(Part 01)
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the North and it’s in leafy Roespring where our story begins.
It was after the second exhausting day of reveling, when brother and sister in law, Roberto and Annette Obertelli were exiting the front door of the Dancing Cavalier Hotel in Roespring.
They had been attending the wedding of close friends and what had been expected to be a classy, cultured and refined weekend had turned into a raucous Hooley involving dancing on tables and urinating in fountains.
The pair had just performed a kind of walk of shame through the lobby causing all heads to turn in their direction.
Among their audience was an array of faces baring expressions, ranging from disgust, all the way through jealously to envy and even admiration, but from the management the universal tone was disgust.
They emerged through the door into the sunlight looking red faced and sheepish.
Having had a lobby full of eyes on them as they left the hotel they felt relieved to escape into the fresh air where they turned to each other and burst out laughing.
Unfortunately they got tarred with the same brush as the worst offenders when they had actually been quite well behaved in comparison, admittedly Annette had been one of the first to start dancing on the tables but that was the full extent of her involvement and as Roberto was a bit of a lightweight when it came to drinking he had already passed out on a sofa in the sunroom by the time the worst of the shenanigan’s began.
“Well that’s one Hotel I can never stay at again” Annette said.
“Well it’s not my fault is it?” he said indignantly
“I’m not the one who danced on the table like Siouxsie and the Banshees”
Annette blushed to her roots and buried her face in his chest.
This was not the way she normally behaved she was normally a rather boring and ordinary woman.
But the weekend was the first time she had let her hair down in the two years since she became a widow.
Fraternal twins Roberto and Gianluca Obertelli owned the Vale Farm Pizza House franchises in Purplemere, having inherited it from their father.
Gianluca and Annette were married for five years when at the age of 31 he was tragically killed when his motorcycle collided with a HGV that failed to stop at a red light.
He died instantly.
Roberto was 33 now and he loved Annette with all his heart but only as a sister and she felt the same way so it was only natural that they continued to run the business between them.
(Part 02)
Unlike his brother Gianluca, Roberto had not found someone to share his life and since his death his wife Annette had not sought another partner.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been looking it was just that he hadn’t found someone to fit his ideal.
Although the night before at the wedding reception he had met someone who aroused his curiosity and got his attention.
The wedding party was held in the King Charles Wing but there was another party in the Prince Rupert Suite, which was an old fashioned fancy dress masked ball and it was from the latter that he imagined her to have come.
She was a small girl in a Georgian gown of powder blue and she wore a powdered high hair wig of the day and a sequined mask to conceal her face.
There was little conversation but what there was, was filled with honeyed words of seduction.
But apart from the copious flirting they danced on the terrace and even shared a kiss but then he lost her in the crowd and try as he might he couldn’t track her down which was when he turned to drink and ended up passed out on a sofa.
They boarded the train at Roespring Station and made themselves comfortable.
They had barely left the station before Annette was asleep with her head on his shoulder.
A long weekend away with an excess of food, drink and very little sleep had clearly taken its toll.
They had made the decision to go by train because they didn’t think either of them would be up to the drive home and they were right.
While Annette was sleeping against his shoulder he indulged in a spot of people watching.
The carriage was very quiet and sparsely populated and most of the passengers were at the other end.
But there were two girls sat diagonally across the aisle from the Obertelli’s, a tall willowy blonde with outstandingly stellar legs and a small mousy thing.
The blonde was very pretty but was very aware of the fact and she positively preened when she realized Roberto was admiring her legs.
She crossed her legs slowly and deliberately so he could marvel at them further but then he noticed on the newly exposed inner thigh a tattoo of an arrow and beneath it were the words “this way up”.
It was like an ice cold shower to him.
“How very classy” he thought and it was a huge turn off for him, so he turned his attention to the quiet mousy girl sitting in the corner.
She had long straight brown hair and a rather plain, heavily freckled face, but lovely blue eyes, a cute nose and a thin-lipped smile.
She was short, body shape undetermined due to a rather shapeless baggy sweater, so it was difficult for him to tell which way she was facing let alone see her figure.
Her legs were nice though, ensconced in black shabby tights and she had tiny feet which was always a bonus for him.
He had trouble fixing her age though and he thought she could have been anywhere between 20 and 30.
The mouse ticked quite a few boxes for Roberto.
The leggy blonde on seeing his transfer of allegiance huffed quite loudly and flounced off to another part of the carriage.
(Part 03)
Roberto continued to appraise the mouse who seemed quite pleased with herself that she had lured his attention away from “legs” and that the blonde had thrown in the towel, in fact she took on an air of aloofness on recognizing her success in stealing his attentions, so he and the mouse spent the next forty minutes exchanging glances, in between admiring the wonderful scenery, his of curiosity with a hint of lechery, and hers of coquettishness, in fact they continued until they were approaching Purplemere.
