The southern town off Abbottsford was the biggest in Downshire and was
the 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 and benefitted from the renowned Winston Churchill Hospital.
Jason Drake was born
and bred in Abbottsford, he was also a graduate of the University and sang in
the Cathedral Choir, but he worked in London as a civil servant in the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office.
But towards the end of
April he found himself employed in his home town.
He was waiting in
reception at the Regents Hotel to meet a delegation from Tunisia, who were in
Downshire as part of “Girls Football Week”, as a team from Tunis were playing a
series of friendlies, against Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and Northchapel.
Jason was there as a
cultural liaison, accompanied by a graduate, Owen Teale, who was very keen and
enthusiastic about the whole thing, but Jason saw it more as babysitting a
bunch of girls, and a junior, he only got lumbered with them because he was
once on secondment in Tunisia, a few years earlier, but that was serious
Consular affairs, not nursemaiding a bunch of silly schoolgirl footballers.
Not that he had
anything against women’s sport, it was that he didn’t like football, he was a
cricket man, and he didn’t think it would help his career.
But he soon changed
his tune when three members of the delegation approached him, and he recognised
one of them instantly, Félicité Furneaux, a petite well-tanned girl with hair the
colour of ripened corn who he had known when he was in Tunis, and she beamed a
smile of recognition, he didn’t know the other two, but they introduced
themselves as, Afchine Montpelier and Henri Tabritzian,
The former then
introduced him to Félicité, and when they
shook hands all the memories flooded into his head.
When he was in Tunis
Jason was staying in a very luxurious hotel, which was clearly a remnant of the
French colonial days, but he planned to see some of the city as soon as he got
the chance.
Which he did thanks to Félicité, who worked as a translator at the
Consulate, and after that he found plenty
to occupy his mind both in the city and the colonial splendour of the Hotel,
because they promptly fell in love.
Firstly, she just
acted as his tour guide, showing him everything of interest, like St. Louis
Cathedral, the Porte de France and the Souks Market, but very soon they were
back at the Hotel and she gave him her heart and he gave his.
As the weeks went by
they were so engrossed in each other that they didn’t notice the weeks had turn
into months and all of a sudden, his secondment had come to an end and he was
booked on a flight back to the UK.
On their last night
together, they dined alone in his room and when they had finished picking at
their food, they stood on the balcony and listened to the sounds of the city
and he said
“Come with me”
“I can’t” she retorted
“I mean as my wife,
marry me” he said as he held her hand
“What?”
“Please be my wife” he
begged
“Oh yes” she said and
leapt into his arms.
They had a joyful
night and sat up until the small hours making plans.
The next day however,
they were brought down to earth with a bang, because her father refused his
consent and forbade her even to see him, and he was immovable despite her
entreaties.
She knew from bitter
experience that she would not persuade him, once his mind was made up there was
no changing it, however she defied him in one respect, she did see Jason again
and they had a tearful farewell at the airport, made all the worse because she
refused his suggestion that they correspond and phone.
“It will just make it
harder” she said “if I can’t have you, all of you, body and soul, then I will
have nothing, I won’t settle for second best”
And that was that,
they had a final kiss goodbye at the departure gate and then he turned and
walked through the gate and when he looked back she had gone, and the next time
he saw her was in reception of the Regents Hotel.
When he returned home
to Downshire he was left alone with his own thoughts for the remainder of the
week, until he took up his new post, and he found them uncomfortable
companions.
But as a result of
them he concluded that she was the one that got away and no one else would ever
measure up to her so he wouldn’t bother looking, and as her surname was still
Furneaux, he hoped she may have made a similar pact with herself.
Luckily because Owen
was keen as mustard he enthusiastically took the initiative with the delegation
and Jason would have been happy to let him, had he actually noticed, which he
hadn’t because he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Félicité, and she also had eyes only for him.
But despite their
obvious delight at reconnecting they never got a moment to themselves to ask
the questions they wanted answered and to find out if the other was still free
or if another had occupied their heart in the time they had been apart.
Owen was very helpful
due to his over enthusiastic approach and his eagerness to please, added to his
indiscretion, he unknowingly gathered and disseminated titbits about members of
the delegation to him, including Félicité’s
marital status.
What Jason wasn’t aware
of was that even though her marital status had not changed her personal
circumstances had.
Her father had died the
year before and she no longer had any family ties to Tunisia or any obligation
to honour her father’s wishes.
Félicité found out what
she needed to know about Jason by simply asking Owen, he was so willing to
please that he told her chapter and verse.
However, knowing that
each other were free still didn’t help to facilitate an opportunity for them to
talk freely, and in private, about the things that were of burning importance
to them both.
So Félicité engineered an
opportunity on the night the Tunis Girls were playing Abbottsford Town Ladies at the Abbottsfield ground.
Afchine Montpelier,
was in the visitor’s dressing room giving his team talk, while Jason waited in
the corridor with Owen, Félicité and Henri Tabritzian.
Henri spoke no
English, and Jason and Owen spoke no Arabic, and only a smattering of French so
as he was a very chatty man Félicité was fully
occupied translating.
Henri was still talking
when the dressing room door opened and Afchine stepped out.
“Henri says that Owen can
lead the way and he and Afchine will follow ahead of the girls, and he asks
that we check the dressing room to make sure no one gets left behind”
“Very well” Jason
responded “Off you go Owen”
They stood and watched
the noisy procession walk away and when they were happy that no more were
coming out they went in to search, but almost as soon as they were inside she
pushed him up against the tiled wall.
“Shouldn’t you be with
the team to translate?” he protested meekly
“Football is a
universal language” she replied “they will manage”
“I suppose so” he
agreed
“And so is this” she
said and kissed him
“I like that universal
language very much” he said, and they conversed some more.
After that ice
breaking conversation in the dressing room they managed to find ways to spend
their free time together, but inevitably the more they were together the
quicker the time passed by and all of a sudden, the series of matches had come
to an end and she and the team were booked on a flight back to Tunisia.
So once again they
were to spend a last night together after they had dined with the rest of the
group.
Alone in his room they
lay in his bed after making love and he said
“You could stay”
“I can’t” she retorted
“We can finally be man
and wife” he said
“I can’t stay” she
repeated
“But why?” he asked “I
thought we were in love”
“We are” she agreed
“So why can’t you
stay?”
“Because…” she began,
and his heart sank
“…I have to pack my
things, sell the apartment, and work my notice”
“What?”
“Yes, I will be your
wife, yes I will marry you” she said and began to laugh
“Truly?”
“Oh yes” she said and
hugged him tightly.
They had a joyful
night and lay in his bed until the small hours making plans.
The next day however,
they were brought down to earth, because at the airport he had to watch her
leave, and that hurt, but unlike the time he left her in Tunis he knew it was
only a temporary parting, and she would return to him soon.
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