Downshire
is a relatively small English county but that didn’t bother its inhabitants,
they may not have been the biggest, but they were in no doubt that it was the
best, and that belief was no more truer than in the southern town off
Abbottsford which was Downshire’s administrative capital and the seat of the
Downshire government.
It was also
a place of learning thanks to the Downshire University, it could also boast
that it was a Cathedral City, was home to Abbottsford Town football club, the
renowned Winston Churchill Hospital, and Clifford’s biscuits, an old family business
established in 1879 by Robert Sebastian Clifford and currently run by his
Great-Great Grandson Donald.
The company
had moved to their present location in Abbottsford’s in 1928, to the broad
white building which was a prime example of the Art Deco style, with its
angles, curves and symmetry, which was a stylish façade that did not go
unappreciated by Aidan Hennis, one of Clifford’s long-established employee’s,
but it was the curves and symmetry of another staff member that interested him
more.
It was in
1995 when it all began, when Aidan was just 21 years old, when he met Julie
Navarro for the first time.
It was a
cold grey Monday morning, so grey and dismal that it was clear rain wasn’t far
away.
He was
starting at Clifford’s that morning and he had just stepped off the bus when
the girl in front of him dropped her umbrella.
Aiden bent
down and picked it up and when he stood up again, she had turned around and he
was staring into the eyes of an angel whose brunette hair framed the classical
beauty of her face.
“Thank you”
She said and smiled at him and he was instantly besotted.
But as
taken with her as he was, he was completely struck dumb and all he could do was
return her smile and hand her the umbrella and that would probably have been
that, had it not been for the fact that she was heading for the same building
as he was.
Although he
had never met her before it turned out that they were both new starters.
As a result,
they went through induction together, which took up most of their first day,
but even given that amount of exposure, and countless opportunities to speak to
with her, he still found himself tongue tied, so he missed his chance, because
she was bound for accounts on the 3rd floor and he was destined for
the production floor.
Their paths
seldom crossed after that in fact, and when they did, it was always from a
distance, until the summer of that year when Aiden was in Shallowfield for a
family wedding and was staying at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel on the edge of
Teardrop Lake.
On the
morning of the event, he decided to escape the madness surrounding his family
and go for a long walk, so he left the hotel early, it was bright and sunny
when he left, but it had rained heavily in the night and there was more in the
forecast so he took an umbrella with him just in case.
There was a
lane which ran around the periphery of the lake and he headed up the norther
side and he was about thirty minutes into his walk when two things happened,
firstly the skies darkened, and secondly a young woman in a summer dress
stepped into the Lane about ten yards ahead of him, and she really caught his
eye, the wiggle of her hips, the swirl of her skirts and he had just begun to
admire her legs when the heavens opened.
He
immediately deployed the umbrella and as the girl ahead of him was improperly
dressed for the conditions the code of gallantry dictated, he come to her aid
so he jogged towards her.
“Here under
here” he called
“Oh thanks,
that came from nowhere” she said
“And it’s
brutal too” he added and then she looked up for the first time
“Oh hello,
its Aiden isn’t it?”
“Hi Julie, what
are you doing here?” he asked
“Family
wedding, my sister Toni…”
“Is
marrying my cousin Liam” he continued
“That’s
spooky” she said and then there was a lightning flash and thunder rumbled very
close by and she stiffened and squeezed in close to him and buried her face in
his shoulder
“Are you
ok” he asked
“Yes” came
a muffled response “I don’t like thunder”
“But thunder won’t hurt you” he said and chuckled
“Don’t laugh” she said laughing herself “thunder
frightens me”
“Come on
wimpy I’ll walk you home” he said, “Where are you staying anyway?”
“The
Shallowfield Lodge”
“Me too”
The rain
had virtually stopped by the time they reached the hotel but he kept the
umbrella up in order to keep her close but inevitably they reached their
destination.
“Thanks”
Julie said “I would have been soaked to the skin if you hadn’t been on hand”
“My
pleasure” he said as he shook his umbrella dry
“I’ll see
you later at the wedding” she said and smiled before she went inside
The wedding
was a nice affair, and the wedding Gods were kind enough to restrict the rain
to when it didn’t matter but they were not as kind to Aiden who was frustrated
at every turn in his efforts to get close to Julie again, that was until he
managed to get one dance with her.
“How long
are staying at the Lodge?” he asked as they danced along to the strains of Harry
Nilsson’s “Without You”
“We’re here
until Monday”
“Come
sailing with me tomorrow then” he suggested “we can have a picnic out on the
Lake”
“Ok, that
would be nice”
They
virtually had the lake to themselves apart from a small skiff in the distance, they
spent about an hour sailing and then he lowered the sail in the middle of the
lake, and they started their picnic, with Aiden sat in the stern and Julie
midships.
