May was a very eventful month, it began
with Locum Vicar Justyna Krajewska informing
Arielle Archer that she would not be staying on after the 6 months of her locum
period, though she did recommend an alternative candidate for the Curacy.
Then civil engineer, Sam Richardson, left
the island bound for
Pepperstock Green, where he had to carry out the final inspections on the new
bridges at the St Adelaide’s Reflection and Healing Retreat, and he would be staying
at the Shady Glade Guesthouse where he planned to reacquaint himself with the
lovely proprietor Debbie Barrington.
His departure
coincided with Molly and Danny returning to the island after their extended
book signing tour of Australia, New Zealand and the far east.
They arrived in
St Pierre on the midday ferry it was a glorious day, and the Norman Port looked
magnificent, as it always was when the sun was shining.
It was busy aboard
the vessel because of the weather and there were a lot of foot passengers,
there was always a greater concentration of day trippers on the weekend when
the sun shone.
Molly and Danny
were unusually anxious to get home, they had been away since January and had
missed the island and their friends, but in addition to that they had had an
encounter with a very obnoxious woman who was not unknown to them by the name
of Máire Hanlan so as a result they were at the front when the ramp went down.
They were being
met by George Wood and after being greeted with his gregarious hugs they made
their way towards the car park until Molly said
“What’s going
on?”
“What?” Danny
asked and tried to follow her gaze, and when he had established he was looking
in the same place as she was he saw that there was a girl in a skimpy dress
walking towards them who appeared to be causing something of a stir.
“Isn’t that Máire
Hanlan?” he asked
“Yes, I think
so” she replied “Although I prefer the name Mare)
She was someone
they had known for a few years, and they had a mutual dislike for each other, so
today’s altercation was not unexpected.
She was a
rather innocuous looking woman certainly more than mildly attractive but not a
stunner or of movie star caliber.
She definitely
suffered from pretty girl syndrome, and though she was attractive she thought
she was far more beautiful than all other women around her, and yet she was
causing every head to turn, male and female, young and old.
Men’s jaws
dropped to the floor and their eyes stood out on stalks and women looked
sternly and shook their collective heads.
“What are they
all gawping at?” George asked
“No idea” Molly
replied also questioning if this unremarkable young woman was worthy of all the
attention.
But as she
passed them, without them acknowledging each other, they continued to follow
her with their gaze and the reason for the head turning soon became apparent.
The hem of her
skirt had snagged on the bottom of her shoulder bag rendering her rear aspect
exposed from the waist downward.
Though it
wasn’t that in itself which had elicited the response she had received, that
was due solely to the fact she had neglected to wear any pants.
As she continued
and turned more heads Danny asked Molly
“Do you think
we should tell her?”
“No way” she
replied “Serves her right for being such a cow”
The other
reason Molly Barrington was so anxious to return to Cliff
Haven cottage in Spaniards Creek was because she had promised her friend,
Reverend Arielle Archer, to return before she had the baby.
They made it
just in time, with a week to spare, as Arielle gave birth to a baby girl on May
25th.
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