(Part 01)
The Olsen family were originally from Abbeyvale but Lorraine’s older sister Hannah moved to Abbottsford after she had married Mick Hill.
Mick however deserted his wife and family after the birth of their second child leaving huge debts behind him including 6 six months of mortgage arrears.
As a result Hannah lost her home and she and her children ended up living in a two bedroom flat in a dingy part of town.
However what was once dingy and undesirable was, after five years, suddenly up and coming, and so her landlord decided to sell out to a developer.
She didn’t know what she was going to do, the council would rehouse her but it would be to another shitty corner of town.
She couldn’t move back home with her mum, Irene because her and her sister Lorraine were banned from any kind of contact with their mum by their abusive stepfather Graham.
And her sister Lorraine lived in a room above the restaurant at the Old Mill Inn in Mornington.
What Hannah was unaware of was however that the Mornington Estate had exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD and along with it the estate also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
And furthermore her sister had applied for one, however when Lorraine went to Lyndon-Sanders Properties in Shallowfield she was told that she might not be successful, being a single woman and the new housing stock all being 3 and 4 bedroom homes.
It just so happened though that Hannah’s eviction notification came within a few days of her sisters meeting with a property agent about a house in Mornington and with her sister about to be made homeless it meant Lorraine could make a new application for them all and this time they qualified for a 4 bedroom house.
Lorraine got word from the agents that she was being given the tenancy of number 6 The Close on Friday September 26th, and the first thing she did was ring Hannah.
It wasn’t the best timing in the world as she was catering the Topliss wedding breakfast and the reception the next day so she was rushed off her feet.
Which meant they couldn’t move in until the following weekend but even when the following weekend arrived Lorraine couldn’t take any time off because the restaurant still hadn’t replaced Francois the chef.
Not that the move required a lot of efforts as between them they had little or no furniture and number 6 the Close was unfurnished.
However help with that came from an unusual quarter in the shape of Gabriel St George, the Lord of the Manor, and general philanthropist and all round good egg who on the day of the move just happened to be having lunch at the Old Mill Inn with his girlfriend Chantel.
When he heard that they would all be sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags he called his old friend Jonathon Springthorpe.
He was a resident of the village himself at The Old Forge.
Gabriel decided to phone Jon who was one of the Springthorpe’s at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
(Part 02)
Apart from their normal business as one of the premier auctioneers in Downshire, O’Sullivan and Springthorpe were also required rather more often than they would have liked to do house clearances.
On many occasions they would turn up a few choice pieces to at least cover the cost of the clearance but that still meant there was a lot of serviceable items that weren’t worth auctioning but still had value which eventually found their way into one of their many second hand shops across the county.
However most of it spent a prolonged period in storage first.
Gabriel managed to secure a van load of furniture and arranged for its delivery to The Close that afternoon it was a tall order to get it done that quickly but people tended to pull out all the stops for Gabriel, not because he was the Baron of Mornington but because if he had asked for it to be done it was important that it was.
He always tried to help people when he could he was very lucky to have the life he had and he tried every day to remind himself of that fact but some people didn’t like charity so he played out a bit of a charade with Lorraine when he put his head around the kitchen door and spoke to her.
Gabriel St George put his head around the kitchen door and spoke to Lorraine
“Lorraine I must apologize” he said “the furniture should have been delivered yesterday”
“What furniture?”
“Well you’re renting number 6 the Close” he said
“Which is supposed to be furnished”
“Is it?” Lorraine asked
“Yes” he said “and it will be delivered this afternoon between 3 and 4”
After he had convinced Lorraine that it was a clerical error that it didn’t mention “furnished” in her tenancy agreement he and Chantel went back to the Manor to tell the family that they were engaged, his proposal happening during the conversation with Jonathon.
Hannah had been working hard all day driving back and forth from Abbeyvale with the family’s meagre possessions, the final trip she had the boys in the car as well, who she was able to leave with a neighbor while she did the bulk of the move.
She could have really done with Lorraine’s help but she appreciated she had to work and hers would be the only wage.
It was Lorraine’s day off on Monday but Hannah had to vacate the flat by Saturday midnight so it was unavoidable.
Lorraine hadn’t been fooled for a moment by Gabriel St George’s performance regarding the clerical error in the tenancy agreement but she was very grateful to him so she played along.
Almost the moment the kitchen door closed she was on the phone to Hannah.
Hannah and the boys had only been in the house for ten minutes and they had only that minute established who was having what room and hadn’t even begun to put the boxes in the appropriate rooms when the phone rang.
“Han you will not believe what’s just happened?” Lorraine said excitedly.
(Part 03)
At ten past three the boys came running down the stairs in a state of great excitement.
“Mum, mum the lorry is here” Nick said because his brother Joe was too excited to say anything his mouth kept opening but nothing came out.
Hannah went outside and the four guys in O & S Auctioneer’s overalls were opening the back up.
“What have you got for us then?” she asked
“Everything” the older of the men replied
“What?” she said
“It’s all for you love” he said
“All of it?”
“Yes” he replied “So just tell us where you want it”
“In the lounge I suppose”
“We have express instruction to put every item in situ” One of the younger men said
“So you direct and we’ll deliver”
It wasn’t until 4.30 in the afternoon that Lorraine managed to slip off her whites and hang them up.
Once she had, she took the green bandana from her head and let her carrot coloured hair cascade onto her shoulders before she went over to the house.
When she arrived the shutter was just being pulled down on the O’Sullivan and Springthorpes truck and she could see Hannah stood on the doorstep.
It was obvious from a thousand yards that they were kin, both of them possessed of freckled cheeks and open smiling faces and the flaming red hair.
The only difference between them was that of stature, Lorraine was tall and slim while Hannah was shorter with a fuller figure but then she had given birth to two children, 7 year old Nick and Joe who was 5, and they too had the carrot coloured hair.
As she got closer Hannah ran to meet her she said
“You should see what they sent us Loz”
“Well show me then” she replied and Hannah and the excited boys took her from room to room showing her the new furniture.
Lorraine had to go back to work but with Hannah’s hard work they soon settled in to The Close and the children were enrolled at the school.
Hannah had to do all the work at the house as her sister was still bearing all of the burden at the Old Mill Inn as she was running the kitchen virtually on her own from prep to clean down, and as a result she was completely frazzled, and noticeably so.
This went on until Halloween when there was suddenly a change of fortune when Helen Andrew offered Lorraine the Chefs job and employed two local girls trainee to help her.
It turned out that the girls lived in The Close, either side of Lorraine and Hannah, Tegan Crockford was at number 5 and Cally Wilson at number 7.
Cally was the older of the two by about two weeks and she was significantly larger, not fat but very definitely cast from a bigger mold.
She stood six feet tall with short curly auburn hair, and a very large bust.
Tegan on the other hand was a foot shorter and at least six stones lighter.
She was small with delicate features and bobbed strawberry blonde hair.
And was small enough to shelter beneath the bust of her friend if it rained.
However the anomaly with the pair wasn’t their physical appearance it was their personalities.
The giant Cally was quiet and reserved while tiny Tegan was feisty and forthright.
When the two newbies started work it was amazing as almost immediately the three of them gelled and worked extremely well together and with having the extra pairs of hands to do the prep it meant Lorraine could try out new dishes to add to the menu and from day one Lorraine was visibly more relaxed as the two trainees proved to be every bit as good as expected and as a result of that Hannah and the boys got to see more of her.
(Part 04)
Hannah had worked hard keeping the home fires burning and stopping Nick and Joe going off into orbit as they fast approached Christmas and Lorraine was looking forward to having four days off, the first proper break she’d had since Easter.
The restaurant would close on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and would not reopen fully until the following Tuesday.
When Lorraine got home on Christmas Eve she was in an extremely good mood, which Hannah mistakenly put down to excitement about Christmas but then she was totally unaware that Lorraine had spent the last half an hour of her work day snogging Tegan.
So as she had been kissing in the kitchen she was a little later getting home, so she wasted no time in packing the car because she, Hannah and the children were off to Abbeyvale to spend Christmas with their mum, Irene.
It was the first time in four years they would all be together.
Lorraine and Hannah had been prevented by their abusive stepfather from contacting her.
But Irene had finally had enough after 9 years of being used as a punch bag and hit him in the face with an iron and broke his jaw.
The sisters were so looking forward to spending time with their mum, and having a family Christmas all under one roof, but most of all Hannah was looking forward to her children getting to know their granny.
However what Lorraine was looking forward to more than anything was no cooking but what she wasn’t happy about was that she was missing the strawberry haired slip of mischief Tegan already.
One thing that Hannah was worried about, in fact she was dreading it, was her mum asking her and the kids to move in with her.
She loved living in Mornington, she loved the village, the people, the house, the kids loved their school they had made loads of friends, she loved everything about it, well almost everything, and she wasn’t prepared to give it up without a fight.
The only thing that wasn’t perfect was that she was “lonely”, but she planned to take steps to rectify that situation in the New Year.
After Christmas Dinner Irene and her daughter were in the kitchen clearing away while Nick and Joe were playing with their toys in the lounge.
“That was the best Christmas dinner I’ve had for years” Lorraine said “I can’t wait until next year”
“Well I was meaning to speak to you about that” Irene said and Hannah thought
“Here we go”
“Why what’s the matter?” Lorraine asked with concern
“You’re not going to let that bastard Graham get his foot in the door”
“Good God no” Irene said “I never want to see him again”
“Then what?” Hannah asked with dread in her heart
“I’m selling up” she replied
“Oh God I knew it” Hannah thought
“Selling up?” Lorraine said
“I know it’s the family home but it too big for me now” she explained
“I think it’s a great idea, isn’t it Han?”
“Yes, great” she replied somewhat unconvincing
“But where will you live” Loz asked
“I’ll come and live with you two in Mornington” Hannah said in her head
“I’ve got a little bungalow in the Oak Dale Retirement village over in Dulcets Green” she replied
“And I’ll only be 15 minutes away so I’ll be able to see more of you both and I can come and babysit”
“That’s fantastic” Hannah said “the boys will love that”
“They get to have Granny in their lives and we get our mum back” Lorraine said and then they all hugged and shed a tear or two.
(Part 05)
They stayed at their mum’s in Abbeyvale until the last possible moment and savoured every second of the best Christmas they had had for 5 years.
When they got back home it was late on Sunday evening and while Hannah got the boys upstairs into the bath Lorraine unloaded the car.
With the children in bed and themselves fed Hannah announced she was going to have a long hot soak in the bath and then go to bed herself.
Lorraine looked at the clock and knew what she was going to do, she had already seen the tall busty frame of Cally Wilson pass by the window so she knew Tegan would be about half an hour behind her, as they were only doing bar snacks, so just as Hannah was slipping into the foamy waters of the bath tub, Lorraine slipped out the front door and down the alley that led from The Close to The Street and waited in the shadows.
Hannah didn’t even know that Lorraine had gone out she was still reflecting on the lovely time they’d spent with their mum and was thinking about how to solve her other problem.
Lorraine had stood in the shadows for about 10 minutes and was beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea when she saw her quarry cross the road.
As the diminutive figure of Tegan got to within ten yards Lorraine could wait no longer and stepped out into the light.
At first she was startled but then she recognized her assailant and a huge smile lit up her face.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight” she said
“I thought I’d surprise you” Lorraine said
“Couldn’t wait to see me more like” Tegan said cockily
“I didn’t say that” she said and felt herself blushing
“You missed me though didn’t you?”
“What do you think?” Lorraine replied and took hold of her by her lapels and pulled her into the shadows and kissed her.
When their mouths separated Tegan Said
“I really missed you too”
Lorraine returned unnoticed to the house before Hannah even knew she’s gone, just as she stepped out of the bath, and as she lay in her bed she looked forward to seeing Tegan again the next day.
As Hannah lay in the bath she came to a decision in regard to her problem and was so determined to solve it that she made it her New Year’s resolution.
It was a few days after the New Year that Lorraine arrived home to find Hannah surrounded by an assortment of local papers.
“What are you up to?” she asked as she tried to see what her sister was reading but Hannah pulled it towards her chest so Loz couldn’t read it and this action served only to make Lorraine even more curious.
“Why so secretive? What are you hiding?” Lorraine asked as she tried to wrestle the paper from her sister’s hands until Hannah snapped, and shouted
“Leave it alone”
“Ok, I was only messing about” Lorraine said and went upstairs.
(Part 06)
“I’m sorry Loz” Hannah said immediately Lorraine returned
“That’s ok” she said “is everything ok?”
“Yes” she replied “it’s just…”
“Just what?” Lorraine asked “Aren’t you happy here?”
“Are you kidding? I love it here, I love living with you, I love the house and the village, so do the kids and they’ve made loads of friends and even I’ve made a few”
“But I’m lonely for “company”” she emphasized
“Well now the girls are up to speed in the kitchen I could maybe take a bit of time off”
“It’s not that kind of “Company” I’m looking for” she said and Lorraine just looked puzzled
“Company” she repeated
Still Lorraine looked at her with confusion on her face
““Male” company” she said
“Oh I see”
“I know you’re not interested in men, love and romance or even a bit of lust for that matter” Hannah said
“But I really am”
Lorraine agreed with the men part in her statement but she could have pointed out that she was getting plenty of love, romance and lust next door with Tegan but she didn’t think it would help the situation and besides it was really exciting to have a secret lover.
“So what’s with the papers?” Lorraine asked
“Lonely hearts” she replied quietly
“What?” Loz said
“Lonely hearts” Hannah replied
“Really?” Lorraine replied and picked up one of the papers and started reading.
It was the Shallowfield and Childean Chronicle, which seemed fairly typical of its type, but Lorraine found the personals quite engrossing.
She had to figure out the shorthand which took a few minutes,
But once she knew the code she could decipher the ads, for example, WLTM was would like to meet, NS was nonsmoker, LTR was long term relationship, and GSOH was good sense of humour.
They weren’t all as easy to work out however,
“What does this one mean?” Lorraine asked “OHAC”
“I don’t know” she replied “it sounds a bit exotic”
“Google it” Loz suggested and Hannah duly obliged
“Oh how disappointing” Hannah said “It means “own house and car”
They then sat down together and read the ads together.
“I have been pouring over these all afternoon” Hannah said “But no luck”
“Are you sure this is the answer?” asked Loz
“I don’t know” she replied “but what else do lonely people do”
“There must be another way to meet a man” Loz said
“All I ever do is meet other mums” Hannah said
“There is one Dad that I see outside the school every day but he’s more of a woman than I am”
“Oh dear” Loz responded “and there’s no one else?”
“There was a man outside the after school club last week who smiled at me” she replied “but he could have been a serial killer”
The two sisters laughed at the prospect and then Lorraine suggested.
“What you need to do is put your own ad in”
“Me?” she replied
“Why not?”
“Ok then” she said resolutely
Lorraine and Hannah spent the next half an hour composing an ad for the lonely hearts column.
And what they came up with was,
“Pretty 30 something Divorcee, Mother of two,
Red hair, Hazel Eyes, medium build,
Who Loves going out and enjoys nights in,
WLTM fun, honest man / single Dad
With GSOH to fall head over heels in love with and who will mend my broken heart”
She thought the broken heart line was pushing a point somewhat because her heart was broken five years earlier and was well mended.
(Part 07)
Hannah was going to phone her ad through the next day but she was chatting to some of the other mums outside the school and she heard about a part time job in the village and it completely went out of her head.
After looking at the local map, the new Bakery manager, Nathan Addison had realized that although Mornington was a relatively small village there were very many farms and hamlets dotted around the Vale as well as a number of small villages full of people who had to buy their bread somewhere, so along with the brewery, the butchers, the farm shop and the general store he set up a free twice weekly deliver service to customers who placed regular orders.
For the first few months the shops took turns to supply a driver but as the business had grown they decided to employ someone on an adhoc basis to make the deliveries for them in the van provided by the Mornington estate.
Hannah went straight from the school down to Addison’s to register her interest in the driving job, but instead of picking up an application form she found herself being led up the staircase to the little office and after filling in a modified Addison’s Bakery application form she was given an interview.
After half an hour of a fairly informal interview Nathan said
“I will need to take a copy of your driving license for the insurance”
“Oh I don’t have the paper part on me” she said rummaging in her bag “but I have the ID bit”
“Well if you pop back with the other part either today or tomorrow, we can get things moving” he said “and providing you don’t have 12 points on your license the job is yours, can you start next Monday?”
“Really?” she said “next Monday?”
“Yes is that ok?”
“Absolutely”
When she told Lorraine later that day that she had a part time job working Mondays and Thursdays, she was over the moon firstly because Hannah was so happy about it and secondly because it meant she would have the house to herself on her day off so she could entertain her girlfriend Tegan.
The kids were very happy about it as well as it meant they could go into the after school club with their new best friends.
On her first day she did the round with Nathan so he could show her the ropes and he was very methodical and a bit long winded so subsequently she was almost late picking the children up from club.
They were standing by the door with another couple of children Karen and Sam Moore and a man who turned out to be their father.
He was a slim balding man and what hair hadn’t already fallen out was going grey.
He smiled at her but she didn’t return it she had had a long day and she was in no mood to exchange smiles with a married man.
(Part 08)
Tim Moore was 33 years old and had worked at the Mornington brewery since he left school and he had made the walk from number 3, Windmill Cottages to the brewery every morning for 17 years, with his father for the first five of those and on his own since his premature death aged 54.
He didn’t know it at the time but that early loss was to set the benchmark in his life, as his mother suffered a massive heart attack and died only six months after he lost his wife to breast cancer leaving him with two children under 3.
But despite the hand he had been dealt he never complained he just got on with life and he thanked God every day for his Children.
Karen was 7 going on 17 and Samuel was an energetic 5.
But that was all he had was his work and his family.
On Thursday, Hannah had Ruby Legg riding shotgun for her, she was in her mid-twenties and a bit more lively than Nathan, she gave her all the gossip about people on the delivery round as well as in the village and she clued Hannah in on one or two short cuts and so as a result she was home in time to enjoy an hour of peace and quiet before she needed to pick up the kids.
As she walked up to the school she was feeling a little guilty because she had found out from Ruby that Mr. Moore, the married man who had smiled at her the other day was in fact a widower.
“If he smiles today I’ll smile back” she said to herself.
As it turned out he wasn’t there and the children were picked up by Mrs. Kincade-Smith, a middle aged woman who lived next door to the Moore’s.
The best part of two weeks had passed when as she was driving back to Mornington she remembered that she hadn’t placed her lonely hearts ad.
So the next morning after she had dropped the children at school she called The Shallowfield and Childean Chronicle and placed her ad which would also go in the Chronicles Sister Papers, the Downshire Journal, and the Finchbottom Flyer.
She had initially put it in for the following two weeks but she figured that being in three papers for two weeks if she didn’t get a nibble she never would.
It was three weeks later when Tim was sitting in the doctor’s surgery with Karen who had a bad cold which was aggravating her asthma.
She was happily playing games on Tim’s phone so he was reading a two week old copy of the Finchbottom Flyer.
It didn’t take long to consume most of its contents, the flyer was not a weighty tome, and then he found himself reading the lonely hearts column which always made him chuckle.
Sue: was looking for no strings fun.
Anna: WLTM a man of any age and at any location.
Maria: was broadminded.
Sam: was looking for a discreet man for casual meetings and
Jane: was interested in Adult fun.
Quite a lot of them liked to dress up but it wasn’t patently clear what that meant.
He wasn’t sure if they meant they liked to wear posh frocks, sexy underwear or a suit of armour.
He thought if he were looking for someone they were the ones to give a wide berth to, although he hadn’t read them because he intended to contact anyone he was just passing the time.
Not that he wouldn’t like to meet someone but he wasn’t sure that the personal ads was the way to go about it, not for a proper relationship anyway.
That was until he read:
“Pretty 30 something Divorcee, Mother of two,
Red hair, Hazel Eyes, medium build,
Who Loves going out and enjoys nights in,
WLTM fun, honest man / single Dad
With GSOH to fall head over heels in love with and who will mend my broken heart”
“I like the sound of you” he said to himself, he liked a red head.
There was a nice one he had seen outside the school, she was pretty when she didn’t have a “back of the chip shop queue face” on her.
Anyway he took out his pen and wrote down the details in case he wanted to pick up the phone later.
(Part 09)
Hannah had barely noticed the fact that she had received no feedback from her ad, as she had been really busy, between her delivery job and running over to Abbeyvale every spare minute to help her mum pack up the house, as she was moving to Dulcets Green over the Easter weekend.
