Downshire Diary – (43) Mystery Girl

 

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 it’s in leafy Roespring where our story begins.

 

It was after the second exhausting day of reveling, when brother and sister in law, Roberto and Annette Obertelli were exiting the front door of the Dancing Cavalier Hotel in Roespring.

They had been attending the wedding of close friends and what had been expected to be a classy, cultured and refined weekend had turned into a raucous Hooley involving dancing on tables and urinating in fountains.

The pair had just performed a kind of walk of shame through the lobby causing all heads to turn in their direction.

Among their audience was an array of faces baring expressions, ranging from disgust, all the way through jealously to envy and even admiration, but from the management the universal tone was disgust.

They emerged through the door into the sunlight looking red faced and sheepish.

Having had a lobby full of eyes on them as they left the hotel they felt relieved to escape into the fresh air where they turned to each other and burst out laughing.

Unfortunately they got tarred with the same brush as the worst offenders when they had actually been quite well behaved in comparison, admittedly Annette had been one of the first to start dancing on the tables but that was the full extent of her involvement and as Roberto was a bit of a lightweight when it came to drinking he had already passed out on a sofa in the sunroom by the time the worst of the shenanigan’s began.    

“Well that’s one Hotel I can never stay at again” Annette said.

“Well it’s not my fault is it?” he said indignantly

“I’m not the one who danced on the table like Siouxsie and the Banshees”

Annette blushed to her roots and buried her face in his chest.

This was not the way she normally behaved she was normally a rather boring and ordinary woman.

But the weekend was the first time she had let her hair down in the two years since she became a widow.

Fraternal twins Roberto and Gianluca Obertelli owned the Vale Farm Pizza House franchises in Purplemere, having inherited it from their father.

Gianluca and Annette were married for five years when at the age of 31 he was tragically killed when his motorcycle collided with a HGV that failed to stop at a red light. 

He died instantly.

Roberto was 33 now and he loved Annette with all his heart but only as a sister and she felt the same way so it was only natural that they continued to run the business between them.

 

Unlike his brother Gianluca, Roberto had not found someone to share his life and since his death his wife Annette had not sought another partner.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been looking it was just that he hadn’t found someone to fit his ideal. 

Although the night before at the wedding reception he had met someone who aroused his curiosity and got his attention.

 

The wedding party was held in the King Charles Wing but there was another party in the Prince Rupert Suite, which was an old fashioned fancy dress masked ball and it was from the latter that he imagined her to have come.

She was a small girl in a Georgian gown of powder blue and she wore a powdered high hair wig of the day and a sequined mask to conceal her face.    

There was little conversation but what there was, was filled with honeyed words of seduction.

But apart from the copious flirting they danced on the terrace and even shared a kiss but then he lost her in the crowd and try as he might he couldn’t track her down which was when he turned to drink and ended up passed out on a sofa.

 

They boarded the train at Roespring Station and made themselves comfortable.

They had barely left the station before Annette was asleep with her head on his shoulder.

A long weekend away with an excess of food, drink and very little sleep had clearly taken its toll.

They had made the decision to go by train because they didn’t think either of them would be up to the drive home and they were right.

While Annette was sleeping against his shoulder he indulged in a spot of people watching.

The carriage was very quiet and sparsely populated and most of the passengers were at the other end.

But there were two girls sat diagonally across the aisle from the Obertelli’s, a tall willowy blonde with outstandingly stellar legs and a small mousy thing.

The blonde was very pretty but was very aware of the fact and she positively preened when she realized Roberto was admiring her legs.

She crossed her legs slowly and deliberately so he could marvel at them further but then he noticed on the newly exposed inner thigh a tattoo of an arrow and beneath it were the words “this way up”.

It was like an ice cold shower to him.

“How very classy” he thought and it was a huge turn off for him, so he turned his attention to the quiet mousy girl sitting in the corner.

She had long straight brown hair and a rather plain, heavily freckled face, but lovely blue eyes, a cute nose and a thin-lipped smile.

She was short, body shape undetermined due to a rather shapeless baggy sweater, so it was difficult for him to tell which way she was facing let alone see her figure.

Her legs were nice though, ensconced in black shabby tights and she had tiny feet which was always a bonus for him.

He had trouble fixing her age though and he thought she could have been anywhere between 20 and 30.

