(Part 01)
The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea suited her very well with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park and it was Emma Goldup’s hometown.
She was 23 years of age and was a pretty girl, with fine blonde hair and was only a tiny little thing, four foot eleven if she had her hair up.
Emma was the only child of a local couple with several businesses in the town and a huge house in the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco the locals nicknamed Nob Hill.
But when she finished her expensive education she had no interest in working for any of the family businesses and got a job working in a small riding school at Brooke Side Farm on the outskirts of town, between Sharpington and the Dulcets.
The Dulcets were a collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke to name but a few and Brooke Side Farm was quaintly situated on the Sharpington side of the River Brooke.
Her parents were outraged when she chose to be a stable girl, her father offered to buy the riding school and let her run it but she forbade him from doing any such thing and threatened never to speak to either of them again if he did.
She just wanted to work with horses and when she wasn’t working she could be seen sat astride a great Honey coloured colt called Paris.
But the most remarkable thing about Emma was that in spite of her parent’s wealth and snobbery she had no airs and graces whatsoever.
One day she was riding Paris along the bridle path when she saw a familiar face
“Morning Mr Goodman”
“Morning Emma” he replied
She always called him Mr. Goodman even though it was 7 years since he retired from teaching.
He retired from teaching the same time she left school when she was 16.
She had no idea where he was headed but she knew one thing for sure and that was that he was doing something good for someone.
She had never met a more appropriately named human being because he really was a good man.
Emma liked him very much but he was her second best favourite man because she liked someone else better, Harrison McQuiston.
She had met him the first time back in May and it had been such a beautiful morning that she rode considerably further and longer than originally intended so on the way back to the Brooke Side Farm Emma decided to walk the horse part of the way to give Paris a little breather.
So she was walking Paris alongside the River Brooke and both she and the horse were spattered in mud.
Emma was chatting away to Paris when there was a bit of a commotion ahead of them and a man suddenly appeared from the bushes causing Emma’s horse to rear up.
“Whoa! Steady boy” she said as she tried to calm him down.
“Alright” Emma said softy patting the horse’s neck “Good boy”
Once she had complete control she led him by the bridle.
“I’m so sorry” the man said
“We didn’t mean to startle you”
“We?” Emma queried
“Yes” he said “I’m not alone”
“Excellent” she thought “I’ve stumbled upon the local nutter”
At which point a King Charles spaniel emerged from the bushes and she laughed.
“Meet Charlie” he said
“Well hello Charlie” Emma said
“We really are sorry for startling you” Harrison said
“That’s ok, no harm done” she said
(Part 02)
Once she realized he wasn’t a nutter she saw him in a much different light, he was a tall skinny man, a few years older than her, with short brown hair and glasses with a lopsided grin on his face.
“I’m Harry by the way”
“Emma”
“Are you going far?” he asked
“No, he’s stabled at Brooke Side Farm” she replied
“Do you mind if we walk with you? We live at Waterside Cottages”
“Not at all” she replied “As long as you don’t mind being seen with me looking like this”
“I don’t mind if you don’t, I’m the River Warden so I’m almost always a mess” he said “Not that I think that you look a mess”
Harrison got very flustered and went a delightful shade of scarlet.
“It’s ok Harry, I am a mess” she said and laughed “I always look like this when we hack through the woods, I’m not very glamorous am I?”
“Oh I don’t know” Harry said “you still look lovely even under the mud”
“What makes you think I’m lovely under the muck?” she asked suspiciously wondering if he might still be a nutter, or a stalker.
“Well I’ve seen you a few times before” he explained “going past the cottage, minus the mud”
“Oh I see” she said “That makes sense”
Harrison McQuiston worked as a River Warden for the Downshire County Waterways and his stretch of river reached from Dulcet-on-Brooke to Sharpington and his cottage was situated equidistant between the two.
They started to walk and exchanged small talk as they went Emma told him about her work at the riding School and her love of horses and how her career choice disappointed her parents.
And he told her about his love of the River and all the diverse life that depended on in.
It was his dream job and his cottage was within yards of the River he loved so much.
They also discovered that neither of them had a significant other in their lives but as they were only about half a mile from his cottage it didn’t take long for them to reach it and when they did he said
“Sorry again for scaring you and Paris”
“It’s not a problem really” Emma insisted “we will be more alert in future, and be on the lookout for brown haired ninjas with spaniels”
“Goodbye then” he said as he opened his front gate.
“Maybe our paths will cross again” she said
“I do hope so” Harry said
It was late afternoon when Emma got back to Brooke Side Farm and she was spattered from head to toe in mud but she was also grinning from ear to ear.
Over the month following that first meeting and the resulting walk, they had had many other such meetings, at first by chance but subsequently by design.
But they all they did was walk together and talk as they walked along a mile long stretch of the riverbank path.
Emma for one would have liked them to have broadened their horizons after a month of converse but she didn’t want to force the pace so she remained patient.
(Part 03)
When Emma left Brooke Side Farm on the morning in June that she eventually rode past David Goodman she was full of nervous anticipation about seeing Harry, much more than she had previously and she didn’t quite know why.