So Valentine’s Day came and went and so did the rest of February, then March came and went and as the remainder of March ebbed away Easter came and went.
Two days after Tim had taken Karen to see the doctor she had a very severe asthma attack and had to spend a week in hospital.
Even when she had been discharged from hospital she suffered a number of minor attacks until they finally got her medication sorted so Tim was on tender hooks right through March and it wasn’t until Easter he finally felt he could relax.
It was during the Easter weekend when he was catching up with things that he found the note he had written in the Doctors surgery.
He read, smiled to himself and screwed it up into a ball and tossed it into the bin.
Five minutes later he retrieved the ball of paper unscrewed it and phoned the paper.
Obviously with it being the holiday weekend he only got the answerphone so he left his details.
With her mother safely moved into the Oak Dale retirement village, the week after Easter brought a little bit of peace and quiet and it also brought an email completely out of the blue.
The email took her completely by surprise as it was in response to her entry in the personal ads which had been so long in coming.
Hannah had long since written off the whole lonely heart thing as a folly, a foolish flirtation, the stuff of schoolgirl dreams.
But now she had a reply the one and only response.
In the email a meeting is brokered and several dates and locations are suggested, The Huntsman’s Lodge in Childean, The Woodcutters Arms in Shallowfield, the Red Lion in Pangmere or the Old Mill Inn in Mornington.
Ideally she would have preferred to have met in Childean, it being the furthest away in a town where she knew no one.
But as it was her first date for more years than she cared to remember she thought that several glasses of wine would be required so that ruled out any location she had to drive to, so she chose the Old Mill Inn because she could walk there in five minutes or get home in a similar time if required.
Tim Moore was also thankful he had only a short journey that evening because he had been required to work late at the brewery.
He would also have preferred to meet in Childean, away from prying eyes.
Siobhan Chapman, from two doors away at number one, was babysitting and was getting the children ready for bed.
So when he got back home from work that night he could quickly get showered and changed.
(Part 10)
At Hannah’s house she was having to get the children ready for bed as well as getting herself ready for her date as her babysitter, Tegan’s younger sister Victoria, wasn’t expected until 7.45.
They had made a date to have a drink at The Old Mill Inn at 8 o’clock and Tim was in the pub with ten minutes to spare.
He sat down at the bar and ordered a pint of Mornington Ale, and he was sitting on a bar stool and was halfway down his pint when his date appeared and as soon as their eyes met their hearts sank as the recognition spread across their faces.
Hannah remembered him from outside the school and how she thought he was a philanderer and he remembered the look on her face that could have stripped paint.
“Oh it’s you” Hannah said “From the school”
“Yes I’m Tim” he replied “Can I get you a drink?
She sat on the stool next to his and replied
“A large white wine please” she said to John Andrew behind the bar.
“I’m Hannah” she said
It was a nervous start to the evening as neither of them was what the other was hoping for.
But Tim kept remembering the wording of the ad and thought that the unknown person in print was worth him taking a risk, so why shouldn’t he give the flesh and blood woman behind the words a chance.
Hannah softened as well because she had found out from Ruby Legg that her initial impression of him was false so she thought she should soften her view of him, if only for the following couple of hours.
Where they were sitting they were in direct line of sight of the kitchen door and Hannah soon became aware of Lorraine’s face peering periodically through the round glass window.
“Shall we go and sit somewhere more comfortable?” she suggested
“Good idea” he said “I’ll just get us another drink”
Hannah chose a seat in a quiet corner well away from Lorraine’s prying eyes and they spent the next hour talking about their children, who had fortunately become friends.
As the alcohol began to take effect they relaxed and began to talk about life before family and after a further hour and a couple more drinks the conversation became more random.
“Ok” she said halfway down her fourth glass of wine “let’s talk about guilty secrets”
“That sounds dangerous” he said
“Who would be your secret fantasy lover?”
“Jessica Rabbit” he said instantly
“That was quick” Hannah said “are you sure?”
“Yes” he confirmed “Jessica Rabbit”
“Oh I’ll have to have a look at her” she said “as she googled Jessica Rabbitt on her phone”
Then after a couple of minutes she said
“She’s a cartoon”
“Well obviously she’s not a real Rabbit” he said defensively “I’m not a complete weirdo”
There was a split second of silence and then they both roared with laughter.
As Tim walked her home she put her arm through his almost subconsciously
“I’ve had a lovely evening” she said as they stepped into the close
“Me too” he agreed
“Perhaps we could go further afield next time” she suggested
“Would you like there to be a next time?”
“Yes I would” she said
“Why don’t you?”
“I would like it very much” he replied and kissed her cheek.
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Monday 22 May 2017
Mornington-By-Mere – (09) Penny and Tom
(Part 01)
Happy go lucky Penny Williams had lived all her life in Abbeyvale and was a bubbly bright woman who always had a smile on her face she was in fact by nature a happy outgoing person.
Even when things didn’t always go her way she had a positive and happy outlook, for example when she found out she couldn’t have children she still looked on the bright side and took the positive to advance her career.
Penny managed to maintain that sunny attitude throughout her life until her fifty fifth year when her world fell apart, when Bryan, her husband of 34 years, had a sudden and catastrophic heart attack and died and Penny proceeded to fall apart along with it.
Penny who was always the picture of health had a complexion and demeanour as grey as her hair had become and the tragic loss of her husband had sucked all the spirit from her and left her frightened of her own shadow.
Forced to give up her job through ill health she also started to suffer from panic attacks and crowds really bothered her so she became a virtual prisoner in her own home the contents of which were a constant reminder of what she had lost.
She seemed totally unable to cope with the dreadful event that had befallen her and so after a year of total decline Bryan’s brother, Bob, who lived in Mornington, persuaded his wife Linda to invite Penny to stay with them for a while in an attempt to snap her out of her melancholic torpor.
Penny moved to Mornington in September, 14 months after she became a widow and the journey from Abbeyvale to Mornington was a tortuous one.
Mainly because she was leaving her home of so many years, albeit temporarily, but also it was the first time she had left the house that year and so she spent the entire journey with her eyes shut tight.
Bob Williams lived at number 1, The Close with his wife Linda and teenage children Kathryn and Bryan.
Although Linda had agreed to have Penny stay with them she did so reluctantly and was not happy in the slightest about having a nutty old lady living with them.
An unfair observation on her part as she wasn’t nutty and she was only 4 years older than Linda was.
Bob worked at the brewery full time so the “burden” fell upon Linda and she made everyone aware of the fact.
For the first week and a half Penny never left the house and was in danger of replacing one prison for another and that might well have been the case if not for the fact that she found herself in the house alone with just the family dog, Tyrion, for company, so called because the Williams family were fans of “Game of Thrones”
As the morning wore on, Tyrion became increasingly anxious and indeed vociferous, and made it patently obvious he wanted to go out.
She chose to ignore the noisy spaniel and concentrated on reading her book, which was her escape from everything.
Penny managed to ignore the dog up until lunchtime and then he got the better of her and she finally gave in
“Alright” she shouted “You win”
She found his lead and put her outdoor clothes on which she hadn’t warn since she arrived and then opened the door and she stood on the front step and after taking a deep breath and stepped off.
(Part 02)
Penny had always loved Abbeyvale because it was busy and vibrant and she was proud of the town too and she thought it more deserving of “County Town” status than Abbottsford.
But since her loss she had changed and she found that the busy noisy activity of the town which once excited her actually disturbed her, because there was so much evidence of people getting on with things, getting on with life.
So Mornington suited her very well, it was so quiet and so peaceful.
There was no noisy buzz in sleepy Mornington.
She didn’t venture far on that first outing when she stepped tentatively out into the world, she went out of The Close and turned left into Bridge Street following it down the hill before turning left again into The Street and walked head down past the Legg’s Farm Shop, The Doctors, Dentist, Mazzone’s Hairdressers and the Vets and then took another left up Military Row until she reached the top end of Bridge Street and turned back into The Close.
It was not exactly an epic journey but it was very significant for her.
“That wasn’t so bad” she said to Tyrion.
It wasn’t the most enjoyable walk for the dog as Penny walked at yomping pace and kept her head down all the way speaking to no one and making eye contact with no one and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her.
However, as relieved as she was to be back in the house she knew that although in the scheme of things it was far from a momentous event in her life it was certainly a momentous first step.
The next day Penny ventured out again with Tyrion and briskly walked the same route again, though not quite as briskly as the day before, but again she didn’t interact with anyone on her short journey but she was at least getting out.
Getting out of the house was a good start on the path to her recovery but living with her relatives was also helping immensely, Bob was very supportive and Kathryn and Bryan were brilliant with her encouraging her to talk about life with her husband.
The only fly in the ointment was Linda who was at best disapproving of her and at worst, when they were alone, downright spiteful, calling her weak and mental.
Fortunately they weren’t alone often and the kindness of the others more than compensated for Linda’s meanness and Tyrion loved her.
Day by day over the three weeks following Penny and Tyrion’s initial sprint around the block slowed in tempo and they gradually increased the duration of their constitutionals and even began varying their route and by the end of October she had not only made eye contact with some of the locals she had actually nodded and smiled at one of them.
(Part 03)
By the time November arrived she had become a little more adventurous and looked with interest in the direction of the old airfield.
However it took a day or two before her curiosity finally got the better of her and she and Tyrion walked through the gates of Mornington Field.
Once through, her progress was halted by security fences, separating her from the construction work that was taking place, so she couldn’t explore as much as she had hoped so she had to follow the only unblocked road available to her and after about 20 yards or so she let the dog off the lead.
Standing on the runway in the middle of the airfield, sheltered from the bitter wind by the huge bonfire, Penny had felt so relaxed and so alive and she lost all track of time, so it was close to an hour later by the time she was returning towards the gate with the dog back on the lead.
As she and the dog approached the main gate once again, Tyrion’s attention was attracted to a man in a hard hat and hi-vis coat beyond the security barrier or more precisely the Border Collie at his heel.
“Well hello there” the man said as the two dogs introduced each other.
“What’s this fellow’s name?” he asked Penny
“Tyrion” she replied quietly slightly embarrassed
“Tyrion?”
“Yes” she said “silly isn’t it”
“I take it you didn’t choose it” he said with a smile
“No” she admitted and laughed
“My old lads name is Jack and I’m Tom”
“I’m Penny and Tyrion here belongs to my in laws who I’m staying with at the moment and they’re fans of “Game of Thrones”, whatever that is” She explained
“Ah it’s a rather strange and fanciful TV series” he said
“Hmm I’ve never been much of a TV person” Penny said
“I see”
“I was rather unhappy with the standard of programming 30 years ago but from what I’ve seen while I’ve been in Mornington it appears to have deteriorated since”
“I think you’re right there” Tom said
“So what’s going on here then?” Penny asked indicating his side of the barrier.
“We are converting the old airfield buildings to commercial premises” he replied
“So that will make it busier I suppose” Penny said
“Probably” Tom replied
“Shame” she said
“It won’t affect the village though” he assured her “The main entrance will be through the West gate.
“That not so bad then” she conceded and shivered
“Come on Tyrion let’s get you back home in the warm, goodbye Tom”
Her encounter with Tom McGuire proved to be the longest conversation Penny had had with another human being since before the death of her husband and she was surprised at how easy it came and she was quite pleased with herself.
When she got back home however she was greeted by her sister in law, Linda, who was wearing her angry face.
“Where the hell have you been?” she snapped
“Taking the dog for a walk”` she replied “I didn’t realise I had a curfew”
“You’re bloody unstable you are” Linda said
“I am not unstable” Penny replied and ran upstairs and Linda shouted after her
“Mentally unstable”
(Part 04)
Tom McGuire was the Construction Site manager up at Mornington Field, and he too was a Widow, but in his case his wife had passed away 20 years earlier.
It was a happy marriage even though it only lasted 15 years and they were blessed with two children, a son Kelvin who was 33 and was a Major in the Downshire Light Infantry and a daughter Charlotte 30 who was a nurse in Abbottsford.
Both of his children had children of their own and Tom McGuire was a very happy and doting Grandpa.
Also like Penny he was a recent and temporary arrival in the village.
Penny stayed in her room after her altercation with Linda and didn’t come out again until the next morning after everyone had left for the day.
After showering and getting dressed she made herself some breakfast and then got Tyrion’s lead and they went out into the cold crisp November morning.
Although he still had a financial interest in Normanton Construction Tom McGuire was actually semi-retired he hadn’t found a reason to give up completely so he liked to do a bit here and there just to keep his hand in.
As he was a resident of the Vale he volunteered for the Mornington job even though it was fairly menial compared to what he was used to.
His main residence was a quiet riverside cottage in the village of Dulcet-on-Brooke, about 20 miles downstream from Mornington, but during the initial phase of the construction work he was staying in one of the Military Row houses for at least 4 days a week, which also doubled up as his site office.
Part of Tom’s remit as site manager was to insure that the first job to be completed was to improve the link road from the Purplemere Road to the West Gate on Mornington Field so that all traffic, both construction and the future commercial, would not need to go through the village.
He had just left number 19 carrying some drawings with Jack trotting at his side as Penny and Tyrion were leaving the Close so with their differing gaits their paths crossed just before the main gates.
“Well hello again” Tom said
“Oh hello” Penny replied and noticing the rolled up drawings under his arm and the direction he had come from she asked
“Do you live in the village?”
“Yes but only in the short term while I have to be on site a lot, it’s easier than doing a 40 mile round trip each day”
“So we are both strangers in the village” she said
“So are you staying in the village for long?”
“Just a month or so I hope” she replied “my sister in law is driving me mad”
Tom detected no note of humour in her voice and so as they reached the gate he said
“My father was stationed here during the war”
“Was he a pilot?” she asked
“Yes he was”
“Was he brave or barmy?” Penny asked
“I’m sorry”
“My father always said pilots must be either brave of barmy” Penny explained
“Oh I see, yes I suppose he was a little of both” he said “he was only 19 years old when he rode through these gates on his Royal Enfield Bullet”
“So he was no stranger to dangerous machines then” she said with a smile
“No I don’t suppose he was” he agreed
“Are you going to the fireworks tomorrow night? There is likely to be quite a crowd”
“Oh I don’t think so, no, I don’t really like crowds”
“Oh that’s a shame” he said
“Yes it is, because I do like fireworks”
“Well this is where I leave you” he said opening the security gate “Enjoy your walk you have a lovely day for it”
“Thank you yes we will definitely make the most of it” she replied as Tyrion led her eagerly along the road
“Come on Jack” he said as Jack seemed more interested in following Tyrion and Penny than he did going with his master.
“We have work to do lad”
“Maybe next time Jack” Penny shouted
(Part 05)
It was pouring with rain the next morning so Penny didn’t venture out, but by midday it had brightened considerable so after lunch much to Tyrion’s approval she donned her wellies and they set off towards the airfield, Tyrion loved it up there with so much space to run around in and she loved the open space and the lack of people.
There was no sign of Tom or Jack as they passed through the main gate and they reached the airfield proper completely unnoticed.
Tom was walking back through the west gate after checking the progress on the road widening when Jack alerted him to the presence of Penny and Tyrion walking along the runway, well Penny was walking, Tyrion was running hither and thither.
The various groups of tradesmen were using the old control block as their site office, where they stored their gear and ate their lunch.
The guys working on the road improvements had site cabins and portaloos but everyone else used the control block.
Tom himself had set himself up in the tower itself as it commanded a 360 degree view of the whole site.
It was a bitterly cold afternoon and Tom went straight upstairs to the tower for a hot drink and as he drank he looked out across the site.
Large sections of the formerly grassed areas on the far side of the airfield had already been ploughed under by the Vale Farm Tractor and the larger grassed area between runways A and B, where the bonfire stood, had already been fenced off and hawthorn hedges planted and was to go under the plough as soon as the bonfire was reduced to ash.
But it was as he stood looking at the enormous unlit bonfire that he had an idea.
When he noticed Penny and Tyrion heading back towards the road he said to Jack who was warming himself by the heater
“Come lad lets go and say hello”
Jack reluctantly got to his feet but was the first to the security gate and was already saying hello to Tyrion, who was having the lead put on by Penny, by the time Tom got there.
“Hi Penny I’m glad I caught you” he said
“Hello Tom, hello Jack” she responded
“I’ve been thinking about tonight’s fireworks” Tom said “I know you don’t like crowds but…”
“It’s not just that I don’t like crowds Tom” she interrupted “they cause me to have panic attacks”
“Well I have a solution whereby you get to see the fireworks and completely avoid the crowd”
“How?” she asked suspiciously
“We watch from up there” he said pointing to the tower
“Are you sure you don’t mind us going?” Bob asked
“Too bad if she does” Linda snapped
“Bloody drama queen”
“Don’t me mean mum” Kathryn said
“She needs to pull herself together” Linda said looking directly at Penny as she said it
Linda was the last to leave and as soon as the door closed she said “Cow” and Tyrion barked as if in total agreement.
The truth was Linda disliked Penny, and always had done.
She resented everything about her, her slim finger, life style, wealth and career.
And although she hated having Penny in the house she still took some perverted pleasure from her circumstances.
She waited until the clock hands approached the time the bonfire was to be lit and then she got up and put on her coat.
Tyrion gave her a look as if to say “Where are you going?”
“You won’t like it out there with all the bangs” she said and gave him a fuss.
She wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled on her woollen hat then slipped her feet into her wellies.
(Part 06)
Penny only passed one person on the way to the airfield, a young man who kept looking at his watch who was clearly waiting for a girl.
She passed him virtually unnoticed and then saw Tom step from the shadows and open the gate.
“Great, you made it just in time” he said “We have about 5 minutes before they light the bonfire”
Tom had a large torch in hand and illuminated the path ahead of them up to the control block, then once inside the way was well lit all the way along the ground floor and up the stairs to the tower.
“We can either stay inside and watch through the glass or sit outside on the balcony” he said and opened the door to reveal two fold up chairs complete with tartan car rugs.
“Wow this is perfect” Penny said sitting in one of the chairs
“Outside it is then” Tom said
He briefly went back inside and dimmed the lights and when he returned he was carrying three vacuum flasks, also tartan.
“We have Coffee, hot chocolate or soup”
“Ooh what flavour?” Penny asked
“Oxtail”
“That’s my favourite” she said
There was some delay in lighting the bonfire due to the torrential rain that fell that morning.
“So how long have crowds bothered you?” He asked as they sat sipping their waiting for the show to start
“Since my husband died” she replied sadly
She went on to explain how she had been so grief stricken she couldn’t leave her house for months and on the rare occasions when she had to venture out large numbers of people terrified her.
“Grief and depression can be a dangerous combination” he said
“Have you lost someone then?” she asked
“Yes my wife, but that was 20 years ago”
Then it was Toms turn to speak of his loss and the strength he drew from his children and continued to draw from.
He went onto explain about his grandchildren and how they were the lights in his life.
This was received with mixed feelings by Penny who wasn’t able to have children which was never a problem to her until she lost Bryan which kind of drew a line under it and made it final.
“Since I’ve been in the village I’m starting to get my confidence back” she said changing the subject
“But?”
“But not fast enough for my sister in law” she explained
“Ah”
“She would love me to go back to my own house, I would love to go back to my own house, but I don’t think I’m ready” she added
“Bob and the kids have been wonderful but Linda and I have never got on and the other day she called me a nutter”
“You’re kidding?”
“I wish I was” she said just as the bonfire roared into life
The bonfire was magnificent and the fireworks as usual were spectacular and when the display came to an end even Penny and Tom applauded, but the applause signalled not only the end of the display but also Penny’s time to exit the airfield before the crowd spewed towards the gate.
“Thank you so much Tom that’s the nicest evening I’ve had in a very long time” she said
“My pleasure” he responded
“Good night” she said “Tyrion and I may see you tomorrow”
“I will look forward to it” Tom replied “Good night”
As she walked down the Close she was reflecting on the evening and what good company Tom was and how nice it was to share the time with someone with a sympathetic ear, someone who wasn’t judging her, someone who understood.
Tyrion was pleased to see her when she got back to the house, Linda considerably less so when she waked through the door but Penny greeted her with a smile which Linda found quite disarming.
(Part 07)
The day after the fireworks Penny woke up with the most positive outlook she had had for many months, a feeling which didn’t diminish even when she didn’t see Tom, either going in through the airfield gates or coming out again.
Penny was still undaunted the next day when she repeated the experience.
She was however feeling a little jaded by the following Wednesday when she still hadn’t had a single encounter with Tom or Jack.
