Beneath the Dover Sky Read online

  Endorsements

  Readers everywhere love the Danforths of Lancashire!

  Praise for Ashton Park…

  “The first installment of Pura’s The Danforths of Lancashire series introduces the inhabitants of Ashton Park, a centuries-old manor near the shores of northwest England. Tensions of the early 20th century, including WWI and unrest in Ireland and Palestine, create a backdrop for a tale rife with suspense and emotional twists as the large, extended Danforth family encounters its share of romance, human tragedy, and skullduggery. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth and their brood of independent-minded daughters and gallant sons have their honor tested, the bonds of family strained, and the goodness of God questioned. Amid trials and treachery, Pura draws poignant exhibitions of integrity, staunch lessons in forgiveness, and tender pictures of love and devotion…a most enjoyable introduction to an intriguing family saga.”

  Publisher’s Weekly

  “Reading Ashton Park. Oh my. Your best writing ever! I like the way you tie in history with it in a clear way…Is there another one after Downton, I mean Ashton?”

  Karen Anna Vogel, author of The Amish Knitting Circle series

  “Just finished reading Ashton Park…LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait for the next installment of the series.”

  Carolea from Nova Scotia, Canada

  “This was an amazing book! I could not put it down. It had well-developed characters, interesting storylines, and a host of well-described landscapes. The relationships between characters was complex and real not namby-pamby. I wanted to ‘see’ the castle and the ash trees. I could feel the breeze through them. This author is on the order of Jane Austen but for our time…I would highly recommend this book and hope to see it in a mini-series or movie.”

  Reviewer on CBD.com

  “If you love Downton Abbey you will love this book! Ashton Park by Murray Pura is a work of art. Set in the early part of 1900s in England during World War I, this book will take you on a grand adventure with the Danforth family…You will laugh, cry, and find yourself cheering for your favorite characters.”

  Reviewer on CBD.com

  If you’ve never read a book from Murray Pura, then you are in for a real treat indeed. Contrary to the stereotypes that most women write from the heart of a woman when it comes to romance novels, Murray shatters that image. Having read his other books from Amish historical romance with a twist of stories from the wars and everything in between, he truly captures what women want in their romance novels. He writes well-rounded characters often portraying the women as strong and determined, not your frail weak-willed, fall at the sight of any handsome man in the story. I believe this is what appeals to his female fans the most.

  Kat (Reviewer at Amazon)

  [Ashton Park] is a masterpiece for those who love to read a tale that is so lifelike. I have read a couple of novels by Murray Pura that have different time periods and characters. Never have I been disappointed to read this author’s tales. Time flies when I get engrossed in the story. My rating is 5 stars.

  Lisa (Reviewer at Amazon)

  Dear Mr. Pura,

  Just wanted to let you know I stumbled upon Ashton Park in January…and I LOVE it!… It is just such an enjoyable read, and everything about the book is so well done!...Your book is the best! And I can’t WAIT for the second one!!!!!

  [excerpt from a fan letter from “Cathyrn” to author Murray Pura]

  HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

  EUGENE, OREGON

  Most Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Some Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Cover photos © Chris Garborg; Bigstock / elenathewise, Waynehowes

  Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  BENEATH THE DOVER SKY

  Book 2 of The Danforths of Lancashire series

  Copyright © 2013 by Murray Pura

  Published by Harvest House Publishers

  Eugene, Oregon 97402

  www.harvesthousepublishers.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Pura, Murray

  Beneath the Dover sky / Murray Pura.

  p. cm.—(The Danforths of Lancashire ; bk. 2)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-5288-0 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-5289-7 (eBook)

  1. Aristocracy (social classes)—England—History—20th century—Fiction. 2. Social classes—England—History—20th century—Fiction. 3. Lancashire (England)—Fiction. 4. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

  PR9199.4.P87B46 2013

  813'.6—dc23

  2013001581

  All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, and non-commercial right to access and view this electronic publication and agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s and publisher’s rights is strictly prohibited.

  For Debbie and Brian

  and Larry and Karen.

  Family through the blessing of marriage

  Family through the blessing of Christ.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My biggest thanks go to Nick Harrison, who not only worked on this project with me but really inspired it with his love of the genre and of England. Thanks as always to the Harvest House crew who worked on the editing, marketing, book cover, etc. People like Barb Gordon, Kim Moore, Shane White, Katie Lane, and Laura Knudson. Thanks to my family who put up with the long hours of typing and word processing and creating. And thanks to my great dog Alaska, who stuck by my side when I wrote this book in our backyard last summer and fall. He was always there and made sure I never wrote alone.

