The most important thing in Divorced diner waitress Noelle’s (Natalie Hall) life is her son Henry (Callum Shoniker) and there has been no room for romance in her life since her divorce.
Then
she meets musician Jeremy Geer (Corey Sevier) at the diner who
is recovering from a stroke and sees a very different man to the Grinch that
everyone else sees.
But
what will happen when their worlds collide?
There are many things at Christmas
Of which we over indulgently savour
So, we have to take
Milk of Magnesia
But it is Brandy
buttered flavour
Santa Claus crossed the road
To get to the
other side
“Get out of the bloody
road”
The drunken driver
cried
But the red suited
man
Was the victim of
Santacide
St Clara’s would suit her
rather more than the main churches on the island in St Pierre.
So, when she and Danny walked inside, she was apprehensive, but she was not
disappointed with the church she’d chosen and felt immediately at home, and
they had been regulars ever since.
It was a small church by
Norman standards and was full of catholic iconography and a spectacular
stained-glass window behind the dais was a joy to behold.
It was a gloriously bright
morning, on New Year’s Eve, with a clear blue sky and not a hint of breeze or
the snow which was expected by the next day.
The Church was well attended
and there was a hum of chattering among the congregants as the news of
Arielle’s blessing was spread among the faithful, they spotted Arielle sitting
on the front pew with Harry in protection mode and they assumed the other woman
with them was Justyna Krajewska.
She and Arielle were the same
age, but very different in appearance, both were attractive women, Arielle was
a small and delicately featured woman with bobbed brown hair, and pale
complexion due to her condition, whereas Justyna
Krajewska was a tall willowy woman, with shoulder length brunette hair,
intelligent green laughing eyes, a broad toothy smile and a warm open manner
and altogether a very pleasant demeanour.
“Hello Arielle” Molly said
and stooped down and kissed her.
“Hi Molly” she responded
“Have you met Justyna, she is a fellow cleric”
“Hello,” she said and shook
her hand “How do you like our little church?”
“I love it, I felt
immediately at home as soon as I set foot inside” Justyna replied
“Yes, it had the same effect
on me” Molly responded and smiled at Arielle.
Reverend Henry Noble took the
service, but Arielle did the reading, however that would be the last time
either of them attended St Clara’s for a while and the following Sunday
Reverend Justyna Krajewska was in the pulpit.
The Shaw Brothers Ferry
Company were holding a New Year’s Eve party at the Mablethorpe Spa Hotel in
Pipershaven.
Bernie Keach worked at the St
Giles Island office and travelled to the Hotel in the morning and was the first
to arrive and had booked in early, so he could enjoy some of the facilities.
Later when he was on his way
down to the bar to have a drink before going in to find his table, he heard a
commotion at the function’s check in desk, and he recognized one of the voices
as one of his colleague’s, Ewa.
He paused on the stairs and
drank in the scene, though his eyes were focused on her, and he thought she
looked gorgeous in her evening dress.
“What
do you mean I’m not on the list?” she shouted
“My name is Ewa Szczepaniec”
“I can’t see it” the receptionist said as he perused
his list “Can you spell it?”
“S.Z.C.Z.E.P.A.N.I.E.C” she
said slowly and deliberately
“No that hasn’t helped” he
said, “Can you write it down?”
Reluctantly
she printed her surname on a piece of paper and handed it to him
“No that hasn’t helped either” he said and then
laughed
“Wow that would score big on
scrabble, perhaps that’s what we should call you Miss Scrabble”
“My name is Ewa Szczepaniec”
she repeated slowly “S.Z.C.Z.E.P.A.N.I.E.C”
“Yes, I understand” he said
“but I must just ask, do you lot have something against vowels”
“My lot, my lot, what do you
mean, my lot?” she said angrily, which was when Bernie arrived, and stepped
between them before Ewa brained him.
But it quickly became
apparent that she was not calming down, so he steered her away from the fray
and she left reception like a marauding bull, with him right behind her
carrying her pashmina and clutch bag.
