Jonathan toiled his days away unloading coal wagons at various homes and businesses from sunup to sundown and came home to wait for his wife who would come home late after cleaning homes of the upper class on Brussels’s better side.
It wasn’t soon after Sheila became pregnant with their first child, David who sadly died in his crib of pneumonia not long after his birth.
Grief stricken they went a while before they were suddenly blessed again with child and soon afterwards, little Thomas came into their harsh and poor existence and following close behind was another son which they named, Andrew.
Thomas and Andrew grew up and played on the filthy cobblestone streets and slums not really caring what the better side of Brussels had to offer.
When Thomas was but thirteen, his father succumbed to lung disease from all the years of shoveling the coal he delivered. His mother driven by sorrow fell ill and died of what took her first born and the authorities came for Thomas and Andrew, but they were nowhere to be found as Thomas had spirited his little brother to a kind family friend in the country and he bid a very hard and sorrowful farewell and went to seek what life held for him.
Having learned from his father and mother not to fear hard work, he worked for the next couple of years on nearby farms earning his keep and squirreling away any extra money he had and moved on to the coastal town of Ostend.
There he hired onto a freight ship that plowed the waters of the Channel and as far south as Spain. He worked to no end, still saving his money away and became first mate and eventually Captain of his own freighter.
He worked his way into the front office of the freight company and with his savings and a small loan from the owner he bought out the same owner and made the company his own.
Trade routes began developing along rivers. The trading posts at their junctions slowly grew into towns and cities. When trade became more organized, markets began to be held on a regular basis and the roads used to transport goods.
Thomas was shrewd enough to see this and purchased small river vessels to bring goods from the inland to his docks and onto his freighters amassing him a sizable fortune.
But he began to feel somewhat empty even though the Mayor of Ostend had bestowed a Lordship upon him for his increasing the town’s economy so much.
Thomas had lost touch with his roots that had enabled him to achieve his status.
He immediately sold out at a huge profit to a competitor and packed what he could carry and after hiding some of his funds and after not being able to find his brother set off on his travels, leaving funds in various places for recovery and giving out what he could to those that were less unfortunate.
He hired on for many jobs to pass time in his travels and learned much of the civilized world and some of the not so civilized.
After years of travels, he finally booked passage with his entire fortune and sailed for Britain and started in Scotland and explored his way onto Ireland and eventually ended up in Wales where he came upon the kindness of a Queen and her people in a land known as Caernarfon.
Then he found the most beautiful and precious treasure there ever existed, his sweet and lovely Catherine. They nurtured their profound and special love and she gave her hand to him in marriage. And the result of their perfect union was to be the second treasure Thomas had found in his lifetime; Catherine bore out of love his precious daughter, Elizabeth Anne. Named after their Queen.
Then one day he and Catherine decided it was time to make their own way on the world and using his influence, close friendships, and was granted the title of Baron and with his funds his own small Barony which in no time grew into larger holdings raising him and Catherine to the stations of Duke and Duchess and their once small Barony into a large Duchy that is now known as Pembrokeshire.
In time came the third treasure God and Catherine has bestowed upon him, his wonderful son Jonathan David. He had been blessed twice of his beautiful wife in the most spectacular way any husband could be.
So now they began their lives together, the four of them. Sharing more love than any family could ever hope for or ever want in a thousand lifetimes.
His old travels ended, he can now govern his family’s growing lands with his true love and soul mate, Catherine. And with her by his side, his Elizabeth, Jonathan, and his friends about him he lives happier than any one man could ever hope to.
