The Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa – The Third Sunday of Advent Matinée

 

The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa and when staffing the Hotel, they wanted to employ from the village populous where possible, and that was how the Ward girls came to work at the Palace.

 

The Ward family had a small holding on the North side of the village, parents Jack and Olive, and daughters Donna, Felicity, Josephine, and Maxine.

Josephine was third in the pecking order at twenty-one and was 5 feet 4 inches tall in her stocking feet and was half a stone heavier than she should have been which was thanks to her comfort eating.

She wasn’t though disappointed with everything she saw in the mirror she liked her legs which she thought were quite shapely and her hair which she thought of as her crowning glory, which was long, straight, and light brown, and she was the only one of the sisters who was in a long-standing relationship, and the recipient of her favours, and the reason for the comfort eating, was James Vesey, a Corporal in the Downshire Light Infantry, who was posted overseas.

But on the Third Sunday of Advent while the Ward Family were heading towards their seats at St Giles’, a murmur rumbled around those already seated and when Jo turned around to investigate, she saw a soldier walking towards her, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Jimmy?” she exclaimed

“Were you expecting some other gallant hero of the armed forces?” he asked, and she launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

 

James’ appearance at St Giles’ was an unexpected one, h  

 

His role with the Downshire’s was as a Field Medical Assistant, and he had flown back to the UK on a medevac mission,

but he was only back in Downshire for a few days, and only had a 48 hour leave before he had to report back to Nettlefield.

So, when he arrived back in the Village on a Sunday Morning he knew exactly where to find Jo because The Ward Family had always been churchgoers and the whole family had very strong faiths, and they only missed in exceptional circumstances.

 

Apart from being regulars at St Giles’ there was one other given for the family, and that was Olive Ward’s family Sunday Lunch, but given the circumstances it took on a different significance, so Olive raised the bar, to make it more special.

 

To get everyone around the same table for their Sunday Dinner was very special in itself but Olive wanted to endow it with the addition of her husband Jack’s homemade wine, something that only graced the most special of occasions and her suggestion was greeted with Universal approval.

 

It was a noisy and raucous occasion fueled in no small measure by the liberal consumption of Jack’s Pea Pod Chardonnay.

By 3 o’clock dinner was served, and Olive had done them proud with the table groaning under the weight of the Celebration fare.

It was no mean feat to cook such a sumptuous feast for 9 people, but as usual Olive achieved it effortlessly, which was made all the more remarkable, as she appeared not to have a single hair out of place, and everyone enthused at the magnificence of the spread and all the trimmings and subsequently all the plates were cleared.

 

Finally, the pudding was served, a baked Alaska, which Olive knew was James’ favourite, and then as the final scrapes of spoons on china echoed around the room James stood up and called for order, and when he finally had everyone’s attention, he firstly proposed a toast to the cook, then to the master brewer and finally he proposed to Jo.

“Wha…?” she said

“Will you marry me?” he repeated holding the ring box out to her

“Of course, I’ll marry you dummy” she said and wrapped her loving arms around his neck and kissed him.