BLOODLINE (ePub)

BLOODLINE: OUR FATHER'S HOUSE, is set on the island of Barbados where the great manor house, Belle Terre, sits empty as it has for almost a century, on a cliff overlooking the sea. Soft sighing winds whisper through the palms that surround it in concert with the gentle waves that wash ashore in the sheltered cove below. Overhead, a flock of seagulls circle, dive, then rise upon the currents and venture further out to sea. A tour bus passes through a pair of ornate iron gates in the distance and travels up a shell-packed avenue to the main entrance. A dozen visitors emerge and enter the house. The faded grandeur of Belle Terre holds them spellbound until they are drawn to the arbor, and the graves of the legendary Edmond Ribaut and his daughter, Desiree Arnaud. Kidnapped by a band of Edmond's enemies in 1827, the nineteen year old girl was believed to have perished in a shipwreck as her captors attempted to take her from the island. The chance discovery of 1852 of a cemetery 2,000 miles away proved Desiree lived for nine years after her disappearance, taking to her grave a secret so shocking that those who found her vowed never to reveal what they had discovered. Her remains were returned to Belle Terre in 1933 by the last descendant bearing Edmond Ribaut's bloodline. Her strange benefactor would, ironically, die the day Desiree was laid to her final rest beside her father in the arbor, leaving the great estate in a preservation trust to the island of Barbados.(postscript) As the sun sets on the island, the ageing caretaker guides his cart up the avenue to lock the gates. They close with a harsh bang that echoes in the stillness. He retraces his path to the workers' compound behind the house. As he reaches for his latch, he turns and looks toward the arbor one last time. She will come soon, emerging from the shadows to enter the house, her blue silk gown whispering across the parquet floors as her soft laughter floats through the rooms where she once played as a child. The old man nods, and closes his door for the night, leaving young Desiree to her benign haunting until the sun rises upon the land once more.