Once Bernie caught up with
her, he walked Ewa around the courtyard and calmed her down and soothed her
temper with his comforting words and a reassuring hug.
After half an hour her mood
had lightened sufficiently for him to propose they make another attempt to gain
entry to the function and she concurred, so they walked back to the Hotel arm
in arm and he stayed by her side all night, and she had never in her life been
happier, so at the end of the evening on the terrace in the moonlight she
kissed him.
They often joked over their
long life together that the entire night had been something of a cliché, but
they didn’t care.
On Saturday just after lunch there was a knock
on the door at Cliff Haven and when Danny opened the door Reverend Arielle
Archer, and her husband Harry were standing there.
“Hello, you two” he said
“Come in out of the cold, you look perished”
“Thank you” Harry said
“Go through into the lounge”
Danny said
“It’s lovely to see you”
Molly said, and they embraced but she thought Arielle looked very pale
“But I don’t think you should
have come out on a day like this”
“We have some news that we
wanted you to hear from us first” Arielle said
“Oh?” Molly asked with
concern
“It’s a good thing” Harry interjected
“We’re having a baby” Arielle
said
“That’s wonderful news” Molly
said and kissed her
“Congratulations” Danny added
and shook Harry’s hand before giving him a hug.
After all the kissing and
embracing was over Arielle said
“There is some bad news”
“Oh?” Molly asked with
concern again
“Yes, the Doctor has advised
complete rest” Arielle said
“Is everything ok?” Molly
asked
“It’s precautionary” Arielle
replied
“It’s Preeclampsia and acute
anaemia” Harry corrected her
“Then you must rest” Molly
said “We’ll get someone else to cover for you, I’ve been thinking for some time
that we need to get a curate to assist you”
If St Clara’s had still been
a Church of England Church a locum would have been supplied, but they weren’t,
so they had to make other arrangements.
In the past Henry Noble, for
whom Arielle had been curate for several years, had stood in for her, and over
Christmas, but he was working at the St Giles retreat on St Giles du Cabot so
he couldn’t cover all of her parochial duties.
However there was a someone
who had spent a prolonged period at the retreat following a long battle with
cancer.
Forty-year-old Justyna
Krajewska who was ready to leave the retreat but was unsure where her future
lay so Henry Noble had suggested St Clara’s, and had introduced her to Arielle.
Arielle liked her and in turn
suggested her to Molly, but obviously Molly would need to meet her for herself,
however there was a slight complication, as only a very select few knew that
Molly owned the Church, so a chance meeting had to be engineered, it was
decided that the New Year’s Eve service would be the best time.
Molly and Danny had enjoyed
Christmas and planned on enjoying the New Year’s Weekend in the same vein but
in the meantime, they were planning their trip.
The itinerary for the book
signings was already set in stone, and they had just received it by email that
morning, so the planning involved finding suitable accommodation in each City
and some research into what to see and do while they were there.
Also as they were going to
Australia it gave them the opportunity to see Danny’s brother and family
again.
On the Friday before New
Year’s, Sam Archer was taking his girlfriend Nikki Harrison, her mum Katie, her
other half George Wood, her aunt Louise Stratford and her husband Neil,
Shepherdess Hayley Stock and her boyfriend Jamie White, out to dinner at the Beaumont
Manor Hotel.
So he drove from Spaniards
Creek to Beacon Farm with Jada Ellington in the passenger seat who was going to
babysit the Stratford’s Twins for the evening.
George answered his knock
which was quite fortuitous for Sam to get George on his own and allowed them to
have a brief, yet important, conversation before joining the others, while Jada
went straight in.
Katie was in the lounge and
kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you, Sam,” she said,
and she was filling up, he wasn’t sure what exactly she was thanking him for,
was it for the meal or just for making her daughter happy.
It could have been either,
but it certainly could not have been for what he and George had just been
discussing.
