It was once the
home The Clerembeax’s, who arrived in Downshire following the Norman conquests
and stayed for a thousand years before the name died out following the death of
the reclusive Marcus Clerembeax at the age of 96.
The current owner was Yvonne Labuschagne, who decided to open it as a Hotel and
Spa.
The Spa was a good
attraction, but it was crucial for them to maintain a high occupancy rate,
however things were tough in the Hotel trade with the success of Travelodge, Premier Inn
and Holiday Inn Express and so places like the Palace needed to offer something
extra to attract the guests, apart from the Spa.
So they put on novelty weekends, such as “Murder Mysteries” and in
addition, they had a sizable Ballroom which was used for special occasions,
high days and holidays, which boosted occupancy and Spa numbers at the same
time, and among the employees were Evelyn
Cooper, Jane Dooney and Ken Cake and from very early on after they met it had seemed to the casual observer that they were to be an eternal
triangle for the whole summer and one of the girls would have landed Ken by
autumn, but the truth of the matter was that Evelyn had no interest in Ken,
which was why it was a relief for Evelyn to do something without the other two,
so they might finally realise they were a couple.
Not that she didn’t enjoy passing some of their spare time together, but when she could she
would get out on her own.
Fortunately, Jane and Ken were late
risers and as Evelyn was always up with the lark she could easily manage to get
out the door on her days off well before they surfaced if she chose to.
Sometimes she would just set off on
foot through the wood or go up to the stable and exercise one of the horses up
at Stevens Farm, while on
other days she would get in the car and explore the countryside.
But she was always looking for other escapes so
when she was invited to her sister Claire’s house one Friday
night at the end of May, for her husband Jack’s birthday, she jumped at the
chance, and when Claire asked her if she wanted to bring someone she
emphatically replied
“Definitely not”
It was a lovely evening and Evelyn
arrived early to help her sister preparing salads and marinades etcetera, but
not only was she early to arrive she was also early to start drinking.
Apart from her sister and brother in
law there were a lot of guests who were known to her and there were also a
couple of ex boyfriends in their number, one of whom, Dean Kerley, she was
particularly pleased to see.
So she gravitated towards him and kept
him in her sights all evening and as time wore on she drank more and more and
eventually as she weaved her way around the tables she stumbled and Dean
reached out a strong arm to catch her, and once she had his arm around her she
was not willing to relinquish it, and as they sat next to each other and held
hands under the table Claire smiled to herself as she
watched them, smugly satisfied that she had baited and sprung the trap to great
effect.
Being eight years older than her sister Claire had
made it her mission at every family occasion and social gathering to be on the lookout for a suitable suitor, and she was
sure that Dean was the one, and she was very pleased with herself when she got
them together, but then inexplicably they broke up.
She had tried several times since to
get the two of them back together and she was not disappointed with her latest
attempt.
The following morning Evelyn woke up in
her sister’s spare room with a very bad hangover and only the vaguest memories
of how she got there, or why, as it was not her intention to spend the night.
She lay beneath the duvet and tried to
piece together the tenuous strands of memory into a coherent chain of events
and failed miserably.
The one recurring image in her head was
of her and Dean holding hands at the BBQ and her not wanting to let go of it.
“Nah” she exclaimed and closed her
eyes, and then thirty seconds later the door burst open and her six-year-old
twin nieces charged in and jumped on the bed giggling excitedly and shouting
“Congratulations aunty Evelyn!”
“Hello, my darlings” she retorted
“Congratulations for what, not being dead?”
“For being engaged” they chorused
“But I’m not engaged” she replied, “Am
I?”
“Yes, yes, yes” they chimed
“To who?”
“To Dean of course” they replied
“Dean proposed to me?” she asked
“Not exactly” Claire said as she
entered the room with a mug of coffee “You proposed to him”
“I did not” Evelyn said “You’re all
winding me up”
“No, it definitely happened” Claire
confirmed
“And I just asked him outright?” Evelyn
asked
“Not exactly” Claire replied “You had
him pinned down on the lawn and sat on his chest until he said yes”
“Oh my God” she said and covered her
face
“And when he said yes you jumped up and
did a lap of honour around the garden, as if you’d just scored the winning goal
at Wembley, and then you misjudged the corner and fell into the Hydrangeas”
“I am so embarrassed” Evelyn said “At
least I won’t have to face him again for a while, if ever”
“I don’t know about that he’s picking
you up in two hours” Claire said as she prepared to exit the room
“Why is he coming here?” she snapped
“Today”
“Because you insisted he take you for
lunch to celebrate your engagement” Claire replied and stepped out through the
door and Evelyn scrambled out of bed to pursue her.
“He won’t come though, will he?” she
asked hesitantly
“Oh yes, he phoned ten minutes ago to
say he had booked a table”
“You mean he took it seriously?” she
asked mockingly
“Very” Claire said and headed down the
stairs
“Do you mean he really wants to marry
me?” she asked incredulously
“Unfathomable isn’t it” Claire said
without turning around and then Evelyn screamed and a fraught 90 minutes
followed while Evelyn turned herself from a hungover red-eyed wreck into a
presentable fiancé and then she was able to relax while she waited for her
date.
Dean wouldn’t have cared one way or
other if she had looked frightful, he loved her and that was all that mattered.
The meal was in Abbottsford at Roberto’s
where they had an intimate lunch which ended with a proper proposal for which
she didn’t have to sit on his chest, this was followed by ring hunting in the
Phoenix Shopping Centre and the wedding date was set for the following year at
St Giles’ Church in Clerembeax, subject to availability.
A week before the event was the
obligatory hen nigh, organised by Claire, which consisted of all the girls from
the Hotel, who could get the night off, her friends from the village, plus Yvonne Labuschagne and Hannah Morgan.
It was held at the Clerembeax Hotel and
Spa and was a weekend centred more on pampering and preening than drinking and
was followed by a lavish meal in the Hotel Restaurant.
It was an occasion that the Bride to be
enjoyed very much but did not feel inclined to sit on someone’s chest until
they agreed to marry her.
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