The
village of Highfinch sits just on the edge of the Pepperstock Hills and the
Lily Green Hollows Golf Club separated the village from the Hamlet of Lily
Green, and the combination of the two made up the parish of St Martins.
The
Vicar of the said parish was Reverend Jenna Lawton, soon to be Faulkner.
Although
she was relatively new to the role of Vicar she had previously been Reverend
Mortimer’s Curate, a position she held for ten years.
However
when the previous Vicar suffered a serious heart attack it was so severe he was
unable to resume his duties.
Almost
her first act as Vicar of St Martins was to appoint Tom Rowlands as her Verger.
He
was replacing 70 year old Carl Daniel who had held the position under Reverend
Mortimer for 30 years and when his old friend was struck down he took it as a
sign that he should retire his services.
Tom had lived
in Lily Green all of his life and still lived in the same cottage where he was
born.
Lily Green
was an idyllic hamlet and the cottage had proper chocolate box quaintness.
In fact it
was perfect in almost every way save one, he didn’t have someone special to
share it with.
His parents
were gone and he had no siblings, his mother had him late in life.
He was an
unremarkable looking man, anonymous looking really.
In fact everything
about him was average, average height, average build, grey eyes and mousy hair.
He was 33
years old and he’d been alone for 5 years but the church offered him something
he had never had, a large family.
He responded
to the love he found at St Martin’s and became a hard worker on their behalf in
every aspect of Church life.
Choir,
parish magazine, youth groups, Sunday school, Fund Raising, sales, Fetes, and
Bazaars.
And it was
through the church that he met Patience Rudd.
His reward
for all his hard work was a phone call a few days after Jenna Lawton was
confirmed as the new Vicar.
“Tom?” a
woman’s voice said
“Yes that’s
me” he replied
“It’s Jenna”
she said “Jenna Lawton”
“Hello
Vicar” he said.
“What can I
do for you?”
“I know its
short notice but...” she hesitated
“Would you
mind taking Carl Daniel's place on the church committee?”
“What me?”
“Yes you” She
confirmed “we are fast approaching the festive season and well…”
“Of course,
when do you need me?”
“Ten
minutes?” she asked hopefully
“Ok” he
said “I’ll leave now”
After his
first meeting sitting on the church committee he was asked to stay on
afterwards by the Vicar and he was a little nervous when she closed the door.
“Thank you
for stepping into the breech” Jenna said
“That’s ok
Vicar”
“I have
something else to ask of you” she said
“Ask away”
“I would
like you to apply for the Vergers job” Jenna said
“Oh no” he
replied “I couldn’t do that”
“But you
would be perfect” she said “nobody works harder than you do for St Martins”
“But that’s
just on a voluntary basis” he said “I’m not qualified to be Verger”
“You are
perfectly qualified” Jenna said “Please think about it”
Tom took the Vicars advice and applied to fill
the vacancy as Verger and his first official task saw him carrying the Virge at
the Sunday service on the first Sunday of Advent and he had never felt prouder
but when he went home he had no one to share it with.
He did have someone in mind who he would have liked
to share his big moment with and that was Patience Rudd.
He had known her for 5 years ever since he started
attending St Martins, she was a few years younger than him and was also
unremarkable looking, and ticked all the average boxes but to him she was far
from ordinary.
Unlike him she had always been part of the Church
since she was a little girl.
She was one of the first people he met when he made
his first tentative steps into St Martin’s and Tom fell in love with the shy
timid Patience instantly and the attraction was mutual.
But neither of them did anything about it, they
were far too shy.
Despite the fact that they did so much together for
the Church they never took the tiny final step to be together.
So as the weeks turned into months and the months
to years the gulf seemed to grow exponentially and the tiny step seemed more
like it was a giant leap.
They always radiated towards each other on
committees, pastorates and church groups and always volunteered for the same
things.
And they talked freely with no awkwardness of
self-consciousness as long as they didn’t think about the other in the way they
wanted them to be.
Even after he became the Verger things didn’t
change between them.
