After the defeat of King Harold at Hastings, a minor nobleman, Gilbert du Beaumont, claimed the Pepperstock Bay islands for himself, and took up residence on the larger Island which he promptly named after himself.
He named the smaller island
St Giles du Cabot in honour of his cousin and childhood friend who died of his
wounds after the battle.
It was a rugged inhospitable
and largely uninhabitable island surrounded by treacherous rocks.
For hundreds of years
following the dissolution of the monasteries a hardy community of Monks eked
out a meagre existence before they had to share their seclusion when work on a
lighthouse at Cabot point began in the middle of the 19th Century.
By the 21st Century, three
quarters of the island is a Wildlife Sanctuary, there is a small Meteorological
Station, a small Hotel, the Seaview, and the Monks, who now run St Giles’s
religious retreat, which meant there was a population of between 50 and a 150
people, depending on the time of year.
There is no Church on the
Island but for those of a religious bent were always welcome at the St Giles
Chapel.
St Giles is where Rachel
Walker and Carla Moody first met and was also where Rachel fell head over heels
in love, with Carla.
Rachel had worked at the
Seaview Hotel since she left school, but Carla only joined in October, Rachel
was from Beaumont Island and lived in at the Hotel whereas Carla lived on St
Giles with her parents and brother.
She was three years younger
than Rachel, but like her she was socially awkward, and lacked confidence.
As a result, they just smiled
at each other for the first month, but at least sat at the same table for
lunch, and by December they progressed beyond monosyllabic conversations, and
in the week before Christmas they arranged to go Christmas shopping together in
Pipershaven.
Rachel was a little concerned
there might be an awkward silence on the ferry over, or at some point during
the day as they had never spent more than half an hour at a time in each
other’s company before that day.
She needn’t have worried as
Carla chattered away for the whole journey, as she was so full of excitement.
Rachel had a lovely day, and
she was pretty sure that Carla had too, so when they were heading back to the
ferry, walking past the library, hands full of bags and chatting, Rachel
formulated her plan.
Just after the library they
turned left by the art gallery and down a cobbled alley which led to the dock,
then they boarded the ferry and headed back to St Giles.
Carla was anxious to go and
show her mum her purchases, but Rachel had other ideas.
So, as Carla had to walk past
the Hotel to get to the cottage Rachel took hold of some of Carla’s bags and
rushed up the path to the staff accommodation.
“Come on Carla” Rachel called
“come in for a minute”
“Ok I’m coming” Carla called
back “Just for five minutes though”
“Alright come in and close
the door” she said and went inside Rachel’s room was the first door on the
left.
Carla followed her in a bag
in each hand and closed the door behind her as instructed, but as she went into
the sitting room, she found Rachel standing in front of her holding up a sprig
of mistletoe, and before she could react Rachel took her by surprise and kissed
her,
“I didn’t think we were doing
presents until Christmas Eve”
Carla said, dropped her bags
and kissed her back.
Carla had stayed much longer
than five minutes when they shared a soft, gentle, and affectionate farewell
kiss, before Rachel opened the door and Carla went home to share her news with
her mum.
No comments:
Post a Comment