Willing and able...

GEORGE III, A RARE SPADE GUINEA FROM 1795... GIVEN TO WILLOUGHBY WHEN HE WAS ALMOST 15 AND OF MUCH MEANING TO HIM... WILL HAS FASTENED IT TO A GOLD FOB HANGING FROM THE FRONT SIDE OF HIS TROUSERS... WHERE THE COIN ACCOMPANIES A SMALL BRITISH TIN SOLDIER... (ELEGANT FOBS FASHIONABLE, SOME GENTLEMEN WORE 2 FOBS... DECORATING THEIR TROUSERS}

... HOME FROM AMERICA... READY AND WILLING... WHERE IS SHE...?

WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY VISCOUNT LINDESAY, BORN 1790

Dressed in a frock, like all small boys, 3-7 in 1793

Seeing more inexplainable things... in 1799...

Dreaming of flying in the air at 14, 1804.

At 15, a philosopher, a poet and a very tall rebel...

At 20 a ladies' man ... Holy mackerel...

Creative Liutenant Wildman Willoughby in Spain 1811

Viscount Willoughby, Elite Royal Cavalier 1814...

At 25, refusing to die at Waterloo... June 18, 1815...

Asked... Have you ever been to You? In America...1819.

NOW AT 30... WILL IS AS UNNERVED YET AS HOPEFUL AS A SPINSTER WITH A SPLENDID DOWRY AT A BALL, AS STUBBORN AS A HEAP OF MULES AND AS PERSISTENT AS TOENAIL FUNGUS, FINALLY FINDING 'THE ONE'... AND QUITE A SURPRISE. WILL SHE STILL WANT HIM? LOVING HER FOR ALMOST 25 YEARS IN MANY WAYS... FIRST WITH GREAT INNOCENCE AND YEARS LATER NOT EXACTLY... HIS DREAM LADY AND SWEET BEAUTIFUL ANGEL, IT'S NOW OR NEVER. NOT TAKING NO FOR AN ANSWER... JUTTING OUT HIS STUBBORN CHIN AND KNEELING DOWN ON ONE KNEE AS A GENTLEMAN MUST WHEN PROPOSING MARRIAGE... HIS GRACE, THE DUKE OF WILLOWBEE, VISCOUNT LINDESAY, BARON OF TOWERSTON, ELITE ROYAL CAVALIER, KNIGHT, GENERAL, UNUSUALLY TALL AND WELL BUILT, SIR WILLIAM, LORD WILLOUGHBY LINDESAY IS BACK IN ENGLAND FROM AMERICA AND INDEED COMFORTABLE SIMPLY WEARING BUCKSKIN... BUT ATTENDING A NEW YEAR'S BALL IN 1820-21 AFTER BEING URGED TO DRESS TO IMPRESS... AND TO SHAVE BY HIS AUNTIE LADY KATHRYN, WILL AND SIR ROBERT MCGREGOR ARE ESCORTING TO A CHARITY BALL... (WILL INSISTING HE NOW LOOKS LIKE A MIX OF AN ENGLISH GIRAFFE... WITH A HIGH NECKTIE... AND A DECORATED PRUSSIAN CHRISTMAS TREE) BUT NOW WELL AGAIN, OVER 5 YEARS AFTER WATERLOO... WHILST AUNTIE STILL CALLS THEM 'MY SWEET DARLING BOYS.' OOOPS! OH, YESSS! AT THE BALL THE VERY BRAVE INDEED ELITE AND HIGHLY TRAINED ROYAL CAVALIER AT 30 IS A MAN WHO HAS FOUGHT IN MANY BATTLES. BUT PROPOSING MARRIAGE A WHOLE OTHER MATTER AND SUDDENLY HE IS ALL SHAKY, HIS BRAINS ARE BLANK, HE IS COMPLETELY UNNERVED AND FOR A MOMENT HE'S EVEN UNABLE TO REMEMBER THE WELL PREPARED WORDS HE WANTS TO SAY TO THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE. LOOKING UP AT HER TO PROPOSE MARRIAGE... HE FINALLY REMEMBERS... SMILES AND SAYS, "YES IT'S ME, WILLOUGHBY, MY LOVE. YOU WERE RIGHT, I WAS AS GOOD AS BLIND. YOU WON THE WAGER AND THE GOLD GUINEA.... I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, BUT NEITHER OF US DEAD, MY DEAREST BELOVED... I''M NOT A GHOST, AN ANGEL A DEVIL OR A SAINT, BUT I AM ENTIRELY YOURS IF YOU WILL STILL HAVE ME, MY SWEET DARLING. PLEASE SAY YOU WILL... OH, PLEASE DON'T FAINT ON ME NOW...SWEETMEATS... I'M HERE." HE LIFTS HER UP AND KISSES HER RIGHT THEN AND THERE IN FRONT OF OVER 300 PEOPLE;" JUST HOLD ON TO ME AND NEVER LET GO, MY LOVE! SMILING THROUGH HAPPY TEARS SHE JUST PUTS HER COLD NOSE INTO HIS WARM NECK... BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE IS A SHOT, A FURIOUS VOICE AND A LOUD CRASH... IN THE BALLROOM...