Although he came very close at the St Martin’s
Christmas Bazaar.
Both Tom and Patience arrived early at St Martin’s
School and it was already a hive of activity.
“Goodness” he said “And I was worried I was too
early”
“Yes me too” she agreed
“Shall we get stuck in then” he suggested
“Yes lets”
They worked together all morning and he would have
liked to have helped her on the Bric-à-brac stall but he had already volunteered to
help out in Santa’s Grotto.
“I’ve
got to go” he said
“Oh
ok” she said flatly
“But
I’ll come and help you pack up at the end if you like”
“Yes
please”
To
get to the grotto he had to enter via an adjoining classroom, festively decked
out, which acted as an ante room where a small number of children and their
accompanying parents waited their turn, and where the school’s drama teacher,
Cherry Overton-Brown, who for some reason was dressed as Robin Hood, kept
order.
And
beyond the anteroom in the corridor there was a sizable queue of expectant
children.
The
grotto opened to the first child at 1 pm and there was a pretty constant stream
almost non-stop until 4 o’clock.
The
new Curate, Rosie, dressed as and Bernard the Elf, escorted the excited or
apprehensive child in from the ante chamber, who would then climb up on to
Santa’s lap.
Santa
would then have a quick chat with them and give them their gift, and then Tom,
would take a photo.
Rosie
then escorted the happy child back out to their parents and this well-oiled
machine kept operating like that for 3 hours and when Rosie escorted the final
child back to their waiting parents Tom followed them out.
Tom then hurried to the hall and was greeted by a
smiling Patience.
In fact so radiant was her smile that he decided
there and then to ask her out.
“Patience I…” he began but the Vicar suddenly
appeared and started rummaging through the books and the moment was gone and he
lost his nerve.
After losing his nerve at the Christmas Bazaar when
the Vicar interrupted him on the verge of asking Patience out, Tom never
regained it again.
So they returned to the same pattern as before,
they saw a lot of each other but never went to the next level and would
probably have remained that way indefinitely had fate not intervened on a late
spring morning.
Tom was in the vestry talking to Hemmings Funeral
Directors about three impending funerals when the Vicar appeared in the doorway
wearing a worried expression, he completed his call and hung up.
“Hello Vicar” he said “Is everything ok?”
“I’m not sure” she replied “Have you heard from
Patience today?”
“No I haven’t, why?”
“Well she hasn’t been in to pick up her quota of Parish
Magazine’s from the Village Hall” she explained
The first Monday of the month was Parish Magazine
delivery day and all the volunteers would pick them up by 10 o’clock.
But by 11.30 everyone had been in bar Patience.
“That’s not like her” he said
“No it’s not” the Vicar agreed “I’ve tried ringing
but her mobile is just going to voice mail”
On hearing that Tom offered his services in her
stead.
“I’ll do her round” he said “And I’ll call in to
the farm and make sure she’s ok”
“That would be great Tom” she said with real relief
in her voice “Thank you”
It wasn’t how he planned to spend his day but he
didn’t mind and being out and about in the fresh air on such a lovely day was
not a chore and it would put his mind at rest.
Patience Rudd’s “patch” was on the Kettlewell side
of the village and consisted of about 25 dwellings dotted along Kettlewell Lane
and Finchtop Way, it was about a two hour round trip at an average pace
But he was in a rush to check up on Patience so
even though it was a warm pleasant day he set off at pace with the bag slung
across his shoulder.
Tom had only one thought in his head as he
delivered the Parish Magazines on his way up Kettlewell Lane, Patience, and he
wanted to get to Rudd’s Farm, the furthest most destination from the village on
his route.
He turned off Kettlewell Lane and into Finchtop Way
which was a horseshoe shaped road that climbed quite steeply up the hill then
eased down the other side re-joining Kettlewell Lane some ¾ of a mile nearer to
Highfinch.
Just
as he was insight of Rudd’s farm it started to rain a typical spring shower which
would soak him to the skin and there were no convenient trees to shelter
under, so he made
a run for it some fifty yards or so and just ahead was the hay
barn and he thought it the most likely source of shelter so he ran in that
direction.
