Brandt pulled into the gate at Wharton Manor and, passing slowly along the long tree-lined driveway, he took in the rolling countryside comprising the grounds of the manor.
Patience turned to Brandt, naively understating, “Wow! This place is gorgeous, dear! Why did you say that Aunt Winnie is here?”
“According to her, she’s visiting. Anyway, she made me promise that we would visit as soon as we were married. And here we are. I realize it’s not exactly the honeymoon you had in mind, but we shall drive north from here to Scotland, and when we get to the Northwest Highlands, you will understand why I begged you to honeymoon with me in my native land.”
“It was an easy choice, Brandt. I had no particular desire to honeymoon in my native land of Nebraska!” At this they both giggled, Patience touching his hand affectionately as he drove onward.
The Porsche came to a measured stop directly in front of the manor entry, Brandt and Patience taking in the scenery as they emerged from the vehicle.
Continuing to gush, Patience exclaimed, “This place is ridiculous! What I wouldn’t give to live somewhere like this. What sort of people must live in such a place?”
“I’ve no idea, I assure you, but I suspect we’re about to find out. We shall make our visit as brief as possible, and then we shall get on with our honeymoon,” Brandt replied serenely.
The entryway door opening at that moment, an aged man in a formal black suit stepped out, announcing, “Welcome to Wharton Manor, Doctor and Madame MacCauley! I am Smithers, the house master. May I help you with your luggage?”
At this Brandt turned, and winking at Patience, he covertly conveyed his joint complicity with her at the snootiness of their welcome. He then stepped forward and held out his hand to Smithers, responding, “Good to meet you, Mr. Smithers. I am Brandt, and this is my wife, Patience.”
Smithers shook both their hands ceremonially and, subsequently waving one hand towards the manor, he commanded, “Please follow me if you will. The Earl is awaiting your arrival.”
By now more than sufficiently intimidated, Patience whispered to Brandt, “Earl? You didn’t tell me, dear!”
“It must have slipped my mind,” Brandt replied with a well-timed second wink. The pair followed Smithers into the manor, whereupon they were treated to an expansive and magnificent entryway. “Wow!” Patience exclaimed for the second time within minutes.
At that precise moment Aunt Winnie strode into the room, exclaiming excitedly, “Ah, Brandtie boy! Welcome! Welcome to Wharton Manor!” She embraced Brandt heartily, as if he were still a child, thenceforth advancing to Patience and exclaiming joyously, “And Patience! My dear child, tis so lovely to see you again. I had hoped that the spark that I sensed between you and my Brandtie was not my own imagination when you visited me in Stirling, and it seems that my intuition was spot-on, for look at the pair of you now, joined as husband and wife! My, my, it is all simply too grand for words!”
At this extemporaneous outflow, both Brandt and Patience were totally speechless, neither having managed to retain the train of thought they had entertained on their arrival. Simply gawking at the surreal surroundings, they nodded their complicit agreement with Aunt Winnie. Observing their astonishment, Aunt Winnie took charge, announcing imperiously, “My dears, I see that the long drive from Italy has worn you out. Please, follow me. The others are waiting in the sitting room for your much anticipated arrival.”
“Others?” Brandt queried as he and Patience followed her forward.
“Yes, of course, my dear. You don’t think that I could possibly live here all by myself, do you?”
“Live here? You live here?” Patience blurted out.
“But I thought that you lived in Stirling,” Brandt interrupted.
“No, my dear. I’ve actually never lived in Stirling. We own a cottage there. I use it only on occasion, to get away, as it were.”
“Cottage!” Brandt exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. “All these years, I thought that it was palatial. And now you inform me that it is just a cottage!”
“Well, it is rather cozy, isn’t it,” Aunt Winnie responded haughtily. “Here we are,” she continued, gliding elegantly into the sitting room. “Brandt MacCauley, I would like you to meet Lord Trevor Sutherland, the Earl of Winston.”
Hazarding a brief glance towards Patience, Brandt nevertheless managed to advance and shake hands with the Earl.
Lord Sutherland proffered, “So good to finally meet you after all these years, Brandt, my boy. Winnie has told me so much about you. Here, you simply must give me a hug,” and at this he accorded Brandt a patronly embrace. He then turned to Patience, exclaiming genially, “And you must be Patience, the newest member of the family. Come to me, my dear. I must say, you are quite lovely indeed. I am delighted to meet you both at long last!” and he punctuated this last with a fatherly embrace for her as well. He then stepped back and, glancing toward Aunt Winnie, he apparently awaited her bidding.
“And now,” Aunt Winnie announced ceremoniously, “I am most honored to introduce to the both of you the matriarch of the Sutherland family, Lady Felicité Sutherland,” at which a quite elderly but nevertheless spry woman arose and came forward. She was tall for her age, and her noble and elegant bearing imparted the impression of good health and strong intellect. Her hair, though snowy white, was elegantly coiffured, the perfect complement to her gorgeous blue floor-length gown.
