Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Snippets of Downshire Life – Groundhog Day

 

Emily Goff was a very successful chef, and she was well respected by fellow professionals and was highly regarded by everyone who knew her, but her success didn’t extend to her personal life, she may have had the Midas touch in the kitchen, but she was more like Medusa in the romance department.

She was living in Shallowfield with her family when her career took off, which began in a very small way when she was still at college.

It all started when a kindred spirit, another local Shallowfield Chef, Jane Cooper, employed her as sous chef in her home dining enterprise.

Jane felt an affinity with Emily because she was doing the same college course at the same college as Jane, unfortunately at the same time her love life was a total disaster.

Her bad luck in love continued even after she got a restaurant job under Jane at her own restaurant when she fell heavily for a gorgeous waiter, who turned out to be gay.

And that was her problem, she kept falling in love with the wrong guys.    

After three years at the Phoenix in Shallowfield, Jane Cooper was asked by the Lord of the Manor Gabriel St George to cook for a select group at the Mornington Manor, which became the first of many and after two years of that Emily became Chef in residence after Jane fell pregnant.

The only downside being that she had her heart broken in Shallowfield and Mornington.

After having her heart broken once too often Emily finally swore herself off men, which she managed to keep to for more than five years before cupid struck again.

She was still living and working in Downshire, but she wasn’t looking for love she was just doing what she did best, cooking.

It’s 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 cupid struck its mark 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.

Emily was head Chef and part owner of the Angels Tears in the village which she had spent two years building up when she fell for the new curate at the Church of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal,
Humphrey Martin.

It took her completely by surprise in several ways, firstly she wasn’t looking for anyone, and she had her feelings locked squarely away, but most of all he wasn’t her type in any shape or form.

He was older than her for a start, quietly spoken, awkward, nervy and a bit Gorky looking to boot, as well as being a clergyman.

 

Humphrey for his part found himself attracted to her as well, despite the fact she was loud, feisty and outspoken, and very much not the type of woman he was looking for, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and his heart wanted her.

 

As it turned out they weren’t the only ones to think Emily and Humphrey were mismatched, but despite the misgivings of all concerned they soon found themselves going out together and then confounded the sceptics by becoming an inseparable couple.

And all was going well but at the back of Emily’s mind was the fear that it would all go wrong, was bound to go wrong, because her relationships always went wrong.

All her adult life she had failed in the art of love, every time she would fall for someone in a breathless passion, she would suffer the hoppy skippy heart when she looked at him, and feel that desperate longing when they were apart, and she would give herself completely, only for it all to fall apart.

Year after year, several times a year, she found herself falling again, helpless to resist, in fact it was like reliving Groundhog Day when she was forced to make the same mistakes over and over again.

However, she managed to break the cycle, after having her heart broken once too often and managed to keep love at bay for more than five years before she fell for Humphrey.

 

Emily had her reservations about dipping her toe in the water but after they had been going out together for the best part of a year she began to lower her guard, and that was when she started to hear the rumours which left her cold.    

There were some in the village who delighted in the fact that they could bring bad news to her door but there were many others who only had her welfare at heart and sought to comfort her.

But no matter how many positives she heard from friends and villagers she only remembered the negatives.

That was because the rumour that she kept hearing was that Humphrey was not going to be the Curate of St Jane’s for very much longer and what gave credence to the rumour in Emily’s mind was the fact that Humphrey had been quieter than normal and was clearly distracted, so she feared the worst.

 

Everything came to a head on the 2nd of February when she was in the kitchen at the Angels Tears restaurant prepping for lunch with her sous Chef Charlotte St David and Humphrey knocked on the door.

This just in itself threw Emily into a blind panic and seeing her reaction Charlotte made herself scarce.

The reason Emily was so fearful was first that he never visited her before lunch because he knew how busy she was and secondly, and more crucially, it was Candlemas Day which was a very significant event in the church calendar, it was the festival of the purification of the Virgin Mary, which marked the last day of Christmas.

Falling midway between the winter and spring equinox it was a time for looking ahead at the bounty ahead.

Emily’s sense of foreboding was like the day signified the end of one chapter and beginning of another, with particular emphasis on “the end”.

The irony of the timing was not lost on her, because Candlemas Day was of course also Groundhog Day, and the phrase “Groundhog Day” has often been used to express the same events or actions occurring repetitively, and in her case that event was having her heart broken.

 

She took a deep breath summoned up a smile and opened the door

“Hello hon” she said “this is a nice surprise”

He walked past her without speaking and he was wearing a grave expression, which quickly removed the smile from her own face.  

 

He sat down at the table and she joined him

“Emily! I need to say something” he said abruptly

“Oh God you’re leaving Denmead” she snapped

“And you’re breaking up with me”

“No” he said impatiently

“What part?” she asked

“What?”

“What part is no?” Emily asked “the leaving or the dumping”

“Neither” he replied “I mean both”

“Then I don’t understand what’s happening, you come here wearing the face of doom saying you need to say something, there are rumours flying around the village about changes at the church and you have been very distracted lately and I don’t know what’s going on, so if you’re not leaving the village and you’re not dumping me, what then?”

“Emily Goff, will you please stop talking long enough for me to ask you to marry me” Humphrey said

“What?” she exclaimed

“Will you marry me?” he asked,

“So, you’re staying?” she quizzed “at St Janes”

“yes” he confirmed “I’m to be the new Vicar”

“So, it’s the Vicar who is leaving?” she mused

“Yes, to pastures new” he said

“Wow that’s a relief” Emily exclaimed and sighed

“So?” he said

“So, what?”

“The marriage thing” he pointed out and only got a blank look and silence until she screamed and threw her arms around his neck.

“Yes, Yes, and Yes” she said punctuating each affirmative with a kiss

“Of course, I’ll marry you”

So he fished in his pocket and tucked in the corner he found the ring he’d been carrying in there for the previous two weeks, it was only a cheap little ring, one that she had admired on a street vendor’s stall on a visit to Abbottsford market, it was only an inexpensive piece of yellow metal but he gave it to her and said

“This is only a symbol, we will need to buy you a real engagement ring together”

“I’ll keep it forever” she said and kissed him

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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