AN ADORNED MOURNING CHAIN MADE OF WILLOUGHBY'S DARK HAIR... WITH AN ENGRAVED ( R and a W) AND A GOLD HEART LOCKET... HE HAD GIVEN SOMEONE DEAR. THE LOCKET HAD BELONGED TO HIS MOTHER WHO DIED WHEN HE WAS BORN...

WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY'S MARRIAGE PROPOSAL..

MY DARLING LOVE
Do not only believe... Know I Love You for I Do!
My true heart, my revelation,
Do not only believe... Know this is a genuine Celebration!
Do not only believe I am grateful for your Love eternally true,
Know my heart, mind, body and soul shall forever thank You.
Do not only believe I merely hold out my heart in my hand,
Know I offer my life and everything I have and am.
Do not only believe in true love from your man,
Know forever defending you, your devoted Knight I am.
Indeed longing to give you the earth and the sky,
Know for You I will live and even die.
Sweet Love, my Brightest Star and my Goddess you are!
Do not only believe great joy there always shall be,
Know I promise happiness to the utmost of my ability.
Embraced in velvety skies among stars we shall soar,
Convinced our love is forever more.
Do not only believe these are merely rings you see,
Or simple golden circles from me...
Know these are One Indestructible Loving Bond,
Honouring You and Us Forever and Beyond.
My heart and soul are now asking you respectfully,
To please receive this golden bond and marry me,
Accepting your William Willoughby Lindesay!
I solemnly promise to Honour and Faithfully always LOVE YOU,
For my heart, mind, body and soul insist I definitely WILL and DO!

Do say you want me, my Sweet Darling Love!

In 1820, Willoughby is dressed in a very elegant wine red with black, gold embroidered dress uniform full of decorations and even the Garter, the highest decoration there is of Chivalry. Knighted several times and more... down on one knee and quite a performance in front of everyone, Willoughby proposes marriage to a pale She who is ready to faint right in front of an elegant crowd in a ballroom. Long since, She has indeed proven something... to him:"People see, but they never observe..."

Now auctioning off an unused lovely, gold embroidered wedding/ball gown, Willoughby has already secretly bought to give back to her.... donating the money... 15 000 Pounds. The lovely Lady is even donating her dowry to the needy... Most of the many guests however, think what is sudddenly happening is some kind of surprise entertainment and a jolly presentation from a new play.... now shown a bit of during an elegant New Year's ball with a benevolent auction made to help war widows and orphans as not only the affluent Duke of Willowbee, Sir William holds up a gold Guinea insisting:

"Milady... you were right and won the wager! I should have known... it was always you, my Love. The auction already over and done... a Mister Anonymous... "

"Oh, my God! Willoughby! You're alive!" The shocked lady interrupts.

The auctioneer smiles holding up his hands:

"Ehem.. indeed, yes... His Grace, generous to a fault... Ehemmm... tonight Mister Anonymous... I'm afraid, is none other than His Grace, the Duke of Willowbee!" The lady:

"Oh, Willoughby! You...! You... Ohhh... But.."

"Oh, yessss... Me! Not a ghost, Your Ladyship... and Yours Truly, I am afraid I now have all right to a waltz of your choice... with you... But first, please bear with me... "

Standing up, awfully tall Willoughby smiles a tad holding out a hand to steady the speachless Lady who has turned down more than a dozen suitors.... and again serious he goes on:"... the truth is I can never buy your love... I can only give you all of mine... "

He holds out his pocket watch that has a beautiful chain made of golden human hair... her hair... she gave him over 15 years ago... and more...

All decorum is suddenly lost...

"Ohhh... my God! Willoughby! Will! You're alive! Ohhh.... I... I... Your Grace... Willoughby! Oh, dear... my Darling! How can you ever forgive me?"

"Please forgive me and to hell with titles, my Love!"

"Oh, God! Ooooh... Will! Oh, dear!"

Her knees buckle and He simply lifts the Lady up and kisses her right then and there in public and shocking... as She says smiling and crying at the same time:

"Ohhh... Will! You are alive! Reading you had fallen at Waterloo... but drawing you... I had a memorial made two years ago... Ohhh, dear... Your Grace! Ooooh... I... I always... Darling, at least 300 guests are staring at us..." Again her cold nose was in his warm neck and life was wonderful... and as simple as that.

"To hell with them! We are alive and I love you to idiocy! Say you´ll marry me! Say yessss, Sweetmeats!"

The other guests just stare at them, highly amused, gallant Willoughby is back and never boring... And after all it is New Years 1821... and Napoleon is "tucked away" and ill on St. Helens, but suddenly the high pitched voice of a fine lady is heard:

"You do indeed have a lot to learn, Sir Harold!"

"Be quiet, woman! By George, quite a donation... a fortune! 15 thousand pounds! An Elite Royal Cavalier... and a Duke! He really wants her!" Her husband growls, holding on to his fifth serving of brandy.

