Chapter 155 Nicole

• Nicole paused at the head of the steps that led down to Wharf Street and looked back at King’s Castle, marvelling that such a place had been built here back in the pioneering days. Tropical North Queensland was a long way from Rome, yet Frederico Stefano Valeri, Isabella’s father, had certainly stuck to his Italian heritage when constructing this amazing villa on top of the hill overlooking Port Douglas.
• The locals had come to call it a castle because of the tessellated tower that provided the perfect lookout in every direction, but the loggia and the fountain had definitely been inspired by Roman villas. And all of it built with poured concrete, a massive feat in those early times, although no doubt Frederico, having seen the timber buildings of Port Douglas destroyed in the 1911 cyclone, had been intent on having his home stand against anything.
• Home and family, Nicole thought, her mind turning to the two great-grandsons she had met yesterday, both of them exuding the kind of strength that would tackle any problem and come out on top. The sense of family heritage and tradition was very much alive in them, nurtured no doubt by their extraordinary grandmother. It would be interesting to see if their younger brother fitted the same mould.