Once he got close he noticed the door was a jar so he
pushed on it softly.
“Hello” he called as the door opened and inside he
found Patience Rudd laying in a heap on the floor.
“Patience!” he called and rushed to her side
He could see straight away that her leg was broken
by its unnatural position.
It was obvious what had happened she had fallen
from the hayloft.
“Patience!” he said and took hold of her hand which
was cold.
Her eyes opened and squeezed his fingers.
“Tom” she said and gave a weak smile.
He released her hand long enough to take his coat
off and lay on top of her, then he held her hand again which she gripped
tightly.
“It really hurts Tom” she said
“I’ll go and get help”
“No don’t leave me” she begged
“But I need to get someone” he retorted
“There’s no one here” she explained “Mums gone
to Purplemere and Dad and the boys are on the other side of the farm clearing
ditches”
“Ok I’ll phone for an ambulance”
he suggested
“But don’t leave me” she insisted
“Ok I’m not going anywhere”
He dialled 999 and responded to all the operators’
questions.
“Ambulance please”
“Rudd Farm, Finchtop Way, off Kettlewell Lane”
“A girl has fallen from the hayloft, and has a
broken leg”
“I don’t know if she lost consciousness, I don’t
even know when she fell, but she’s cold frightened and in pain”
“My name is Tom Rowlands and I’m not going
anywhere”
“Do you promise” Patience said weakly
“Do I promise what?” he asked
“Not to go anywhere” she said
“Absolutely”
“Say it then” she begged
“I promise not to go anywhere” Tom said “I promise
not to leave you, and I promise that I’m never going to leave you”
“That’s a lot of promises”
“I mean to keep them all” he said
All the feelings of hopeless longing he had felt
for her over the previous 5 years came swimming to the surface, and along with
them came anger.
Anger at his weakness, his cowardice at not telling
her how he felt and now she was laying broken and bruised on the floor of the
barn and he could lose her forever.
Having never told her how much she was loved and
how much he loved her.
And then a grave dark thought filled his mind about
how the next conversation he had with Hemmings Funeral Directors could be to
arrange Patience’s funeral.
“You have to tell her now before it’s too
late!” he screamed inside his head
“You must”
Tom took her small hand in his hands and said
“Patience, darling, I have something important
to say to you”
“Did you call me darling?” she asked dreamily
“Yes I did”
“I like that” she said
Tom was concerned she was going to lose
consciousness before he said the words
“Patience, I have something very important to
say to you”
“What’s that?” she said very quietly
“I love you, Patience Rudd” Tom said “I have
always loved you, and I always will”
Patience never responded and drifted off into
unconsciousness so he was unsure if she had heard a word he had said let alone
understand it.
A few moments after he had made his
declaration of love he heard the ambulance approaching.
“They’re here darling” he said and kissed her
hand then he rushed outside to show them the way.
“Over here!” he shouted
He kept in the back ground while the
paramedics did their thing and listened intently to what they were saying.
He was right about the broken leg but in
addition she had a dislocated shoulder and several cracked ribs.
Tom went out into the yard and phoned the
Vicar and let her know what had happened.
While he was there Mrs Rudd drove into the
yard and broke sharply.
“What’s happened?” she shouted
“Patience fell from the hay loft” Tom said
“Is she ok?”
Just as Tom was about to tell her what he
knew. Andy Mason, the paramedic, appeared from the barn, at one end of a
trolley so Tom deferred to him.
While he explained to Mrs Rudd the rest of the
trolley appeared with Patience aboard, Andy finished just as the procession
reached the back of the ambulance and then he said
“We’ll take her to The Royal Downshire in
Purplemere”
“Ok
I’ll follow on in the car” she replied
But
just before they loaded Patience into the ambulance she opened her eyes and
pulled the oxygen mask aside and said
“I
love you too Tom”
Then she closed her eyes again and Andy
replaced her mask.
“I
suppose you’d better come in the car with me” Mrs Rudd said and smiled
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