Penny and Tyrion had passed expectantly through the gates once again and when there was no sign they pressed on and were soon passing the old Officers Mess.
Penny had just released Tyrion from the leash and as he sprinted for the open space of the airfield he was suddenly joined by a very excited Jack.
He took them both by surprise, Tyrion’s response was to chase after him while Penny’s was to search for his master.
“Hello” he called
“Hello stranger” she responded and when she noticed his arm was in a sling she asked “what have you been up to?”
“I slipped in the shower” he replied “and hit my arm on the sink”
“Is it broken?”
“I’m afraid so yes” he replied “that’s why I’ve been staying at the cottage”
“I wondered why we hadn’t seen you around” she said “I hope you’re not back at work?”
“No not really”
“No not really?” she repeated disapprovingly
“I’m just here to make sure everything’s on track” he explained “and to join you on your walk”
“It will make a nice change to have some company” she said
“Tyrion is very sweet but his conversation isn’t very stimulating”
“And you think mine is?”
“Well it’s all relative” she replied with a smile
After walking almost as far as Vale Farm Penny looked at Tom and decided he had probably had enough and steered him back in the direction of the village and as she did so she asked
“If you’ve been staying at the cottage how did you get here from the Dulcets?”
The Dulcets referred to the collection of villages and hamlets such as Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and the one Tom lived in, Dulcet-on-Brooke
“I hope you didn’t drive” she asked sternly
“No my daughter Charlotte dropped me off”
“Did she? I would have liked to meet her” Penny said
“Well you can” Tom said “She’s picking me up again later”
“Are you going back home tonight then?”
“No, it’s my granddaughters birthday so were going out for pizza,
I’ll stay at Charlottes tonight and then she’ll bring me back in the morning”
When they got back to Mornington Tom was looking a bit grey so Penny suggested
“I think you need to go and rest”
Tom didn’t protest and stayed only long enough for them to exchange phone numbers so Tom could text her when Charlotte arrived to pick him up then they said goodbye and went their separate ways and when she and Tyrion got home she made herself a cup of tea and then fell asleep in the armchair.
(Part 08)
It was just before 6 o’clock when she received a text message and she got up and put on her coat.
The family were all home and the house was full of wonderful cooking smells.
Linda might well have been a nasty cow but she could certainly cook well.
“Where are you going?” Linda barked
“I’m just popping out” she replied
“Where?” she demanded
“Out” she replied and put the lead on the dog
“One of you two had better go with her” she said to the children “in case the fruitcake gets lost”
“The fruit cake will be perfectly ok on her own thank you” Penny said and opened the door.
She walked quickly out of the Close as she didn’t want to keep Tom and his daughter waiting and when she turned into Military Row she could see Tom standing by a car outside number 19 with a woman in a dark blue Nursing uniform so she quickened her pace.
“Sorry to keep you waiting” she said
“Nonsense” Tom replied “This is my daughter Charlotte”
“So pleased to meet you” she said “I’ve heard a lot about you from Tom”
“Likewise” Charlotte said “And who is this?”
“Tyrion” Penny replied
“Game of Thrones?” she asked
“I’m afraid so” she admitted
They chatted for five minutes or so and then Tom and Charlotte got in the car.
“Where’s Jack?”
“He’s asleep on the back seat” he replied “he’s worn out”
“Same time tomorrow?” Tom asked
“Ok” she said “Nice meeting you Charlotte”
“She’s nice” Charlotte said
“Yes she is” he agreed
“You make a nice couple” Charlotte observed
“How would you feel?” he asked
“What about?”
“About me and Penny” he explained
“What do you mean?”
“Well if we were to become a couple”
“I think it’s been 20 years Dad and it’s about time you found someone” She said “in fact it’s well past the time”
“What about Kelvin?” he asked
“He thinks the same as me” she assured him
Penny and Tom continued their daily walks for the period of time he was on “light duties”.
He also took the time to escort her into the quiet meagre shops that Mornington had to offer and they had even ventured into the Old Mill Inn for a couple of quiet lunches, with every day that passed her confidence was returning.
The following week he resumed a few more of his duties but it still left him more than half the day to spend with Penny in whatever way they chose.
One day they were just walking past the Farm Shop when Linda immerged
“Oh” she uttered looking Tom up and down “You must be the boyfriend”
He was about to correct her but Penny spoke first
“This is Tom” Penny said and Linda looked him up and down again
“Tom this is Linda”
“Pleased to meet you” he lied
“Well I wasn’t expecting to see you down here” She said “Don’t you find it a bit scary by the shops?”
Linda had an ugly smile on her face which Tom would have gladly slapped off but instead he said proudly
“Penny is improving every day”
(Part 09)
On Saturday morning Tom was sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and looking at the clock, he had arranged to meet Penny at lunchtime, and he had a couple of hours to kill.
And he had just decided to have a second cup when he heard his phone vibrate on the counter.
It was a text message and when he saw who it was from Penny he smiled, but his smile soon faded when he read the message.
“Help! They’re taking me to the Phoenix Centre”
“Shit” he said and he and Jack got straight in his car and headed for Abbottsford.
He didn’t rush he knew even if they’d had a half an hour start on him he would still get there ahead of them.
He was only 10 minutes away from the Pepperstock Express Way whereas from Mornington they had 15 miles of country roads before they got anywhere near a main road and when they did it was only single carriage way.
Once he got to Abbottsford he parked the car and the sent her a text.
“I’m at the Phoenix, text me when you know what carpark”
Within seconds he got a reply
“Thanks xx P”
Ten minutes later he got a another text
“Abbey View Road”
“Excellent” he said out loud, there was only one way in to the Centre from that car park so he knew exactly where to intercept them.
Penny spent most of the journey through Abbottsford with her eyes shut, she only opened them at all because Tom wanted to know which carpark they were in.
She really didn’t want to go Christmas Shopping but Linda had bullied her.
The moment she got out of the car her heart started to pound and her breathing quickened.
“Come on get moving” she heard Linda say and felt her pushing her from behind, reluctantly she complied.
The crowd grew steadily bigger the closer they got to the entrance as the shoppers were funnelled in,
Penny was looking down at the floor but began to feel claustrophobic as the crowd jostled along.
All at once she felt a hand on her arm and she was tugged sideways out of the throng.
Her nephew and niece followed close behind her, protecting her, but Linda stood her ground.
Penny looked up and relaxed when she saw it was Tom.
“Are you alright?” he asked
She nodded but it was unconvincing
“This is madness” he said directly to Linda
“I thought you said she was improving” she yapped
“She is, she’s doing very well but she’s not ready for the Phoenix Centre on a Saturday morning only four weeks before Christmas”
“She needs to buck up” Linda snapped
“It won’t do any good pandering to her you’ll just make a rod for your own back”
“It’s not pandering its caring” Tom retorted
“Well you can “care” for her all you like” she said bitterly “Come on kids, leave the fruit cakes to get on with it”
“Will you be ok auntie?” Kathryn asked but Penny just turned at looked up at Tom
“Yes we’ll do our thing and see you back at home later”
“If you’re sure” Bryan said “we don’t mind staying with you”
“I think Penny and I will have a quite coffee somewhere and decide what we want to do”
“Ok” they both said and went off to join their mother who was waiting impatiently about 20 yards away and she glared in Tom’s direction.
(Part 10)
The shopping Centre was jammed and as they reached the main concourse she grabbed his arm and held on for dear life.
“Let’s go and have a ridiculously expensive coffee” he said
“Ok” she responded weakly
They stopped at the first place they came to which was called Espresso Phoenix.
It was refreshingly quiet and Tom chose a table in the far corner and Penny sat with her back to the world.
After ten minutes had passed by, Penny had relaxed and was feeling calm again and was chatting happily seemingly oblivious to the world bustling by.
However while he was waiting in the carpark Tom had phoned his daughter Charlotte to vent and it turned out she was already in the centre with her husband and children and she offered to be a shoulder to cry on.
While he was at the counter getting the coffee’s he texted Charlotte the name of the coffee shop they were in, so ten minutes later, right on cue, Charlotte and six year old daughter Georgia walked in.
“I hope you don’t mind” he said “I asked Charlotte to join us”
“How lovely” she said and turned around for the first time since they had been in there to greet Charlotte.
“Hello Penny” she said and leant down and kissed her as Georgia hugged her grandpa
“And who’s this?” Penny asked
“Georgia” she replied “I’m six”
“Are you sure you’re six?”
“Yes” she said
“Then I think you must have just had a birthday” Penny said
“I have” Georgia said excitedly “How did you know?”
“That would be telling”
“So where’s your brother?” Tom asked
“He’s with Dad in the model shop” she replied and rolled her eyes.
“Yes they may be awhile” Charlotte said
Tom organised drinks and the four of them sat in the quiet corner for more than an hour before Charlottes
Husband Clive and 8 year old son Ben arrived and it was time to go.
As she stepped out from the sanctuary of the Phoenix Espresso she became instantly aware of the crowds again and she faltered so Tom took hold of her hand and said
“We’ll do it together”
Georgia noticed them holding hands and asked loudly
“Is Penny going to be our Grandma?”
“Only if she wants the job” Tom replied with his eyes on Penny
Penny wasn’t able to have children and although she hadn’t realised it under her later years it was a sadness in her life but life was full of compensations and so denied mother hood she would just have to be the best step grannie it was possible to be to make up for it.
“I think that would be rather nice” she replied and was blissfully unaware of the hustle and bustle around them.
In fact she was unaware of absolutely everything apart from Tom kissing her gently on the lips.
For Charlotte’s family it was time to do the shopping they had gone to Abbottsford to do in the first place and for Tom and Penny it was time to drive up to the Dulcets and celebrate a new chapter in both their lives.
Happy go lucky Penny Williams had lived all her life in Abbeyvale and was a bubbly bright woman who always had a smile on her face she was in fact by nature a happy outgoing person.
Even when things didn’t always go her way she had a positive and happy outlook, for example when she found out she couldn’t have children she still looked on the bright side and took the positive to advance her career.
Penny managed to maintain that sunny attitude throughout her life until her fifty fifth year when her world fell apart, when Bryan, her husband of 34 years, had a sudden and catastrophic heart attack and died and Penny proceeded to fall apart along with it.
Penny who was always the picture of health had a complexion and demeanour as grey as her hair had become and the tragic loss of her husband had sucked all the spirit from her and left her frightened of her own shadow.
Forced to give up her job through ill health she also started to suffer from panic attacks and crowds really bothered her so she became a virtual prisoner in her own home the contents of which were a constant reminder of what she had lost.
She seemed totally unable to cope with the dreadful event that had befallen her and so after a year of total decline Bryan’s brother, Bob, who lived in Mornington, persuaded his wife Linda to invite Penny to stay with them for a while in an attempt to snap her out of her melancholic torpor.
Penny moved to Mornington in September, 14 months after she became a widow and the journey from Abbeyvale to Mornington was a tortuous one.
Mainly because she was leaving her home of so many years, albeit temporarily, but also it was the first time she had left the house that year and so she spent the entire journey with her eyes shut tight.
Bob Williams lived at number 1, The Close with his wife Linda and teenage children Kathryn and Bryan.
Although Linda had agreed to have Penny stay with them she did so reluctantly and was not happy in the slightest about having a nutty old lady living with them.
An unfair observation on her part as she wasn’t nutty and she was only 4 years older than Linda was.
Bob worked at the brewery full time so the “burden” fell upon Linda and she made everyone aware of the fact.
For the first week and a half Penny never left the house and was in danger of replacing one prison for another and that might well have been the case if not for the fact that she found herself in the house alone with just the family dog, Tyrion, for company, so called because the Williams family were fans of “Game of Thrones”
As the morning wore on, Tyrion became increasingly anxious and indeed vociferous, and made it patently obvious he wanted to go out.
She chose to ignore the noisy spaniel and concentrated on reading her book, which was her escape from everything.
Penny managed to ignore the dog up until lunchtime and then he got the better of her and she finally gave in
“Alright” she shouted “You win”
She found his lead and put her outdoor clothes on which she hadn’t warn since she arrived and then opened the door and she stood on the front step and after taking a deep breath and stepped off.
(Part 02)
Penny had always loved Abbeyvale because it was busy and vibrant and she was proud of the town too and she thought it more deserving of “County Town” status than Abbottsford.
But since her loss she had changed and she found that the busy noisy activity of the town which once excited her actually disturbed her, because there was so much evidence of people getting on with things, getting on with life.
So Mornington suited her very well, it was so quiet and so peaceful.
There was no noisy buzz in sleepy Mornington.
She didn’t venture far on that first outing when she stepped tentatively out into the world, she went out of The Close and turned left into Bridge Street following it down the hill before turning left again into The Street and walked head down past the Legg’s Farm Shop, The Doctors, Dentist, Mazzone’s Hairdressers and the Vets and then took another left up Military Row until she reached the top end of Bridge Street and turned back into The Close.
It was not exactly an epic journey but it was very significant for her.
“That wasn’t so bad” she said to Tyrion.
It wasn’t the most enjoyable walk for the dog as Penny walked at yomping pace and kept her head down all the way speaking to no one and making eye contact with no one and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her.
However, as relieved as she was to be back in the house she knew that although in the scheme of things it was far from a momentous event in her life it was certainly a momentous first step.
The next day Penny ventured out again with Tyrion and briskly walked the same route again, though not quite as briskly as the day before, but again she didn’t interact with anyone on her short journey but she was at least getting out.
Getting out of the house was a good start on the path to her recovery but living with her relatives was also helping immensely, Bob was very supportive and Kathryn and Bryan were brilliant with her encouraging her to talk about life with her husband.
The only fly in the ointment was Linda who was at best disapproving of her and at worst, when they were alone, downright spiteful, calling her weak and mental.
Fortunately they weren’t alone often and the kindness of the others more than compensated for Linda’s meanness and Tyrion loved her.
Day by day over the three weeks following Penny and Tyrion’s initial sprint around the block slowed in tempo and they gradually increased the duration of their constitutionals and even began varying their route and by the end of October she had not only made eye contact with some of the locals she had actually nodded and smiled at one of them.
(Part 03)
By the time November arrived she had become a little more adventurous and looked with interest in the direction of the old airfield.
However it took a day or two before her curiosity finally got the better of her and she and Tyrion walked through the gates of Mornington Field.
Once through, her progress was halted by security fences, separating her from the construction work that was taking place, so she couldn’t explore as much as she had hoped so she had to follow the only unblocked road available to her and after about 20 yards or so she let the dog off the lead.
Standing on the runway in the middle of the airfield, sheltered from the bitter wind by the huge bonfire, Penny had felt so relaxed and so alive and she lost all track of time, so it was close to an hour later by the time she was returning towards the gate with the dog back on the lead.
As she and the dog approached the main gate once again, Tyrion’s attention was attracted to a man in a hard hat and hi-vis coat beyond the security barrier or more precisely the Border Collie at his heel.
“Well hello there” the man said as the two dogs introduced each other.
“What’s this fellow’s name?” he asked Penny
“Tyrion” she replied quietly slightly embarrassed
“Tyrion?”
“Yes” she said “silly isn’t it”
“I take it you didn’t choose it” he said with a smile
“No” she admitted and laughed
“My old lads name is Jack and I’m Tom”
“I’m Penny and Tyrion here belongs to my in laws who I’m staying with at the moment and they’re fans of “Game of Thrones”, whatever that is” She explained
“Ah it’s a rather strange and fanciful TV series” he said
“Hmm I’ve never been much of a TV person” Penny said
“I see”
“I was rather unhappy with the standard of programming 30 years ago but from what I’ve seen while I’ve been in Mornington it appears to have deteriorated since”
“I think you’re right there” Tom said
“So what’s going on here then?” Penny asked indicating his side of the barrier.
“We are converting the old airfield buildings to commercial premises” he replied
“So that will make it busier I suppose” Penny said
“Probably” Tom replied
“Shame” she said
“It won’t affect the village though” he assured her “The main entrance will be through the West gate.
“That not so bad then” she conceded and shivered
“Come on Tyrion let’s get you back home in the warm, goodbye Tom”
Her encounter with Tom McGuire proved to be the longest conversation Penny had had with another human being since before the death of her husband and she was surprised at how easy it came and she was quite pleased with herself.
When she got back home however she was greeted by her sister in law, Linda, who was wearing her angry face.
“Where the hell have you been?” she snapped
“Taking the dog for a walk”` she replied “I didn’t realise I had a curfew”
“You’re bloody unstable you are” Linda said
“I am not unstable” Penny replied and ran upstairs and Linda shouted after her
“Mentally unstable”
(Part 04)
Tom McGuire was the Construction Site manager up at Mornington Field, and he too was a Widow, but in his case his wife had passed away 20 years earlier.
It was a happy marriage even though it only lasted 15 years and they were blessed with two children, a son Kelvin who was 33 and was a Major in the Downshire Light Infantry and a daughter Charlotte 30 who was a nurse in Abbottsford.
Both of his children had children of their own and Tom McGuire was a very happy and doting Grandpa.
Also like Penny he was a recent and temporary arrival in the village.
Penny stayed in her room after her altercation with Linda and didn’t come out again until the next morning after everyone had left for the day.
After showering and getting dressed she made herself some breakfast and then got Tyrion’s lead and they went out into the cold crisp November morning.
Although he still had a financial interest in Normanton Construction Tom McGuire was actually semi-retired he hadn’t found a reason to give up completely so he liked to do a bit here and there just to keep his hand in.
As he was a resident of the Vale he volunteered for the Mornington job even though it was fairly menial compared to what he was used to.
His main residence was a quiet riverside cottage in the village of Dulcet-on-Brooke, about 20 miles downstream from Mornington, but during the initial phase of the construction work he was staying in one of the Military Row houses for at least 4 days a week, which also doubled up as his site office.
Part of Tom’s remit as site manager was to insure that the first job to be completed was to improve the link road from the Purplemere Road to the West Gate on Mornington Field so that all traffic, both construction and the future commercial, would not need to go through the village.
He had just left number 19 carrying some drawings with Jack trotting at his side as Penny and Tyrion were leaving the Close so with their differing gaits their paths crossed just before the main gates.
“Well hello again” Tom said
“Oh hello” Penny replied and noticing the rolled up drawings under his arm and the direction he had come from she asked
“Do you live in the village?”
“Yes but only in the short term while I have to be on site a lot, it’s easier than doing a 40 mile round trip each day”
“So we are both strangers in the village” she said
“So are you staying in the village for long?”
“Just a month or so I hope” she replied “my sister in law is driving me mad”
Tom detected no note of humour in her voice and so as they reached the gate he said
“My father was stationed here during the war”
“Was he a pilot?” she asked
“Yes he was”
“Was he brave or barmy?” Penny asked
“I’m sorry”
“My father always said pilots must be either brave of barmy” Penny explained
“Oh I see, yes I suppose he was a little of both” he said “he was only 19 years old when he rode through these gates on his Royal Enfield Bullet”
“So he was no stranger to dangerous machines then” she said with a smile
“No I don’t suppose he was” he agreed
“Are you going to the fireworks tomorrow night? There is likely to be quite a crowd”
“Oh I don’t think so, no, I don’t really like crowds”
“Oh that’s a shame” he said
“Yes it is, because I do like fireworks”
“Well this is where I leave you” he said opening the security gate “Enjoy your walk you have a lovely day for it”
“Thank you yes we will definitely make the most of it” she replied as Tyrion led her eagerly along the road
“Come on Jack” he said as Jack seemed more interested in following Tyrion and Penny than he did going with his master.
“We have work to do lad”
“Maybe next time Jack” Penny shouted
(Part 05)
It was pouring with rain the next morning so Penny didn’t venture out, but by midday it had brightened considerable so after lunch much to Tyrion’s approval she donned her wellies and they set off towards the airfield, Tyrion loved it up there with so much space to run around in and she loved the open space and the lack of people.
There was no sign of Tom or Jack as they passed through the main gate and they reached the airfield proper completely unnoticed.
Tom was walking back through the west gate after checking the progress on the road widening when Jack alerted him to the presence of Penny and Tyrion walking along the runway, well Penny was walking, Tyrion was running hither and thither.
The various groups of tradesmen were using the old control block as their site office, where they stored their gear and ate their lunch.
The guys working on the road improvements had site cabins and portaloos but everyone else used the control block.
Tom himself had set himself up in the tower itself as it commanded a 360 degree view of the whole site.
It was a bitterly cold afternoon and Tom went straight upstairs to the tower for a hot drink and as he drank he looked out across the site.
