April
The Old Manor
stands in the middle of the village and is the oldest surviving building and it
was the home of Andrew Lane, his wife Violet and their six unmarried daughters,
Emma, Dorset, Hilary, Heather, Rosie and Merri.
Andrew and
Violet loved their children very much but as they reached the time in their
lives when they were nearing their sixties they had expectations for their
daughters.
For Violet her
hopes involved the grandchildren that were not forthcoming whereas Andrew just
wanted them to spread their wings, but as Spring loomed there was no sign of
either of them getting their wish, however they were a religious family, so the
power of prayer was a wonderful thing and both parents prayed for their
daughters.
The youngest of
whom were twins, and the youngest of them, by two minutes was Merri.
They were not
identical twins, but she and Rosie were as alike as made no difference.
Anyone who
looked at Merri Lane would have seen that she was one of the most popular girls
at college and not just because she was gorgeous, even though she was, her face
had a shape and symmetry that was very easy on the eye, and her figure was to
die for.
Although there
were girls who were more classically beautiful than her, they didn’t have any
of the character of Merri’s.
Her silky red
hair shone and shimmered as she moved her head, and her brown eyes bore into
your soul when you met their gaze.
As if her
unique beauty was not enough, she was also athletic, artistic, intelligent and
sexy, but it was her personality and inherent goodness that put her head and
shouldered above the competition.
Everyone, boy
or girl that ever met her fell instantly in love with her, but Sunday School
leader Luke Langston had been in love with her since before she blossomed.
However,
despite all the attention Merri managed to keep everyone of her admirers at
bay, which led to the rumours that she was in fact gay.
Luke never
believed that for a moment and he had known her longer than anyone at college
because he was the boy next door and he had lived there since she was three and
they had been best friends since the beginning.
But when she
was invited to the seventeenth birthday party of another of the cool girls, he
was still extremely surprised to get an invitation from Merri to be her plus
one, even though they had been friends since nursery school.
However, having
established that Merri was one of the popular group, Luke was in no uncertain
terms, not.
He was not
athletic, artistic, sexy or cool, they did have a keen intelligence in common,
and he was bound for the University of Downshire to study Theology, with
teaching being his ultimate goal.
But under
normal circumstances, friendship and intelligence aside, it was a surprise that
one of the popular girls would want to invite a Theology geek to one of her
friend’s 17th birthday parties on the afternoon of Easter Sunday.
The party was
in one of the grander houses at the other end of the village from the Church,
and it was ostentatiously decorated and a bit gaudy, and there were a lot of
guests, it was one of those big flashy parties with an abundance of superficial
friends.
It was not
really Merri’s kind of thing as she was never a flashy person, once they got
there they soon separated themselves from the main throng and had their own
private party in a quiet corner and found six likeminded friends to join them,
one was Merri’s twin Rosie, who was also one of the popular girls, and three
others who they had also been friends with since nursery school, Martyn Cox,
and his cousins Roger and Tara Eggleton.
Their party was
a great success, with Roger keeping up the supply of wine which they drank
liberally as they reminisced about their shared history, and they laughed until
they cried.
When they left
the party proper and got to the end of the road, they split up, Rosie was going
back to Tara’s and Roger went off with Martyn, so they had the usual hugs and
kisses on the pavement and then went their separate ways.
As they walked
through the village, the slightly tipsy Merri had her arm through Lukes, and he
said
“I had a really
great time”
“Yeh, me too”
she replied
“Wasn’t it
great to get the six of us together again?”
“We should do
it more often” Luke suggested
“We” should get
together more often” Merri said
“What just the
two of us?” he asked
“Yeh” she said
coyly
“Just you and
the geek?” he asked with surprise
“You’re not a
geek” she said defensively “And anyway even if you were that wouldn’t stop me
fancying you” she said.
“You fancy me?” Luke asked pointing at himself
“Didn't you know?” she asked, and he shook his head
“What about you?” she asked shyly
“Do you fancy
me?”
“I don’t know
about fancying you” he said, and she was clearly crestfallen for a second
“But I’ve been
in love with you since we were 7 if that counts”
“You swine,”
she said and laughed before she kissed him softy on the lips, which led to the
most wonderful spine-tingling embrace that seemed to last forever.
When it ended,
she looked at him with her soulful eyes and smiled the most loving smile.
He returned her
smile and wanted to say something fitting for the moment but in truth he was
lost for words.
“Wow” she said
beating him to the punch and then she giggled and ran off up the Church Road
and shouted over her shoulder
“You’ll have to marry me now”
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