Merging Destiny Read online



  Merging Destiny

  by

  D. Allen Henry

  © D. Allen Henry 2016

  On the Cover

  Photo of the Eiffel Tower taken by Michal Osmenda on April 9, 2009 and posted on Wikimedia by contributor Flickr, downloaded at:

  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiffel_Tower_(3439761188).jpg

  by the author on October 22, 2016 (CC BY 2.0)

  Photo Photoshopped by the author.

  Also by D. Allen Henry

  at

  Hawk Banks

  Those Who Fought For Us

  Of War and Women

  Enlisting Redemption

  Finding Patience

  My Father the God

  Galileo’s Lost Message

  Dedication

  To the three ladies in my life – my wife Claudia, and my daughters Laura, and Lisa.

  Preface

  Being firmly convinced that there is in fact such a thing as writer’s block, I fell into an extended period of inactivity after completing my seventh novel. Alas, even writer’s block could not curtail the all-pervasive urge, no – addiction – to once again put pen to paper. What was wanted was that fundamental necessity – a daunting yet all-consuming storyline – one that would ultimately tug me back to my pen and paper. And so it was that during a visit to my beloved part-time hometown of Paris, the idea for this, my eighth novel, took me by storm while gazing from my window overlooking the Place du Pantheon. Five of my previous novels are loosely linked into what I term The Sutherland Saga, and while they were quite facile compared to the previous two, their proximity to my heartstrings has endured and even grown with the passage of time.

  And so it came to me that my eighth novel should continue to carry the torch lit within me by those five novels, each portraying a generation within the twentieth century. While the story that unfolds herein is the penultimate volume within the Sutherland Saga, it is more properly a sequel to my last novel – My Father the God. As such, it bears an autobiographical streak within, though admittedly it is a far cry from the reality of my own existence. Nonetheless, I have drawn heavily on my own experiences, gained from a lifetime of travel to the four corners of the earth, to conceive of and develop this story, the first of mine to advance right up to present day. And so, dear reader, with this brief preamble, I wish you a joyous and enlightening perusal of Merging Destiny, the sixth and final episode in the Sutherland Saga.

  D.A.H.

  Author’s Note Regarding Sectional Perspectives

  The reader will notice that throughout the text I have delineated sections by the use of boldface titles. Each title normally describes the setting location and date for the section that immediately follows. However, when only a date is included, it is implied that the location for that section is identical to that of the previous section. Furthermore, each section begins with a few boldface words immediately after the section setting. The name of the first person included in boldface within the section is usually intended to be the person whose perspective is taken within that section of the text.

  Vernacular Word Identifier

  Behin’ – Scottish for ‘behind’

  Blooter’d – Scottish for ‘drunk’

  Brammer – Scottish for ‘lovely’

  Burka – A traditional enveloping outergarment worn by Islamic women

  Ça ne fait rien – French for ‘it doesn’t matter’

  Coup de grace – French for ‘knockout’

  Déshabillé – French for ‘undressed’

  Fou – French for ‘crazy’

  Haggis – a Scottish dish made from a pig’s bladder

  Hijab – A traditional headscarf worn by a Muslim female

  I dinna kin – Scottish for ‘I don’t know’

  Mince – Scottish for ‘stuff’

  Pish – Scottish for ‘nonsense’

  Radge – Scottish for ‘insane’

  Shemagh – A traditional headscarf worn by a Saudi male

  Stoatin – Scottish for ‘great’

  Tête à tête – French for ‘head-to-head’

  Chronology

  1615 – Alan Sutherland is appointed the first Earl of Winston by King James I of England.

  1883 – William Sutherland becomes the Twelfth Earl of Winston.

  1893 – Robert Sutherland is born in Gloucestershire, England.

  1894 – Alastair Stewart is born in Aberdeen, Scotland.

  1897 – Edwina Turnberry is born in York, England.

  July 28, 1914 – The Great War begins.

  1917 – Trant Sutherland is born in London.

  November 11, 1918 – The German Armistice is signed at Compiègne, thereby ending The Great War.

  1919 – Alastair Stewart and Edwina Turnberry are married.

  1919 – Felicité Delacroix is born in Italy, but moves to France when her mother dies shortly thereafter.

  1920 – Robert Sutherland becomes the Thirteenth Earl of Winston on the death of his father, Lord William Sutherland.

  1920 – James Moorehead is born in Concord, New Hampshire.

  1921 – Sloan Stewart is born in Edinburgh, Scotland to Alastair and Edwina Stewart.

  1922 – Isolde Channing is born in Cardiff, Wales.

  1923 – Sabrina Dewhurst is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

  September 1, 1939 - World War II begins.

  1942 – Robert Moorehead is born in Boston, Massachusetts to James and Isolde Moorehead.

  September 2, 1945 – World War II ends.

  1946 – Trant Sutherland and Felicité Delacroix are married.

  1946 – Sloan Stewart and Sabrina Dewhurst are married.

  1947 – Elise Stewart is born in Boston, Massachusetts to Sloan and Sabrina Stewart.

  1947 – Trevor Sutherland is born in England to Trant and Felicité Sutherland.

  1965 – Trant Sutherland becomes the fourteenth Earl of Winston on the death of his

  father Robert Sutherland.

  1965 – The U.S. becomes involved in the Vietnam War.

  1968 – Elise Stewart marries Robert Moorehead in Boston, Massachusetts.

  1969 – Alastair Stewart passes away.

  1970 - Connor Stuart is born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

  1971 – Brandt MacCauley is born in Scotland.

  1971 – Anna Morton is born in Cairo, Egypt.

  1971 – Farhan Rahman is born in Asyut, Egypt.

  1972 – Edwina Turnberry passes away.

  1973 – The Vietnam War ends.

  1973 – Elspeth Moorehead is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

  1977 – Patience Walker is born in Lincoln, Nebraska.

  September 22, 1980 – Iraq invades Iran.

  1986 – Trevor Sutherland becomes the fifteenth Earl of Winston upon the passing of his

  father, Trant Sutherland.

  August, 1988 – Al Qaeda is founded by Osama bin Laden and others.

  August 20, 1988 – The war between Iraq and Iran ends.

  December 22, 1988 - Pan American Flight 103 crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland.

  August 2, 1990 – The First Gulf War begins.

  February 28, 1991 – The First Gulf War ends.

  February 26, 1993 – The first World Trade Center bombing occurs.

  February 17, 1997 – The Lido Hotel in Las Vegas is bombed by terrorists.

  August 7, 1998 – The U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are bombed by terrorists.

  2001 – Libyan National Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the Lockerbie bombing.

  September 11, 2001 – The World Trade Center is attacked by terrorist members of Al Qaeda. The Second Gulf War begins.

  2003 – Libyan l
eader Muammar Gaddafi agrees to pay $2B in reparations for the Lockerbie bombing.

  March 20, 2003 – The U.S. led coalition invades Iraq.

  December 13, 2003 – President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is captured by opposing forces.

  December 30, 2006 – Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity.

  May 2, 2011 – Osama bin Laden is shot and killed by U.S. Military and CIA in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

  October 20, 2011 – Muammar Gaddafi is killed by Libyan NTC militants during the Libyan Civil War.

  2012 – Brandt MacCauley and Patience Walker are married in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy.

  2014 – Brandt MacCauley becomes the sixteenth Earl of Winston upon the passing of the fifteenth Earl, Trevor Sutherland.