Halting before Brandt, she extended her hand to him, volunteering ingenuously, “It is indeed a great pleasure to meet you, young man. We have been awaiting your arrival with enormous anticipation.” She then turned to Patience, offering, “And you, my child, you must one day tell me all about Castiglion Fiorentino!”
“It would be my pleasure,” Patience responded, rendered nearly speechless by her impressive aura.
Felicité now commanded imperiously, “Right, we must all be seated and ‘catch up’ on old times, as you Americans say.” After everyone had seated themselves, she continued, saying, “You must forgive me if I digress from time to time, my captive audience, but, as I am ninety-two years old, there is much to tell!” At this everyone smiled convivially in anticipation of her soliloquy, it being by now apparent to both Brandt and Patience that there was a well-planned script to be followed among their hosts.
Now commencing in earnest, Felicité imparted, “Brandt and Patience, we three have deceitfully plotted together for the purpose of attracting you here today, and for that we beg your pardon in advance, but we are indeed quite hopeful that when you are apprised of the reasons behind our deception, you shall magnanimously accept our apology.”
Completing her preamble, she then plunged forth with her obviously carefully planned speech, “My dears, I was born in Castiglion Fiorentino in 1919, the daughter of a French academic and an Italian Jewess,” and at this pronouncement Patience gasped in surprise. “Yes, my dear, you now live where I was born nearly a century ago, and I shall want to hear all about it shortly, as I have not returned there since I was little more than a year old. But I digress.
“To make a lengthy story short, I met my future husband Trant right out there in the entryway to Wharton Manor in the summer of 1940, shortly before the Battle of Britain. I shall not delve into the details of our courtship, but let me say that I behaved in a decidedly unladylike manner toward my future husband on that weekend long ago.
“As you doubtless know, World War II subsequently intervened, and at the end of the war, Trant and I somehow managed to patch up our differences, thereby leading to our marriage. I digress yet again, but let me say that it was indeed quite a fabulous marriage. Trant was and is the love of my life, but I shall leave the details of that part to my daughter-in-law to supply for you at a later time.”
At this last revelation Brandt, unable to contain himself, interrupted her
to inquire, “Your daughter-in-law? Who might your daughter-in-law be?”
Shooting a withering glance at him, Felicité responded haughtily, “Why, Lady Sutherland, of course!”
Brandt, by now totally confused, exclaimed, “But I thought that you were Lady Sutherland!”
“Yes, but in point of fact the pejorative term in this case is ‘was’, my dear Brandt. I was Lady Sutherland until my own Lord Sutherland passed away in 1986. My son Trevor became the Earl of Winston on the death of my husband Trant, and his wife became Lady Sutherland, as she remains today.”
Brandt, nonetheless still confused, reiterated, “But who is the current Lady Sutherland?”
Surprised by his continued confusion, Felicité surreptitiously pointed to Aunt Winnie, announcing, “Why, she is, of course! My daughter-in-law Rebecca is the wife of Lord Sutherland, the current Earl of Winston.”
At this completely unanticipated revelation Brandt’s jaw dropped and, rising slowly from his chair, he peered with wide-eyed surprise toward Patience, subsequently glanced at the Earl, and, finally settling his gaze on Aunt Winnie, he uttered, “Aunt Winnie! This is all too much! Why did you never tell me?”
“My child,” she offered mirthfully, “It never seemed important when you were young.”
“But I thought that you were a spinster living in Stirling. All those years…” and his voice slowly tapered off in confusion.
“Yes, my dear,” she said, taking up his sentence, “All those years, I was simply visiting our cottage in Scotland for the purpose of caring for you.”
“But why?”
Aunt Winnie stared at him for a moment, confessing, “Brandt, surely you know that I am childless. I loved you as if you were my own son. I still do…” and now her voice tapered off as well.
At this Brandt surged forward and, lowering himself on one knee before her, he embraced her, responding, “As do I, Aunt Winnie, as do I.”
Brandt now retook his seat, Felicité recommencing her tale, “I believe that this completes my portion of the telling of the family history. Thus, I must now give over to Rebecca. And by the way, she is still Rebecca to me, despite Trevor’s attempts to change her name!” At this, the group twittered pleasantly and forthwith turned to Aunt Winnie, ergo Lady Sutherland, nee Rebecca.
Aunt Winnie now took up the story, explaining, “I was born in Danville, Virginia. So you see, despite my acquired English accent, I am American, as are you,” and at this she gestured to Patience. “I met my husband Trevor while I was in college at The University of Virginia. While he is fond of calling me Winnie, I have relegated for him the much more distinctive title of ‘Jerk’, as he was a particularly unsavory character at that point time. Brandt, I’m sure that Patience has already imparted to you the story of my poorly conceived striptease act of yore, has she not?”
“Yes, she told me, Aunt Winnie,” Brandt responded with embarrassment.