The mouse ticked quite a few boxes for Roberto.

The leggy blonde on seeing his transfer of allegiance huffed quite loudly and flounced off to another part of the carriage.

 

Roberto continued to appraise the mouse who seemed quite pleased with herself that she had lured his attention away from “legs” and that the blonde had thrown in the towel, in fact she took on an air of aloofness on recognizing her success in stealing his attentions, so he and the mouse spent the next forty minutes exchanging glances, in between admiring the wonderful scenery, his of curiosity with a hint of lechery, and hers of coquettishness, in fact they continued until they were approaching Purplemere.

Which was when his thoughts turned back to Annette, and he woke her and helped her gather her things together.

As they approached the station he got up and carried the bags to the door, and she followed close behind, the train stopped and Roberto turned to give the mouse one final look but she wasn’t there

The doors opened and he stepped out onto the platform and headed towards the taxis.

 

As the taxi left the rank Annette said

“You seemed very interested in that girl”

“What girl?” he asked

“The little brunette”

“That’s because I thought I recognized her” he said

“Oh really?” she retorted mockingly

“Yes there was something familiar about her but I couldn’t put my finger on it” he explained

“A likely story” Annette said

“No honestly” he insisted “Maybe she’s a customer”

“Whatever” she said and laughed

Roberto gave up protesting, but it was true he had recognized her, but there was also something about her which was why he couldn’t stop looking at her.

 

The taxi dropped Annette first in Middle Gracewood and Roberto arrived home in Upper Gracewood about five minutes later and after a long awaited cup of coffee he headed off to the bathroom for a much needed shower.

 

The shower was wonderful and he felt refreshed and invigorated so he threw on his toweling robe and went back to the kitchen for another coffee.

Steaming coffee in hand he walked through to the lounge, the room was dominated by a large L shaped leather sofa with a large square matching foot stool which was sitting in its default position i.e. in the right angle of the sofa.

 

The room was quite stuffy so he put his coffee down on the table and walked across and threw open the French doors but he left the curtains drawn as the sun was full on, on that side of the house at that time of day, then he sat on the sofa and almost immediately the long blinks began to set in and within minutes he was lying stretched out on the cool expanse of leather and a few minutes later he was fast asleep.

 

He had no idea how long he had slept but when he began to stir the room was in darkness and he thought he heard the sound of bare feet padding on the laminate floor and there was the smell of perfume, subtle but distinct, and it was familiar, Lily of the Valley.

He lay there for an indeterminate time drifting in and out sleep with his mind full of little dreams of the Georgian doll in the powder blue dress he had danced with on Saturday Night that ended with a kiss.

And the dream was so vivid he could feel the light touch of soft lips on his and he could smell her perfume.

It felt so real and the kiss so seductive, then he dreamt that he felt, no not dreamt, he felt the pressure of her mouth on his and all the ensuing passion that went along with it.

Roberto opened his eyes but in the darkness he had no idea who was kissing him but to be perfectly honest at that precise moment he didn’t really care he just didn’t want them to stop, but when he moved to envelope his blissful assailant in his arms she broke away and was giggling as she went padding across the floor and out into the garden.

From the sofa he could only see a vague figure in the gloom but couldn’t tell who it was whose lips had been kissing him.

“Wait” he said “don’t go”

He jumped up from his recumbent position and headed towards the French doors and tried to find his assailant in the garden.

The problem was it was a very large garden, with trees at the end and an abundance of shrubbery, and it was dark.

He didn’t even know if she was still in the garden and as he was still wearing his bath robe and nothing else, he couldn’t go searching further afield.

 

Roberto walked up and down the garden for about ten minutes before he got dispirited and headed back towards the house.

He sighed as he reached the French doors and then when he pushed the curtain aside he saw her

“Were you looking for me?” the mouse from the train said

“It’s you” he exclaimed “and you’re the girl from the masked ball”

“Are you disappointed?” she asked coyly

“Not of course not” he said emphatically “but why didn’t you say anything on the train?”

“Because I wanted to know if you liked me as me and not just the fantasy girl in the fancy dress” she explained

“And did I pass?” he asked as he walked towards her

“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t” she replied and then they kissed.

