The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (166) The Second Sunday of Advent

April Portnall and Eric Hilton  met in town on Sunday Morning and walked to the Church together and he introduced her to a few people then stayed with her until he had to go and do his thing.

 

Afterwards when the congregants had gathered at the rear of the church and shared the peace April asked

“Is it always like that?”

“Sometimes it’s even better” He replied “I take it that you enjoyed it”

“Very much”

“Well if you liked that then you’ll love Christingle, the Carol Service, Midnight Mass and the Christmas Morning Service”

“Can we go to all of them?” she asked innocently

“Oh yes” he replied

“Together I mean” she said

“So did I” he retorted and put his arm around her.

 

For Reverend Cheryl Mackender the Sunday Service and the lighting of the second candle of Advent went as smooth as silk but the following week was to be a test of endurance with the approach of the special St Lucy’s day celebration on Wednesday.

But after another success, with the morning service going off without a hitch there was just time for a light lunch before she was off again.

 

Back at Terrell’s Acre’s when Sarah eventually rose from her bed, she was bombarded with questions from Ava about the Christmas Party and after she regaled her with the details of the Dinner, the Dancing and the kissing Sarah said

“Now it’s your turn”

“What do you mean?”

“You and Max” Sarah said

“There isn’t any me and Max” Ava said

“There could be if you said yes the next time, he asks you out” Sarah pointed out

“He probably won’t ask again” Ava said

“Well, when he does you must say yes,” said Sarah

 

After lunch Verger Lee Barnaby walked down to St Joan of Arc Church with Church Warden Guy Millar, and he was surprised to see Cheryl outside the Church engaged in conversation with church committee members Eric Hilton and Sally Swift.

“It’s just one thing after another” Cheryl was saying

“It’s St Lucy’s day on Wednesday and next weekend we have the Carol Concert and Christingle”

“What’s the matter? Is life testing your patience Vicar?”

Guy asked cheerfully

“No, it’s testing my faith,” she replied without humour and went inside.

“Now look what you’ve done” Lee said and followed in the Vicars footsteps.

Sally just looked at him and tutted and followed Lee.

 

“What’s wrong Cheryl?” Lee asked once inside the Church

“The sound system and the visual displays have packed up” she replied

“How bad?” he asked

“Bad enough, and hardly any time to get it fixed” she replied glumly

“That’s why it’s a disaster”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said

“Really?” she asked doubtfully

“Really” he said and taking out his mobile phone he got up his contacts list, scrolled down and hit dial

“Steve? What are you doing tomorrow?”

 

Cheryl burst into tears when Lee told her that Steve was coming to the island first thing on Monday to fix the system

“It’s divine providence” she sobbed “I prayed for a solution and here you are” then she hugged him and continued to hug him far longer than was necessary.

 

When Lee went home, he reflected that it had been a bit of an eventful day for a Sunday, and if Sunday had been an eventful day, then it merely heralded the beginning of an even more eventful week to come.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (165) The Christmas Party Event

 

Also at the Christmas Party Event held at the Beaumont Manor Hotel party was Church Warden of St Joan of Arc Church, Guy Millar and the staff of his travel agency and Librarian Augustine Poyle and her colleagues

They were both in their mid-forties, neither of them were married or had been and they both attended the same Church.

She was slim and elegant with auburn hair, but dressed on the side of frumpy, he was tall, with a military bearing, light brown hair, blue eyes and a smile that melted Augustine Poyle’s heart the first time she saw it, and if that alone hadn’t been enough to catch her eye, Guy was also an immaculate dresser, Blazer, Slacks, collar and tie, finished off with tie pin and cufflinks.

Some people at Church made fun of him behind his back about the way he dressed but Augustine liked it.

She liked him and she knew he liked her too, so she intended to get his attention at the Christmas Party.

 

When Augustine entered the hall, it was teaming with an array of stunningly turned-out men and women, but she couldn’t immediately see Guy however, but while she stood on the periphery of the throng her heart skipped a beat when she first caught sight of his dapper upright figure.

“Wow” he said, as he turned around “you look stunning”

Because there was nothing frumpy about Augustine’s outfit as she was immaculately dressed in a full-length blue designer evening dress.

 

Among the other guests were a group of lifelong friends including April Portnall who was half an inch shorter than five feet, with Jet-black hair and alabaster skin, and it was at the party that she met Eric Hilton for the first time, and she fell hard for him.

