Evidence of the Will

By Mary Vida Windsor (Nee Melder)

Brandee is from India, born of a British father and an Indian mother. With the passing of her parents, Brandee, at the age of sixteen travels to far off England to be cared for by her grandmother. During her stay in England she meets with tragedy, where she experiences an alternate timeline and encounters the unknown, discovering the mystery and meaning of the WILL. On her journey she meets with Michael and Damian, who will decide her destiny.

The creation of the book is based religious culture and faith. The author hopes to capture the attention of her readers through her story of love, life, tragedy and death, while driving the message of christian beliefs. It depicts the good, bad and the ugly.

In conclusion, the author hopes the contents allows the reader to take away a wealth of knowledge about our existence and food for thought in trying to live this life, as this is not the beginning and end of it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Jul 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685834463

Book preview

THE REMINISCENCE

My name is Brandee Masterson and I am sixteen years old from India.  Why an English name you may ask?  Well, my father Brandon Masterson, came down to India from England with a battalion of soldiers during the second world war, when India was under British rule, and so my story unfolds about my background.

At the moment, I am on a plane to England and having no relatives in India, my father who recently passed away, left his mother Myrtle and his sister Hilda, to be my guardians till I settled down, meaning till I was married or able to fend for myself.  The plane has just taken off from Madras airport and having made myself comfortable in a first class seat that I was given, I closed my eyes and let my thoughts go back to my dad’s narration of my existence.

The whole world was in the grip of a terrible war and as Britain had many colonies, it was their duty to protect them and hence, the British solders’ presence in India.  Many personnel from the army, navy and airforce lost their lives and a lot of them wounded and one of them was Brandon Masterson.  He was a mess, with broken ribs, fractured legs and arms.  All the war wounded were cared for by the Red Cross and so it happened that Masterson, one of the wounded, was taken to the Military hospital in Madras.   Dad did mention that there were a lot of the Indian volunteers who helped in the hospitals, whether they were trained or not and the care and love they administered to the men,  knew no bounds and so it came to pass that many ended up marrying the Indian lasses and never went back to where they came from.

I never knew my mother, but the description I got from my dad, who said she was unique and when I did ask him ‘in what way?’  he started his story about her.  He also spent many hours and days telling me of his time in India.  My thoughts now go back to those moments and the stories he unfolded, and whether it was fortunate or not, met a girl who cared for him when he had the mishap of contacting a deadly virus.  He fell madly in love with her.

Deepam was one of the volunteers who helped at the Red Cross in their work of looking after the soldiers who were sick.  Coming from a very strict cultural background, Deepam was very shy and hardly spoke to anyone for fear of being punished by her parents.

At first, Masterson thought that Deepam planned it in a way to always be the one picked to look after him and one day when he questioned her, she said that she was always left to the last, before one particular doctor by the name of Michael Angel who came out every day at the last minute would ask her to tend to Masterson.  Dad said that he had always wondered ‘WHY but would smile and say Im glad it happened."  She was the most beautiful human being he had ever seen.  Her long flowing ebony black hair that was coiled up like a bun at the nape of her neck, which he always  had an urge to uncoil and let it flow around her beautiful face.  Her big sparkling brown eyes with her smooth velvety olive skin was a picture of perfection.  She always walked with her head slightly lowered.  She spoke English very fluently, as she was sent to a Catholic convent for girls.  Her accent was so appealing and her voice so soothing, added to another attribute that he could not resist, and so he continued with his story.

One day on his rounds, Professor Angel as he was called, stopped at dad’s bed and after enquiring about his well being, turned the conversation and asked my dad about Deepam.  Dad was surprised and asked the Doctor what made him ask such a question and the doctor, with a mischievous grin said Im a doctor and left it at that.

Days grew into months and before they both realised  it, nature came into play and they could not stay away from each  other even for a day.  Many a time, Masterson wanted to take her in his arms, but decency and morals, played a very large part and he would walk away.

Masterson was soon getting back to normal and they both knew that time was drawing near when they would have to say good bye.  Being a staunch catholic he was in a dilemma and wondered what he should do.  Leave his faith or give up the one thing he had grown to love so much that without her, he would be just a shell of a man.  But try as hard as he could, a solution was not forthcoming.