“I don’t even know your name” he said when the kiss ended

“Dora” she said “Dora Green”

“Nice to meet you Dora, I’m Roberto Obertelli”

“Now we’ve been properly introduced can we get back to the kissing?” she asked

“Absolutely” he concurred

 

“So how did you know where I lived?” he asked as they sat on the sofa

“Because we’re neighbour’s” she replied

“We are?”

“Yes I live in the village” she said

“You do?”

“Yes my dad is the new vicar of St Margaret’s” Dora said

“So we’ll be seeing a lot of each other” he said happily

“I would hope so, I’m a good Christian girl so I don’t behave like this with just anyone” she replied and kissed him again before he could say anything else.

Downshire Diary – (42) Just Being Neighbourly

 

The Finchbottom Vale nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north and those who were lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns and at the eastern end of the Vale were the Dulcets which were a collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet-on-Willow, Dulcet St Mary and Dulcet-on-Brooke, to name but a few, and of course Dulcet Green which was where Scott Strong lived in a detached house with his wife of 25 years, Mary.

Although in truth Scott would have said that that was stretching a point, as it wasn’t so much living, and it would perhaps have been more accurately described as an existence.

That was because Scott and Mary lived completely separate lives, they had separate bedrooms and had totally different interests, and different circles of friends, and by that stage in their lives they might just as well have been strangers.

In fact Scott didn’t really know why they had stayed together for twenty five years, he thought laziness was probably the likeliest reason.

They had no children, no pets, no nearest and dearest and not even a single friend in common and they only had sex on special occasions which in Scott’s opinion was the only special thing about it.

If they’d had an ounce of common sense between them they would have divorced long before they reached 25 years, but Mary believed marriage was a lifetime commitment or more precisely a life sentence in Scott’s opinion.

That didn’t mean anything to him, what kept him in the marriage though was that although he had long since stopped loving his wife he really loved the house.

But what happened just before Easter would lead to something that would put Scott’s love of the house into perspective.

 

It all began when Scott’s next door neighbours, the Brown’s moved to Cheltenham, he was something big in the foreign office and he was offered a two year secondment to GCHQ, which he jumped at, but the Brown’s decided to rent the house out, while they were away, in the short term and then they would sell it later should the secondment end up becoming a permanent position.

 

So it was on a warm day at the beginning of May when the new tenants moved in to the house next door, and it was a matter of great interest to Scott.

The house had been rented by two elderly sisters, the Miss Brackhampton-Finch’s, who were retired colonial missionary types returning to Downshire after working for many years in China.

And in addition to the two old biddies they brought with them, a live in cook housekeeper who was a dowdy and frumpish looking woman of indeterminate age who by outward appearance could have been anything between 25 and 40 years old with mousy hair and functional spectacles.

Scott noticed them move in as he was working from home, which he did at least 3 days a week, more when he could get away with it, which he was able to do quite often because he was a freelance architect.

So it was due to his “working from home” that he got to see the new neighbours move in and the reason he would eventually get to know the frump.

 

Although freelance architect Scott Strong worked from home at least 3 days a week he seldom spent more than a couple of hours a day actually working and this less than productive work ethic enabled him to spend more time doing what he loved to do, reading, listening to music, watching films and making sure the gardeners did a proper job, in fact pretty much anything that wasn’t actually working.

He always got up early every morning and cracked on with his work early doors and achieved his modest goal by about 11.00, always keeping some in hand that he could do during the evening and therefore avoid having to speak to his wife Mary any more than was necessary.

Finishing his work early also allowed him to make himself useful in a small way to the new neighbours, well to the live in frump in any case, which in truth mainly involved his sitting in the Brackhampton-Finch’s kitchen drinking the frump’s excellent coffee.

The frump’s real name was Pauline Boyle and she was an Australian girl who had started working for the Brackhampton-Finch’s when they lived in China.

When they announced their plans to return to England, because Pauline was such a good housekeeper and such an excellent cook, they asked her to move with them and even offered to pay her passage to the UK on the proviso that she remained with them for a minimum of two years.

As she had always wanted to travel to England she accepted because she knew she would never be able to do it any other way.

 

From the very first moment he introduced himself over the garden fence Scott got on well with Pauline.

He liked her sense of humour, her laugh, and her easy company.

Until her arrival Scott hadn’t realised how much he had missed good conversation and feminine company.

In the short time she had been his neighbour, chatting over the kitchen table drinking her excellent coffee, he had become very fond of her, but not quite as fond as he was destined to do.