Large sections of the formerly grassed areas on the far side of the airfield had already been ploughed under by the Vale Farm Tractor and the larger grassed area between runways A and B, where the bonfire stood, had already been fenced off and hawthorn hedges planted and was to go under the plough as soon as the bonfire was reduced to ash.
But it was as he stood looking at the enormous unlit bonfire that he had an idea.
When he noticed Penny and Tyrion heading back towards the road he said to Jack who was warming himself by the heater
“Come lad lets go and say hello”
Jack reluctantly got to his feet but was the first to the security gate and was already saying hello to Tyrion, who was having the lead put on by Penny, by the time Tom got there.
“Hi Penny I’m glad I caught you” he said
“Hello Tom, hello Jack” she responded
“I’ve been thinking about tonight’s fireworks” Tom said “I know you don’t like crowds but…”
“It’s not just that I don’t like crowds Tom” she interrupted “they cause me to have panic attacks”
“Well I have a solution whereby you get to see the fireworks and completely avoid the crowd”
“How?” she asked suspiciously
“We watch from up there” he said pointing to the tower
“Are you sure you don’t mind us going?” Bob asked
“Too bad if she does” Linda snapped
“Bloody drama queen”
“Don’t me mean mum” Kathryn said
“She needs to pull herself together” Linda said looking directly at Penny as she said it
Linda was the last to leave and as soon as the door closed she said “Cow” and Tyrion barked as if in total agreement.
The truth was Linda disliked Penny, and always had done.
She resented everything about her, her slim finger, life style, wealth and career.
And although she hated having Penny in the house she still took some perverted pleasure from her circumstances.
She waited until the clock hands approached the time the bonfire was to be lit and then she got up and put on her coat.
Tyrion gave her a look as if to say “Where are you going?”
“You won’t like it out there with all the bangs” she said and gave him a fuss.
She wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled on her woollen hat then slipped her feet into her wellies.
(Part 06)
Penny only passed one person on the way to the airfield, a young man who kept looking at his watch who was clearly waiting for a girl.
She passed him virtually unnoticed and then saw Tom step from the shadows and open the gate.
“Great, you made it just in time” he said “We have about 5 minutes before they light the bonfire”
Tom had a large torch in hand and illuminated the path ahead of them up to the control block, then once inside the way was well lit all the way along the ground floor and up the stairs to the tower.
“We can either stay inside and watch through the glass or sit outside on the balcony” he said and opened the door to reveal two fold up chairs complete with tartan car rugs.
“Wow this is perfect” Penny said sitting in one of the chairs
“Outside it is then” Tom said
He briefly went back inside and dimmed the lights and when he returned he was carrying three vacuum flasks, also tartan.
“We have Coffee, hot chocolate or soup”
“Ooh what flavour?” Penny asked
“Oxtail”
“That’s my favourite” she said
There was some delay in lighting the bonfire due to the torrential rain that fell that morning.
“So how long have crowds bothered you?” He asked as they sat sipping their waiting for the show to start
“Since my husband died” she replied sadly
She went on to explain how she had been so grief stricken she couldn’t leave her house for months and on the rare occasions when she had to venture out large numbers of people terrified her.
“Grief and depression can be a dangerous combination” he said
“Have you lost someone then?” she asked
“Yes my wife, but that was 20 years ago”
Then it was Toms turn to speak of his loss and the strength he drew from his children and continued to draw from.
He went onto explain about his grandchildren and how they were the lights in his life.
This was received with mixed feelings by Penny who wasn’t able to have children which was never a problem to her until she lost Bryan which kind of drew a line under it and made it final.
“Since I’ve been in the village I’m starting to get my confidence back” she said changing the subject
“But?”
“But not fast enough for my sister in law” she explained
“Ah”
“She would love me to go back to my own house, I would love to go back to my own house, but I don’t think I’m ready” she added
“Bob and the kids have been wonderful but Linda and I have never got on and the other day she called me a nutter”
“You’re kidding?”
“I wish I was” she said just as the bonfire roared into life
The bonfire was magnificent and the fireworks as usual were spectacular and when the display came to an end even Penny and Tom applauded, but the applause signalled not only the end of the display but also Penny’s time to exit the airfield before the crowd spewed towards the gate.
“Thank you so much Tom that’s the nicest evening I’ve had in a very long time” she said
“My pleasure” he responded
“Good night” she said “Tyrion and I may see you tomorrow”
“I will look forward to it” Tom replied “Good night”
As she walked down the Close she was reflecting on the evening and what good company Tom was and how nice it was to share the time with someone with a sympathetic ear, someone who wasn’t judging her, someone who understood.
Tyrion was pleased to see her when she got back to the house, Linda considerably less so when she waked through the door but Penny greeted her with a smile which Linda found quite disarming.
(Part 07)
The day after the fireworks Penny woke up with the most positive outlook she had had for many months, a feeling which didn’t diminish even when she didn’t see Tom, either going in through the airfield gates or coming out again.
Penny was still undaunted the next day when she repeated the experience.
She was however feeling a little jaded by the following Wednesday when she still hadn’t had a single encounter with Tom or Jack.
Penny and Tyrion had passed expectantly through the gates once again and when there was no sign they pressed on and were soon passing the old Officers Mess.
Penny had just released Tyrion from the leash and as he sprinted for the open space of the airfield he was suddenly joined by a very excited Jack.
He took them both by surprise, Tyrion’s response was to chase after him while Penny’s was to search for his master.
“Hello” he called
“Hello stranger” she responded and when she noticed his arm was in a sling she asked “what have you been up to?”
“I slipped in the shower” he replied “and hit my arm on the sink”
“Is it broken?”
“I’m afraid so yes” he replied “that’s why I’ve been staying at the cottage”
“I wondered why we hadn’t seen you around” she said “I hope you’re not back at work?”
“No not really”
“No not really?” she repeated disapprovingly
“I’m just here to make sure everything’s on track” he explained “and to join you on your walk”
“It will make a nice change to have some company” she said
“Tyrion is very sweet but his conversation isn’t very stimulating”
“And you think mine is?”
“Well it’s all relative” she replied with a smile
After walking almost as far as Vale Farm Penny looked at Tom and decided he had probably had enough and steered him back in the direction of the village and as she did so she asked
“If you’ve been staying at the cottage how did you get here from the Dulcets?”
The Dulcets referred to the collection of villages and hamlets such as Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and the one Tom lived in, Dulcet-on-Brooke
“I hope you didn’t drive” she asked sternly
“No my daughter Charlotte dropped me off”
“Did she? I would have liked to meet her” Penny said
“Well you can” Tom said “She’s picking me up again later”
“Are you going back home tonight then?”
“No, it’s my granddaughters birthday so were going out for pizza,
I’ll stay at Charlottes tonight and then she’ll bring me back in the morning”
When they got back to Mornington Tom was looking a bit grey so Penny suggested
“I think you need to go and rest”
Tom didn’t protest and stayed only long enough for them to exchange phone numbers so Tom could text her when Charlotte arrived to pick him up then they said goodbye and went their separate ways and when she and Tyrion got home she made herself a cup of tea and then fell asleep in the armchair.
(Part 08)
It was just before 6 o’clock when she received a text message and she got up and put on her coat.
The family were all home and the house was full of wonderful cooking smells.
Linda might well have been a nasty cow but she could certainly cook well.
“Where are you going?” Linda barked
“I’m just popping out” she replied
“Where?” she demanded
“Out” she replied and put the lead on the dog
“One of you two had better go with her” she said to the children “in case the fruitcake gets lost”
“The fruit cake will be perfectly ok on her own thank you” Penny said and opened the door.
She walked quickly out of the Close as she didn’t want to keep Tom and his daughter waiting and when she turned into Military Row she could see Tom standing by a car outside number 19 with a woman in a dark blue Nursing uniform so she quickened her pace.
“Sorry to keep you waiting” she said
“Nonsense” Tom replied “This is my daughter Charlotte”
“So pleased to meet you” she said “I’ve heard a lot about you from Tom”
“Likewise” Charlotte said “And who is this?”
“Tyrion” Penny replied
“Game of Thrones?” she asked
“I’m afraid so” she admitted
They chatted for five minutes or so and then Tom and Charlotte got in the car.
“Where’s Jack?”
“He’s asleep on the back seat” he replied “he’s worn out”
“Same time tomorrow?” Tom asked
“Ok” she said “Nice meeting you Charlotte”
“She’s nice” Charlotte said
“Yes she is” he agreed
“You make a nice couple” Charlotte observed
“How would you feel?” he asked
“What about?”
“About me and Penny” he explained
“What do you mean?”
“Well if we were to become a couple”
“I think it’s been 20 years Dad and it’s about time you found someone” She said “in fact it’s well past the time”
“What about Kelvin?” he asked
“He thinks the same as me” she assured him
Penny and Tom continued their daily walks for the period of time he was on “light duties”.
He also took the time to escort her into the quiet meagre shops that Mornington had to offer and they had even ventured into the Old Mill Inn for a couple of quiet lunches, with every day that passed her confidence was returning.
The following week he resumed a few more of his duties but it still left him more than half the day to spend with Penny in whatever way they chose.
One day they were just walking past the Farm Shop when Linda immerged
“Oh” she uttered looking Tom up and down “You must be the boyfriend”
He was about to correct her but Penny spoke first
“This is Tom” Penny said and Linda looked him up and down again
“Tom this is Linda”
“Pleased to meet you” he lied
“Well I wasn’t expecting to see you down here” She said “Don’t you find it a bit scary by the shops?”
Linda had an ugly smile on her face which Tom would have gladly slapped off but instead he said proudly
“Penny is improving every day”
(Part 09)
On Saturday morning Tom was sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and looking at the clock, he had arranged to meet Penny at lunchtime, and he had a couple of hours to kill.
And he had just decided to have a second cup when he heard his phone vibrate on the counter.
It was a text message and when he saw who it was from Penny he smiled, but his smile soon faded when he read the message.
“Help! They’re taking me to the Phoenix Centre”
“Shit” he said and he and Jack got straight in his car and headed for Abbottsford.
He didn’t rush he knew even if they’d had a half an hour start on him he would still get there ahead of them.
He was only 10 minutes away from the Pepperstock Express Way whereas from Mornington they had 15 miles of country roads before they got anywhere near a main road and when they did it was only single carriage way.
Once he got to Abbottsford he parked the car and the sent her a text.
“I’m at the Phoenix, text me when you know what carpark”
Within seconds he got a reply
“Thanks xx P”
Ten minutes later he got a another text
“Abbey View Road”
“Excellent” he said out loud, there was only one way in to the Centre from that car park so he knew exactly where to intercept them.
Penny spent most of the journey through Abbottsford with her eyes shut, she only opened them at all because Tom wanted to know which carpark they were in.
She really didn’t want to go Christmas Shopping but Linda had bullied her.
The moment she got out of the car her heart started to pound and her breathing quickened.
“Come on get moving” she heard Linda say and felt her pushing her from behind, reluctantly she complied.
The crowd grew steadily bigger the closer they got to the entrance as the shoppers were funnelled in,
Penny was looking down at the floor but began to feel claustrophobic as the crowd jostled along.
All at once she felt a hand on her arm and she was tugged sideways out of the throng.
Her nephew and niece followed close behind her, protecting her, but Linda stood her ground.
Penny looked up and relaxed when she saw it was Tom.
“Are you alright?” he asked
She nodded but it was unconvincing
“This is madness” he said directly to Linda
“I thought you said she was improving” she yapped
“She is, she’s doing very well but she’s not ready for the Phoenix Centre on a Saturday morning only four weeks before Christmas”
“She needs to buck up” Linda snapped
“It won’t do any good pandering to her you’ll just make a rod for your own back”
“It’s not pandering its caring” Tom retorted
“Well you can “care” for her all you like” she said bitterly “Come on kids, leave the fruit cakes to get on with it”
“Will you be ok auntie?” Kathryn asked but Penny just turned at looked up at Tom
“Yes we’ll do our thing and see you back at home later”
“If you’re sure” Bryan said “we don’t mind staying with you”
“I think Penny and I will have a quite coffee somewhere and decide what we want to do”
“Ok” they both said and went off to join their mother who was waiting impatiently about 20 yards away and she glared in Tom’s direction.
(Part 10)
The shopping Centre was jammed and as they reached the main concourse she grabbed his arm and held on for dear life.
“Let’s go and have a ridiculously expensive coffee” he said
“Ok” she responded weakly
They stopped at the first place they came to which was called Espresso Phoenix.
It was refreshingly quiet and Tom chose a table in the far corner and Penny sat with her back to the world.
After ten minutes had passed by, Penny had relaxed and was feeling calm again and was chatting happily seemingly oblivious to the world bustling by.
However while he was waiting in the carpark Tom had phoned his daughter Charlotte to vent and it turned out she was already in the centre with her husband and children and she offered to be a shoulder to cry on.
While he was at the counter getting the coffee’s he texted Charlotte the name of the coffee shop they were in, so ten minutes later, right on cue, Charlotte and six year old daughter Georgia walked in.
“I hope you don’t mind” he said “I asked Charlotte to join us”
“How lovely” she said and turned around for the first time since they had been in there to greet Charlotte.
“Hello Penny” she said and leant down and kissed her as Georgia hugged her grandpa
“And who’s this?” Penny asked
“Georgia” she replied “I’m six”
“Are you sure you’re six?”
“Yes” she said
“Then I think you must have just had a birthday” Penny said
“I have” Georgia said excitedly “How did you know?”
“That would be telling”
“So where’s your brother?” Tom asked
“He’s with Dad in the model shop” she replied and rolled her eyes.
“Yes they may be awhile” Charlotte said
Tom organised drinks and the four of them sat in the quiet corner for more than an hour before Charlottes
Husband Clive and 8 year old son Ben arrived and it was time to go.
As she stepped out from the sanctuary of the Phoenix Espresso she became instantly aware of the crowds again and she faltered so Tom took hold of her hand and said
“We’ll do it together”
Georgia noticed them holding hands and asked loudly
“Is Penny going to be our Grandma?”
“Only if she wants the job” Tom replied with his eyes on Penny
Penny wasn’t able to have children and although she hadn’t realised it under her later years it was a sadness in her life but life was full of compensations and so denied mother hood she would just have to be the best step grannie it was possible to be to make up for it.
“I think that would be rather nice” she replied and was blissfully unaware of the hustle and bustle around them.
In fact she was unaware of absolutely everything apart from Tom kissing her gently on the lips.
For Charlotte’s family it was time to do the shopping they had gone to Abbottsford to do in the first place and for Tom and Penny it was time to drive up to the Dulcets and celebrate a new chapter in both their lives.
Sunday 21 May 2017
Mornington-By-Mere – (06) The Perfect Recipe for Love
(Part 01)
Lorraine Olson had lived in Mornington for two years, in the room above the restaurant at the Old Mill Inn.
Originally she was employed by landlady Helen Andrew as the sous chef but after only six months, Francois, the temperamental French chef, stormed out after a heated dispute with a customer who had had the audacity to criticize his sea bass.
He returned the next day in a much calmer frame of mind but landlord Peter Andrew wouldn’t have him back under any circumstances and Lorraine was made up to chef until they could find a suitable replacement for Francois.
However once Lorraine was given her chance she made the most of it and thrived in the role but after three months the Andrews were still looking for another Chef with similar experience to the Gallic Francois and weren’t quite ready to give her the reins permanently.
Despite it only being temporary it was still a dream come true for Lorraine.
She had been fortunate in that as part of her job she also lived as part of the Andrews family.
Polly Andrew was the same age as she was and so they became like sisters and she thought her brother John, who was a couple of years her junior, fancied her.
But after two years she was ready to move on which meant if she couldn’t find somewhere to live in the village she would have to move to another restaurant as well.
But fortunately things were changing in the village, because the Mornington Estate had exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD and along with it they also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
Lyndon-Sanders Properties of Shallowfield had been instructed to find tenants for them but priority was to be given to local people or people with ties to the area or those who worked in some capacity for the estate such as agriculture or the brewery.
So Lorraine applied for one of them, but she was told that she might not be successful, being a single woman and the new housing stock all being 3 and 4 bedroom homes.
But then she had some good fortune of a sort due to events that had occurred some distance away in Abbottsford.
The Olsen family were originally from Abbeyvale but Lorraine’s older sister Hannah moved to Abbottsford after she had married Mick Hill.
Mick however deserted his wife and family after the birth of their second child leaving huge debts behind him including 6 six months of mortgage arrears.
As a result Hannah lost her home and she and her children ended up living in a two bedroom flat in a dingy part of town.
However what was once dingy and undesirable was, after five years, suddenly up and coming, and so her landlord decided to sell out to a developer.
It just happened that her eviction notification came within a few days of Lorraine meeting with the agent about one of the newly acquired Mornington houses.
So with her sister about to be made homeless it meant she could make a new application for herself, her sister Hannah and the children and this time they qualified for a 4 bedroom house.
(Part 02)
Lorraine got word from the agents that she was being given the tenancy of number 6 The Close on Friday September 26th, the day before the wedding of Harry Topliss and Jenna Newman, which was the biggest wedding in Mornington for 30 years or more.
It was big for Lorraine as well because she was catering the wedding breakfast and the reception with the assistance of Jane Cooper and Emily Goff from Shallowfield, which meant that she and Hannah couldn’t move in until the following weekend.
But even when the weekend arrived Lorraine couldn’t take any time off because the restaurant still hadn’t replaced Francois and the other problem was that between her and her sister they had little or no furniture and number 6 the Close was unfurnished.
However help with that came problem came from an unusual quarter in the shape of Gabriel St George who was having lunch at the Old Mill Inn with his girlfriend Chantel.
“I’m sorry we’re having to push service back half an hour” Helen Andrew said when Gabriel and Chantel sat down
“That’s fine, we’re in no hurry are we?” he said and squeezed Chantel’s hand
“Absolutely not” she agreed
“Well thank you for that” Helen said
“Is everything ok?” Gabriel asked
“Lorraine and her sister moved into the Close this morning” she explained “and she was a little late”
“Oh moving house is horrible” Chantel said “Not that little lord Fauntleroy here would know anything about that”
When they had both finished laughing at Gabriel’s expense Helen went on to explained that the sisters had no furniture and that they would be sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags.
“Oh I think we might be able to do better than that for them” he said
After lunch Gabriel phoned his friend Jonathon Springthorpe who lived in the village at The Old Forge but despite the fact it was a Saturday he was in the office at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
Apart from their normal business as one of the premier Auctioneers in Downshire, the firm were also required rather more often than they liked to do house clearances.
On many occasions they would turn up a few choice pieces to at least cover the cost of the clearance but that still meant there was a lot of serviceable items that weren’t worth auctioning but still had value.
Apart from the Auction House they also owned and operated second hand shops across the county but even they couldn’t sell all the goods they had amassed which had to be warehoused.
And of course among the warehouse full of unsold goods was furniture of every conceivable colour and style.
“O’Sullivan and Springthorpe” a female voice said
“Jonathon Springthorpe please”
“May I say who is calling?” she asked officiously
“Baron St George”
“I’ll connect you immediately” she said
“You never use your title” Chantel said quietly
“I do sometimes with particularly officious receptionists” he said
“You’re terrible” she said “I’m shocked”
“Well when we’re married you’ll be able to call yourself Baroness”
“Well I won’t,” she began “What do you mean when we’re married?”
“Oh didn’t I mention it?”
“Hello Gabriel” Jonathon said “What can I do for you?”
“Hi Jon, I’m looking to relieve you of some stock”
He then proceeded to detail what he was looking for from a hand written list Chantel had prepared and the address it needed to be delivered to and then he disconnected.
“Well that’s sor…” he began but was prevented from finishing his sentence by Chantel wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his mouth, and this was not done in appreciation of his generosity.
(Part 03)
Gabriel St George put his head around the kitchen door and spoke to Lorraine
“Lorraine I must apologize” he said “the furniture should have been delivered yesterday”
“What furniture?”
“Well you’re renting number 6 the Close” he said
“Which is supposed to be furnished”
“Is it?” Lorraine asked
“Yes” he said “and it will be delivered this afternoon between 3 and 4”
After he had convinced Lorraine that it was a clerical error that it didn’t mention “furnished” in her tenancy agreement he and Chantel went back to the Manor to tell the family that they were engaged.
Lorraine wasn’t fooled for a moment by Gabriel St George’s performance but she was very grateful to him so she played along.
Almost the moment the kitchen door closed she was on the phone to Hannah to warn her of the impending delivery.
It wasn’t until 4.30 in the afternoon that she managed to slip off her whites and hang them up.
