December
Illustrator,
Fiona Phippen, was attending a dinner party on St Andrew’s Day, at the home of
local celebrity, children’s author, Chania Campbell.
In addition to
the hostess Chania, was St Agatha’s Church Warden, Kevin Southey, Derren
Mcphail, Curate of same, Chania’s brother, artist Aiden, Literary agents, Harry
and Tracey Smedley, Actresses Louise Sexton and Jade Edwards and Tim Weston who
was a Local Historian, so it was an interesting bunch.
Fiona had known
Chania since they were at school and apart from being best friends, Fiona also
illustrated her children’s books, and as a result she had become well known in
her own right and her work had become well sort after, so life was good, but
not quite perfect, yet.
Although the
dinner guests were indeed interesting, her interest was very much in one among
them and that was Tim Weston.
When the time
came for them to take their seats Fiona found that she was seated next to Aiden
Campbell, but he was completely absorbed by Jade Edwards who was opposite him,
but Fiona had no interest in him anyway because she saved all her attention for
Tim Weston who was sitting opposite her.
Tim was a local
historian who was the Curator of the Pipershaven History Centre, and he was at
the dinner party because Fiona asked Chania to invite him.
They met one
rainy Friday afternoon in October; Fiona entered the History Centre and stood
dripping on the doormat for several minutes before she ventured further.
“Can I help?”
Tim asked the tall skinny girl as she dripped on his floor.
“I do hope so” she replied brightly
“I’m looking
for information about my family name”
“Ok I’m sure we
can help with that” She said, “What’s the name?”
“Phippen” she
replied proudly
“Oh excellent”
he replied as he brushed his sandy hair off his forehead “That’s a cracking
good name”
“Thank you” she
said with a laugh “I like it, and so far, as I know I’m the last one, because
I’ve never met another”
“Well come and
take a seat and you can tell me what you know over a cup of tea” he suggested
“Oh yes a cup
of tea would be lovely”
At that first
meeting they spent more than an hour together while Fiona related everything
that she knew about the family, firstly the facts, names and dates and the
anecdotal information which may or may not have been true.
Tim’s immediate
interest in the skinny young woman was her name, he did a lot of research of
the kind she was looking for, but unlike hers they were very common, such as
Wilson, Brown, Andrews and Cooper of which there were very many in the county,
so to be asked to undertake research on Phippen was refreshingly different.
But an interest
in the name was soon surpassed by one in the young woman herself, and in
particular her company, although she was unaware of the fact.
Fiona had only
gone to the History Centre in order to get some help and pointers, but the nice
Sandy-haired Historian was so helpful and friendly that when he offered to
research her name with her, she didn’t hesitate to accept.
So, over the
following weeks she went to the LHC to meet with him almost every day and with
each subsequent visit the importance of her original visit waned while her
attraction to Tim grew exponentially.
However, she
was not able to shake him from his primary interest in the research which was
why she asked Chania to include him on the party guest list.
But despite the
fact that they were seated opposite each other during dinner and talked
non-stop about a range of topics, and they both enjoyed the others company,
they parted at the end of the evening without securing a date.
However, he did
ask if she needed escorting home, but she had to say no as she had already told
Chania that she would help her clear away, she kicked herself for not
foreseeing the possibility that he would ask, she was however encouraged that
he had asked though.
With the
arrival of December came more demands on her time so she wasn’t able to spend
as much time with Tim at the LHC, but she looked forward to the times that she
could spend with him, and she enjoyed every minute she was there, but she made
no progress on securing a date.
It was her
birthday on the 21st so that was her target and failing that she wanted him on
her arm by Christmas.
The problem was
that as the days slipped by, because Tim was as efficient as he was gorgeous,
he was likely to have completed his research before she had got her man.
And her worst
fears were realized when he phoned her two days before her birthday and told
her he was finished.
“Oh great” she
said “And so soon”
“When can you
pop in?” Tim asked, “Can you do tomorrow?”
“Oh yes I think
so” she said unable to think of a reason not to
“Brilliant I’ll
see you then” Tim said “Bye”
After she hung
up, she chastised herself for dithering, but in the end, she couldn’t make it
as she was tied up all day with Chania and her publisher discussing the
illustrations for the new book, so she didn’t make it to the Local History
Centre until the next day, which was her birthday.
“Hello” he said
when he saw her, and she instantly smiled
“Hi Tim, sorry
about yesterday” she said
“No problem
let’s go and sit” he said “The kettle has just boiled”
“Lovely” she
responded
They were
sitting down at the table with only the remnants of tea left in the mugs when
Tim said
“I have a full
record of The Downshire Phippen’s up to and including you, and as it’s your
birthday I had it bound in Leather”
“Wow” Fiona
said, and as she studied it tears filled her eyes “It’s beautiful”
“I’m glad you
like it”
“I love it” she
said and stood up and hugged him “Thank you, in fact, let me buy you lunch as a
proper thank you”
“Oh, I was
going to take you to lunch for your birthday” he said
“Well how about
this, I’ll take you for a thank you lunch and then you can take me for a
birthday dinner tonight”
“Ok that’s a
date” he said
“I do hope so”
she said and took hold of his hand
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