Dolores A. McCabe, Author

Dolores A. McCabe holds a Bachelor's degree in English literature and Philosophy from Chestnut Hill College.  She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Music, Piano from SUNY The College at New Paltz. She is the mother of six highly successful children and an independent businesswoman and owner of Eine Kleine Kennel. Ms. McCabe lives in the beautiful Catskills of New York State.

The Highest Destiny

THE HIGHEST DESTINY  by Dolores A. McCabe

            First Century Britain.  An unhappy legion of Roman soldiers under the command of a callow and inexperienced Patrician named Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo come to the cold, dreary, rainy and utterly inhospitable shores of Britannica to quell a rebellion against the Roman Empire.  There they meet Strabo, a Legionary evolving into the new face of Britain.  Highly skilled and well-versed in the techniques of Celtic warfare, Strabo takes the Roman officers into his home and undertakes to train their soldiers.  His British wife, Viola, daughter of a Druid priest, widow of a British king, has brought her daughter, Daneh, to live with her and her Roman husband.  Corbulo wants nothing to do with any of these strange people, but there is no escape.  Pursued and pestered by Viola's strange daughter, he eventually finds himself drawn to her free, wild spirit.  Against her mother's wishes, he takes her to Rome as his mistress and installs her within his aunt's home.  Pomonia, a cultured Patrician of vast wealth and influence, welcomes the girl at first, but soon frowns upon the spell she  has cast over her promising nephew.  Corbulo turns down an important commission so that he can remain in Rome with his mistress and their children, and his family finally proscribes the liaison.

            Merullus owes Pomonia a favor, and she calls it in.  Daneh is hysterical at the theft of her daughter, taken from her by Corbulo and his brother-in-law, and given to Corbulo's legal wife to raise.  She appeals to Merullus, who agrees to help her.  Broken and defeated, Daneh returns to Britain with her two sons.  In time, she revives and returns to her beloved cliffs overlooking the sea.  But unknown to her, Fate has already set itself in motion, and will soon come for her...