(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 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, but his muse was in her third year at the University of Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford.
On the last weekend of the half term break when she was at home he met up with Juliana and her parents outside the Church of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal.
After the service, they thanked the Vicar “for a marvelous sermon” and said their goodbyes before they walked the short distance to the Green Oak and had a marvelous Sunday lunch, which was so good that a constitutional was necessary to walk it off.
It was a pleasant enough afternoon for it, very sunny but with a chill wind, so they opted for the west forest which would give them the benefit of the sun but shield them from the worst of wind.
They walked the woodland for over an hour and when they reached a cross roads, the route to the Molesworth’s house lay straight ahead and the path to Owen’s house was to the left so they said their goodbyes and Juliana and he made their way back to Owens cottage where they would make love.
(Part 02)
During the periods in the afterglow when feelings and emotions were expressed, souls were bared and hearts unburdened, and Owen pledged his love to her again, and then they did some serious talking and one of the things they discussed was her work load at University.
As a result she said she wouldn’t be home again until Christmas as she needed to keep focused, and he promised to support her anyway he could.
Owen suggested she should stop the part time job at the Green Oak and as he had such a great payday from the “Maiden Muse”, he said he would pay her rent for as long as she wanted.
She didn’t want to say yes but it would take so much pressure off her so she reluctantly agreed.
They also agreed on no more Skype video calls, because she said if she saw him she would miss him even more, and it would be hard enough as it was and this time he was the one that was reluctant to agree, but he did, and likewise with phone calls.
So it would just be emails once a week, and texts for emergencies, and he said he would drop everything if she needed him.
They felt at the end of it that they had archived something and they both felt a weight had been lifted of their shoulders.
Juliana wanted to spend the night with him, as it would be the last one for a while, but she still had to pack and such and she also needed to have the same conversation with her parents.
So he took her home and the next morning he drove her back to Abbottsford.
There were tears at the Molesworth’s house and he thought there would be many more later.
But eventually they set off and luckily the traffic was really light which meant they had time to unload the car and carry the bags up to her room before he dropped her off in time for her first lecture.
As predicted there were more tears, after all they wouldn’t be seeing each other for two months and when she was composed enough to get out the car she walked straight into the building without looking back.
It was two weeks later when Owen had set about catching up with emails and such like, sorting through the mail and settling some bills.
When he opened his bank statement he was surprised to see just how well he was doing and the bank balance made very good reading.
The next afternoon he was on his way to the Post Office when he spotted Gregory Molesworth coming the other way.
“Hi Greg” he called
“Hello Owen” he said a little distracted
“Is everything ok?” he asked but Owen could tell he was not, so he added
“Have you got time for a coffee?”
They sat at a table with their steaming mugs of coffee and he said
“I’m worried about Juliana”
“Jules?” he said surprised “Why?”
“She’s cut herself off from us” he said with real concern
“Is it drugs?” Greg asked and then he put his mug to his lip but without drinking he continued
“Do you think its drugs?”
Still he didn’t drink
“I think its drugs”
He took a sip this time and pulled a face before lowering the cup and pushing it away from him.
“Of course she’s not on drugs” Owen assured him “she’s too sensible for that”
Owen looked at him earnestly
“You and Lavinia have raised her well” he said but he didn’t look reassured
“She just needs to focus for the next few weeks and then she’s over the summit”
“We miss her” Greg said “I miss her, and I caught Lavinia crying again this morning”
“I miss her too” Owen said truthfully
(Part 03)
Owen thought Greg was in a slightly better frame of mind when he left him and so was he as he finished in the Post Office but as he was leaving his phone bleated at him informing him that he had a text so he fished it out of his pocket and he saw it was from Juliana.
He selected the text icon and read the message immediately and it said
“SOS I miss you”
After a few moments he replied
“I’m on my way”
When he reached Abbottsford he parked up outside Juliana’s digs and ran up to the front door and rang the bell.
The door was opened by one of the housemates, Jasmine, and he said
“Hi Jas”
“Hello Owen” she replied “Go straight up, she’s in her room”
So he went up the stairs and straight to Juliana’s door and knocked twice.
“Come in” she called and he went in and she was wearing the lovely green summer dress she had worn on that hot summer day when they first got together.
“Hello gorgeous” he said and smiled
“Oh Owen” she said and threw herself into his arms.
“I’m so sorry Owen” she said and started to cry “but I missed you”
“Don’t cry hon” he said, but it didn’t help, she was sobbing hard on his shoulder and he could feel her tears soaking his shirt as he made encouraging noises until she eventually calmed down enough so she could explain what was wrong.
“The work is going really well” she said and forced a smile
“And I’m really confident that I’m ahead of the curve”
But then she started to cry again
“I’m sorry Owen, but I just miss everyone so much, I miss talking to mum”
“Then why didn’t you call her?” he said
“Because it was my idea” she replied “and everyone is sticking to it without a problem”
“Everyone else is missing you like crazy” he said and he told her about meeting her dad only that day and about him catching her mum crying and she burst into tears again.
Juliana had been in turmoil, she had wanted to call but was afraid of breaking their agreement, afraid of being a quitter when it was her idea, she wanted to be strong and independent.
When he had calmed her down he persuaded her to phone her mum and dad, persevering with the isolation was just making her unhappy.
If keeping focused on her studies was paramount she could still stay in Abbottsford until Christmas but she needed to phone Greg and Lavinia regularly.
She dialled the number and waited
“Hi mum it’s Jules” and then the tears flowed unrestrained
After the phone call Juliana looked across at him with a smile on her tear stained face.
“I love you” she said and walked over to him and kissed him
“I love you too” Owen responded and kissed her back.
“So why are you wearing the summer dress in November?” he asked “why do you even have it with you?”
She hugged him tightly and hid her face from him.
“I have it with me because it reminds me of that day” she said into his chest “and I wear it when I’m lonely”
They stood there holding each other for about five minutes after which he made love to her like it was the first time and then they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
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