Once she had, Lorraine took the green bandana from her head and let her carrot coloured hair cascade onto her shoulders before she went over to the house.
When she arrived the shutter was just being pulled down on the O’Sullivan and Springthorpes truck and she could see Hannah stood on the doorstep.
It was obvious from a thousand yards that they were kin, both of them possessed of freckled cheeks and open smiling faces and the flaming red hair.
The only difference between them was that of stature, Lorraine was tall and slim while Hannah was shorter with a fuller figure but then she had given birth to two children, 7 year old Nick and Joe 5, and they too had the carrot coloured hair.
As she got closer Hannah ran to meet her she said
“You should see what they sent us Loz”
“Well show me then” she replied
They settled in to The Close quickly and with the children enrolled at school Hannah worked hard making the house a home but Lorraine was still bearing all of the burden at the Old Mill Inn because try as they may finding a replacement Chef to come to Mornington was proving difficult.
The restaurant was closed on Monday’s and apart from that one day a week she hadn’t had any time off since Francois flounced out in a Gallic huff.
She had no time for a social life, no time to spend helping Hannah around the house and there’s wasn’t a second to spare for a love life.
And as she was running the kitchen virtually on her own from prep to clean down, she was completely frazzled, and noticeably so.
Helen Andrew could see that Lorraine was being pushed too far, and even with Helen her husband and the children mucking in when the need arose Lorraine was still near breaking point.
Helen knew that things were only going to get busier as they counted down the weeks to Christmas and she realized that if they didn’t do something soon they would need to find two new chefs in the New Year.
So on Halloween she took decisive action.
(Part 04)
Halloween was one of the few nights of the year apart from Mondays when the restaurant was closed to diners, instead they did the hot dogs and burgers for the Halloween party at the village hall and for Lorraine it was like having a holiday.
And it was at the end of the evening when Lorraine, Helen and Polly were packing up that Helen said her piece.
“You know that we think you’ve done a brilliant job Lorraine”
“But you’re going to go back to being the sous chef and take orders from some arrogant French ponce”
That was how Lorraine imagined the conversation going.
“But…” Helen continued
“Here we go” Lorraine said in her head,
“You can’t go on the way you are, you need help”
“That’s not what I was expecting” she continued in her head “I expected better”
“We want you to take the Chefs job” Helen said
“Me?” she asked
“You’ve been doing it for weeks and the number of covers is up” she went on
“Me?” she repeated
“Unless you don’t want it” Helen said
“Yes” she snapped “I do”
“But…” Helen began
“Why was there always a “but”?” Lorraine asked herself
“It’s going to get busier, Helen continued “we’re already taking bookings for Christmas and some days are fully booked already so you do need help”
“A sous chef” she was going to suggest but then she had a thought.
When she had catered Harry and Jenna’s wedding she had some help, one of whom was Emily Goff, as her sous chefs and when they were chatting Emily told her that there were two girls living in the village who were on the same catering course as her and they were both very capable.
Now ideally she would have liked Emily to work with her but she was already kept very busy by Jane Cooper, the Chef at the Brown Windsor in Shallowfield.
So she would have to settle for one of the two young girls but even that would be a very big help.
And as it turned out the girls lived in The Close, either side of Lorraine, Tegan Crockford was at number 5 and Cally Wilson at number 7.
And having chatted with her new neighbours during the course of October she knew that the girls still hadn’t found anything permanent.
So she made the suggestion to Helen and she agreed to interview them.
“No promises mind” Helen said
Three days later the two girls sat quietly together in the bar of the Old Mill Inn.
It was a strange feeling for them as they were actually best friends.
They had even walked to the interview together, it hadn’t seemed to dawn on either of them that they were rivals.
Maybe they knew something no one else did.
Cally was the older of the two by about two weeks and she was significantly larger, not fat but very definitely cast from a bigger mold.
She stood six feet tall with short curly auburn hair, and a very large bust.
Tegan on the other hand was a foot shorter and at least six stones lighter.
She was small with delicate features and bobbed strawberry blonde hair.
And was small enough to shelter beneath the bust of her friend if it rained.
The anomaly with the pair wasn’t their physical appearance it was their personalities.
The giant Cally was quiet and reserved while tiny Tegan was feisty and forthright.
(Part 05)
Tegan was called first and was on her feet immediately but Cally grabbed her hand and said
“Good luck”
And she meant it too even though getting a job in a restaurant kitchen was her dream and doing it in her own village would have been perfect.
Because Cally’s mum had MS and everyone in the family had to do their bit.
Tegan was only gone for about 15 minutes and when she came out Cally asked
“How did it go?”
“I’m not sure” the normally ultra-confident Tegan replied “But they said to wait”
That reply didn’t fill Cally with an ounce of confidence but then she was called and this time Tegan squeezed her hand.
Cally was also only gone for 15 minutes and she too was told to wait and then after about 10 minutes Helen and Lorraine both walked into the bar to where the girls were sitting and sat opposite them.
“Well we have made our decision and we thought it was only fair to tell you immediately, rather than keep you waiting” Helen said
“We have decided to offer you the position of trainee chef”
The two girls looked at each other and then at Helen and then and Lorraine who was grinning.
“Which one of us?” they said in unison
“Both of you” Lorraine said and the two friends hugged each other and just at that moment the landlord Peter Andrew walked in to the bar with his son John close behind and said
“What’s going on here then?”
“We have just offered Cally and Tegan the trainee chef positions” Helen said
Introductions followed and then John shouted down the bar to his sister Polly
“Here Poll, come and see Lorraine’s started her own Ginger coven”
Tegan turned and gave him a look and said
"I’m actually a strawberry blonde"
"And I’m auburn" Cally said
“and I” Lorraine began, but then paused
“Ok I am actually ginger” and everyone laughed
The two newbies started work two days later which was a Monday so the restaurant was closed and she could see what they could do.
Lorraine had to forgo her only day off but she thought it would be worth it in the long run.
Almost immediately the three of them gelled and worked extremely well together and with having the extra pairs of hands to do the prep it meant Lorraine could try out new dishes to add to the menu and almost from day one Lorraine was visibly more relaxed as the two trainees proved to be every bit as good as Emily Goff had indicated.
The three girls soon settled into a comfortable routine, Cally came in later in the mornings than the other two because she had to help her mum get ready for the day but then she made up the time in the afternoon while the other two took a couple of hours off.
The newbies were both very different characters, Cally was steady and dependable, precise in her application and never strayed from the task.
Tegan on the other hand was a bit more adventurous in the kitchen as well as in life.
But there was one thing they had in common and that was that they were totally reliable.
Cally Wilson was a “steady Eddie” who had commitments so she couldn’t put in any extra hours but every minute she was in the kitchen she made every second count.
Tegan Crockford was a bit of a firecracker and loved the banter with the pub staff but she was also an eager beaver and ambitious and she wanted to absorb as much as possible, Lorraine didn’t doubt for a second that she would have her own kitchen one day,
Cally wasn’t ambitious but because of her work ethic she would never have a problem getting work.
(Part 06)
As November drifted seamlessly into December the girls all new things were going to get really busy.
Apart from being fully booked in the evenings there was also a full calendar of seasonal lunches so as Christmas approached Lorraine was leaning more heavily than ever on Cally and Tegan, particularly the latter because they had a lot more prep to do after service was finished and there were a number of early starts which Cally couldn’t participate in because of her mum.
As they worked diligently through the tasks Lorraine had become quite close to Tegan and was growing increasingly fond of her, it was so nice to work with someone she liked, not that she didn’t like Cally but Tegan had become a friend as well.
As the weeks slipped by Lorraine found herself really looking forward to her four days off, the first proper break she’d had since Easter.
The restaurant would close on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and would not reopen fully until the following Tuesday.
On Christmas day the pub was closed, on Boxing Day the pub was open but the restaurant wasn’t and on Saturday and Sunday there would only be bar food, hot and cold sandwiches and such, so Lorraine was leaving the girls in charge while she, Hannah and the children were off to Abbeyvale to spend Christmas with their mum, Irene.
It was the first time in four years they would all be together.
Lorraine and Hannah had been prevented by their abusive stepfather from contacting her, but Irene had finally had enough after 9 years of being used as a punch bag and hit him in the face with an iron and broke his jaw.
Lorraine was so looking forward to spending time with her mum, and having a family Christmas all under one roof, but most of all she was looking forward to no cooking, but she would however miss the strawberry haired slip of mischief Tegan and her sparky presence.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve the pub was still open but there weren’t many customers left but those that were made enough noise for a crowd.
The kitchen was cleaned down and pristine and Cally had just finished putting the clean cutlery back in the trays in the dining room.
“Anything else you want me to do?” she asked Lorraine
“No you get off home now” she replied and gave her a hug and kiss “Happy Christmas lovely”
“Happy Christmas” she said in response and Lorraine went back into the kitchen.
Tegan was stood up on a chair writing up Saturday’s menu.
“Oy what about me you ginger bint” she shouted
“I’m auburn” she shouted back and went over a picked Tegan off the chair and got her in a bear hug.
“I give in, I give in” she said laughing loudly
“Now give me a kiss” demanded Cally
After exchanging kisses Cally then deposited her back on the chair.
“Happy Christmas Cal” she called as her friend walked away
Lorraine came out of the kitchen and Tegan was still stood on the chair in front of the menu board.
“Haven’t you finished that yet?” she said
“Just” she replied and crouched down ready to jump down
“Can you give me a hand” she asked
“Ok” Lorraine said and walked over to her
With Lorraine’s height and Tegan crouching they were roughly the same height and as she reached the little elf on the chair Tegan moved towards her and stole a long lingering kiss which lingered long because Lorraine reciprocated.
“Oh I didn’t even know that was on the menu” Lorraine said
“It’s a new addition” and kissed her again
“Is it a Christmas special or will I be able to have it anytime of the year?”
“Whenever you fancy it” Tegan replied and then Lorraine lifted her down to terra firma and kissed her again.
Lorraine Olson had lived in Mornington for two years, in the room above the restaurant at the Old Mill Inn.
Originally she was employed by landlady Helen Andrew as the sous chef but after only six months, Francois, the temperamental French chef, stormed out after a heated dispute with a customer who had had the audacity to criticize his sea bass.
He returned the next day in a much calmer frame of mind but landlord Peter Andrew wouldn’t have him back under any circumstances and Lorraine was made up to chef until they could find a suitable replacement for Francois.
However once Lorraine was given her chance she made the most of it and thrived in the role but after three months the Andrews were still looking for another Chef with similar experience to the Gallic Francois and weren’t quite ready to give her the reins permanently.
Despite it only being temporary it was still a dream come true for Lorraine.
She had been fortunate in that as part of her job she also lived as part of the Andrews family.
Polly Andrew was the same age as she was and so they became like sisters and she thought her brother John, who was a couple of years her junior, fancied her.
But after two years she was ready to move on which meant if she couldn’t find somewhere to live in the village she would have to move to another restaurant as well.
But fortunately things were changing in the village, because the Mornington Estate had exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD and along with it they also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
Lyndon-Sanders Properties of Shallowfield had been instructed to find tenants for them but priority was to be given to local people or people with ties to the area or those who worked in some capacity for the estate such as agriculture or the brewery.
So Lorraine applied for one of them, but she was told that she might not be successful, being a single woman and the new housing stock all being 3 and 4 bedroom homes.
But then she had some good fortune of a sort due to events that had occurred some distance away in Abbottsford.
The Olsen family were originally from Abbeyvale but Lorraine’s older sister Hannah moved to Abbottsford after she had married Mick Hill.
Mick however deserted his wife and family after the birth of their second child leaving huge debts behind him including 6 six months of mortgage arrears.
As a result Hannah lost her home and she and her children ended up living in a two bedroom flat in a dingy part of town.
However what was once dingy and undesirable was, after five years, suddenly up and coming, and so her landlord decided to sell out to a developer.
It just happened that her eviction notification came within a few days of Lorraine meeting with the agent about one of the newly acquired Mornington houses.
So with her sister about to be made homeless it meant she could make a new application for herself, her sister Hannah and the children and this time they qualified for a 4 bedroom house.
(Part 02)
Lorraine got word from the agents that she was being given the tenancy of number 6 The Close on Friday September 26th, the day before the wedding of Harry Topliss and Jenna Newman, which was the biggest wedding in Mornington for 30 years or more.
It was big for Lorraine as well because she was catering the wedding breakfast and the reception with the assistance of Jane Cooper and Emily Goff from Shallowfield, which meant that she and Hannah couldn’t move in until the following weekend.
But even when the weekend arrived Lorraine couldn’t take any time off because the restaurant still hadn’t replaced Francois and the other problem was that between her and her sister they had little or no furniture and number 6 the Close was unfurnished.
However help with that came problem came from an unusual quarter in the shape of Gabriel St George who was having lunch at the Old Mill Inn with his girlfriend Chantel.
“I’m sorry we’re having to push service back half an hour” Helen Andrew said when Gabriel and Chantel sat down
“That’s fine, we’re in no hurry are we?” he said and squeezed Chantel’s hand
“Absolutely not” she agreed
“Well thank you for that” Helen said
“Is everything ok?” Gabriel asked
“Lorraine and her sister moved into the Close this morning” she explained “and she was a little late”
“Oh moving house is horrible” Chantel said “Not that little lord Fauntleroy here would know anything about that”
When they had both finished laughing at Gabriel’s expense Helen went on to explained that the sisters had no furniture and that they would be sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags.
“Oh I think we might be able to do better than that for them” he said
After lunch Gabriel phoned his friend Jonathon Springthorpe who lived in the village at The Old Forge but despite the fact it was a Saturday he was in the office at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
Apart from their normal business as one of the premier Auctioneers in Downshire, the firm were also required rather more often than they liked to do house clearances.
On many occasions they would turn up a few choice pieces to at least cover the cost of the clearance but that still meant there was a lot of serviceable items that weren’t worth auctioning but still had value.
Apart from the Auction House they also owned and operated second hand shops across the county but even they couldn’t sell all the goods they had amassed which had to be warehoused.
And of course among the warehouse full of unsold goods was furniture of every conceivable colour and style.
“O’Sullivan and Springthorpe” a female voice said
“Jonathon Springthorpe please”
“May I say who is calling?” she asked officiously
“Baron St George”
“I’ll connect you immediately” she said
“You never use your title” Chantel said quietly
“I do sometimes with particularly officious receptionists” he said
“You’re terrible” she said “I’m shocked”
“Well when we’re married you’ll be able to call yourself Baroness”
“Well I won’t,” she began “What do you mean when we’re married?”
“Oh didn’t I mention it?”
“Hello Gabriel” Jonathon said “What can I do for you?”
“Hi Jon, I’m looking to relieve you of some stock”
He then proceeded to detail what he was looking for from a hand written list Chantel had prepared and the address it needed to be delivered to and then he disconnected.
“Well that’s sor…” he began but was prevented from finishing his sentence by Chantel wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his mouth, and this was not done in appreciation of his generosity.
(Part 03)
Gabriel St George put his head around the kitchen door and spoke to Lorraine
“Lorraine I must apologize” he said “the furniture should have been delivered yesterday”
“What furniture?”
“Well you’re renting number 6 the Close” he said
“Which is supposed to be furnished”
“Is it?” Lorraine asked
“Yes” he said “and it will be delivered this afternoon between 3 and 4”
After he had convinced Lorraine that it was a clerical error that it didn’t mention “furnished” in her tenancy agreement he and Chantel went back to the Manor to tell the family that they were engaged.
Lorraine wasn’t fooled for a moment by Gabriel St George’s performance but she was very grateful to him so she played along.
Almost the moment the kitchen door closed she was on the phone to Hannah to warn her of the impending delivery.
It wasn’t until 4.30 in the afternoon that she managed to slip off her whites and hang them up.
Once she had, Lorraine took the green bandana from her head and let her carrot coloured hair cascade onto her shoulders before she went over to the house.
When she arrived the shutter was just being pulled down on the O’Sullivan and Springthorpes truck and she could see Hannah stood on the doorstep.
It was obvious from a thousand yards that they were kin, both of them possessed of freckled cheeks and open smiling faces and the flaming red hair.
The only difference between them was that of stature, Lorraine was tall and slim while Hannah was shorter with a fuller figure but then she had given birth to two children, 7 year old Nick and Joe 5, and they too had the carrot coloured hair.
As she got closer Hannah ran to meet her she said
“You should see what they sent us Loz”
“Well show me then” she replied
They settled in to The Close quickly and with the children enrolled at school Hannah worked hard making the house a home but Lorraine was still bearing all of the burden at the Old Mill Inn because try as they may finding a replacement Chef to come to Mornington was proving difficult.
The restaurant was closed on Monday’s and apart from that one day a week she hadn’t had any time off since Francois flounced out in a Gallic huff.
She had no time for a social life, no time to spend helping Hannah around the house and there’s wasn’t a second to spare for a love life.
And as she was running the kitchen virtually on her own from prep to clean down, she was completely frazzled, and noticeably so.
Helen Andrew could see that Lorraine was being pushed too far, and even with Helen her husband and the children mucking in when the need arose Lorraine was still near breaking point.
Helen knew that things were only going to get busier as they counted down the weeks to Christmas and she realized that if they didn’t do something soon they would need to find two new chefs in the New Year.
So on Halloween she took decisive action.
(Part 04)
Halloween was one of the few nights of the year apart from Mondays when the restaurant was closed to diners, instead they did the hot dogs and burgers for the Halloween party at the village hall and for Lorraine it was like having a holiday.
And it was at the end of the evening when Lorraine, Helen and Polly were packing up that Helen said her piece.
“You know that we think you’ve done a brilliant job Lorraine”
“But you’re going to go back to being the sous chef and take orders from some arrogant French ponce”
That was how Lorraine imagined the conversation going.
“But…” Helen continued
“Here we go” Lorraine said in her head,
“You can’t go on the way you are, you need help”
“That’s not what I was expecting” she continued in her head “I expected better”
“We want you to take the Chefs job” Helen said
“Me?” she asked
“You’ve been doing it for weeks and the number of covers is up” she went on
“Me?” she repeated
“Unless you don’t want it” Helen said
“Yes” she snapped “I do”
“But…” Helen began
“Why was there always a “but”?” Lorraine asked herself
“It’s going to get busier, Helen continued “we’re already taking bookings for Christmas and some days are fully booked already so you do need help”
“A sous chef” she was going to suggest but then she had a thought.
When she had catered Harry and Jenna’s wedding she had some help, one of whom was Emily Goff, as her sous chefs and when they were chatting Emily told her that there were two girls living in the village who were on the same catering course as her and they were both very capable.
Now ideally she would have liked Emily to work with her but she was already kept very busy by Jane Cooper, the Chef at the Brown Windsor in Shallowfield.
So she would have to settle for one of the two young girls but even that would be a very big help.
And as it turned out the girls lived in The Close, either side of Lorraine, Tegan Crockford was at number 5 and Cally Wilson at number 7.
And having chatted with her new neighbours during the course of October she knew that the girls still hadn’t found anything permanent.
So she made the suggestion to Helen and she agreed to interview them.
“No promises mind” Helen said
Three days later the two girls sat quietly together in the bar of the Old Mill Inn.
It was a strange feeling for them as they were actually best friends.
They had even walked to the interview together, it hadn’t seemed to dawn on either of them that they were rivals.
Maybe they knew something no one else did.
Cally was the older of the two by about two weeks and she was significantly larger, not fat but very definitely cast from a bigger mold.
She stood six feet tall with short curly auburn hair, and a very large bust.
Tegan on the other hand was a foot shorter and at least six stones lighter.
She was small with delicate features and bobbed strawberry blonde hair.
And was small enough to shelter beneath the bust of her friend if it rained.
The anomaly with the pair wasn’t their physical appearance it was their personalities.
The giant Cally was quiet and reserved while tiny Tegan was feisty and forthright.
(Part 05)
Tegan was called first and was on her feet immediately but Cally grabbed her hand and said
“Good luck”
And she meant it too even though getting a job in a restaurant kitchen was her dream and doing it in her own village would have been perfect.
Because Cally’s mum had MS and everyone in the family had to do their bit.
Tegan was only gone for about 15 minutes and when she came out Cally asked
“How did it go?”
“I’m not sure” the normally ultra-confident Tegan replied “But they said to wait”
That reply didn’t fill Cally with an ounce of confidence but then she was called and this time Tegan squeezed her hand.
Cally was also only gone for 15 minutes and she too was told to wait and then after about 10 minutes Helen and Lorraine both walked into the bar to where the girls were sitting and sat opposite them.