 

Pauline welcomed her neighbourly neighbours company, because despite the beauty of the Vale and quaintness of the village, she found herself feeling lonely.

She knew no one in the area, she had not had an opportunity to make friends locally and she was very much made to feel, by her employers, that she was only the “help”.  

Sharing a house with the two elderly spinsters did not make for a happy situation, they had no sense of humour and even if they had they certainly wouldn’t have shared a joke with her.

She missed stimulating conversation, well in truth she missed any kind of conversation, and so having regular visits from the affable Scott Strong and his quirky sense of humour were truly welcomed. 

 

But neither Scott nor Pauline realised the significance of their regular country kitchen coffee mornings and that a little light hearted conversation was only the first step to something very different indeed.

 

The summer was well underway when one day after he had achieved his meagre work target he walked out into the garden and over the fence he saw Pauline dancing on the patio with a large glass of wine in her hand.

“Are you having a party?” he shouted over the fence on the hot June afternoon.

“Sort of” she replied “come and join me Scott”

“Ok” he said and walked around to the back gate

 

“So what’s the occasion?” he asked when he reached the patio and she poured him a glass of wine

“The Brackhampton-Finch’s have gone to Nettlefield for an ecumenical council meeting” Pauline replied

She had clearly had more than the one glass of wine as she failed quite spectacularly to say ecumenical.

“And they’re clearly not coming back today” Scott said

“No” Pauline said “the day after tomorrow”

It was the first time he had seen Pauline quite so relaxed, but then he was well aware that an excess of alcohol will do that.

The Miss Brackhampton-Finch’s were very old fashioned and Pauline had to keep herself quiet and respectful, and had to conduct herself with decorum at all times and not express a hint of humour and God forbid she should show any hint of femininity.

However as the sisters were away she was able to let her hair down which was why on that summer’s afternoon she was wearing a dress which showed off a figure that was hitherto unrecognised, unnoticed or even hinted at and she was having her own private party until by late afternoon the combination of too much wine and too much sun found the two of them dancing on the patio to the dulcet tones of Barbara Streisand singing “The way we were”

But by the time Neil Diamond began to croon “Love on the rocks” Pauline was nibbling vigorously on his ear.

 

His immediate thought was that he should nip it in the bud, he was a married man after all, albeit unhappily, and she was more than 10 years his junior and very much the worse for drink.

So he pulled his ear out of reach of her mouth and occupied it otherwise by kissing it which she reciprocated immediately in a wet slavery drink induced snog.

Scott knew it was wrong and he knew the right thing to do was to stop, but it was a hot day, he was merry, and she was a very good kisser and as he hadn’t had any kind of sexual encounter with anywhere near that level of passion for more years than he could remember, he was unwilling to stop proceedings

“Stop now” he was screaming inside his head

“While you still can, stop before you pass the point of no return”

But he didn’t listen to his conscience.

Thankfully at that precise moment she disengaged her mouth from his and grinned at him before saying

“Great snog”

Then the combination of too much wine and too much sun played a part in proceeding once again and she passed out.

 

The combination of too much wine and too much sun played a part in proceeding once again and she passed out.

Scott quickly reached out and prevented her falling to the floor and then scooped her up and carried her inside out of the hot sun.

Once inside he laid her down on the sofa and a moment or so later she came round.

“I’m sorry” she said

“What for?” he asked

“For snogging you” she replied and covered her face with her hands.

“I’m so embarrassed”

“Did you hear me complain?” he asked as he knelt on the floor beside her.

“No” she replied

“Well then”

“So you’re not horrified?” she asked and peeped through the gaps in her fingers

“Of course not” he replied “The opposite is true”

“What do you mean?” she asked but still had her face covered.

“I was disappointed when you stopped” he said “I thought you were horrified at what you had done”

“No never” she exclaimed and from her prone position she launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed again.

However it wasn’t just drunken snogging because after they had another glass of wine the lay on one of the Brackhampton-Finch sister’s many Chinese rugs in the dining room and proclaimed their love for each other on that balmy June afternoon.

Although no impropriety occurred, it was extraordinary behaviour anyway for someone in a Christian household, and as she was a Christian herself it would have been twice as bad especially with a married man.

 

Pauline was asleep on the sofa when he went home he wanted to be there in time to have a conversation over dinner with his darling wife.

