The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, has 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 in the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco, the locals had nicknamed Nob Hill, where the new Curate of St Lucy’s, 35 year old Russell Glavin, had lost his heart.
It was in the Granite Hill
home of a local bigwig, author Alesha Khan, at a dinner party, and he fell for
her almost the instant that she flashed him her glorious
smile, and what a smile it was, a smile that reached her dark, almost black
eyes, sharp and intelligent eyes behind her gold rimmed spectacles as they sat perched
on her aquiline nose.
It was a smile he had seen in his dreams
many times since along with the image of the finely chiselled features of her
face.
That meeting in Granite Hill was not their
first that day, but the second, and the previous meeting also made an impact on
him, though in a different way.
It was at the Church Wardens house when he
went to use the down stairs bathroom and
no sooner had he gone inside and locked the door than he spotted Alesha sitting
on the toilet, with her tights and underwear around her knees and her skirt
hoisted up her thighs, so not the most auspicious of meetings.
Despite that awkward beginning there was a definate something between them
and a few days after the dinner party, she had invited him round so she could
sign a copy of her latest book for his niece Amanda, and at the end of the
evening they found themselves beneath the mistletoe, and in order not to anger
the Christmas Gods, they kissed, but it was not a kiss of appeasement, nor the enactment
of a silly tradition, it was a gentle tender kiss that made his knees go weak.
After that he was completely hooked but he did nothing about it after she
drove him home in the rain, he could do nothing about his attraction toward her
because she said
“I’m off on my travels again, but I should be back on St Lucy’s Day”
He didn’t know where those travel were to or indeed their purpose, he
didn’t know anything, all he knew were her parting words
“Good night, I hope to see you at the party”
Which he subsequently found out was the St Lucy Night Party, held every
year at The Palladium Ballroom.
He was kept very busy while Alesha was away, first their was choir
practice, almost every evening, the second Sunday of Advent and of course St
Lucy’s Day which was a completely knew him.
It all began once the darkness had fully
descended with a celebration service and then after the church service a parade
of school children from Jubilee school processed along the promenade carrying
their Lucy lights and then down to the beach where they threw them onto the
bonfire to light the Lucy fire, as it is believed that St Lucy’s light can
lengthen the days.
It was all very pagan and a Swedish
tradition originally, a mixture of the Christian and the pagan really,
something that was right up Alesha’s street, and he could understand why she
was keen to get back in time, though he hadn’t seen any sign of her.
The St Lucy’s day festival was always well
attended as it’s such a unique event.
Christians from churches far and wide
attended the service and a healthy crowd both church and secular turned out for
the parade, even the odd humanist had been known to turn up, but then most
humanists were odd in his view.
But with such a big crowd it was hardly surprising
that he hadn’t seen her, if indeed she was there.
Once the fire was well ablaze and the singing began the crowds began to
thin out as the curiosity of the secular section soon wained at the first sniff
of anything religeous.
When the proceeding were brought to a close the children were all marched
back to school and the rest of the crowd disperced.
A couple of volunteers stayed on the beach to guard the fire and then Russell
went back to St Lucy’s to change before walking across to Palladium Ballroom.
Once he was inside he soon discovered where the crowds had disperce to and
the party was absolutely humming, and there were
hundreds of people on the dance floor alone.
“This is
hopeless” he said to himself “I’ll never find her in here”
He turned
disconsolately and headed towards the door, but he only managed two paces
before he was halted in his tracks
“There you are”
she said, and he looked up to see the unmistakable smiling face of Alesha Khan,
a little less glamourous than the last time he’d seen her, in a purple cloche
hat, and a thick dark grey wool dress,
which nonetheless showed off her delicious shape rather well, and knee length
leather boots
“Oh hello” he
said
“I’m
glad you’re here, I was
beginning to think you hadn’t made it back in time”
“Oh, I’ve been
here for the whole thing” she said then she grabbed his hand “Come on let’s
dance”
And she dragged
him into the middle of the dance floor
“Did you say
you’ve been here for the whole thing?” he asked when they were face to face.
“Yes”
“I was looking
for you” he said
“I know, I saw
you”
“I don’t
understand” Russell said, “Why didn’t you come and say hello earlier?”
“Because I wouldn’t have been able to
resist doing this” she said and kissed him, and it was an even more potent kiss
than the one they shared beneath the mistletoe a week earlier
“Do you think it would have been
appropriate to do that while you were performing the duties of your curacy?”
“Highly inappropriate I should have said”
he replied
“I’m glad you agree” she said, “so can we
get back to the kissing now?”
“We could find somewhere a little less
crowded” he suggested
“Good shout” she agreed
They made their way off the dance floor
and collected their coats from the cloak room and then left the Palladium and
Alesha slipped her arm through his as they walked along the promenade until they
reached the first Victorian Seafront shelter.
As the wind was blowing offshore, they
moved to the side of the shelter facing the sea and sat down on the bench.
“Now can you remember where we got to?” he
asked
“Oh, I remember” she said and kissed him
in the same gentle
tender way that made his knees go weak when they kissed beneath the mistletoe,
and they would have done the same that time had they not been sitting down.
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