She had had crushes before, but she had never been in love, but when she first saw Eric, it was like a switch being flicked inside her heart.

 

In the closing minutes of Saturday Night, after spending much of the evening dancing together, when the party was coming to an end April took a deep breath and asked

“Do you want to meet up for coffee in the morning?”

“I can’t” he replied, and her heart sank “I have Church in the Morning, it’s the Second Sunday of Advent”

She knew that Eric was a musician and that he played for the Church band, but the Portnall Family had not been churchgoers, so she said

“I don’t know what that is, is it important?”

“Yes” Eric replied and then explained its significance

“Could I go?” she asked

“Anyone can go” Eric replied

“Could I go with you I mean?”

“Of course, you can” he said and smiled

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (164) Christmas Activities

 

Danny Nightingale treated himself to an extra close shave, much closer than usual in order to accommodate the Santa beard, as a result when he applied the aftershave it stung like hell.

So he arrived at the school sweet smelling and red-faced at about 11.00am with an unenthused Molly Barrington in tow, and found the Reverend Archer fussing around like a mother hen, uncharacteristically wanting things just so, Danny wasn’t sure why, it was after all just a village school bazaar, when he told her to calm down Arielle snapped

“We’re making Christmas memories”

 

Molly and Danny went into the Headteachers office to get changed and when they were both in their costumes Molly said

“I can’t believe you volunteered me for this”

“You look gorgeous” he said

“Flattery will get you nowhere” she retorted

“Unless we can keep the costumes until tomorrow”

“You dirty little Elf” Danny rebuked

“I wish I’d thought of it”   

 

Warren Bramble worked for Frank Swift’s Veterinary practice in St Pierre and as there were only 4 staff there weren’t enough of them to have a Christmas Party between them so they, like many small businesses or groups of friends, they bought a table at one of the Christmas Party Event’s held at the Beaumont Manor Hotel, and they were popular parties and always sold out.

 

He began the day in high spirits but as the day went on self-doubt crept in so as Warren Bramble stood at his bathroom sink to shave, he looked at his reflection and suddenly thought, Sarah Terrell was out of his league, he always thought himself “ok looking”, but she was gorgeous.

However, despite his self-doubt he shaved and showered and got into his best suit.

 

Warren wasn’t the only one riddled with self-doubt, Sarah Terrell, was also questioning the wisdom of agreeing to go on a date with a good looking well educated Professional man when she was just a gardener who hadn’t even stayed at school long enough to do her A levels, even with her hair done and nails painted she didn’t think she would hold his attention for long.

When Sarah walked into the lounge wearing her best cocktail dress Ava said

“You look gorgeous”

“Do you think so?” she asked

“Absolutely” Ava replied

“What if he doesn’t like me?”

“But he does” Ava replied “He wouldn’t have asked you if he didn’t”

“He asked me because of how I look” she explained “What about when he realizes I’m dumb”

“You’re not dumb” Ava retorted

“I’m dumber than him” she said forlornly

 

What Sarah wasn’t aware of was that Warren wasn’t concerned about Sarah’s intellect, in fact he hadn’t given it a second thought, he was more worried about boring her.

 

On Saturday evening Warren drove to Terrell’s Acre’s in Spaniards Creek, Terrell’s Acre’s was a Small Holding on the outskirts of the village and had been in the Terrell family for a hundred years and was now owned by 32-year-old Sarah Terrell and her widowed younger sister Ava Adderley.

He parked the car and knocked on the front door and when she appeared they said together

“Hello”

And the moment they made eye contact all their previous doubts melted away.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (163) Housekeeping

 

After almost six weeks or so of working at the Beaumont Manor Hotel, the tall dark and handsome Leo Humphrey and the diminutive Sheridan Tilbrook grew close until a December day when they were coming to the end of their shift they were just finishing one of the unoccupied rooms and started messing around and Leo was threatening to tickle her and he was chasing her around the room and when she tried crawling across the bed he caught the little giggler by the ankle and before he knew what was happening she kissed him. 

 

Later that same December afternoon Leo Humphrey and Sheridan Tilbrook lay naked beneath the duvet in room 314.

And in its cosiness, they were both silently contemplating their situation and reflecting that it was not how they had envisaged the day panning out.

Leo was holding Sheridan, who had her head on her new lover’s chest, and it was her who finally broke the silence when she said

“That was quite a surprise”

“Which part?” Leo asked

“All of it” she replied “but it was a very nice surprise”

“Which part?” Leo asked again

“All of it” she replied and giggled

“I’d never done it before” She confessed, in fact Sheridan had never done anything before, with anyone, she was a virgin in every conceivable sense of the word.