As it turned out he needn’t have bothered because she called to say she was eating out and wouldn’t be back until late.

So he put a frozen dinner in the microwave and had a shower and a shave, then he ate his dinner in front of the TV and wished he was at the Brackhampton-Finch’s in Pauline’s arms, but he had resolved not to do that until after he had the dreaded conversation with Mary.

 

It was 11.45 when Mary returned and he was standing in the hall to greet her.

They sat up until the small hours discussing the future and in the end it was much more amicable than he had expected because she too had met someone that she wanted to know better.

They agreed that they should stay in the house until it was sold and then they could go their separate ways.

 

It was a cooler calmer day than the one that preceded it and Pauline was much calmer and cooler herself.

That hot sensual June afternoon when too much wine eroded her inhibitions was gone and as she had not seen Scott since she assumed he had too.

Paula felt no guilt for her wanton behaviour the day before because Scott had been too gentlemanly to take advantage of her and Scott felt no guilt for what he did when neither of them where influence by sultry weather or cheap wine.

She was at the kitchen sink when he reached the open back door and he stepped quietly in and crept up behind her where he put his hands on her waist and kissed he neck.

She gasped in surprise when she felt his hands on her and sighed as his lips touched her skin.

“I didn’t think you were coming back” she murmured

“I couldn’t come back until I had spoken to Mary” he explained

“And?” she asked and held her breath to await his response.

“And we’re getting a divorce” he replied and she spun round and kissed him

 

It was a shame that the house would have to be sold but he couldn’t afford to buy Marys half so he had to give up the house that he loved so much in order to get the woman he loved even more.

 

With his share of the house sale Scott bought a modest cottage in Dulcet-on-Brooke and when her two years were up at the Brackhampton-Finch’s they lived in the cottage together.

A situation he was very pleased with which only came about as a result of him just being neighbourly.

Downshire Diary – (41) Laundry Day

 

The Finchbottom Vale is nestled 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.

The Vale was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north.

But over the many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and were in various states of repair and the leafy village of Pangmere was situated on the Finchbottom Road between Mornington and Finchbottom.

 

It was a perfect early spring morning in the village and the breeze stirred the tree tops and the birds sang to the sun.

And the birds weren’t the only early risers, Charlotte Kay was lying in bed, warm and cosy beneath the duvet, as the birds twittered in the trees and the early morning light tried to penetrate into her bed room.

As she lay there half-awake, half-dreaming, Charlotte could hear him through the bedroom wall as he stood in the shower and as she listened to the splattering and splashing, she envied every droplet of water as it ran unchecked over his naked skin.

However the root of her envy was due to the fact that she had been in love with him since she was eleven years old and now that she was almost twenty she wanted him with every fibre of her being.

The subject of her fervent want was Jonathon Ovenden, the elder brother of Charlotte’s best friend Katie, who at the tender age of 18 had, to all intents and purposes, by tragic necessity become the father of his 11 year old sister.

Their parents were killed in a tragic car crash on the Pepperstock Expressway during a snow storm and all of his hopes and dreams for the future died in the snow along with them.

His plans to study engineering at University and what that might have led to, had to be set aside in order for him to raise his little sister, so that she at least would be able to fulfil her potential.

The early years of his enforced parenthood he was almost consumed by his new responsibilities, running the home, nurturing Katie and holding down a job, a menial job and far beneath his capabilities.

But the saving grace for all his sacrifice and being weighed down by responsibility’s at such a young age was that he was a stronger person for the experience and Katie was to become everything their parents would have wished her to be, and he was proud of that result.

Giving up his own academic ambitions had allowed Katie to follow her dreams and she was now at Cambridge University with Charlotte.

 

As she lay in the cosy warmth of her bed listening to the water washing over him, images of his wet naked body filled her head and she felt aroused.

Her flesh tingled and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she had to start doing maths problems in her head to clear the image of him from her thoughts.

The water stopped running and the heavy foot fall told her he had stepped out of the shower and then she pictured his wet naked form as he did so, and just a thin stud wall separated her from the object of her lust and desire.

She could see in her mind’s eye each droplet of water dripping from his torso or running freely down his skin and then she had to start calculating again.

But it was to no avail she could see him in the towel now, wrapped around him as she wanted to be wrapped around him.