Not quiet at all and closing her fan with a loud smack, his wife again insists:

"It's him! I told you it is him, Sir Harold! St. Michael... Bah!"

"Oh, buggers... Clemmie...!"

"I dare say a solid focus of grief... In everlasting memory of a dear friend and Hero fallen at Waterloo, my foot! Now you know who put up and even paid for the lovely memorial everyone's been whispering about! Ahhh... such devstating grief! Over a man... Harold... And in case you wonder... it is a rare commodity called love... dear!"

No, " Forever and Beyond" is not a romance novel. Historical... at times... and with often funny, very human details, it is indeed a mystery, a critique of Humanity and infinitely more...showing people at their best and worst...With a highly debatable twist... What we do, don't do and do when we don't know what to do...

Born with a caul and rare, Willoughby is not immortal, but a man who lives and dies and quite a mystery... seeking real truth... instead of all the conveniant lies we have been told... he needs proof of what he discovers... having the strangest and often frightening 'visions' since he was very young... Now He is 30, She is 28 and thought by most more than well on her way to become a spinster... and even interested in hardly exsisting rights for women... specially married ones... for any married man and husband had not only right by law to use is wife's body whenever he pleased, he had every right to all her property and money and he could even beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb... if he did not kill her... which got him hanged... by law as well.

Does She say YES... or not? No, I'm not giving anything away. No.

I can however assure a She (who knew Willoughby so well She was certain he longed to have a 'flying contraption' so he could fly fast in the skies... and when so, She would come with him... even to the moon...) Well, She does indeed insist when the New Year is cheered in at midnight in 1821:

"I love You more than there are stars in the Heavens... For You... were always my Knight in Golden Armour and my Celestial Prince from the skies... And... I... see Paradise in your eyes..."

(There are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand on earth.)

Oh, yes. How's that for romance galore???

But then again there is another lady... a young widow in Spain in 1813 who insists:

"Marry you? Never even think of proposing to me, Captain Willoughby... Ohhh... I do love you, Darling William... Goodbye, Sir!"

Utterly confused, he thinks she is his Sweet Beautiful Angel:

"But... you... What is this, my Sweet Angel... Darling Daisybell? Are you saying goodbye...? What the devil is going on?"

"Angel...? No. I've made up my mind, William!"

"But..."

"It's a new beginning... A widow... I need a big, strong Brother... Not another husband, but I refuse to lose you...! Other women may come and go, but Sisters... Are forever! So there!"

"Brother and Sister after...We...You... I...? Holy mackerel and corset strings!"

Enough.

A MYSTERIOS, LOVELY MEMORIAL WITH THE WORDS... HONORING THE MEMORY OF A BELOVED FRIEND FALLEN AT WATERLOO... JUNE 18. 1815, A HERO AND ANGEL AS BRAVE AS ST. MICHAEL, A BRITISH OFFICER SORELY MISSED AND SADLY BURIED IN THE FIELD OF BATTLE IN HOPE OF BLESSED RESURRECTION. R. I. P.

KEPT FOR A LONG TIME: THE WILLOWBEE WEDDING RINGS, MADE SMALLER OR LARGER ACCORDING TO NEED... These rings are rare and had quite a history, for men did not use wedding rings in the 1800’s. Upper class women wore an engagement ring with a stone, pearls or a cameo. Diamonds were small… and gold very expensive as well before the gold and diamond mines in then, British South Africa and Southern Rhodesia were exploited… but stones were often brought to England from then British India as well. Not to slip off, the engagement ring was secured on the female ring finger with a simple gold band… later the much used simple wedding band we know today. It was however, not until the time of WWII that men truly began to wear wedding bands… in some countries a bit earlier in others a little later. In medieval times, not even women wore wedding rings and only the aristocracy and members of the royalty had jewelry and so did a few ‘men of the cloth,’ bishops, archbishops, cardinals and the pope as well. Rosaries n the 1200’s or earlier had no crucifix and were normally made out of rope with knots, pebbles, beads or stones and iron and in rare cases steel… normally used for swords and armor.

... AND THERE WERE HAPPINESS AND PEACE... BUT NOT FOR LONG...

I like this page You liked this page • 1781 persons like this page

Share this page on Facebook

Write a new comment: (Click here)

Share on Facebook

SimpleSite.com

Characters left: 160

Yes - I would like to receive an email when others follow up here.

DONE Sending...

See all comments

| Reply

Latest comments

06.03 | 11:50

It is a stunning Website and I recommend that it is read whilst listening to the music playing in the background for enhanced enjoyment
Bravo Kari M. Knutsen

...

02.03 | 02:43

I'm new here. I love what I see so far. Such warmth and fun with a mindful side.
We never hardly get snow in Ireland. Now the country is on shutdown.Its great!

...

26.01 | 03:18

The music you employed for these poems matches the message The poems were elegantly worded. And the website is beautiful. Thanks for inviting me, my dear Kari.

...