They sat
and chatted, ate sandwiches, drank beer and laughed until the skies began to darken,
and the far away rumbles of thunder wiped the smile off her face.
“Don’t
worry, you’re safe” he said, and the smile returned but then large raindrops
began to fall
“Oh no! Our
picnic” she exclaimed
“Don’t
panic” he said and reached under his seat and retrieved an umbrella
“My hero”
she said and moved to the stern to sit beside him and
They sat
and chatted, ate sandwiches, drank beer and laughed as the rain fell around
them, and then when the picnic was done, they kissed, and she was so totally
absorbed by it that she wasn’t even aware of the thunder rumbling overhead.
A year
later and they were to be married themselves though their nuptials were to be
in Abbottsford, but they did intend to honeymoon on Teardrop Lake.
They bought
a house together in the suburbs of Abbottsford and Aiden moved in a month
before the wedding but because Julie’s mother was a very strict Christian they
weren’t allowed to live there together until after the wedding, and it was a
dictate that they found difficult to ignore as her Aunty had a house in the
same cul-de-sac, and she was a very nosy woman and Julie was not a favourite of
hers, so reluctantly they had to honour it, for the most part at any rate.
It was
early in the morning when Julie arrived at the house, parking her car in a lane
nearby and walking the rest of the way, safe in the knowledge that she would
reach the door unseen, as she had seen her Aunt and Uncle leave in their car,
to go shopping.
Once inside
they embraced and one thing led to another and they spent most of the in bed in
fact they would have been there longer had they not been woken by lightning
strikes and thunderclaps, but they cuddled closer and the lightning strikes got
brighter and brighter and the thunder clapped louder and louder and grew nearer
and nearer until it was directly overhead and the thunder shook the very fabric
of the house, but they were making love again by then.
They would
have happily spent the rest of the day and the night together but alas she had
to go, however the problem was how to get her out of the house in broad
daylight without being seen, because her Aunt and Uncle were home again, and eagle-eyed
Aunt Rosa would be casting a watchful eye in their direction.
By the time
Julie redressed and they got downstairs it was early evening and although the
thunder and lightning had abated it was raining hard, but not just rain, it was
an absolute deluge.
“Crappy
weather” Julie cursed
“It’s
excellent” he said
“What?” she
exclaimed, “But it’s horrible”
“It’s
perfect, is what it is” he said and went into the utility and came out with a
set of waterproofs and a Golfing umbrella.
“If Aunt
Rosa sees you in these, she’ll think you’re me” Aiden said
“Is that
the umbrella we had our first kiss under?” she asked
“It is” he
replied “so don’t lose it because it’s special”
“It’s
special to me too” she said and kissed him
Having
provided Julie with the appropriate clothing they immediately hit upon a snag,
because the trousers didn’t fit over the skirts of her midi dress, as it
bunched up under the waterproofs and made it look like she had a bustle.
“Well, you
don’t look much like me with a bum that big” he said
“Cheeky
sod” she retorted and punched his arm, and he was laughing as he left the room.
When he
came back, he was carrying her decorating clothes, which consisted of a pair of
paint spattered leggings and a T-shirt.
“Oh, good
thinking” she said “You’re a sneaky man”
“I know but
it’s the least I can do in return for an afternoon of sin”
He declared
and she blushed crimson red, and then she removed the waterproof trouser and
then had to take her dress off.
“Don’t get
any ideas,” she said when she noticed him looking at her in her bra, pants and
tights.
“Well, you
could stay a bit longer” he suggested
“It’s not
that I don’t want to” she said quickly pulling on the leggings, “Another four
weeks and then it will be every night”
“I can’t
wait” he said as he watched her put on the T-shirt, then she pulled on the
waterproof trousers again they were a little on the large side and the
waistband sat just below her bust line.
Then she
pulled on the top over her head before slipping on her shoes.
“That’s
going to work” he said
“Is it ok?”
she asked
“Yes” He
replied “Now put your hood up”
She did as
he said, and it immediately obscured most of her face
“Perfect,
you look gorgeous”
“I will
hurt you” she threatened
After he
had kissed her goodbye, he said
“Text me
when you get to the car”
“Ok” she
responded and kissed him again, then he turned the light off and she let
herself out into the rain, put the umbrella up, and off she went.
Meanwhile,
with the house in darkness, he went into the backroom and put the TV on, then
after five minutes he got a text
“Made it,”
it read “Love you”
Aiden
smiled and typed a response
“I love you
too”
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