Downshire is a relatively
small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short
but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and
Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills
National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful
Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s
and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry,
Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north
and our story begins in the affluent village of Roespring.
Mark Adams had been in
and out of hospital for the ten years following a bad car accident just after
his 15th birthday.
But he felt reborn
when he and Abigail Evans gave each other their innocence.
She was also 25 and
was the verger at St Catherine’s where her Uncle, James Hall, was the vicar.
Abigail was a
beautiful red head with pale skin and freckled cheeks with whom he had fallen
in love and she with him.
Abigail worked for the
Downshire
and District Building Society in the Nettlefield branch and Mark worked across
the street at the Downshire Journal and
when they could they would meet up for lunch.
“Are we going to see
each other tonight?” He asked just before they went their separate ways.
“I have Evensong but
we can meet at the vicarage afterwards” she replied
“Deal” Mark said and kissed
her goodbye and watched her go into the Building Society and then he quickly
doubled back to pick up something he was going to need that night.
He got back home about
6pm and went home to change before going to the vicarage to meet Abigail.
Some days they would
travel home together but when she had Evensong she always got an earlier train.
As he made the short
walk from his home to the vicarage he was feeling rather proud of himself,
proud of her, and proud that she was his girlfriend.
He had fancied her for
so long, and the Roespring Verger ticked all of his boxes and he wanted her to
be more than just his girlfriend.
And it wasn’t just
because of the physical side of their relationship, which was amazing and
getting better all the time, she was his soulmate and he hoped she was his.
He was thinking that
hopefully he could persuade her to bathe in the light of his love forever.
He would just have to
ask her and hope he wouldn’t scare her away.
So as he walked up to
the front door of the vicarage he had the ring in his pocket.
But as soon as she
opened the door to him he forgot it was there because of the way Abigail was
dressed, she was still wearing her vestments.
This was not normal,
her usual routine was to change in the vestry before going home, but she had
not done that, and that distracted him from his proposal because he started
having salacious thoughts.
He wasn’t sure why she
hadn’t changed but his mind started to wander into lusty territory, what if
Abigail was to give him an invitation to canoodle?
If she was he
certainly wasn’t going to let it go unaccepted.
Even if there was a
lack of attraction, which there was not, what she was wearing would have done
the trick on its own, he liked uniforms and outfits, and even though they were
both good Christians her vestments certainly didn’t put him off.
It was probably a
combination of the fact that she was almost a woman of the cloth, he thought a
verger counted, and their faith which made it extra saucy.
So the whole prospect
of making love to a Verger, in costume, had made him forget about the ring in
his pocket.
He was sitting on the
sofa watching her as she flitted around the room with her white surplice over
her full length cassock, clumping about in the stout ankle boots with her
Barbie pink socks showing above them.
“So where’s the
vicar?” he asked innocently
“He’s gone to
Mornington to dine with the St George’s at the Manor”
“Then take your Cassock
off and come and have a cuddle”
“I can’t I’m not
decent” she said and blushed.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean” she began
“That my clothes are in the vestry”
“So you’re naked under
that cassock?” he said and she turned to look at him like a rabbit caught in
the headlights.
“No I am not” she said
adamantly “I’m not a tart, I have underwear on”
“And you walked from
the church like that?” he enquired
“Yes but it was dark
and no one could see” Abigail said defensively but in her embarrassment she
tried to rush past him but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto the sofa
and she was blushing scarlet red and hid her face behind a cushion.
“I think it’s sexy?”
he said and hugged her
“Ow” she yelped
“What’s wrong?”
“Something dug in my
thigh” she replied
“Oh yes, I almost
forgot” he said and reached in his pocket and brought out a ring box
“What’s that?” she
asked in a whisper
“Nothing important” he
replied
“Then why was it in
your pocket?”
“Well it was something
I thought you might like but now I’m not so sure” he replied enigmatically
“I’m sure I would like
it” she offered
“Well, I don’t know”
he mused and then after he thought he had tortured her enough he added
“But as I have it here
you might as well see it”
So he opened the box
and showed her and she gasped
“It’s beautiful”
“Do you like it?” he asked
“I really do” she
replied as she stared at it
“Good” he said and
snapped the box shut and put it back in his pocket
“I just wanted your
opinion, it’s for Katie at work”
“But…” she began in
disbelief
“I suppose if you
really like it you can have it, but on one condition” he said taking from his
pocket
“What condition?” she
said sadly
“You have to marry me”
he said
“What?”
“You have to marry me”
he repeated
“You want to marry
me?” she asked in disbelief
“Absolutely” he said
“but if you don’t want to I can always ask Katie”
“Don’t you dare” she
said and snatched the box from his hand
“Is that a yes then?”
he asked as she slipped the ring on her finger
“Yes, yes, yes” she
replied and punctuated each affirmative with a kiss
“Good, now can I have
my cuddle?”
“Yes, sweetheart” she
replied then she kissed him again and wrapped her arms around his neck and let
out a rather smug self-satisfied sigh.
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