“Well we have made our decision and we thought it was only fair to tell you immediately, rather than keep you waiting” Helen said
“We have decided to offer you the position of trainee chef”
The two girls looked at each other and then at Helen and then and Lorraine who was grinning.
“Which one of us?” they said in unison
“Both of you” Lorraine said and the two friends hugged each other and just at that moment the landlord Peter Andrew walked in to the bar with his son John close behind and said
“What’s going on here then?”
“We have just offered Cally and Tegan the trainee chef positions” Helen said
Introductions followed and then John shouted down the bar to his sister Polly
“Here Poll, come and see Lorraine’s started her own Ginger coven”
Tegan turned and gave him a look and said
"I’m actually a strawberry blonde"
"And I’m auburn" Cally said
“and I” Lorraine began, but then paused
“Ok I am actually ginger” and everyone laughed
The two newbies started work two days later which was a Monday so the restaurant was closed and she could see what they could do.
Lorraine had to forgo her only day off but she thought it would be worth it in the long run.
Almost immediately the three of them gelled and worked extremely well together and with having the extra pairs of hands to do the prep it meant Lorraine could try out new dishes to add to the menu and almost from day one Lorraine was visibly more relaxed as the two trainees proved to be every bit as good as Emily Goff had indicated.
The three girls soon settled into a comfortable routine, Cally came in later in the mornings than the other two because she had to help her mum get ready for the day but then she made up the time in the afternoon while the other two took a couple of hours off.
The newbies were both very different characters, Cally was steady and dependable, precise in her application and never strayed from the task.
Tegan on the other hand was a bit more adventurous in the kitchen as well as in life.
But there was one thing they had in common and that was that they were totally reliable.
Cally Wilson was a “steady Eddie” who had commitments so she couldn’t put in any extra hours but every minute she was in the kitchen she made every second count.
Tegan Crockford was a bit of a firecracker and loved the banter with the pub staff but she was also an eager beaver and ambitious and she wanted to absorb as much as possible, Lorraine didn’t doubt for a second that she would have her own kitchen one day,
Cally wasn’t ambitious but because of her work ethic she would never have a problem getting work.
(Part 06)
As November drifted seamlessly into December the girls all new things were going to get really busy.
Apart from being fully booked in the evenings there was also a full calendar of seasonal lunches so as Christmas approached Lorraine was leaning more heavily than ever on Cally and Tegan, particularly the latter because they had a lot more prep to do after service was finished and there were a number of early starts which Cally couldn’t participate in because of her mum.
As they worked diligently through the tasks Lorraine had become quite close to Tegan and was growing increasingly fond of her, it was so nice to work with someone she liked, not that she didn’t like Cally but Tegan had become a friend as well.
As the weeks slipped by Lorraine found herself really looking forward to her four days off, the first proper break she’d had since Easter.
The restaurant would close on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and would not reopen fully until the following Tuesday.
On Christmas day the pub was closed, on Boxing Day the pub was open but the restaurant wasn’t and on Saturday and Sunday there would only be bar food, hot and cold sandwiches and such, so Lorraine was leaving the girls in charge while she, Hannah and the children were off to Abbeyvale to spend Christmas with their mum, Irene.
It was the first time in four years they would all be together.
Lorraine and Hannah had been prevented by their abusive stepfather from contacting her, but Irene had finally had enough after 9 years of being used as a punch bag and hit him in the face with an iron and broke his jaw.
Lorraine was so looking forward to spending time with her mum, and having a family Christmas all under one roof, but most of all she was looking forward to no cooking, but she would however miss the strawberry haired slip of mischief Tegan and her sparky presence.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve the pub was still open but there weren’t many customers left but those that were made enough noise for a crowd.
The kitchen was cleaned down and pristine and Cally had just finished putting the clean cutlery back in the trays in the dining room.
“Anything else you want me to do?” she asked Lorraine
“No you get off home now” she replied and gave her a hug and kiss “Happy Christmas lovely”
“Happy Christmas” she said in response and Lorraine went back into the kitchen.
Tegan was stood up on a chair writing up Saturday’s menu.
“Oy what about me you ginger bint” she shouted
“I’m auburn” she shouted back and went over a picked Tegan off the chair and got her in a bear hug.
“I give in, I give in” she said laughing loudly
“Now give me a kiss” demanded Cally
After exchanging kisses Cally then deposited her back on the chair.
“Happy Christmas Cal” she called as her friend walked away
Lorraine came out of the kitchen and Tegan was still stood on the chair in front of the menu board.
“Haven’t you finished that yet?” she said
“Just” she replied and crouched down ready to jump down
“Can you give me a hand” she asked
“Ok” Lorraine said and walked over to her
With Lorraine’s height and Tegan crouching they were roughly the same height and as she reached the little elf on the chair Tegan moved towards her and stole a long lingering kiss which lingered long because Lorraine reciprocated.
“Oh I didn’t even know that was on the menu” Lorraine said
“It’s a new addition” and kissed her again
“Is it a Christmas special or will I be able to have it anytime of the year?”
“Whenever you fancy it” Tegan replied and then Lorraine lifted her down to terra firma and kissed her again.
Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (35) Relative Strangers
(Part 01)
Teardrop Lake and the surrounding woodland was privately owned and divided into twelve parcels each with one significant dwelling on it, although there were a number of cottages dotted around the woodland as well.
The 12 main properties on Teardrop Lake were not owned as such and were subject to a peculiar legal covenant dating back to the early 17th Century.
None of the residents on the Lake were owners per se, they possessed the lease but for their lifetime only, at the end of which the lease was passed on to their heir.
The houses and the land they sat upon could not be bought or sold by their occupier’s and nor could the leases.
Heirs can elect not live in the property, or elect to have a relative occupy it in their stead but no income can be derived from such a circumstance.
So when widower Daniel Travers was found dead in South View and was without issue, wheels were set in motion, to track down an heir.
Stanislas, Boivin and Champeaux, the solicitors who administered the Lakeside estate, had to find a beneficiary.
In the absence of a named heir in either Daniel Travers or his wife Winifred’s wills, a firm of genealogists had to be employed.
In the event of no heir at all being located then after a lengthy process the property would revert to the control of the trust to manage this had happened in the case of two of the 12, Dancingdean Hall and East Cliff Lodge.
Finding an heir was not a speedy process so although Daniel Travers died in March, it was September the 1st when Danni Holland, the last surviving heir of either line crossed the threshold of South View.
Danni was the 23 year old great, great, niece of Winifred Travers, a woman she had not only never met but had never even heard of.
In fact from the age of 18 until she was contacted by the solicitors she was completely unaware that she had any relatives at all.
Her mother died when she was ten and her father eight years later.
And with his death she was to the best of her knowledge the last one standing.
So they could have knocked her down with a feather when she was told she had not been alone in the world after all.
Danni inherited the lease on the house, the house contents and a small legacy but that wasn’t what she was looking for, she would have much preferred to have met Winnie and got to know her.
So after everything was signed and sealed Danni was assured by Stanislas, Boivin and Champeaux that after Winnie and Daniel’s death, this time she really was the last of the line.
In her first week in South View she did nothing but repeatedly pinch herself, expecting to wake up from a crazy dream.
In truth she was a little shell shocked
Also her arrival at South View besides the beautiful Teardrop Lake prompted her to reassess her future, at least when the dust had settled and her head had stopped spinning.
This was not the direction that she had envisaged her life would take in fact it was only in May of that year that she’d finished her Art History degree.
After leaving University she began working for an insurance company, in the claims department, while she considered what she should do with her qualification.
However inheriting the house meant that Danni could sell her flat in Nettlefield and quit the claims department.
The sale of her flat enabled her to pay off her student loans and have a reasonable nest egg to live on while she took stock.
When she met with one of the solicitors, Rizalina Pugay, she asked her what she knew about her great, great aunt and Riza spoke enthusiastically about Winnie.
“She was a wonderful woman”
“Did you know her well?” Danni asked
“Quite well, yes” she replied
She went on to tell her everything she knew about her up until her death.
“Then when she died her husband Daniel actually died of a broken heart” Riza said and sighed
“How romantic is that”
Danni had to agree that it was indeed a true love story.
She herself had never been in love true or otherwise.
She had had three rather dubious passions but she had never experienced love.
(Part 02)
On the Monday of her second week Danni phoned Riza.
“Hello Danni, how are you settling in?”
“Fine, fine” she replied “I still can’t believe it’s happened”
“Well it’s for real” Riza said “so enjoy it”
“I’m trying” Danni said and then there was a pause before Riza asked
“Was there something else?”
“Yes” she replied “am I allowed to decorate?”
And Riza laughed
After Riza explained to her that the house was hers to decorate whichever way she saw fit.
She reiterated that there were certain period features in the house that couldn’t be removed or altered and that other than that only changes to the exterior of the property had to be approved.
So armed with that information she decided she needed help.
When she was at Abbottsford University Danni shared a house for two years with three of her friends June Gough, Katie Watson and Briony Beardsmore.
After graduation Briony went to America but the other two had planned to take a year out and do some travelling before settling down.
She knew however that their reach had far exceeded their grasp and they had to curtail their sojourn.
So Danni phoned them and asked them to come and stay with her for a while.
“This is very nice Danni” Katie said looking around
“Are you sure you’re allowed to be here?”
“Apparently so” Danni replied and hugged her friend who was a tall well-built and totally unnaturally blonde woman, who although was very definitely feminine, hugged like a grizzly bear.
“Where’s June?”
“She’s fetching the bags” Katie replied as they walked into the kitchen.
June was petite and wiry and quite obviously deceptively strong because when she eventually appeared she was loaded with bags, and looked like a Hotel porter.
June dropped the bags in the hall and mopped her brow before running her fingers though her short black hair.
After closing the front door she went in search of the other two and found them sitting at the kitchen table talking.
“I might have known” she said
Over the next few weeks they went all over the house, out buildings, cellar and attic, sorting through Daniel and Winnies personal possessions.
The unwanted items were temporarily stored in the garage, clothing, music albums and knick-knack’s for the charity shop, some items of furniture which were deemed as too old fashioned but were of sufficient quality to auction and likewise for a selection of porcelain and glassware and collectables.
Books were Katie’s forte so all the books were put in one of the downstairs room and she methodically went through them all.
Any documents, paperwork or photographs were put in the study and would be gone through when Danni had the time.
There was also a considerable amount of sheet music which was of absolutely no use to her but Danni was reluctant to just throw it away.
The industrious June had hired a van so she could collect the decorating materials that she needed.
It was a good sized van, June told them that it was a Long Wheel Base Hi-Top, they just took her word for it.
But while they had it they decided to make full use of it to clear the garage which was by that time stuffed to the gunwales.
The good stuff that was designated for the charity shop ended up at St Mary’s Church Hall where it was sorted for the Church Car Boot and jumble sale being held at St Mary’s Primary School on the last weekend in October.
They then did a number of runs to the dump and finally took the items they wanted to sell to O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
(Part 03)
Danni left June in the van while she went into the office where a young man of a similar age to herself was sat behind the desk.
As she approached he looked up and smiled, Danni liked his smile, and she though he was quite good looking with his curly brown hair and blue eyes.
“Hello” she said “Are you Mr O’Sullivan or Mr Springthorpe?”
“Neither I’m afraid” he replied “Steve Lovett, can I help?”
“I hope so Steve” she replied
“So do I” he said in his head
“I have just inherited a house from my great, great aunt and uncle and I need to sell some of the furniture and such like” she said “is that something you can help with?”
“Certainly” he said “Let’s arrange a time and date when I can come and assess what you have”
“Ah that might be a problem” she said
“How so?” he enquired
“It’s all outside in a van” she replied
“Here?” he said “Oh ok then let’s go and have a look”
“Great” Danni said with a little relief
“So you’re new to the area too?” he said
“Yes about five weeks” she replied
“And you?”
“About the same” he replied
June had seen them approaching and jumped out of the driver’s seat and walked to the back of the van.
“I hope this isn’t a load of old tat” Steve thought to himself
“I’d hate to have to let her down”
He rather liked her, she ticked quite a few of his boxes.
She had shoulder length brunette hair, she was not beautiful in the conventional sense, and she had quite sharp features, a pointed nose and a slightly prominent chin, a small mouth and dark penetrating eyes, but he liked what he saw.
She was the perfect height for him about 4 inches shorter than his 6’ 1” and was blessed with very shapely legs.
“I’m in a B&B at the moment” he said aloud “I don’t know yet if the move here is permanent”
“Oh I hope it is” she said a little over enthusiastically which was noticed by June and when she looked at June it made Danni blush.
She had a small crescent shaped scar on her right cheek that went vivid red when she’d drunk too much or when she blushed.
At that moment it was crimson.
Danni introduced Steve to June who was grinning like a halfwit which quite understandably unnerved Steve.
“Well let’s have a look then” he said uncomfortably.
But once the doors were flung wide open he saw it was absolutely stuffed full.
“This is going to take longer than I thought” he added and had to call for some assistance from a character by the name of “Old Bob” and when it was all unloaded into the warehouse and could all be appreciated he was in his element.
“Can you leave it with us and I will call you later” he said
“Yes” she said that’s fine and jotted down her number
“I’m Danni by the way”
Out of her eye line June was grinning again which made Steve twitch.
“I’ll just get you a receipt” he said
“Well” June said as they drove back to the house
“Well what?” Danni retorted
“I felt like a proper gooseberry”
June said
“Oh do Shut up” Danni said and punched her arm, June just laughed.
When they got home they went into the kitchen and June was still cackling.
“How did you get on?” Katie asked
“She got on very well” June said and Danni picked up a tea towel and started flicking her.
Over a cup of coffee they sat at the table while June regaled them with her representation of events which caused much merriment and made Danni blush again.
After which it was Katie’s turn next to tell her how she had got on.
“I’ve just about finished with the books” she said “and I think there will be at least 50 that your Mr Lovett will be interested in”
“He’s not my Mr Lovett” Danni said
“In that case I will deal with him exclusively from now on” Katie suggested
“That won’t be necessary” Danni said and left the kitchen to peals of laughter.
When Danni and June were dropping off the jumble at the Church Hall they got chatting to the vicars wife Olivia and Danni mentioned the pile of sheet music that they had found in the house and Olivia told her that there was a music Professor living up at the Folly cottages who she thought would be very interested in looking through them.
So that was their first port of call the next day.
(Part 04)
Over the next few days Katie finished the books and all three of them cracked on with the decorating.
June had already completed two rooms before the other two got involved.
Not that Katie was much use, she didn’t like dust or cobwebs, she couldn’t use ladders or kneel down, she didn’t like the smell of paint as it made her nauseous and she didn’t like getting her hands wet or doing anything that would make them dry.
What she could do though was make teas and coffees and cook extremely well.
At the end of day three Danni’s phone rang just as she was half way down a ladder.
She looked at the caller ID and saw it was unknown and was thinking about declining it but in the end she answered it.
“Hello!” she said
“Could I speak to Miss Holland please?” the voice asked
“Speaking” she retorted
“Steve Lovett from the Auctioneers” he said
“Oh hello” she said and for some reason straightened her hair which was when she noticed she was being spied on so she took the phone into her bedroom.
“I have looked at all the items now and wondered if I might call round to discuss it” he said
“Well the house is in an awful mess as we’re decorating so could we meet at that coffee shop in Shallowfield? I think it’s called Addison’s”
“Yes that would be fine, is tomorrow at 10 ok?” he asked
“I look forward to seeing you then” Danni replied
“Likewise”
The next morning she spent a disproportionate amount of time getting ready for a coffee date and it wasn’t even a date, it wasn’t even a thing it was just a coffee with an Auctioneer, she wasn’t even sure he was an Auctioneer, she didn’t know what he was, but it was just coffee, that she was sure about.
“So why am I spending so much time getting ready” she said to her reflection in the mirror.
He was already sitting at a table when she arrived at Addison’s.
Danni walked over to him.
“Hello Steve” she said “Is it alright if to call you Steve?”
“Only if I can call you Danni” he replied
“That’s settled then” she said and sat down opposite him
“So what’s the verdict?” she asked after the coffee arrived
“Well I’ve divided up what you brought in into three different sales to maximise the prices” He said and handed her a list
“As you can see I have put down reserves on the highest value items”
“Crikey do you expect to get that much?” she asked
“Certainly yes” he said “In the right sale”
“I had no idea” Danni confessed
She was surprised at the amount they might raise, but she already knew what she was going to do with the money.
The meeting at Addison’s lasted longer than either of them intended, bearing in mind the purpose of it was dealt with in the first few minutes.
Finally Steve looked at his watch and excused himself
“I’m sorry I really have to go, I have a valuation to do in Childean”
“I understand, and thank you for this” she said tapping the valuation “And the coffee”
“My pleasure” he said “perhaps we could do it again”
“I’d like that” Danni answered
He was busy the next day so they arranged to meet at the same time the day after.
Danni returned home and told them the news about the valuation.
“Never mind that” Katie said “how did you get on with him?”
“Fine” she replied
“Only fine” June said “You’ve been gone almost 2 hours”
“Yes only fine” Danni said “but we are meeting for coffee again on Thursday”
“Well that’s promising” Katie said
“We are merely going to discuss the upcoming sale”
She told them but she hoped it might lead to more.
Katie and June seemed happy with that so Danni went to her room to change into her scruffy clothes.
(Part 05)
The first Auction sale was on the coming Saturday, and was for the porcelain, glass and collectables.
The following Wednesday was the jewellery sale in Abbottsford and then back to Shallowfield on the following Saturday for the furniture sale.
“Have you really never been to an Auction?” he asked in disbelief as they sat in Addison’s coffee shop
“Truly” she replied
“I could take you if you like” Steve suggested
“That would be nice” she said
“Great, you’re in for a real treat, Mr Springthorpe senior is in action on Saturday which is a sight to behold”
“I will look forward to it” she said though not because of Auctioneer.
Just at that moment when the conversation might have turned to something meaningful Danni looked across the table and saw that Steve had gone whiter than a sheet.
So she turned and looked behind her and there were Katie and June grinning through the window.
“It’s alright” she said “They’re friends of mine”
Then she mouthed something in their direction which caused them to roar with laugher before they departed.
And she returned her attention to Steve but the moment had passed.
On Saturday they met outside Addison’s and walked down to the Salerooms together.
It was very busy, and had been all morning, or so he was informed.
They didn’t arrive until eleven because he knew where Danni’s items were in the sale.
They only had to wait for ten minutes and the first lot appeared.
An hour and a half later and all her items had sold.
Only one failed to reach Steve’s estimate but comfortably cleared the reserve.
Steve suggested a pub lunch and Danni gratefully accepted.
“My friend Katie has been going through the books and has identified quite a number that she believes are of value” Danni said between mouthfuls of delicious Chilli at the Woodcutter’s Arms.
“Perhaps you can bring them in and I’ll get our book expert to look at them” he said “They may have to go in the December sale now though”
The following week they met up every day at Addison’s apart from Wednesday when they drove to Abbotsford for the jewellery sale and Saturday when they went to the furniture sale in Shallowfield after which they went to dinner at the Phoenix.
They had had umpteen coffee dates two lunches and a dinner but although they clearly liked each other and they enjoyed each other’s company they didn’t progress it.
The problem was they were both a little backwards in coming forwards, hence the number of coffee dates and no kissing.
Over coffee one day he gave her some bad news
“I’m not going to be around for the next week or so”
“How come?” she asked as calmly as she could
“I’ve been asked to flit between three different Salerooms, covering for holidays and sickness etc.” he explained
At the end of the evening just before she got into the cab she said
“I’ll miss you” and kissed his cheek
As it turned out it was almost 2 full weeks before she saw him again and she was quite low.
But she felt much happier when they met up in their favourite spot.
It was a Friday and Addison’s was exceptionally busy, so much so that they had to share a table with two elderly ladies, which made conversation difficult.
And then later that day Danni, Katie and June went away for a long weekend to meet up with their friend and housemate from University, Briony Beardsmore, who was back briefly from America.
When they returned she tried calling him but only succeeded in getting through to his answerphone, but she didn’t leave a message.
She left it for a few days but as she had neither seen nor heard from him she loaded the car with the boxes of books and drove them to the saleroom.
Danni pulled up in the car park and walked into the office expecting to see Steve sitting there.
But instead she saw a man in his thirties that she kind of recognised but didn’t quite.