He patted her on the back,
and she released her grip and turned away to wipe her eyes, and a few minutes
later Nikki came into the lounge, and he thought she looked as lovely as ever.
“Hello darling” she said as
she walked over and kissed him
“I didn’t know you were here;
I didn’t hear the door”
A short period of small talk
followed and then Nikki looked at her watch and said
“I think we should make a
move”
“Yes” Sam agreed “But before
we go, I want to ask you something”
“Can’t it wait until dinner?
I’m starved, I’ve been looking forward to my roast duck all day”
“You’re going to have duck
again?” Sam asked
“Of course,” she replied with
a confused look on her face
“There are other things on
the menu” he pointed out
“I know” she retorted
“You could just give
something else a try” he teased
“I have tried other things; I
had a stroganoff once” she retorted indignantly
“Just the one time?” he said
“Yes, but that’s because I
don’t like change” she replied
“You don’t like change?”
“No, I don’t”
“Then we might have a
problem” Sam said and glanced over to the sofa, George was smiling broadly, and
Katie looked bemused.
“What do you mean?” she asked
in alarm
“Well, I was going to suggest
that you change your last name” he said and fished out a ring box from his
pocket.
“Nikki Harrison, will you
please marry me”
“What?” she exclaimed
“Will you marry me?” he
repeated,
She just stood and stared at
him for a full minute, and he was beginning to worry that he had been premature
and then all of a sudden, she screamed and threw her arms around his neck.
“Is that a, yes?”
“Yes” she replied
George and Katie were
hugging, as Katie watched her daughter’s joy unfold, no doubt remembering long
passed moments from her childhood, then Nikki rushed over and hugged and kissed
her mum, then she looked over her shoulder and said
“I’m still having the duck”
Mobile Hairdresser Maria
Jenkins was
36 and had been unhappily married for fifteen
years to a gambler and womanizer, she had known about the former from
the beginning, but the latter was a much more recent revelation.
She
is widely respected on the island and known to be a kind soul and everyone that
knows her has a tale to tell of her generous nature.
She retaliated to her
husband’s infidelity by embarking on an affair of her own with a man ten years
her junior, Mark Duff, and it was on the door of his cottage in Spaniards Creek
that she knocked at 8pm on the day after Boxing Day wearing her best posh
frock, and behind her a taxi was pulling away.
“Hello” he said with genuine
surprise
“Hello” she responded, “Can I
come in? Its bloody freezing”
“Of course,” He said fussily
“come in, come in”
Once inside she slipped off
her coat and walked through to the lounge and he thought she looked absolutely
gorgeous.
“You’re a bit overdressed for
my humble abode” he observed mentally undressing her.
“I know” she said as she sat
down “I was going out to Dinner but…”
“But?” he asked
“I couldn’t face everyone
quizzing me about Bill”
“About what?” he quizzed
“I’m divorcing him” she
replied, “I don’t want him back, I’m moving on”
“I’m sorry,” he said
inadequately
“I’m not” Maria said
surprisingly “though it’s your fault in a way”
“Then I should be sorry,” he
admitted
“No, you opened my eyes and
showed me that I’m still an attractive woman, still a sexy woman, Bill didn’t
appreciate that, and I need to be with someone who sees me the way that you do”
Richard raised his eyebrows
in response and Maria laughed
“Oh, don’t worry I’m not
looking to move in with you, having you at my disposal with your appetites
would probably kill me”
She laughed again then
continued
“Love making with you is like
Zumba and Pilates rolled into one and you would “appreciate” me into an early
grave”
“So, what do you have
planned?” Mark asked
“I’m going on a cruise” she
replied
“Really?” he asked, “on your
own or with a friend?”
“I’m
going with a gentleman admirer” she replied and blushed
“Good
for you” Mark exclaimed
“So,
when do you go?”
“I’m
leaving next week” she replied and gracefully got to her feet “So in the
meantime I’m going to let you answer the question you’ve been asking yourself
since the moment I walked in”
“Which
is?”
“Is
she wearing tights or stockings?”
