(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, but our story begins in the East, or more precisely, 20 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between Finchbottom and Pepperstock Green, in the sprawling village of Denmead.
Owen Carrington’s Uncle Glyn died on New Year’s Day and left him his Cottage and a small cash sum, more than enough to keep him going for a few more years.
He left it to him because he felt they were kindred spirits, he wanted to be a writer himself but his father made him get a proper job, Owen really liked him and he was a great story teller, and it was his Uncles colourful tales that helped him when he was writing his novels.
His death came as a great shock as it was sudden though not unsurprising given his life health.
So that was how he found himself living in a lovely Victorian Cottage in the quaint Downshire Village of Denmead.
It was a very tranquil place though not without its distractions.
From his study he could look out through the open French windows and across the expanse of lawn to a stand of ancient woodland, there was no fence to separate garden and wood the two just merged.
And on the other side of the wood was the hub of the village, the Green Oak, everyone seemed to go there at some point, either for a drink, the restaurant or the coffee suite.
Owen’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not universally well received, his publisher liked it, his new agent loved it, the bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disappointed by it because she thought it was a bit girlie.
But it wasn’t just his writing career that was climbing high, so was his love life thanks to his muse and lover, Juliana Molesworth, who had brought his writers block to an end, and since she had become his muse he had become a writer of bodice ripping romances which had proved to be an occupation which suited him very well indeed.
And it suited him in many ways, but the main benefit was that he was able to work at home, so he had no tedious commute every day and his working day was flexible to the point that some days he didn’t write at all.
This afforded him the opportunity of playing a round of Golf during the working week when most people had their noses to the grindstone or even taking a day out to go fishing.
(Part 02)
But all the normally enjoyable pastimes that would ordinarily keep him entertained didn’t distract him for the time Juliana was away at University, but he poured all his love and longing into his second novel instead.
However as much as the time may have dragged, the time of his lonely exile did come to an end.
Juliana she returned from Abbottsford on Friday night with her parents as Owen was in Nettlefield at his publishers.
He spent Friday night in the Prince Royal Hotel hoping to relax and catch his breath, after all the frenetic activity of the day not to mention a long boozy lunch and the associated meetings and he was completely knackered and he was understandably looking forward to a good night’s sleep before Juliana’s return from University.
However there is a well-known saying about “the best laid plans”.
Things began to go wrong at about 2 am when the people in the room next door got drunk and started to trash the place.
Then after the night manager had dealt with the disturbance he just drifted off to sleep when a crack of thunder almost blew him out of bed and then the storm rumbled round for hours after that, making sleep nearly impossible, he would just doze off and then Boom, then things would calm down again and then Boom.
He gave up eventually because after the 9th or 10th time the fire alarm went off so he went downstairs and checked out and set off on the drive to Denmead.
When he got back to the village and went to his bed but he’d not been asleep more than an hour when he was woken from his slumber, not this time by drunks, thunder claps or fire alarms but by the persistent ringing of his mobile phone.
He reached a hand out from beneath the duvet and grabbed the phone
“Hello” he said sleepily and he was snapped awake by the sound of unrestrained tears coming from a distraught Juliana.
Once he had calmed her down sufficiently that she could speak and having determined no one had died he quickly washed and dressed and went out into the rainy morning and trudged the relatively short distance to her house.
She was still in tears when he arrived; though much calmer.
Her parents were both out at Stephenson’s Supermarket where they worked so she had to unload it all on him.
It took him about half an hour of soothing words to get her to the point where she could tell him what was wrong without bursting into tears again.
Ruth was returning to the University at Roehampton at the weekend in time for her final year although her first lecture was still two weeks away.
Juliana had worked her socks off all summer at the Green Oak pub in order to earn enough to enable her not to need to get another job in Abbottsford.
She already had a little job in the University Library, which although it didn’t pay well it fitted in perfectly with her studies, but she didn’t want to have to take another job as well.
She had calculated that with all the shifts she had done, on top of her future earnings from the library added to the meagre savings she had left from the previous year, she had sufficient to meet her needs and leave her enough to treat herself to a new laptop, her old one being on its last legs.
But when she had gone to the pub first thing that morning to pick up her wages she found that she had been under paid by the sum of £300.
(Part 03)
Juliana had worked her socks off all summer at the Green Oak pub in order to earn enough to enable her not to need to get another job in Abbottsford.
She already had a little job in the University Library, which although it didn’t pay well it fitted in perfectly with her studies, but she didn’t want to have to take another job as well.
She had calculated that with all the shifts she had done, on top of her future earnings from the library added to the meagre savings she had left from the previous year, she had sufficient to meet her needs and leave her enough to treat herself to a new laptop, her old one being on its last legs.
But when she had gone to the pub first thing that morning to pick up her wages she found that she had been under paid by the sum of £300.
Furthermore, even though it was the landlord’s mistake, he and his wife were on holiday and the manager was unable to make reparation until they returned.