  Contents

  Endorsements

  Acknowledgments

  Map of Dover Sky

  The Characters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  MAP OF DOVER SKY

  THE CHARACTERS

  William Danforth—Lord Preston, Marquess of Preston; husband to Lady Elizabeth; father; Member of Parliament (MP); head of Ashton Park, the family estate in Lancashire, as well as Dover Sky, the family summer home in the south of England

  Elizabeth Danforth—Lady Preston; William’s wife; mother

  Sir Arthur—Lady Elizabeth’s father

  Lady Grace—Lord William’s mother

  Edward Danforth—William and Elizabeth’s eldest son

  Charlotte Danforth—Edward’s wife; former employee at Dover Sky

  Owen—
their eldest son; Colm—their youngest son

  Kipp Danforth—William and Elizabeth’s middle son; pilot

  Christelle Danforth—Kipp’s wife; French

  Matthew—their son

  Robbie Danforth—William and Elizabeth’s youngest son; serves in British Army

  Shannon Danforth—Robbie’s wife; Irish

  Patricia Claire—their daughter

  Jeremiah (Jeremy) Sweet—Anglican clergyman, married to Emma

  Emma Danforth Sweet—William and Elizabeth’s daughter; married to Jeremy

  Peter and James—their fraternal twins; Billy—their youngest son

  Catherine Danforth Moore—William and Elizabeth’s daughter; widow of Albert

  Sean–her son

  Michael Woodhaven IV—American; pilot; married to Libby

  Libby Danforth Woodhaven—daughter of William and Elizabeth; married to Michael

  Jane—their daughter

  Montgomery—Libby’s maid; American

  Ben Whitecross—pilot; Victoria Cross recipient (WWI); former employee at Ashton Park; married to Victoria

  Victoria Danforth Whitecross—youngest daughter of William and Elizabeth; married to Ben

  Ramsay—their eldest son; Tim—their youngest son

  Calvert Harrison—groundskeeper at Dover Sky; married to Holly

  Holly Danforth Harrison—William’s sister; married to Harrison

  Lady Caroline Scarborough—daughter of Danforth family friends Lord Francis and Lady Madeleine Scarborough; longtime friend of Kipp Danforth

  Charles—her son

  Tavy—butler

  Skitt—butler and groundskeeper at Dover Sky

  Norah Cole, Sally, Harriet, Nancy, Bev—servants at Dover Sky

  Mrs Longstaff—head cook

  Fairburn—groundskeeper

  Baron Gerard von Isenburg—Danforth family friend; German

  Albrecht Hartmann—theologian and professor; German

  Terrence Fordyce—Royal Navy officer; serves on HMS Hood

  Tanner Buchanan—nemesis of Danforth family; MP

  1

  June, 1924

  Dover Sky estate, Southern England

  “All right, Father, you can open your eyes now.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Quite sure.”

  “Very well then.”

  The older man in the back cockpit of the biplane took a look, adjusted his goggles, looked a second time, and laughed. “I’ve never even seen them by boat!” he shouted. “Never mind by air!”

  The pilot turned his head and leaned back. “The gulls see this every day, Father. Not so bad a life, is it? Soar, glide, dive for fish—the white cliffs of Dover for your world.”

  “The white cliffs and the blue sea and sky. Thank you, my boy, thank you. This is quite the view.”

  “An early birthday present.”

  “Is that what this is? It’s very early then. The date’s over a month away.”

  The pilot grinned. “I didn’t want to miss this chance. My plan was to do something special for you. It’s not every day a man turns sixty.”

  The older man snorted. “I thank God it isn’t or I’d have been a relic by the time I was twenty, Kipp.”

  “You look terrific, Dad.”

  “Thank you, my boy. For sixty I suppose I’m not so bad off. I can keep up with the grandchildren, and my eyes are still like a hawk’s.”

  The plane swooped over the high, chalk cliffs and the wheeling white gulls. Late June sunlight made the whitecaps in the English Channel beneath the aircraft leap with a brightness the older man never saw on land. The blue sky and sea seemed that much deeper by contrast. He took it all in, white on white on blue, thanked God, and suddenly put his hands outside the cockpit, letting his fingers trail through the swift flow of air as if he were dangling them in a stream of water.

  “There’s Dover Sky, Father!”

  The plane banked over long, green fields and the town of Dover, with its miniature buildings and streets and cars. Further out in the countryside, set solidly on a hill, was a house of windows and verandas and pillars that seemed whiter than the whitecaps and the white cliffs, taking the day’s light into its walls and sending it back twice as strong so that the two men in the biplane had to squint.

  The older man reached forward and tapped his son on the shoulder of his leather flight jacket. “I’ve never seen it look so lovely.”

  “It’s a diamond from up here, an absolute gem.”

  “Whose car is that by the house? Ours is not half so long.”

  “I don’t know, but let’s take a closer look.”

  Kipp put the plane into a dive.

  “My boy, my boy, you are not going to buzz the house?”

  “Mum doesn’t mind.”

  “But we must have guests if that strange car is there.”

  “Well, now we’ll find out who they are.”