“I know Honey” Leo said

“Do you mind?” the novice asked

“No of course not” he replied, “You do know that I’ve done it before?”

“God yes” she replied and giggled again “I don’t know what my mother would say if she was still alive?”

“Do you care?” Leo asked

“Not a jot”

They lay quiet again for a few minutes before Sheridan said sheepishly

“I do have one question though”

“What’s that Honey?” Leo asked

“I was just wondering when we might um…” she began

“You were wondering what?” he asked suspiciously

“Well… when we could do it again?” she asked and buried her face in Leo’s chest to hide her embarrassment

“That’s very brazen” he said

“I know” Sheridan said without lifting her head

“Well as it’s our day off, its dark out, the room is at our disposal and we’re all cosy warm in bed already, so I suppose we could do it again right now”

“Oooh really” Sheridan purred “I like the sound of that”

“You do realise though that you’ll never get to heaven behaving so brazenly”

“I’m already there” Sheridan replied

 

On Saturday morning Conrad rose early and was pleased to find his knee was the best it had been all week, but he took no chances and wore a knee support on it and set off to walk down to the harbour though a little slower than normal due to his knee, and Conrad and his crew worked on the boat until midafternoon.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (162) Costume Fittings

 

On Friday Danny Nightingale returned to the village hall, accompanied by Molly, who was only there to mock him, but before they could get in the door the Vicar came bursting out of it. 

“It’s a disaster” the Vicar blurted out “Brian has appendicitis”

“Oh no” Molly said, “is he ok?”

“What?” Arielle said as if confused by the question

“Brian” she clarified “is he ok?”

“Oh shit,” the Vicar exclaimed, “I never thought to ask”

“So, what’s the disaster then?” Danny enquired

“Brian is the main Elf to your Santa,” she explained

“So what’s the problem?” Danny asked, “Can’t we find someone to fill his shoes?”

“It’s not his shoes that are the problem” Arielle explained and detailed the dimensions of the stricken Elf

“We can’t get anyone else with their own costume at this late stage”

“Oh” he said unhelpfully, he went to speak but she was in full flow and cut him off

“No! we can’t hire a costume they’re all gone, and if we put one of the volunteers in Brian’s costume, they will just look ridiculous”

Then Danny cast his gaze on Molly and Arielle did the same and repeated the dimensions

“No” Molly exclaimed “Absolutely not”

“Sorted” Danny said and Arielle gave her an appraising look and declared

“You’re perfect”

“Hardly” Danny retorted, and Molly punched him

“Come on then Molly, the costume is through here” said Arielle and she led her away to the waiting ladies.

“Thank you, God,” she said looking to the heavens and crossing herself “and thank you Danny” and Arielle kissed his cheek before going off to belatedly enquire about Brian’s state of health.

Danny followed her into the hall and the ladies swarmed around him like they were preparing Cinderella for the ball, and after the ladies had done their thing, he and Molly returned home.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (161) Desperately Seeking Sarah

 

On Thursday morning after a painfully restless night Conrad awoke to find there had been some improvement.

He knew he should have stayed at home for the rest of the week to rest it, but he had to go to sea on Monday, so he would need to spend time on the weekend getting ready for sea.

 

Vet Warren Bramble was visiting Woodside farm, which was the largest of the five farms on the island covering the whole of the southeast corner, a large wedge-shaped parcel of land bordered by Halfway Lane to the north, Spanish River and Eagles Crag in the west and the rugged coastline from Manor Cliff Beach to Armada Head to the east.

 

Warren was making his second visit of the week to the farm to treat Natasha Baker’s horse who went lame when she was out for a ride.

He was just walking to his car after leaving the stables when a green van drove in and parked next to his vehicle and emblazoned on the side of it was “Terrell’s Acre’s”.

His heart soared when he saw it, but he hadn’t seen who the driver was at that point, so he didn’t know if it was Sarah or Ava, and it was the former that affected his heart.  

He held his breath as he heard the van door open and only breathed again when he saw the shock of Sarah’s red curls.

He continued to walk towards his car, and he watched as she opened the side door, and when he reached her, he said

“Hello Sarah”

 “Oh God” she exclaimed and nearly dropped the trays of eggs she was carrying “You startled me”

“Sorry” he said “I didn’t mean too”

“That’s ok” she said and smiled

“It was nice seeing you again” she added as she started walking away

“Before you go, I was hoping…” he began

“Hoping what?”

