The James family lives in the village
of Mornington-By-Mere, which is a small
country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient
Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
It is a
quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a
Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old
Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But Mornington-By-Mere
is not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of
the Finchbottom Vale and there were a
number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane
which form the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside where the James’s
lived in a small two bedroom cottage in the row of West Gate Cottages on
the banks of the River Brooke.
Wilson James was 18 years old when he fell in love for
first time and it happened at Christmas at the next door neighbour’s house
while he was home from University.
He hadn’t intended to, he wasn’t even looking for a
girlfriend, he was far too busy and struggled to fit in all the student
socializing as it was.
In fact he didn’t even want to go to the Craven’s house
that night and he had never even given Deirdre a second look.
Mainly because she was just a kid, after all she was also
only 15 when he went away, but also she wasn’t his type, although he had only
met her a couple of time as the family only moved in at Easter.
But he did at least remember that she had a crush on him
but he shrugged that off, because a lot of girls that he met seemed to feel
that way about him.
So under sufferance he went next door with his parents a
week before Christmas and when he went in the house and the pleasantries were
exchanged he realized that the immature 15 year old who had a crush on him had
turned into a dazzling young woman and all at once she had his full attention
and he thought that if he couldn’t find a way to fit Deirdre into his life,
there was something wrong with him.
They only
had eyes for each other from the first moment and over the next week they were
inseparable but on Christmas Eve she and her family were driving to Nettlefield
to spend Christmas with the Grandparents.
So on that
morning shortly before the Craven’s set off the love struck couple exchanged
presents, he gave her a locket with his photograph in it, which she loved and
then she gave him a beautifully wrapped gift box and said,
“This is for
you”
“Wow” he
said and was a bit embarrassed and felt a bit guilty because it looked so much
more than what he’d got for her.
But he
opened the box anyway and found it was empty.
“Is there
supposed to be something inside the package?” he asked and she smiled
“It's not empty” she said “I blew kisses into it until it was full”
“That’s really sweet” he said and kissed her
“I got you a
proper present as well” she said and handed him what appeared to be a CD “That
was just a bit of fun”
He loved the
CD because she had chosen it for him, and even though she said it was only a
bit of fun he kept that gold box by his bed while she was away and whenever he
missed her he would
open the box and take out an imaginary kiss.
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