Tuesday, 21 June 2022

Downshire Diary – (30) The Captain’s Bride

 

The village of Highfinch sits just on the edge of the Pepperstock Hills and the Lily Green Hollows Golf Club separates the village from the Hamlet of Lily Green, and the combination of those two and Kingfisherbridge made up the parish of St Martins.

 

Among the residents of Highfinch was Lorraine Weaving, a beautiful 29 year old with hazel eyes, 5 foot 7 inches tall, athletically built and completely bald.

She was completely devoid of any hair at all, no eyebrows, body hair and as everyone was always asking her, nothing down there as well.

And the answer to the other question she was always being asked, was that she fell out of a tree when she was six.

 

Lorraine was originally born in Childean, but in her 29 years she had lived all over the Finchbottom Vale which nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north, those who are lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns.

 

Throughout its history the Finchbottom Vale was largely dependent on agriculture and so it remained into the 21st century but many and varied occupations and endeavour’s thrived alongside the traditional rural livelihood’s but it was in agriculture that the Weaving family had earned their livings for centuries but Lorraine, who loved her family and the Vale in equal measure, decided pretty early on in her life that agriculture was not for her.

 

She could have chosen almost any Town or Village in the Vale to start her change of career but she chose Highfinch, partly because she had a great aunt living in the village who offered her a roof over her head but mainly because she held a particular affinity for the village because it was in Hawks Wood where she parted company with her hair.

 

When Lorraine Weaving took over as practice manager of the Highfinch Surgery she quickly made new friends as she made her mark in her quiet and unassuming way and Lorraine was well liked by staff and patients alike and she firmly believed she had found her niche.

So she had a nice little house in the village a job that she loved and wonderful friends and she was as content as she had ever been, but all of that changed on the 1st of July when she met Captain Peter Loosemore.

He was at the surgery with one of his regiment, Sgt Paul Russell, who had been severely wounded by an IED in Afghanistan, and he was a double amputee, his left leg had gone below the knee and his right just above it.

He was there for a physio appointment and the Captain was there for moral support.

But the meeting left the Captain and the Practice Manager completely smitten.

There second meeting was two days later at the Annual Finchbottom Vale Health Care Summer Ball at the Clayton Manor Hotel in the village of Clayton where they fell deeper.

But straight after the Ball he had to return to Barracks as the Regiment was deploying to Afghanistan.

They didn’t have their first date until after his short but bloody tour.

 

The first of many dates for Lorraine and Peter was in Purplemere but it wasn’t until after a carefully planned supper at her house in Highfinch that they made love for the first time

And as they lay panting in the afterglow Lorraine said breathlessly.

“Oh Peter, I love you”

And in response he kissed her hot panting mouth and replied.

“I love you too”

That was an entirely unexpected outcome for Lorraine, the thought that she loved him had never even crossed her mind.

She knew that she liked him from the first moment she met him but was that love? 

To her great relief Peter said that he loved her too, but did he?

In the post coital hours they discussed at length the implications of their declarations and the basis on which they made them.

The outcome of their deliberations was that they were indeed in love and were victims of love at first sight.

This was something they had both heard of but didn’t actually believe was possible in reality.

They thought it was just the stuff of Romantic comedies.

However the implications of their joint declarations were self-evident and before they made love for a second time Peter made and Lorraine accepted his proposal of marriage.

Peter had never felt so proud and Lorraine had never known such happiness.

 

The wedding date was set for May 21st and would take place in St Martin’s church in Highfinch, and the ceremony would be performed by Jenna Lawton.

Her parents were ecstatic when Lorraine broke the news to them and when she introduced Peter to them they fell in love with him as well.

   

Lorraine Weaving, slender a tall girl, athletically built with a lovely shape and stunning legs and her mother was just an older version of her daughter apart from the bald head.

Lorraine was thirty years old but looked much younger and her mum was beginning to think the day would never come when she could hand down to her daughter her own wedding dress.

 

Lorraine had been a happy singleton, and content to be so until the day when she walked into the waiting room of the Highfinch Surgery and met Captain Peter Loosemore.

 

Her mum handed Lorraine the dress box and she said

“You are the spit of me when I got married, I’d love you to wear this”

“What is it?” Lorraine asked

“Open it and see” she replied

Lorraine opened the box and her eyes widened as she unfolded, first the tissue and then the garment

“It’s beautiful” she said with tears welling up in her eyes

“Absolutely beautiful”

When she put it on it was a perfect fit and it was her mums turn to cry as her beautiful daughter wore her mother’s beautiful wedding dress.

 

Lorraine’s parents stayed at her house on the night before the wedding and Peter stayed at a nearby Hotel, The Montague Beaumont.

But at about 9 o’clock she put on her raincoat and said to her parents

“I’m just going out for a bit”

“Is everything ok love?” her dad asked

“Yes dad” she replied “I just need some air”

“Don’t be late back” her mum said “big day tomorrow”

“Don’t worry I won’t be late to bed” she replied and closed the door.

 

Lorraine left her parents in her house and drove the three miles to the Montague Beaumont Hotel and went upstairs to room twelve and knocked on the door.

“Come in” he called and she opened the door.

Peter was lying on the bed in his dressing gown watching TV.

“Hello soldier boy” Lorraine said in her best London street walker voice.

“Hello darling” he said as she walked over to his side of the bed and kissed him.

“What are doing here?” he asked

Lorraine stood in front of the window and drew the curtains.

“I’ve come to show you what I’ll be wearing tomorrow” she said as she undid the belt on her raincoat

“I thought it was bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding day”

“Well traditionally yes” she said “but this is for the groom’s eyes only”

And Lorraine let the coat fall to the floor.

Peter gasped as he looked at her standing with her back to him wearing white stockings, suspenders and a silk teddy.  

“Do you think it will be bad luck to see me like this?” she asked coyly as she turned around to face him.

“Oh no not at all” he said “I think the opposite is true”

“I think you might be right because you’re definitely going to get lucky” she said and joined him on the bed.

 

After they had finished she cuddled up close to her husband to be and he asked

“Can we do it like that again tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow night you can have me in the dress” Lorraine replied

Afterwards he completely undressed her and then he made love to her like he did the first time when they first declared their love for each other.

 

On a sunny May afternoon beautiful Practice Manager Lorraine Weaving married Captain Peter Loosemore of the Downshire Light Infantry at St Martin’s church in the village of Highfinch.

She looked even more stunning than usual with her hairless head surmounted by yellow flowers and her veil and wearing her mother’s wedding dress.

In line with tradition her skin flushed pink on her big day.

Lorraine was thirty years old but looked much younger and her mother was so happy on her daughter’s wedding day that she cried all through the ceremony.

Outside the church when the bride and groom emerged there was a traditional military honour guard and when she saw Sgt Russell standing to attention with his comrades, she smiled because it was Paul who inadvertently introduced them.

 

But the amount of tears shed on the day of her daughter’s wedding were surpassed tenfold on the day Lorraine told her mother she was pregnant.

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