Deepam, on the other hand, whose parents were strict Brahmins, knew that she will not get the consent of her family to change her religion and marry Masterson.  It was the custom for parents to get a suitor for their daughter and in Deepam’s case, she had an inkling that she was already spoken for (as they would say in India), being a very attractive girl. Deepam had no one to turn  to for help in this sort of a situation, with the exception of an old sadhu (hindu priest).

One night Deepam had a dream that she could not understand and so after her visit to Masterson, (who did not know about the dream), she quickly visited her old friend the Sadhu.  The Hindu priest was astounded at her dream and told her to write it down.  He knew that even though he was a firm believer of Hinduism, and should advise her to ignore it, knew that he would be failing in his duty as a human being if he did not advise her to follow her heart.

He spoke  to her gently and said that she would have to leave her parents and go to the king of  Belary, who was a very good friend of his and he will advise her what to do.  In the meantime, Masterson should, as soon as he gets his discharge, leave for Belary as well, where the king will make arrangements for them to marry.  Deepam could not believe that this was happening to her and that the priest was advising her to do something that normally, he would never have done.  He gave her two letters, one for her and the other for Masterson.  On her arrival at Belary, she should hand the letter over to the king himself and when Masterson arrived, he should hand over his letter to the king.

As much as she wanted to, Deepam did not go back to her parents’ house.  She had no time to waste, as the priest was sending her to Belary that night.  She quickly went back to Masterson and told him what  had happened, gave him the letter and asked him to leave that very night as well, for he could be in trouble if her parents found out that he was the cause for her disappearance.

Deepam left that night with only the Hindu priest to see her off.  She was very timid and scared of what might happen.  She also wondered if Masterson would follow her or if he would panic and go back to England.  With no clothes except the one she wore, no food and with a few rupees, she made her way to the palace in Belary. At first the guards were unwilling to let her in, but it must have been her lucky day, for, as the king was about to go out, she ran and shouted sadhu Ayyappa sent me to see you and at once he stopped and turned.  He told the guards to let her through and while the king walked ahead, she was surrounded by a few guards, who escorted her into a huge building with marble pillars and flooring and exotic furniture.  Deepam was very timid, but the king seemed a very kind man and asked her to sit down and not be scared.  Having done so, she handed him a letter from the Sadhu  and explained the situation to him. With a wry smile on his face, the king ordered his guards to take her to one of the maid servants to attend to her.  She was given a beautiful room with one of the servants in attendance.

Towards the afternoon of that same day, Masterson turned up and the guards, who were informed of his arrival, led him to the king.  Her maid Aisha, at once informed Deepam, who seemed very relieved.  Masterson was taken to one of the finer rooms in the palace and was designated a guard and given the right royal treatment.  As the king was in close contact with the nuns at the Belary convent, since his own children attended the school, dispatched one of the sentry’s with a note to the mother superior.

The next day, Mother Francis, visited the palace and was told by the king that arrangements had to be made for Masterson and Deepam to be married.  The mother superior, an Irish nun, was shocked and at the same time, bewildered as to why Masterson, whom she had just met and found to be such a handsome specimen of the male species that she had ever seen, want to marry someone from that country.

She came to the conclusion, that loneliness and sexual desires in man must have led him to this.  However, lo and behold, when she was introduced to Deepam, she could not believe her eyes.  Such a breathtaking sight she had never seen before, as Deepam emitted so much beauty, innocence and with her simplicity, reminded her of an angel, the same words, that the king used to describe her to the nun.

Mother superior informed the king that she would have to pray about this for at least a day, but in the interim, she would have to take Deepam back to the convent, as she needed protection.  On the way to the convent, the nun asked Deepam if she was still a virgin and got an affirmative reply, with Deepam saying that not only did she refrain from any contact with Masterson, but that he was a true gentleman, who vowed to her that he will not touch her till they married.  Mother superior wanted to reconfirm it with Masterson and when she was alone with him, put the question to him.   At first he was a bit indignant at her asking him such a personal question, but said that his upbringing and values taught by his parents and the catholic school and university he attended kept his morals intact.   He also said that he respected Deepam’s upbringing and most of all he did not want to destroy her innocence, should anything happen, but wait till she legally and spiritually belonged to him.