“Yes, well, that is certainly handy. I can therefore skip over the details and simply say that ‘Trevor the Jerk’ here played a seminal part in my wayward behavior, but the pair of us somehow righted our respective ships of passage, eventually crossing paths a second time, whereupon our mutual attraction demonstrated itself, thus leading to our subsequent marriage. So there in a nutshell is how I came to be Lady Sutherland, the wife of both an Earl and a Jerk. And I might add, this lovely man on my right is indeed the love of my life!” at which everyone snickered yet again.
At this point Lord Sutherland, ergo ‘Jerk’, spoke up, saying, “And now we come to my part of the tail.” He rose from his chair and, as if there were something profound to be said, he announced, “Right, you are doubtless aware that Rebecca is your aunt, my boy.”
“Yes, sir,” Brandt replied. “Aunt Winnie, er, Rebecca, had an older half-brother who was born in Scotland and remained there when her mother divorced and moved to America. Her half-brother was my father. He died when I was seventeen, and my mother passed away while I was at Cambridge.”
“Precisely,” Lord Sutherland responded. “Now, this is a bit complicated, but let me cut to the chase, my boy. You doubtless understand by this point that we are all in this room related, and in most cases by blood.”
“Yes, sir,” Brandt responded blankly.
“Yes, well, we want you to know that we intend to exercise our rights as family members to encroach upon your lives as often as we see fit!” Lord Sutherland posited genially.
“What!” Brandt responded, turning to Patience, who was herself rendered speechless by this revelation. Regaining his lost composure, Brandt rejoined with a grin, “Why, sir, that is most kind of you. Patience and I are wayward mutts. With the exception of Aunt Winnie, we have lamented the lack of family, and here we find that we are not alone after all. This is certainly a most welcome revelation to us both, I am sure,” at which Patience nodded her complicity. “And may I say, we would be most honored to be ‘encroached’ upon by family, and furthermore, it is our most earnest desire to provide additional members to this family just as soon as humanly possible.”
“Excellent!” Lord Sutherland responded, the two women joining in with nods of approval. “Now, as members of your family, we feel obliged to contribute to your well-being in any way that we can. Therefore, I must ask you a prying question – are you in fact well set?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“We of course know that you are CEO of Restoring Patience. Does that supply you with a viable income?”
“No, sir,” Brandt replied. “It is a ceremonial position, and as such, it provides no income whatsoever to us.”
“Dear me! Well then, are you perhaps otherwise employed?”
“No, sir, I am not. I resigned from my position at Cal Tech recently,” Brandt responded.
“Oh, dear me,” Lord Sutherland responded dejectedly, but suddenly brightening, he volunteered, “Not to worry, we shall provide financial support to the extent that we are able. I assume that you have some sort of starting point.”
“Yes, sir, we own an ice cream parlor in Castiglion,” Brandt offered noncommittally.
“Dear me, is there nothing else?” Lord Sutherland queried in apparent distress.
Now grinning slyly, Brandt volunteered, “Well, there is one thing…”
“Excellent!” Lord Sutherland proffered, “And what might that be?”
“Well, sir, I own a few patents,” Brandt replied matter-of-factly.
“Oh, I say, jolly good show!” Lord Sutherland responded. “And, if I may be presumptuous, how much do they return per annum?”
“Oh, about forty million dollars,” Brandt supplied implacably.
His eyes abruptly widening at this and, glancing round the room, Lord Sutherland understated with mock solemnity, “Right, then. Perhaps that will do...”
Allowing a momentary silence for this revelation to sink in, Lord Sutherland then recommenced with, “And now, my nephew and new-found niece, there remains but one small piece of information to impart - one that I must say we in this room are most delighted to inform you of today. We three have performed an exhaustive study of the Sutherland family tree going back two centuries, and we find that, according to English law, there is only one remaining heir to the Earldom of Winston upon my passing. It is my distinct honor to inform you, Brandt MacCauley, that you are indeed that person.”
Epilogue
When I was a boy I spent parts of each winter with my Aunt Winnie in Stirling. Aunt Winnie taught me many lessons in life. One day she taught me that patience is the parent of compassion, and compassion is borne within the heart. And although I found her tale of a lady bug and a spider to be a highly unlikely example of such, I determined to remember her lesson, because my aunt seemed to me to be very wise indeed.
Many years passed during which I sought meaning to my life. And I suppose inevitably, one day I encountered a lady bug that was pursued by a vicious spider. Recalling the lesson taught to me by my aunt,
I determined to patiently bestow the lady bug with unwavering compassion. And though the lady bug was forced to endure enormous hardship for many years, she survived and, quite inexplicably, she eventually produced countless extraordinary offspring. And then one day, against all odds, the offspring of the lady bug dispatched the vicious spider. However improbably, the story that my aunt had imparted to me so long ago had somehow come to pass.
Only then did I understand that compassion is initially born within the heart, but when dire circumstances arise, it must also be borne within the heart. And very rarely, when compassion is both born and borne within the heart, it can in fact lead to the most precious gift of all – love. And so it was that the very object of my patience and compassion - the lady bug - disclosed to me the meaning of my life.