All of this meant that after all the other out goings she wasn’t going to have enough to fund her new laptop until she was home next.
She really wanted that particular laptop but she said that she would just have to get something cheaper and gave a weak smile.
Owen managed to persuade her not to settle for less than she really wanted and just soldier on with what she had for a couple more months and as every cloud had a silver lining by the time she was ready to buy it would be at an even better price.
Juliana punched him for his sunny optimism but seemed happier with life.
He then offered to go into town with her and keep her company while she did her other shopping.
She gave him a hug and a kiss and said
“No that’s ok, I’m meeting mum for lunch”
When he left her at the door she was altogether happier, he on the other hand was less so.
In the meantime he walked briskly, through the now pouring rain, to the cottage and got in the car and drove into Finchbottom, he knew he could get there and back before Juliana returned to the village.
The reason for his sojourn was to purchase her a new laptop, printer and accessories so she would have them to take with her when she returned to University after the weekend.
Her parents would have done the same thing if they could have afforded it, but they couldn’t, they were nice hard working people and had no great wealth but considered themselves rich beyond measure because of what they did have.
The last thing he wanted to do was to step on their toes and steal their limelight so he planned that they would present it as a joint gift.
They were all going out for a meal that evening at the Leathern Bottle in Finchbottom but they were meeting first at the Molesworth’s so they could present it to her before they left for the restaurant.
He drove back to the village, and when he got indoors he called her dad Greg, he span him a line about getting it at a knock down price through a friend who used his staff discount.
Owen thought he wanted to believe him more than actually believing him but he was pleased his daughter was getting her laptop.
He repeatedly insisted on paying something towards it and Owen repeatedly declined his offer and in the end they compromised.
He would let Owen pay for the gift if he let him and Lavinia take Juliana back to University on Monday morning and they verbally shook on the deal.
He knew Juliana wouldn’t mind as they had already discussed the possibility.
Her parents struggled at times to reconcile themselves with the changing nature of their relationship, Greg in particular was feeling more than a little redundant.
It was undoubtedly the way of the world but it was hard for a father to take in and Juliana and he had no intention of exacerbating the situation.
(Part 04)
That evening he drove through the rain with the gifts in black sacks to keep them dry, and he arrived at the Molesworth household at the allotted time and was met by Greg who was standing by the open garage door.
This allowed them to smuggle Juliana’s gift into the house unseen through the internal door.
Lavinia was in the kitchen and indicated the coast was clear so he stepped in and placed the packages onto the counter.
As soon as his hands were free Lavinia kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you Owen” she said, filling up, although he wasn’t sure what exactly she was thanking him for.
Was it for buying the laptop or letting them take Juliana to Abbottsford or for making their daughter happy.
It could have been any or all of the above.
He patted her on the back and she released her grip and turned away to wipe her eyes and Owen did the manly thing and shook hands with Greg.
A few minutes later Juliana came into the kitchen, looking as lovely as ever, to find the three of them standing in close order on one side of the room.
“Hello darling” she said as she walked over and kissed him
“I didn’t know you were here, I didn’t hear the doorbell”
Then she realised something was amiss
“Why are you all huddled over here?” she said suspiciously and tried to peer behind them.
“Well there is something we want to do before we leave for the restaurant” Gregory said falteringly
“Owen? Would you like to do the honours?”
“No Greg you have the floor, the honour is yours” he replied rather pompously.
“Well we know how disappointed you were this morning and also because we think you deserve it” her dad said proudly
“So we got you this as a going away present”
And with military precision and not unlike the red sea, they parted to reveal the brightly wrapped parcels.
“What’s all this?” she said
“Open them and you’ll find out” Owen said
So she set about the task and as she ripped off the paper her eyes widened with delight and she smiled broadly
“You shouldn’t have,” she said with a frown that lasted a Nano second and then she was smiling again.
Gregory and Lavinia were hugging as they watched their daughter’s joy, no doubt remembering long passed moments from her childhood, then Juliana hugged and kissed her parents and when she turned to Owen he was expecting the same treatment but instead she poked him, hard.
“As for you” she said sternly and poked him again “all that tosh you spouted this morning, “every cloud has a silver lining””
Another poke
“And all the time”
Poke
“You were planning this”
Another poke, and Owen nodded
“Pretty much” he confirmed and then he got his hug and kiss
“I love you,” she said
“Steady” he said you’ll make me blush
“I love you too”
That kind of set the tone for the rest of the evening and they had a lovely time.
Midway through the evening while her mum was in the loo and Greg had gone in search of the wine waiter he took the opportunity to tell her that her mum and dad would be taking her back to University and why he thought it was a good idea.
She leant over and kissed him on the lips
“I really do love you Owen Carrington,” she said
“And I really do love you too” he replied just at that moment her parents returned to the table and the moment was gone and it was such a great evening that he didn’t think of it again.
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