“That you would accompany me to our staff Christmas Party” he said falteringly

“Oh, er when?”

“Saturday” he replied “At the Beaumont”

“Erm yes then”

  

On Friday morning Conrad’s knee was well on the mend, he still used the walking stick though to get about and would keep using it when he returned to the boat.

 

At Terrell’s Acre’s Small Holding on the outskirts of Spaniards Creek, the property had been in the Terrell family for a hundred years and was now owned by 32-year-old Sarah  and her widowed younger sister.

Ava Adderley had made her sister Sarah get her nails done, such as they were, and she arranged for Hairdresser Maria Jenkins to do something with her unruly hair on Saturday morning.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (160) Saint Nicholas Day

 

Wednesday was St Nicholas Day, also called the Feast of Saint Nicholas, is typically celebrated on December 6, the anniversary of Saint Nicholas of Myra’s death (December 6, 343 AD), those who celebrate the holiday leave a shoe out on the night of December 5 in the hope of finding chocolate coins, nuts or an orange tucked in it the next morning.

This is a tradition Sepp Lohr and his partner Peta Hoffman were brought with in Germany and now they were living on Beaumont Island they were keeping up the tradition alive in their new homeland with their son Sebastian.

 

Danny had been persuaded to play Santa at the village school Christmas Bazaar and as his predecessor was a bigger man then he was, some adjustment to the suit and the padding was necessary.

So, the Vicar and a small team of ladies were on hand to affect alterations, well the team of ladies obviously did the work and Arielle looked on with a worried frown.

Danny tried on the suit and measurements were taken by women muttering to one another with their mouths full of pins.

It was agreed it would be ready by Friday without fail and he returned home to more teasing from Molly.

 

Conrad Watts’s leg wasn’t much better by Wednesday so he decided to phone the Doctor to make an appointment, but he couldn’t get one until Friday.

But they suggested he go to Bellevue as a walk in, if he needed to see someone sooner.

So, he retrieved his old walking stick from the back of the wardrobe to assist him on his walk to the bus stop.

 

He didn’t have an appointment, so he booked in at reception and was pleasantly surprised to see that there weren’t many other patients waiting, which he thought surprising considering that there was still snow and ice on the ground.

 

After about two hours his name was called and he was delighted to see it was Elke Offord, she was the nurse who was on duty when he was rushed into hospital after being injured aboard his boat in rough weather, which in turn led to an operation.

He smiled at her but she turned away from him and went towards the cubicles so he hobbled after her as fast as he could.

 

When he caught up with her, he was a little surprised to find her somewhat standoffish and not the warm and flirty Nurse he remembered.

It was the first time he’d seen her professionally since he was discharged, although they did run into each other on the previous New Year’s Eve, so he tried some light conversation, but she was completely unresponsive, and when she spoke it was flat and emotionless and when she smiled it was clearly forced.

After examining the knee, she said

“I think you need a cortisone injection; I’ll speak with the Doctor”

And then she was gone.

 

When she returned, she was accompanied by a Doctor Woodward, who he had never seen before, who was Chief of Medicine, according to the badge displayed on her ample chest.

She was much warmer and chattier than Nurse Offord, and soon got the job done. 

After she had administered the injection, which hurt like hell, he put his trousers back on.

“You will need to rest it,” she instructed, “so stay off your feet and definitely no work”

“But I need to take the boat out at the weekend” he said

“I certainly wouldn’t recommend that” the Doctor said “Rest is what you need”

 

“Are you ok” he asked Elke with concern, After the doctor had gone

“You don’t seem yourself”

“I’m fine” she replied flatly “it’s just been a long day”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes” she said impatiently and forced another smile before leaving the cubicle.

She returned about 10 minutes later with a prescription

“Take these as directed” she said and turned on her heels

“Ok” he said “bye then nurse”

 

Conrad stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and picked up his painkillers and on that journey home he replayed the interaction with Elke in his head.

He concluded that it was obvious that everything was not ok with Elke, but he was at a loss to know what was amiss, and if he didn’t know what the problem was, he wouldn’t be able to fix it.

He really liked her and was actually going to ask her out a year earlier, but he lost his bottle at the crucial moment when they ran into each other on New Years Eve. 

But he didn’t know what had happened since then, what he did know was that his knee hurt as much on the walk home as it did on the one to the Hospital.