The feeling intensified as she approached the spot where he and Charlie normally waited but there was no sign of either dog or master.
Her feelings of nervous anticipation were instantly replaced by one of disappointment.
Although she was only a tiny little thing, four foot eleven on a good day, when she was sat upon her great Honey coloured colt, Paris, she was a giant and the additional height gave her the chance to see beyond the fences and the hedgerows but still she couldn’t see him.
Emma pressed on and hoped Harry would be at his cottage.
Alas when she reached the Waterside Cottages there was again no sign of man nor dog and his cottage was in total darkness.
She and Paris slowly walked on following the stretch of river bank they normally shared, looking over the bushes on her side and then scanning the opposite river bank.
Emma waited for five minute at the point where she left the river and followed the bridle path into Sharpington, but he was a no show so she set off at the canter.
It was at the other end of that bridle path where she saw the familiar face of her old teacher.
“Morning Mr Goodman”
“Morning Emma” he replied
She would have stopped to chat but she was close to tears so she put on a brave face and rode on.
She continued on her normal route and when she heard the clock at St Lucy’s church chime she realised she was going to be late back so galloped back the way she had come and let out her frustration as she did so and pushed Paris a bit too hard.
When she felt him labouring she pulled up sharp and jumped down and checked him over.
“I’m so sorry boy, I’m so sorry” she said and when she had finished and all was well she patted his neck and burst into tears.
The reason that Harrison McQuiston was not waiting for her that morning was not, as Emma was thinking as she sobbed against the horse’s neck, that he was not interested in her, on the contrary he was very interested.
What had stopped him from meeting her and taken him from his cottage just after dawn was a crisis on the river.
About two miles downstream of Brooke Side Farm half a dozen cows had taken advantage of a broken fence and wandered down to the water’s edge and couldn’t get back up to the field.
As River Warden his presence was required along with a vet, the police, the fire service, the farmer and several labourers.
It had taken hours of their combined efforts to rescue the beasts and he was exhausted when he had finished.
The police offered to drop him off at home but he fancied a walk, so he declined the offer and set off to walk back to his Cottage.
He hadn’t been entirely honest with the police because what he really wanted to do was intercept Emma on the return leg of her journey so he took a short cut through Kings River Woods.
The woods were dense and thick and it was so peaceful and quiet as he hurried on his quest.
It felt strange to him not to have Charlie walking along with him through the woods but to take him to that mornings emergency would not have been sensible so he had to leave him at home.
(Part 04)
As the trees began to thin out he knew he was close to the bridle path and when he was a few yards away he became aware of movement through the thinning woodland and as he got to the edge of the wood he saw that the movement was Emma and her colt Paris thundering along the bridle path.
He tried calling after her but she didn’t hear.
At the speed she was galloping he had no chance of catching her so he reduced his speed and walked slowly towards home.
After about half an hour he could see something ahead of him to the side of the path, so he picked up the pace again.
As he got closer he could see there was definitely someone at the side of the path and he could by the find strands of blond hair below her riding hat that it was Emma and Paris.
The colt was tied to a fence rail and she appeared to be grooming the beast.
He moved a little closer and was about to say hello when he realised she wasn’t grooming the horse at all.
She was actually sobbing against the horse’s neck which caused
Harry to hesitate.
He was not well versed in comforting crying women and were it not for the fact that he had feelings for Emma he would probably, to his shame, have tiptoed away unnoticed.
So skulking away was not an option so he considered his next move as he looked at Emma stood beside the tethered beast, still wearing her riding hat and he was standing on her blind side.
He walked slowly across the bridle path closing the distance between them and as he got closer he could hear the sobs accompanying her trembling shoulders.
Harry was a couple of paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence.
“Oh Harry” she said and threw herself into his waiting arms and buried her face in his chest.
Because of the height difference she only just reached his chest so he kissed the top of her head and said
“What’s the matter Emma?”
At first she just stood stock still against him but when she tried to tell him what was wrong in was completely incomprehensible.
“Ok don’t talk honey just cry it out” he said and ran his hands up and down her back.
After about ten minutes when her breathing slowed and her sobs had subsided he asked again
“What’s the matter?”
“You weren’t there” she said “You weren’t anywhere”
Then she started crying again so he held her close to him again and explained what had taken him away at such short notice and kept him away all morning.
“So it wasn’t me?” she asked quietly
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t because you didn’t want to see me” she explained
“Of course not, I want to see you all the time” Harry said
“All the time?” she asked in disbelief
“Yes all the time” he confirmed
Emma pushed herself away from his chest and looked up at him and a smile spread across her tearstained face and then she leapt up and wrapped her arms around his neck and said
“Me too”
She was hugging his neck tightly and didn’t ever want to let go but the next thing she knew he was sitting her on top of the fence.
“No don’t let me go” she begged
“But I have to” Harry said
“But why?”
“So that I can do this” he said and kissed her trembling lips which met with no further protestations.
Afterwards they walked along with Emma holding the reins in one hand and Harry’s great paw of a hand in the other, he with tears stains on his shirt and she with mud spattered up her jodhpurs and both of them smiling inanely and from that day onward she never knew disappointment again.
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