  They roared over the house. The older man recognized his wife, Elizabeth, his daughter Catherine and her son, Sean, and Norah Cole, their maid. There was also a tall, narrow figure with a sweeping moustache and a ramrod straight back.

  “No one ran for cover, Dad. That’s a good sign.”

  “I did not expect my family to run…or my servants. They are used to airplanes. And now that I see who our guest is, I wouldn’t expect him to run either.”

  “Who is it? The car is a Mercedes Benz 400K, by the way. This year’s model. Not cheap.”

  “Yes, the baron would drive a vehicle like that. Or rather, like me, have it driven for him.”

  “Baron? Which baron?”

  “Von Isenburg. Gerard von Isenburg. A good chap. He gave us our German shepherds before the war.”

  “Has he come to bring us new ones?”

  “I pray not. Gladstone and Wellington have years in them yet.”

  “Right. Here we go. Coming in for a landing. Hang on.”

  “Your son still loves the flying, doesn’t he, Lady Preston?”

  “Please, baron. I’m Elizabeth to you. It’s a relief to hear someone call me by my Christian name now and then.”

  Baron von Isenburg inclined his head slightly. “As you wish. But then I must insist in return that you use my Christian name.”

  “I’m happy to do so, Gerard. Yes, our Kipp has never lost his love for airplanes and the sky.”

  The two of them watched the biplane land in a field beyond the house.

  “William will be surprised to see you,” Lady Preston said as the plane came to a stop, propeller whirling. “Surprised and pleased. It has been altogether too long. The war’s been over for years. We really ought to have had you up to Ashton Park before this.”

  “Now is soon enough. I have much to share. And to tell you the truth, I prefer visiting at Dover Sky.” He reached down and scratched behind the ears of the two blonde German shepherds who sat on their haunches beside him, tails slowly swishing as soon as he touched their heads.

  “Should I be insulted at that remark, Gerard? What on earth is the matter with Ashton Park?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with it. I simply find it too, well, baronial. I see so much of that in Germany. Dover Sky is quite different—clean, white, shining like jasper. I much prefer it to your Lancashire estate.”

  “I see. So did you time your visit so it would coincide with our summer escape to Kent?”

  The baron laughed and leaned on a cane with a silver pommel. “I am not so much of a schemer. I had a person to visit at Westminster, and a friend asked me to accompany him to England.”

  “I only see your chauffeur with you.”

  “No, Albrecht is not with us today. He hopes to come by later in the week, if you can spare a room.”

  “Spare a room?” Lady Preston glanced back at the manor. “What room can’t we spare? Only Catherine came down for the summer with her boy. The others are too busy up north with their work and their families.”

  “A shame.”

  “We’ll see them a
ll for William’s sixtieth birthday celebration at the end of July. Until then it shall be rather quiet…too quiet. We shall be glad to have a visit from your friend.”

  “I’ll wire him. He’ll be most grateful. He’s wanted to meet your husband for some time.”

  “Really? Is he in politics?”

  “Not at all. Albrecht is a theologian. He admires William’s Christian convictions.”

  “Ah.” Lady Preston waved as the biplane took off without her husband in it. “There goes Kipp. I’m sorry you two couldn’t meet. He was just a boy when you last saw him. He has the Royal Mail for Liverpool and Manchester to deliver today.”

  The baron watched the plane grow smaller and more distant. “Another time. I am sure of it.”

  “Ah, Gerard! I spotted you when we flew over the house,” William said before kissing his wife on the cheek. “We circled the cliffs, Elizabeth. It was marvelous.”

  “The way you came at us here on the ground, I’m glad you didn’t fly into them.”

  “Ha!” William said with a smile.

  “Lord Preston.” The baron clicked his heels together. “It’s wonderful to see you again after so many years. Yes, I thought you meant to pluck the hat off my head, your plane dove in so low.”

  “I very nearly could have done it.”

  The two men smiled and shook hands vigorously.

  “What brings you to England, Gerard?”

  “As I was telling your wife, Lord Preston, I had a person to see in—”

  “William,” interrupted Lord Preston. “You know I wish you to continue to call me William…or Vilhelm, if you prefer. I hear Lord Preston quite enough.”

  The baron bowed. “As you wish. I congratulate you on your new title Marquess of Preston.”

  Lord Preston nodded. “Thank you. Your cable of last summer was much appreciated. But now tell us why you are here. And how did you get that long, black Mercedes across the Channel?”

  “Well, I have my own boat—a barge, really—and it could probably carry three of these. As for my visit, I had a man to see in Westminster.”

  “Westminster? Someone in the government?”

  The baron held up a hand. “Over brandy and cigars?”

  Lord Preston snorted. “You and your brandy and cigars. I’ll have my tea while you make smoke.” He smiled and knelt to pet his dogs. “So, just a man in Westminster to see, is that it? A mystery man?”