I wake up from my reverie, to find the stewardess coming around with dinner and I have taken a break from my thoughts. Sitting near the toilets, I was able to catch a glimpse of the passengers on board.  There were a mixture of old and young with a few children who were getting in the way of the hostesses, but soon put in their seats by their parents.  There was however, one particular gentleman who was in the first class area together with me and apparently wanted to stretch his legs, walked up and down the aisle a couple of times.  Both occasions, I was unable to see his face, but only caught a glimpse of his side view and the back of his impeccable slate grey suit draped on someone over six foot, athleticly built with broad shoulders.  I have just finished my meal and went back to my thoughts.

Deepam became a catholic and they finally married very quietly in the little chapel at the convent.  Masterson worked  at a very high level in the king’s employ, while Deepam loved her work at the convent, where she soon mastered everything about catholicism and the bible. One of her duties was to teach catechism and the children loved listening to her.  There was an aura about her that drew her to everyone with whom she came in contact with.

The nuns were amazed that here was this girl who knew nothing about Christianity, suddenly being able to grasp it all at her finger tips. Masterson often wondered about this and sometimes felt that his wife had some extraordinary qualities that he had ever seen in a human being, apart of course from her beauty.  Brandon and Deepam were soon expecting their first child and even though she became very weak and fragile, she never stopped in her mission to attend the school and her beloved children, whom she showered with so much affection.

The day Brandee was born, a name given to the beautiful baby girl, everyone were so thrilled and the king of Belary was so happy for them that he gave Masterson a house as a gift and promised that he will be there to help them in anyway, should they need it.  Deepam however, prayed for God to guide her in the bringing up of Brandee and help her fulfil the dream.  I suddenly awoke from my thoughts with the confusion and noise around me and realised that we had landed at Bahrain airport, an island off Saudi Arabia.  We were in transit and had to get off the aircraft for refuelling.  There seemed to be a lot of Arabs around and I again caught a glimpse of the tall dark stranger who was on the aircraft and as soon as he found me looking at him, quickly went out of sight.

I went around looking at the shops, but unable to buy much, as I was not entrusted with a lot of money, I thought of the nuns who did a lot for me after my mum died.  They always remarked on how alike I was to my mum.  I inherited her black locks and her liquid brown eyes. My father taught me to be the kind of person my mother would want me to be and hence I spoke softly and tried not to get annoyed even if someone wronged me.  Her philosophy was that we had to accept the mistakes people make and forgive them.  He would quote words that my mother used from the bible.

Every time I think of my father, tears well up in my eyes.  I used to sit at his bedside everyday, as he taught me all the values that she held dear and wanted him to pass on to me.  However, I had a lot of my father in me as well.  After my mother passed away, dad’s adventurous spirit took over.  He never looked at another woman, but instead turned to explore other things in life.

One day, he spoke about man and the will that God had given him.  He said that the word WILL  had many meanings and that he would explain some of it to me, but the most important one was left for me to find out and pass on to my children, as he had no time to pass it on to me.

He made friends with an old sage who was a magician and who taught him to master the art of magic.  Dad explained the art of magic to me and said that one was white and the other black.  White magic, he said, could be taken as black, if one was ignorant of what it comprised of.  But the actual black art was very sinister and involved the other world.  I was intrigued with what he said and wanted to investigate, but a wise old Indian sage told me not to interfere with the unknown.  However, it was at the back of my mind and I was out to find out what the most important WILL was, as apparently, I would be very rich with it, that was what dad said, but unfortunately, he passed away, leaving me aged sixteen years with a big question mark and a bigger task to find out.

Brandee had grown into the most beautiful person one could imagine, with her mother’s ebony black, thick, long curly hair, her skin not white or black, but a creamy light olive and a texture as smooth as satin and flawless as a diamond; her big brown eyes like her mother’s, was Brandee’s most outstanding feature.  Her little pert nose and her cupid’s bow lips untouched by any cosmetics, gave her an angelic look. To summarise Brandee in one word ANGEL  even though she was unaware of it.

Deepam’s relatives wanted no bar of Brandee, as they had broken ties when Deepam married Masterson; hence Masterson, who had kept in contact with his mum Myrtle and his sister Hilda, became the legal guardians of Brandee and when Masterson passed away, Brandee was to go to England and stay under the