“How can I help?” he said
“Is Mr Lovett around?” she said
“I’m afraid not” he replied
“He’s been called away for a few days on family business, a bereavement I believe”
“Oh ok” she said
“I have a car full of books he suggested I bring in”
“Well take them to the back door and Old Bob will sort you out” he said
“Thank you Mr…” she said
“Springthorpe” he replied
That was why she half recognised him he was a younger version of the Auctioneer from the first sale.
She was greeted at the door by “Old Bob” who helped her unload the car and gave her a receipt then she got back in the car and drove home disappointed.
(Part 06)
As Steve was absent and June was really cracking on with the decorating Danni decided to get to grips with the mountain of letters and personal papers in the study.
That kept her quite busy for the week following her delivering the books to the Auction house.
Then out of the blue she got a phone call from Steve, she was going to be sharp with him, for not calling her earlier.
After the conversation she was glad that she hadn’t.
The family emergency was his Grandfathers death and the subsequent funeral, which he had to arrange as there were no other family.
That kind of put a dampener on things and then he dropped the bombshell that after the book sale on Saturday he was driving up to Millmoor to supervise a number of house clearances, which really depressed her.
A few days later Danni and her friends were sitting in the kitchen when Katie said
“We’ll be out of your hair soon”
“What are you on about?”
“June’s nearly finished the decorating and we really need to get jobs and start paying off our loans” Katie said
“Oh” Danni said
“I thought you’d want to live here with me”
Danni was an orphan girl and her University girls were her only family and she wanted them near.
“Really?” June asked
“Of course really” Danni replied and the three of them hugged
About an hour later there was a knock on the front door.
June was painting the study and Katie was baking in the kitchen so Danni answered the door.
“Could I speak to Mrs … Oh it’s you” Steve said
“Hello” Danni said “This is a nice surprise”
“Yes” he said doubtfully
“Didn’t you know I lived here?” she said, and then it dawned on her that he wouldn’t because they had only met at Addison’s or the Saleroom.
“To be honest no” he admitted
“Come in” she said
“Thanks”
She led him into the lounge and a moment later Katie appeared with a tray.
Being a sucker for romance Katie just put it on the table smiled and left the room.
“I was hoping to speak with Winifred Travers” he said
“I’m afraid Mrs Travers passed away last year” Danni responded.
The news clearly shocked him and he was unable to speak for a few moments.
“Oh dear” he said “I have a letter for her”
The letter was from her deceased brother
“I’m sorry” Danni said
“What was she like?” he asked
“I don’t know, I didn’t know her” she admitted
“But everyone that did says she was a lovely woman, salt of the earth”
“So this is your house now?” he asked
“Well the lease is mine at least” Danni said
When he arrived he was carrying a folder which he placed on the sofa beside him.
But as he reached forward to pick up his drink he caught his sleeve and dragged the folder off the seat and spilled the contents, a mixture of papers and old black and white photographs, onto the floor.
Danni was immediately out of her seat and on her knees scooping up the spillage.
But she couldn’t help noticing the photograph of a soldier
“Who is this good looking young man?” she asked
“It’s my grandfather” he replied
“Oh wow” she said flatly
Steve elaborated as he showed her the other photos
After his grandfather died he wanted to deliver his letter to his baby sister, the problem was he had no idea where she could be
It was only by chance that he happened on the address.
“So how did you track Winnie down?” Danni asked
“Well when I left school I got a job with O’Sullivan’s and Springthorpe and part of the job is house clearances and one of the houses I had to clear last week was that of Elizabeth Blackett, who was a maiden lady in her 90’s.
It was my job to sort through her personal papers and among them were correspondences between her and Winifred, I couldn’t believe my luck.
Elisabeth was a distant cousin of Winnies and was also the genealogist of the family and she had a lot of old family pictures.
I just searched through her address book and here I am”
Although she had asked the question Danni wasn’t really listening to his answer as she was distracted by her own thoughts.
Steve noticed he didn’t have her full attention and said
“Well I had better be on my way, I’ve taken up too much of your time”
“Oh ok” she said and stood up and walked him to the door
“Are you on for coffee tomorrow, usual time?” he asked
“Oh no… I’m busy tomorrow” she lied
“Oh ok” he said and went to kiss her cheek, but she pull away.
“I’ll call you then”
“Yes ok fine” she said and closed the door abruptly.
(Part 07)
After Steve visited the house in search of Winifred she had distanced herself from him.
He called her several times over the few days following his visit enquiring about coffee at Addison’s but she always made an excuse.
But eventually she had to see him.
It was the first of December, a week after she had last seen him and Danni had to go to the salerooms to settle the account.
“Well after fees and commission this is the final tally” he said “how would you like it paid?”
Danni knew from talking to her neighbours that Daniel and Winnie were both heavily involved with the Church, he was the Church Warden for many years and she was the organist and they were both heavily involved with the choir.
So she replied without hesitation
“Could you please have a Cheque made payable to St Marys Church”
“That’s very generous” he said
“It’s what they would have wanted” Danni said and stood up
“Have you got time for a coffee?” he asked
“I...” she began
“Please” he added
“Ok”
The conversation was strained as they sat in Addison’s looking down at their respective drinks.
“We could go into Abbottsford one night and see a film” he suggested “What do you think?”
“I think you should find yourself a nice girl and settle down” she replied “I have to go”
“But…” he began but she was already half way out the door.
It was two weeks later and Steve had been sitting at a table in Addison Coffee House for about an hour after he’d finished his Coffee and sandwich.
He was listening to the conversations from other tables as they chatted about their Christmas plans, who was going, who was staying, how many would be there for Christmas Lunch and what they were doing on Boxing day.
Finally he’d had enough of other people’s happiness, because it hurt him, he was doing nothing, seeing no one, and he would be alone.
He mumbled to himself that he needed some fresh air and buttoned up his jacket high against the cold and walked towards the Lake.
It was still snowing as it had been all morning, he didn’t mind though he liked the snow.
He liked the way it dampened down the noise and brought silence to the world so all he could hear were his own thoughts and footsteps.
Everyone was predicting a White Christmas it would be the first one he’d seen in years if it happened, he had heard some youngsters in Shallowfield earlier talking very excitedly about the prospect.
That morning he had looked out of the small window of his B&B and watched as the kids went noisily passed with their Sledges.
They had passed on their way to one of the hills that overlooked the Town.
It reminded him of previous winters when he was a boy and the school was closed for a snow day.
Neither he nor his friends had a fancy sledge though, he and his mates used tea trays or bits of hardboard.
Sledges were a pretty useless thing to own as they sat gathering dust in sheds and garages most of the year until they were needed, if they were needed.
As the light began to fade he didn’t go up the hill where the kids were still enjoying themselves he wanted the quiet solitude only Teardrop Lake could offer.
The silence was briefly broken by the revelers as he walked past the Hotel but even their indulgent cacophony was soon lost as the snowfall snuffed it out.
Through the snowfall it was difficult even to discern the bright festive LED lights that decorated the houses.
With the Hotel well behind him and without thinking he set off along the lane that took him past the Addison family in Tower House.
It was only as he reached the next house that he realized his error as he found himself passing South View, where Danni lived, so he pulled his collar up and put his head down and went quickly past.
In the few months he had been staying in Shallowfield he had become very close to Danni Holland, they were both the same age, both of them were new to the area and neither had any family left.
Firstly he liked her as a friend and she had indeed become a best friend but almost immediately for him he wanted more than friendship.
But in recent weeks she had suddenly changed towards him and she became more distant and sisterly.
So he was, rather childishly, avoiding her which was quite frankly cutting off his nose to spite his face.
It had certainly not made him feel any better and it had probably confused the hell out of Danni, because he went from ringing her every day to avoiding her completely.
(Part 08)
Halfway along the Lane on the Southside of the Lake the darkness seemed even darker somehow and the snow was falling faster than ever.
He was unsure if he should press on or turn around and go back, visibility had been reduced to single digits.
He decided to take advantage of an old log at the side of the Lane and wait until the snow eased off again.
And tried to fathom out what had gone wrong between him and Danni.
He sat and stared straight ahead of him through the falling snow and realized it was easing as he was able to discern some of the coloured lights across the lake.
And soon all the twinkling lights of every house were visible as the snow stopped falling.
As the snowfall thinned he was able to get his bearings and was situated in between Forest Lodge and Lakeside Villa.
He decided it might be prudent to head back to Shallowfield and “get while the going was good”, and before the snow began again.
He stood up and headed back towards Shallowfield but was still lost in his thoughts as he did so
"What the hell are you doing out here?" a voice asked from the darkness.
It made him jump as he had become accustomed to the silence and was still somewhere inside his head contemplating his own situation.
He had perceived no warning that he was not alone and had not heard her approaching footfalls crunching in the snow.
He recognized the voice instantly as it belonged to Danni Holland.
“I just needed some fresh air” he replied
"What? In this weather? Are you mad” she said
"Well you’re out in it, so what’s your excuse?” he retorted
"I saw you pass the house so I came out to make sure …” she stopped
“To make sure what?” he asked angrily “that I didn’t jump in the lake”
“Well you looked furtive” Danni said defensively
“I wasn’t being furtive I was being private” he said and strode off down the lane
“I'm sorry," she said trotting after him “but you’ve been a bit off lately”
“And whose fault is that?” he asked, stopping briefly
“What do you mean?” Danni asked “what did I do?”
He stopped again and turned towards her and said
“I thought you liked me”
“I did, I do” she replied
“No I mean LIKE me” he elaborated
“I did” she admitted “but then I found out something”
“What?” he asked intrigued
“When you were at the house two week ago you had a folder with you, which you dropped on the floor and the contents spilled out” She said
“Yes I remember” he retorted “what about it?
“Well there was a photograph, a soldier in uniform” she said “and I asked you who it was”
“Yes it was of my grandfather” he said “I still don’t understand”
“He was my great aunts brother” she said “so I think we’re related, I’m not sure how, but I think we are”
(Part 09)
“And that’s why you’ve been all sisterly towards me” he said and laughed “Because you think we’re’
“Yes, but I don’t see any humour in it” she said
“Come back to the house and have a hot drink and explain, you must be frozen”
"Ok but on one condition” he replied
“What’s that?” she asked
“Don’t try to fix me up with one of your friends” Steve said
“Why would I do that?” Danni said and laughed
“Because that’s what sisters do” he said
“They have no interest in you, brother dear” she said mockingly
"Why not? What’s wrong with me?" he asked
"There is nothing wrong with you” she replied and audibly sighed, which he completely missed however
"Then why?" he persisted “they’re always smiling at me in a weird way”
“Oh dear how can I put this delicately” she mused and put her arm through his “Katie and June don’t butter their bread the same way that you do”
"What the hell does bread and butter have to… oh, oh I see” he said
“Do you understand now?” she asked and they both laughed
After they had walked a few more yards he asked
“So do they butter each other’s bread?”
“Frequently” she replied and they laughed again.
When they were back at her house he sat down at the kitchen table while she made a drink, he hadn’t realize how cold he had gotten until he stepped inside the house.
“Am I correct that the man in the photograph is Walter Tiplady?” she asked as she put a steaming mug of coffee in front of him
“Yes, my grandfather” he replied and warmed his hands on the mug
“But how can that be when Walter was killed in the fields of Normandy in 1944” she said “I’ve seen a copy of the telegram”
She had seen it all in amongst Win’s papers.
“It was Henry Lovett who died in 1944 when the Bren Gun Carrier they were in was hit by a mortar. Both men lost their tags and most of their clothes in the blast, Henry died of his wounds in hospital but was in possession of Walters tunic, so was wrongly identified”
“Why didn’t he say anything?” she asked
“He didn’t know” he replied “because along with his physical injuries he also had amnesia”
“What about Henrys family after he was discharged?”
“He didn’t have any family, he was an orphanage boy” he said “and Walter was enough like Henry in appearance for friends and acquaintances to accept him and his manner and the amnesia dissuaded any doubts”
“So how did he find out who he was?” she asked
“He started having unexplained memories when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour” Steve said
“By the time it had all been removed, it all came back, well pretty much all”
He paused to take a sip of coffee and then continued
“There were still big holes in his memory that remained right up till the end, but he died as he had lived for most of his life as Henry Lovett”
Which was why when the solicitors investigator thought that Danni was the only heir to Daniel Travers legacy.
“So you are the real heir, by rights this is your house” Danni said
“That’s not important” he said
“But I have it under false pretenses” Danni insisted
“More importantly than that Henry/Walter was Winnie’s brother and you were her great niece, by marriage, not by blood” he explained and she looked at him blankly
"We are not related" he said
“I don’t understand”
“We are not blood relations” he explained
“So I don’t have to be your sister anymore?” she said
“No”
“Thank God for that” she said and kissed him full on the mouth
As they lay in the cozy afterglow in her bed she asked
“So what do we do now?”
“Well I don’t know about you but I thought I might take your advice” he said
“Which advice was that?
“That I should find myself a nice girl and settle down” he replied
“After what we just did you had better be thinking about settling down with me” she said
Teardrop Lake and the surrounding woodland was privately owned and divided into twelve parcels each with one significant dwelling on it, although there were a number of cottages dotted around the woodland as well.
The 12 main properties on Teardrop Lake were not owned as such and were subject to a peculiar legal covenant dating back to the early 17th Century.
None of the residents on the Lake were owners per se, they possessed the lease but for their lifetime only, at the end of which the lease was passed on to their heir.
The houses and the land they sat upon could not be bought or sold by their occupier’s and nor could the leases.
Heirs can elect not live in the property, or elect to have a relative occupy it in their stead but no income can be derived from such a circumstance.
So when widower Daniel Travers was found dead in South View and was without issue, wheels were set in motion, to track down an heir.
Stanislas, Boivin and Champeaux, the solicitors who administered the Lakeside estate, had to find a beneficiary.
In the absence of a named heir in either Daniel Travers or his wife Winifred’s wills, a firm of genealogists had to be employed.
In the event of no heir at all being located then after a lengthy process the property would revert to the control of the trust to manage this had happened in the case of two of the 12, Dancingdean Hall and East Cliff Lodge.
Finding an heir was not a speedy process so although Daniel Travers died in March, it was September the 1st when Danni Holland, the last surviving heir of either line crossed the threshold of South View.
Danni was the 23 year old great, great, niece of Winifred Travers, a woman she had not only never met but had never even heard of.
In fact from the age of 18 until she was contacted by the solicitors she was completely unaware that she had any relatives at all.
Her mother died when she was ten and her father eight years later.
And with his death she was to the best of her knowledge the last one standing.
So they could have knocked her down with a feather when she was told she had not been alone in the world after all.
Danni inherited the lease on the house, the house contents and a small legacy but that wasn’t what she was looking for, she would have much preferred to have met Winnie and got to know her.
So after everything was signed and sealed Danni was assured by Stanislas, Boivin and Champeaux that after Winnie and Daniel’s death, this time she really was the last of the line.
In her first week in South View she did nothing but repeatedly pinch herself, expecting to wake up from a crazy dream.
In truth she was a little shell shocked
Also her arrival at South View besides the beautiful Teardrop Lake prompted her to reassess her future, at least when the dust had settled and her head had stopped spinning.
This was not the direction that she had envisaged her life would take in fact it was only in May of that year that she’d finished her Art History degree.
After leaving University she began working for an insurance company, in the claims department, while she considered what she should do with her qualification.
However inheriting the house meant that Danni could sell her flat in Nettlefield and quit the claims department.
The sale of her flat enabled her to pay off her student loans and have a reasonable nest egg to live on while she took stock.
When she met with one of the solicitors, Rizalina Pugay, she asked her what she knew about her great, great aunt and Riza spoke enthusiastically about Winnie.
“She was a wonderful woman”
“Did you know her well?” Danni asked
“Quite well, yes” she replied
She went on to tell her everything she knew about her up until her death.
“Then when she died her husband Daniel actually died of a broken heart” Riza said and sighed
“How romantic is that”
Danni had to agree that it was indeed a true love story.
She herself had never been in love true or otherwise.
She had had three rather dubious passions but she had never experienced love.
(Part 02)
On the Monday of her second week Danni phoned Riza.
“Hello Danni, how are you settling in?”
“Fine, fine” she replied “I still can’t believe it’s happened”
“Well it’s for real” Riza said “so enjoy it”
“I’m trying” Danni said and then there was a pause before Riza asked
“Was there something else?”
“Yes” she replied “am I allowed to decorate?”
And Riza laughed
After Riza explained to her that the house was hers to decorate whichever way she saw fit.
She reiterated that there were certain period features in the house that couldn’t be removed or altered and that other than that only changes to the exterior of the property had to be approved.
So armed with that information she decided she needed help.
When she was at Abbottsford University Danni shared a house for two years with three of her friends June Gough, Katie Watson and Briony Beardsmore.
After graduation Briony went to America but the other two had planned to take a year out and do some travelling before settling down.
She knew however that their reach had far exceeded their grasp and they had to curtail their sojourn.
So Danni phoned them and asked them to come and stay with her for a while.
“This is very nice Danni” Katie said looking around
“Are you sure you’re allowed to be here?”
“Apparently so” Danni replied and hugged her friend who was a tall well-built and totally unnaturally blonde woman, who although was very definitely feminine, hugged like a grizzly bear.
“Where’s June?”
“She’s fetching the bags” Katie replied as they walked into the kitchen.
June was petite and wiry and quite obviously deceptively strong because when she eventually appeared she was loaded with bags, and looked like a Hotel porter.
June dropped the bags in the hall and mopped her brow before running her fingers though her short black hair.
After closing the front door she went in search of the other two and found them sitting at the kitchen table talking.
“I might have known” she said
Over the next few weeks they went all over the house, out buildings, cellar and attic, sorting through Daniel and Winnies personal possessions.
The unwanted items were temporarily stored in the garage, clothing, music albums and knick-knack’s for the charity shop, some items of furniture which were deemed as too old fashioned but were of sufficient quality to auction and likewise for a selection of porcelain and glassware and collectables.
Books were Katie’s forte so all the books were put in one of the downstairs room and she methodically went through them all.
Any documents, paperwork or photographs were put in the study and would be gone through when Danni had the time.
There was also a considerable amount of sheet music which was of absolutely no use to her but Danni was reluctant to just throw it away.
The industrious June had hired a van so she could collect the decorating materials that she needed.
It was a good sized van, June told them that it was a Long Wheel Base Hi-Top, they just took her word for it.
But while they had it they decided to make full use of it to clear the garage which was by that time stuffed to the gunwales.
The good stuff that was designated for the charity shop ended up at St Mary’s Church Hall where it was sorted for the Church Car Boot and jumble sale being held at St Mary’s Primary School on the last weekend in October.
They then did a number of runs to the dump and finally took the items they wanted to sell to O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
(Part 03)
Danni left June in the van while she went into the office where a young man of a similar age to herself was sat behind the desk.
As she approached he looked up and smiled, Danni liked his smile, and she though he was quite good looking with his curly brown hair and blue eyes.
“Hello” she said “Are you Mr O’Sullivan or Mr Springthorpe?”
“Neither I’m afraid” he replied “Steve Lovett, can I help?”
“I hope so Steve” she replied
“So do I” he said in his head
“I have just inherited a house from my great, great aunt and uncle and I need to sell some of the furniture and such like” she said “is that something you can help with?”
“Certainly” he said “Let’s arrange a time and date when I can come and assess what you have”
“Ah that might be a problem” she said
“How so?” he enquired
“It’s all outside in a van” she replied
“Here?” he said “Oh ok then let’s go and have a look”
“Great” Danni said with a little relief
“So you’re new to the area too?” he said
“Yes about five weeks” she replied
“And you?”
“About the same” he replied
June had seen them approaching and jumped out of the driver’s seat and walked to the back of the van.
“I hope this isn’t a load of old tat” Steve thought to himself
“I’d hate to have to let her down”
He rather liked her, she ticked quite a few of his boxes.
She had shoulder length brunette hair, she was not beautiful in the conventional sense, and she had quite sharp features, a pointed nose and a slightly prominent chin, a small mouth and dark penetrating eyes, but he liked what he saw.
She was the perfect height for him about 4 inches shorter than his 6’ 1” and was blessed with very shapely legs.
“I’m in a B&B at the moment” he said aloud “I don’t know yet if the move here is permanent”
“Oh I hope it is” she said a little over enthusiastically which was noticed by June and when she looked at June it made Danni blush.
She had a small crescent shaped scar on her right cheek that went vivid red when she’d drunk too much or when she blushed.
At that moment it was crimson.
Danni introduced Steve to June who was grinning like a halfwit which quite understandably unnerved Steve.
“Well let’s have a look then” he said uncomfortably.
