101. A Call of Love (18 page)

“I thought you would understand that,” the Major said. “Not only am I marked, but so is my daughter and so is Lord Kenington.”

“I assure you,” the Viceroy replied, “you will have every possible protection to speed you home safely. And I will immediately arrange for you to travel in my private train to Calcutta.”

“I shall enjoy that,” the Major murmured.

“And also,” the Viceroy continued, “for you to be taken to England by
H.M.S. Victorious
which is in port at the moment.”

“An Ironclad – how exciting!” Aisha cried.

“I thought it would please you.” “You have forgotten one thing,” Lord Kenington said.

“What is that?” the Viceroy quizzed him.

“
H.M.S. Victorious
would give us a delightful if unusual honeymoon, but I think that we should be married first!”

“Of course!” the Viceroy agreed. “And, as I intend to be your Best Man, Charles, you can be married here in my Private Chapel before anyone else is awake.”

Aisha and Lord Kenington looked at each other.

“That will be wonderful,” she whispered.

A servant brought in food and the Viceroy insisted on drinking their health in champagne.

“My throat is so dry that this is a joy,” Aisha said. “Usually I don’t particularly like champagne.”

“It is the right thing for you to drink at this moment to celebrate our engagement, short though it may be,” Lord Kenington said, “but his Lordship is correct, the sooner we leave this country the better and I think that you should have some sleep after all you have been through.”

When they went upstairs, Aisha found her bedroom and Lord Kenington looked in the room next door.

“This room is empty,” he said, “and this is where I am going to sleep tonight.”

“I think actually it is something I should do,” the Major answered, “but, as my room is on this corridor only a little way down, I will allow you to begin immediately being Aisha’s personal protector!”

“I am very grateful, Major, because if I was far away, I would find it impossible to sleep for worrying that she would fly out of the window before I could prevent it!”

“I am not going to fly anywhere, but stay with both of you and it will be lovely if we all go home together, so that I can talk to the two men whose conversation I really find enthralling.”

“We can talk tomorrow,” her father said. “Now I am going to bed, but first I am going to thank God that you are safe and unharmed. I know that in itself is a miracle.”

“I am going to thank God too,” Lord Kenington came in, “not only because I will have the most beautiful and adorable wife any man has ever been lucky enough to find, but also an extremely distinguished and clever father-in-law.”

They all laughed and Aisha added,

“And I am the luckiest girl in the world because I have you both.”

She kissed her father and then, as he tactfully went to his room, she held out her arms to Lord Kenington.

“I love and adore you,” he sighed, as he drew her close to him. “I love you until I find it impossible to find words to tell you how much.”

“When did you first know you loved me?” “I think I loved you from the very first moment you came to me for help. But I was so determined not to be married and to remain a bachelor that I would not listen to my own heart.”

“Now you have listened, what does it tell you?” “That I have found someone I love more than I thought it possible to love anyone. She is part of me, just as I am part of her and that is why together we make one complete person.”

Then he was kissing her, kissing her wildly.

And Aisha was kissing him back determinedly and with a passion she had never known before.

“I love you, I love you,” she cried.

She went on saying it even after he had left her and she crept into bed.

She knew, as she did so, that she had found the love she had always wanted, but thought existed only in books.

Or perhaps in the minds of those who lived in the mystical world of Tibet and other parts of India.

It was the love that she knew was Divine and which everyone sought but few were privileged to find.

It was the love that came from God.

When two people were joined together as she and Lord Kenington were, their love would grow until they were, as he had said, not two people but one.

When they married, the Gates of Heaven would be open to them.

“I love him. I adore him,” Aisha whispered before she fell asleep.

In the next room Lord Kenington was saying as he tossed from side to side,

“I love her, I love her! How can I be so lucky as to find the one woman in the world who was made for me and is already a part of me?”

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