The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa and when staffing the Hotel, they wanted to employ from the village populous where possible, and that was how the Ward girls came to work at the Palace.
The Ward family had a small holding on the North side
of the village, parents Jack and Olive, and daughters Donna, Felicity, Josephine, and Maxine.
Josephine was third in
the pecking order at twenty-one and was 5 feet 4 inches tall in her
stocking feet and was half a stone heavier than she should have been which was
thanks to her comfort eating.
She wasn’t though disappointed with everything she saw in the mirror she
liked her legs which she thought were quite shapely and her hair which she
thought of as her crowning glory, which was long, straight, and light brown, and she was the only one of the sisters who was in a long-standing
relationship, and the recipient of her favours, and the reason for the comfort
eating, was James Vesey, a Corporal in the Downshire Light Infantry, who was
posted overseas.
But on the Third
Sunday of Advent while the Ward Family were heading towards their seats at St
Giles’, a murmur rumbled around those already seated and when Jo turned around
to investigate, she saw a soldier walking towards her, and she couldn’t believe
her eyes.
“Jimmy?” she exclaimed
“Were you expecting
some other gallant hero of the armed forces?” he asked, and she launched
herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
James’ appearance at
St Giles’ was an unexpected one, h
His role with the
Downshire’s was as a Field Medical Assistant, and he had flown back to the UK
on a medevac mission,
but he was only back
in Downshire for a few days, and only had a 48 hour leave before he had to
report back to Nettlefield.
So, when he arrived
back in the Village on a Sunday Morning he knew exactly where to find Jo
because The Ward Family had always been churchgoers and the whole family had
very strong faiths, and they only missed in exceptional circumstances.
Apart from being
regulars at St Giles’ there was one other given for the family, and that was
Olive Ward’s family Sunday Lunch, but given the circumstances it took on a
different significance, so Olive raised the bar, to make it more special.
To get everyone around the same
table for their Sunday Dinner was very special in itself but Olive wanted to
endow it with the addition of her husband Jack’s homemade wine, something that
only graced the most special of occasions and her suggestion was greeted with Universal
approval.
It was a noisy and raucous occasion fueled in
no small measure by the liberal consumption of Jack’s Pea Pod Chardonnay.
By 3 o’clock dinner was served, and Olive had
done them proud with the table groaning under the weight of the Celebration fare.
It was no mean feat to cook such a sumptuous
feast for 9 people, but as usual Olive achieved it effortlessly, which was made
all the more remarkable, as she appeared not to have a single hair out of place,
and everyone enthused at the magnificence of the spread and all the trimmings
and subsequently all the plates were cleared.
Finally, the pudding was served, a baked Alaska, which Olive knew was
James’ favourite, and then as the final scrapes of spoons on china echoed
around the room James stood up and called for order, and when he finally had
everyone’s attention, he firstly proposed a toast to the cook, then to the
master brewer and finally he proposed to Jo.
“Wha…?” she said
“Will you marry me?” he repeated holding the ring box out to her
“Of course, I’ll marry you dummy” she said and wrapped her loving arms
around his neck and kissed him.