But once the doors were flung wide open he saw it was absolutely stuffed full.
“This is going to take longer than I thought” he added and had to call for some assistance from a character by the name of “Old Bob” and when it was all unloaded into the warehouse and could all be appreciated he was in his element.
“Can you leave it with us and I will call you later” he said
“Yes” she said that’s fine and jotted down her number
“I’m Danni by the way”
Out of her eye line June was grinning again which made Steve twitch.
“I’ll just get you a receipt” he said
“Well” June said as they drove back to the house
“Well what?” Danni retorted
“I felt like a proper gooseberry”
June said
“Oh do Shut up” Danni said and punched her arm, June just laughed.
When they got home they went into the kitchen and June was still cackling.
“How did you get on?” Katie asked
“She got on very well” June said and Danni picked up a tea towel and started flicking her.
Over a cup of coffee they sat at the table while June regaled them with her representation of events which caused much merriment and made Danni blush again.
After which it was Katie’s turn next to tell her how she had got on.
“I’ve just about finished with the books” she said “and I think there will be at least 50 that your Mr Lovett will be interested in”
“He’s not my Mr Lovett” Danni said
“In that case I will deal with him exclusively from now on” Katie suggested
“That won’t be necessary” Danni said and left the kitchen to peals of laughter.
When Danni and June were dropping off the jumble at the Church Hall they got chatting to the vicars wife Olivia and Danni mentioned the pile of sheet music that they had found in the house and Olivia told her that there was a music Professor living up at the Folly cottages who she thought would be very interested in looking through them.
So that was their first port of call the next day.
(Part 04)
Over the next few days Katie finished the books and all three of them cracked on with the decorating.
June had already completed two rooms before the other two got involved.
Not that Katie was much use, she didn’t like dust or cobwebs, she couldn’t use ladders or kneel down, she didn’t like the smell of paint as it made her nauseous and she didn’t like getting her hands wet or doing anything that would make them dry.
What she could do though was make teas and coffees and cook extremely well.
At the end of day three Danni’s phone rang just as she was half way down a ladder.
She looked at the caller ID and saw it was unknown and was thinking about declining it but in the end she answered it.
“Hello!” she said
“Could I speak to Miss Holland please?” the voice asked
“Speaking” she retorted
“Steve Lovett from the Auctioneers” he said
“Oh hello” she said and for some reason straightened her hair which was when she noticed she was being spied on so she took the phone into her bedroom.
“I have looked at all the items now and wondered if I might call round to discuss it” he said
“Well the house is in an awful mess as we’re decorating so could we meet at that coffee shop in Shallowfield? I think it’s called Addison’s”
“Yes that would be fine, is tomorrow at 10 ok?” he asked
“I look forward to seeing you then” Danni replied
“Likewise”
The next morning she spent a disproportionate amount of time getting ready for a coffee date and it wasn’t even a date, it wasn’t even a thing it was just a coffee with an Auctioneer, she wasn’t even sure he was an Auctioneer, she didn’t know what he was, but it was just coffee, that she was sure about.
“So why am I spending so much time getting ready” she said to her reflection in the mirror.
He was already sitting at a table when she arrived at Addison’s.
Danni walked over to him.
“Hello Steve” she said “Is it alright if to call you Steve?”
“Only if I can call you Danni” he replied
“That’s settled then” she said and sat down opposite him
“So what’s the verdict?” she asked after the coffee arrived
“Well I’ve divided up what you brought in into three different sales to maximise the prices” He said and handed her a list
“As you can see I have put down reserves on the highest value items”
“Crikey do you expect to get that much?” she asked
“Certainly yes” he said “In the right sale”
“I had no idea” Danni confessed
She was surprised at the amount they might raise, but she already knew what she was going to do with the money.
The meeting at Addison’s lasted longer than either of them intended, bearing in mind the purpose of it was dealt with in the first few minutes.
Finally Steve looked at his watch and excused himself
“I’m sorry I really have to go, I have a valuation to do in Childean”
“I understand, and thank you for this” she said tapping the valuation “And the coffee”
“My pleasure” he said “perhaps we could do it again”
“I’d like that” Danni answered
He was busy the next day so they arranged to meet at the same time the day after.
Danni returned home and told them the news about the valuation.
“Never mind that” Katie said “how did you get on with him?”
“Fine” she replied
“Only fine” June said “You’ve been gone almost 2 hours”
“Yes only fine” Danni said “but we are meeting for coffee again on Thursday”
“Well that’s promising” Katie said
“We are merely going to discuss the upcoming sale”
She told them but she hoped it might lead to more.
Katie and June seemed happy with that so Danni went to her room to change into her scruffy clothes.
(Part 05)
The first Auction sale was on the coming Saturday, and was for the porcelain, glass and collectables.
The following Wednesday was the jewellery sale in Abbottsford and then back to Shallowfield on the following Saturday for the furniture sale.
“Have you really never been to an Auction?” he asked in disbelief as they sat in Addison’s coffee shop
“Truly” she replied
“I could take you if you like” Steve suggested
“That would be nice” she said
“Great, you’re in for a real treat, Mr Springthorpe senior is in action on Saturday which is a sight to behold”
“I will look forward to it” she said though not because of Auctioneer.
Just at that moment when the conversation might have turned to something meaningful Danni looked across the table and saw that Steve had gone whiter than a sheet.
So she turned and looked behind her and there were Katie and June grinning through the window.
“It’s alright” she said “They’re friends of mine”
Then she mouthed something in their direction which caused them to roar with laugher before they departed.
And she returned her attention to Steve but the moment had passed.
On Saturday they met outside Addison’s and walked down to the Salerooms together.
It was very busy, and had been all morning, or so he was informed.
They didn’t arrive until eleven because he knew where Danni’s items were in the sale.
They only had to wait for ten minutes and the first lot appeared.
An hour and a half later and all her items had sold.
Only one failed to reach Steve’s estimate but comfortably cleared the reserve.
Steve suggested a pub lunch and Danni gratefully accepted.
“My friend Katie has been going through the books and has identified quite a number that she believes are of value” Danni said between mouthfuls of delicious Chilli at the Woodcutter’s Arms.
“Perhaps you can bring them in and I’ll get our book expert to look at them” he said “They may have to go in the December sale now though”
The following week they met up every day at Addison’s apart from Wednesday when they drove to Abbotsford for the jewellery sale and Saturday when they went to the furniture sale in Shallowfield after which they went to dinner at the Phoenix.
They had had umpteen coffee dates two lunches and a dinner but although they clearly liked each other and they enjoyed each other’s company they didn’t progress it.
The problem was they were both a little backwards in coming forwards, hence the number of coffee dates and no kissing.
Over coffee one day he gave her some bad news
“I’m not going to be around for the next week or so”
“How come?” she asked as calmly as she could
“I’ve been asked to flit between three different Salerooms, covering for holidays and sickness etc.” he explained
At the end of the evening just before she got into the cab she said
“I’ll miss you” and kissed his cheek
As it turned out it was almost 2 full weeks before she saw him again and she was quite low.
But she felt much happier when they met up in their favourite spot.
It was a Friday and Addison’s was exceptionally busy, so much so that they had to share a table with two elderly ladies, which made conversation difficult.
And then later that day Danni, Katie and June went away for a long weekend to meet up with their friend and housemate from University, Briony Beardsmore, who was back briefly from America.
When they returned she tried calling him but only succeeded in getting through to his answerphone, but she didn’t leave a message.
She left it for a few days but as she had neither seen nor heard from him she loaded the car with the boxes of books and drove them to the saleroom.
Danni pulled up in the car park and walked into the office expecting to see Steve sitting there.
But instead she saw a man in his thirties that she kind of recognised but didn’t quite.
“How can I help?” he said
“Is Mr Lovett around?” she said
“I’m afraid not” he replied
“He’s been called away for a few days on family business, a bereavement I believe”
“Oh ok” she said
“I have a car full of books he suggested I bring in”
“Well take them to the back door and Old Bob will sort you out” he said
“Thank you Mr…” she said
“Springthorpe” he replied
That was why she half recognised him he was a younger version of the Auctioneer from the first sale.
She was greeted at the door by “Old Bob” who helped her unload the car and gave her a receipt then she got back in the car and drove home disappointed.
(Part 06)
As Steve was absent and June was really cracking on with the decorating Danni decided to get to grips with the mountain of letters and personal papers in the study.
That kept her quite busy for the week following her delivering the books to the Auction house.
Then out of the blue she got a phone call from Steve, she was going to be sharp with him, for not calling her earlier.
After the conversation she was glad that she hadn’t.
The family emergency was his Grandfathers death and the subsequent funeral, which he had to arrange as there were no other family.
That kind of put a dampener on things and then he dropped the bombshell that after the book sale on Saturday he was driving up to Millmoor to supervise a number of house clearances, which really depressed her.
A few days later Danni and her friends were sitting in the kitchen when Katie said
“We’ll be out of your hair soon”
“What are you on about?”
“June’s nearly finished the decorating and we really need to get jobs and start paying off our loans” Katie said
“Oh” Danni said
“I thought you’d want to live here with me”
Danni was an orphan girl and her University girls were her only family and she wanted them near.
“Really?” June asked
“Of course really” Danni replied and the three of them hugged
About an hour later there was a knock on the front door.
June was painting the study and Katie was baking in the kitchen so Danni answered the door.
“Could I speak to Mrs … Oh it’s you” Steve said
“Hello” Danni said “This is a nice surprise”
“Yes” he said doubtfully
“Didn’t you know I lived here?” she said, and then it dawned on her that he wouldn’t because they had only met at Addison’s or the Saleroom.
“To be honest no” he admitted
“Come in” she said
“Thanks”
She led him into the lounge and a moment later Katie appeared with a tray.
Being a sucker for romance Katie just put it on the table smiled and left the room.
“I was hoping to speak with Winifred Travers” he said
“I’m afraid Mrs Travers passed away last year” Danni responded.
The news clearly shocked him and he was unable to speak for a few moments.
“Oh dear” he said “I have a letter for her”
The letter was from her deceased brother
“I’m sorry” Danni said
“What was she like?” he asked
“I don’t know, I didn’t know her” she admitted
“But everyone that did says she was a lovely woman, salt of the earth”
“So this is your house now?” he asked
“Well the lease is mine at least” Danni said
When he arrived he was carrying a folder which he placed on the sofa beside him.
But as he reached forward to pick up his drink he caught his sleeve and dragged the folder off the seat and spilled the contents, a mixture of papers and old black and white photographs, onto the floor.
Danni was immediately out of her seat and on her knees scooping up the spillage.
But she couldn’t help noticing the photograph of a soldier
“Who is this good looking young man?” she asked
“It’s my grandfather” he replied
“Oh wow” she said flatly
Steve elaborated as he showed her the other photos
After his grandfather died he wanted to deliver his letter to his baby sister, the problem was he had no idea where she could be
It was only by chance that he happened on the address.
“So how did you track Winnie down?” Danni asked
“Well when I left school I got a job with O’Sullivan’s and Springthorpe and part of the job is house clearances and one of the houses I had to clear last week was that of Elizabeth Blackett, who was a maiden lady in her 90’s.
It was my job to sort through her personal papers and among them were correspondences between her and Winifred, I couldn’t believe my luck.
Elisabeth was a distant cousin of Winnies and was also the genealogist of the family and she had a lot of old family pictures.
I just searched through her address book and here I am”
Although she had asked the question Danni wasn’t really listening to his answer as she was distracted by her own thoughts.
Steve noticed he didn’t have her full attention and said
“Well I had better be on my way, I’ve taken up too much of your time”
“Oh ok” she said and stood up and walked him to the door
“Are you on for coffee tomorrow, usual time?” he asked
“Oh no… I’m busy tomorrow” she lied
“Oh ok” he said and went to kiss her cheek, but she pull away.
“I’ll call you then”
“Yes ok fine” she said and closed the door abruptly.
(Part 07)
After Steve visited the house in search of Winifred she had distanced herself from him.
He called her several times over the few days following his visit enquiring about coffee at Addison’s but she always made an excuse.
But eventually she had to see him.
It was the first of December, a week after she had last seen him and Danni had to go to the salerooms to settle the account.
“Well after fees and commission this is the final tally” he said “how would you like it paid?”
Danni knew from talking to her neighbours that Daniel and Winnie were both heavily involved with the Church, he was the Church Warden for many years and she was the organist and they were both heavily involved with the choir.
So she replied without hesitation
“Could you please have a Cheque made payable to St Marys Church”
“That’s very generous” he said
“It’s what they would have wanted” Danni said and stood up
“Have you got time for a coffee?” he asked
“I...” she began
“Please” he added
“Ok”
The conversation was strained as they sat in Addison’s looking down at their respective drinks.
“We could go into Abbottsford one night and see a film” he suggested “What do you think?”
“I think you should find yourself a nice girl and settle down” she replied “I have to go”
“But…” he began but she was already half way out the door.
It was two weeks later and Steve had been sitting at a table in Addison Coffee House for about an hour after he’d finished his Coffee and sandwich.
He was listening to the conversations from other tables as they chatted about their Christmas plans, who was going, who was staying, how many would be there for Christmas Lunch and what they were doing on Boxing day.
Finally he’d had enough of other people’s happiness, because it hurt him, he was doing nothing, seeing no one, and he would be alone.
He mumbled to himself that he needed some fresh air and buttoned up his jacket high against the cold and walked towards the Lake.
It was still snowing as it had been all morning, he didn’t mind though he liked the snow.
He liked the way it dampened down the noise and brought silence to the world so all he could hear were his own thoughts and footsteps.
Everyone was predicting a White Christmas it would be the first one he’d seen in years if it happened, he had heard some youngsters in Shallowfield earlier talking very excitedly about the prospect.
That morning he had looked out of the small window of his B&B and watched as the kids went noisily passed with their Sledges.
They had passed on their way to one of the hills that overlooked the Town.
It reminded him of previous winters when he was a boy and the school was closed for a snow day.
Neither he nor his friends had a fancy sledge though, he and his mates used tea trays or bits of hardboard.
Sledges were a pretty useless thing to own as they sat gathering dust in sheds and garages most of the year until they were needed, if they were needed.
As the light began to fade he didn’t go up the hill where the kids were still enjoying themselves he wanted the quiet solitude only Teardrop Lake could offer.
The silence was briefly broken by the revelers as he walked past the Hotel but even their indulgent cacophony was soon lost as the snowfall snuffed it out.
Through the snowfall it was difficult even to discern the bright festive LED lights that decorated the houses.
With the Hotel well behind him and without thinking he set off along the lane that took him past the Addison family in Tower House.
It was only as he reached the next house that he realized his error as he found himself passing South View, where Danni lived, so he pulled his collar up and put his head down and went quickly past.
In the few months he had been staying in Shallowfield he had become very close to Danni Holland, they were both the same age, both of them were new to the area and neither had any family left.
Firstly he liked her as a friend and she had indeed become a best friend but almost immediately for him he wanted more than friendship.
But in recent weeks she had suddenly changed towards him and she became more distant and sisterly.
So he was, rather childishly, avoiding her which was quite frankly cutting off his nose to spite his face.
It had certainly not made him feel any better and it had probably confused the hell out of Danni, because he went from ringing her every day to avoiding her completely.
(Part 08)
Halfway along the Lane on the Southside of the Lake the darkness seemed even darker somehow and the snow was falling faster than ever.
He was unsure if he should press on or turn around and go back, visibility had been reduced to single digits.
He decided to take advantage of an old log at the side of the Lane and wait until the snow eased off again.
And tried to fathom out what had gone wrong between him and Danni.
He sat and stared straight ahead of him through the falling snow and realized it was easing as he was able to discern some of the coloured lights across the lake.
And soon all the twinkling lights of every house were visible as the snow stopped falling.
As the snowfall thinned he was able to get his bearings and was situated in between Forest Lodge and Lakeside Villa.
He decided it might be prudent to head back to Shallowfield and “get while the going was good”, and before the snow began again.
He stood up and headed back towards Shallowfield but was still lost in his thoughts as he did so
"What the hell are you doing out here?" a voice asked from the darkness.
It made him jump as he had become accustomed to the silence and was still somewhere inside his head contemplating his own situation.
He had perceived no warning that he was not alone and had not heard her approaching footfalls crunching in the snow.
He recognized the voice instantly as it belonged to Danni Holland.
“I just needed some fresh air” he replied
"What? In this weather? Are you mad” she said
"Well you’re out in it, so what’s your excuse?” he retorted
"I saw you pass the house so I came out to make sure …” she stopped
“To make sure what?” he asked angrily “that I didn’t jump in the lake”
“Well you looked furtive” Danni said defensively
“I wasn’t being furtive I was being private” he said and strode off down the lane
“I'm sorry," she said trotting after him “but you’ve been a bit off lately”
“And whose fault is that?” he asked, stopping briefly
“What do you mean?” Danni asked “what did I do?”
He stopped again and turned towards her and said
“I thought you liked me”
“I did, I do” she replied
“No I mean LIKE me” he elaborated
“I did” she admitted “but then I found out something”
“What?” he asked intrigued
“When you were at the house two week ago you had a folder with you, which you dropped on the floor and the contents spilled out” She said
“Yes I remember” he retorted “what about it?
“Well there was a photograph, a soldier in uniform” she said “and I asked you who it was”
“Yes it was of my grandfather” he said “I still don’t understand”
“He was my great aunts brother” she said “so I think we’re related, I’m not sure how, but I think we are”
(Part 09)
“And that’s why you’ve been all sisterly towards me” he said and laughed “Because you think we’re’
“Yes, but I don’t see any humour in it” she said
“Come back to the house and have a hot drink and explain, you must be frozen”
"Ok but on one condition” he replied
“What’s that?” she asked
“Don’t try to fix me up with one of your friends” Steve said
“Why would I do that?” Danni said and laughed
“Because that’s what sisters do” he said
“They have no interest in you, brother dear” she said mockingly
"Why not? What’s wrong with me?" he asked
"There is nothing wrong with you” she replied and audibly sighed, which he completely missed however
"Then why?" he persisted “they’re always smiling at me in a weird way”
“Oh dear how can I put this delicately” she mused and put her arm through his “Katie and June don’t butter their bread the same way that you do”
"What the hell does bread and butter have to… oh, oh I see” he said
“Do you understand now?” she asked and they both laughed
After they had walked a few more yards he asked
“So do they butter each other’s bread?”
“Frequently” she replied and they laughed again.
When they were back at her house he sat down at the kitchen table while she made a drink, he hadn’t realize how cold he had gotten until he stepped inside the house.
“Am I correct that the man in the photograph is Walter Tiplady?” she asked as she put a steaming mug of coffee in front of him
“Yes, my grandfather” he replied and warmed his hands on the mug
“But how can that be when Walter was killed in the fields of Normandy in 1944” she said “I’ve seen a copy of the telegram”
She had seen it all in amongst Win’s papers.
“It was Henry Lovett who died in 1944 when the Bren Gun Carrier they were in was hit by a mortar. Both men lost their tags and most of their clothes in the blast, Henry died of his wounds in hospital but was in possession of Walters tunic, so was wrongly identified”
“Why didn’t he say anything?” she asked
“He didn’t know” he replied “because along with his physical injuries he also had amnesia”
“What about Henrys family after he was discharged?”
“He didn’t have any family, he was an orphanage boy” he said “and Walter was enough like Henry in appearance for friends and acquaintances to accept him and his manner and the amnesia dissuaded any doubts”
“So how did he find out who he was?” she asked
“He started having unexplained memories when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour” Steve said
“By the time it had all been removed, it all came back, well pretty much all”
He paused to take a sip of coffee and then continued
“There were still big holes in his memory that remained right up till the end, but he died as he had lived for most of his life as Henry Lovett”
Which was why when the solicitors investigator thought that Danni was the only heir to Daniel Travers legacy.
“So you are the real heir, by rights this is your house” Danni said
“That’s not important” he said
“But I have it under false pretenses” Danni insisted
“More importantly than that Henry/Walter was Winnie’s brother and you were her great niece, by marriage, not by blood” he explained and she looked at him blankly
"We are not related" he said
“I don’t understand”
“We are not blood relations” he explained
“So I don’t have to be your sister anymore?” she said
“No”
“Thank God for that” she said and kissed him full on the mouth
As they lay in the cozy afterglow in her bed she asked
“So what do we do now?”
“Well I don’t know about you but I thought I might take your advice” he said
“Which advice was that?
“That I should find myself a nice girl and settle down” he replied
“After what we just did you had better be thinking about settling down with me” she said
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