Which was when his thoughts turned back to Annette, and he woke her and helped her gather her things together.
As they approached the station he got up and carried the bags to the door, and she followed close behind, the train stopped and Roberto turned to give the mouse one final look but she wasn’t there
The doors opened and he stepped out onto the platform and headed towards the taxis.
As the taxi left the rank Annette said
“You seemed very interested in that girl”
“What girl?” he asked
“The little brunette”
“That’s because I thought I recognized her” he said
“Oh really?” she retorted mockingly
“Yes there was something familiar about her but I couldn’t put my finger on it” he explained
“A likely story” Annette said
“No honestly” he insisted “Maybe she’s a customer”
“Whatever” she said and laughed
Roberto gave up protesting, but it was true he had recognized her, but there was also something about her which was why he couldn’t stop looking at her.
The taxi dropped Annette first in Middle Gracewood and Roberto arrived home in Upper Gracewood about five minutes later and after a long awaited cup of coffee he headed off to the bathroom for a much needed shower.
The shower was wonderful and he felt refreshed and invigorated so he threw on his toweling robe and went back to the kitchen for another coffee.
Steaming coffee in hand he walked through to the lounge, the room was dominated by a large L shaped leather sofa with a large square matching foot stool which was sitting in its default position i.e. in the right angle of the sofa.
The room was quite stuffy so he put his coffee down on the table and walked across and threw open the French doors but he left the curtains drawn as the sun was full on, on that side of the house at that time of day, then he sat on the sofa and almost immediately the long blinks began to set in and within minutes he was lying stretched out on the cool expanse of leather and a few minutes later he was fast asleep.
He had no idea how long he had slept but when he began to stir the room was in darkness and he thought he heard the sound of bare feet padding on the laminate floor and there was the smell of perfume, subtle but distinct, and it was familiar, Lily of the Valley.
(Part 04)
He had no idea how long he had slept but when he began to stir the room was in darkness and he thought he heard the sound of bare feet padding on the laminate floor and there was the smell of perfume, subtle but distinct, and it was familiar, Lily of the Valley.
He lay there for an indeterminate time drifting in and out sleep with his mind full of little dreams of the Georgian doll in the powder blue dress he had danced with on Saturday Night that ended with a kiss.
And the dream was so vivid he could feel the light touch of soft lips on his and he could smell her perfume.
It felt so real and the kiss so seductive, then he dreamt that he felt, no not dreamt, he felt the pressure of her mouth on his and all the ensuing passion that went along with it.
Roberto opened his eyes but in the darkness he had no idea who was kissing him but to be perfectly honest at that precise moment he didn’t really care he just didn’t want them to stop, but when he moved to envelope his blissful assailant in his arms she broke away and was giggling as she went padding across the floor and out into the garden.
From the sofa he could only see a vague figure in the gloom but couldn’t tell who it was whose lips had been kissing him.
“Wait” he said “don’t go”
He jumped up from his recumbent position and headed towards the French doors and tried to find his assailant in the garden.
The problem was it was a very large garden, with trees at the end and an abundance of shrubbery, and it was dark.
He didn’t even know if she was still in the garden and as he was still wearing his bath robe and nothing else, he couldn’t go searching further afield.
Roberto walked up and down the garden for about ten minutes before he got dispirited and headed back towards the house.
He sighed as he reached the French doors and then when he pushed the curtain aside he saw her
“Were you looking for me?” the mouse from the train said
“It’s you” he exclaimed “and you’re the girl from the masked ball”
“Are you disappointed?” she asked coyly
“Not of course not” he said emphatically “but why didn’t you say anything on the train?”
“Because I wanted to know if you liked me as me and not just the fantasy girl in the fancy dress” she explained
“And did I pass?” he asked as he walked towards her
“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t” she replied and then they kissed.
“I don’t even know your name” he said when the kiss ended
“Dora” she said “Dora Green”
“Nice to meet you Dora, I’m Roberto Obertelli”
“Now we’ve been properly introduced can we get back to the kissing?” she asked
“Absolutely” he concurred
“So how did you know where I lived?” he asked as they sat on the sofa
“Because we’re neighbour’s” she replied
“We are?”
“Yes I live in the village” she said
“You do?”
“Yes my dad is the new vicar of St Margaret’s” Dora said
“So we’ll be seeing a lot of each other” he said happily
“I would hope so, I’m a good Christian girl so I don’t behave like this with just anyone” she replied and kissed him again before he could say anything else.
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