Charlotte was lost in those dreamy thoughts of lust when the door suddenly opened and she heard herself gasp as Jonathon walked into the room and then she held her breath as she watched him across the room, wearing just a towel.

 

The reason he walked into the room she was in wearing only a towel was because Charlotte was sleeping in the spare room which also housed the laundry basket and the reason he entered without knocking was that he didn’t know Charlotte was there.

Jonathon began picking up the laundry that had been discarded in and around the wash bin and there was always plenty of it when Katie was back from University and even more whenever Charlotte slept over.

Charlotte and Katie had been best friend since forever and over the years she had been a regular house guest.

They’d been back from University for a week and the washing had already built up and this was the first opportunity he’d had to get to grips with it because of his job.

So as it was Saturday and the girls had gone to a party the night before and had stayed over at another friend’s place he thought he should make a start on the washing.

 

As he went through the assorted jeans, T-shirts and lingerie, he began to think how quickly time had passed by and how quickly his sister and her best friend had grown up.

He smiled to himself as he remembered Katie’s first bra, which was of course a purely cosmetic device when she was only twelve.

Then as she grew she went through various stages of padded enhancements and eventually to the full cupped and underwired contraptions she wore today.

It was the same with her pants, in the early days they were childishly embellished with flowers or colourful characters, then they progressed through to practical pants and then onto more sophisticated items before progressing on to the skimpy things of lace and bows, because his little sister was a grown woman now.

 

Charlotte watched as Jonathon stood across the room in the half light, his upper body still damp from the shower, and a towel wrapped around the lower.

He was standing sorting laundry into baskets of light and dark and as he held a pair of pink knickers she recognised them as her own and blushed deeply.

Jonathon held the pink panties briefly in his hand before dropping them into the appropriate pile.

Then a red pair, then pale blue silk and followed by black lace.

Charlotte watched as he handled her knickers one pair after another and she got more and more embarrassed.

And as Jonathon was methodically sorting through the mountain of dirty washing he had no idea she was laying there in the gloom because she and Katie were supposed to be sleeping over at Karen’s house in Shallowfield, some 20 miles away.

Had he known she was there he would not have entered the room especially wearing nothing but a towel, he would have been too self-conscious.

 

Jonathon had known Charlotte since she was an awkward clumsy eleven year old girl who seemed to spend her entire time either falling over or picking herself up and showing off her floral knickers in the process.

But she was a young woman now and Charlotte was a far cry from the klutzy eleven year old in the flowered briefs, she had grown up to become a swan, a socially awkward swan, but a swan nonetheless.

He could never tell her that though, nor could he tell his sister Katie how he felt about her.

 

Jonathon fished out the last item from the bottom of the bin, a pair of yellow knickers with white bows.

“They’re mine” she said in her head “Oh God how embarrassing”

Jonathon smiled and dropped them in the appropriate pile and turned to leave the room when Charlotte let out a sigh.

“Who’s that?” he asked startled “Is that you Charlotte?”

Charlotte bit hard on her lip after her sigh.

“Yes” she replied through clenched teeth

He walked to the window and opened one curtain, spilling gentle spring light into the room.

The sunlight fell across the rumpled screwed up duvet and a shapeless bulge beneath it.

“I thought you and Katie were staying over at Karen’s” Jonathon said

“Katie did, but I didn’t fancy it” she lied “I have a paper to finish”

She didn’t fancy staying the night at Katie’s because she fancied Jonathon and she wanted to spend some time with him on her own, she knew that on Saturday he would be in all day on his own so she made an excuse to Katie and went home.

Charlotte had no other plan than to be in the house with him on her own, she had no idea what to do about her crush.

She wasn’t even sure she should do anything if she did know, what if he rejected her, or what if he didn’t reject her but Katie got angry.

It was not inconceivable that she could lose them both and she may never be in close proximity to him ever again.

 

As he stood there looking at her he knew she had lied about the paper, he could always tell when she fibbed, he just wasn’t sure why, he hoped she hadn’t had a falling out with Katie.

He wouldn’t be able to bear it if they stopped being friends and he wouldn’t see Charlotte again.

Charlotte looked up at him and smiled and despite his fear he felt a passion welling up in him, a passion he had suppressed over the last two years which he dare not have hoped to have acted upon until that moment.

 

The very appealing sight of Charlotte laying beneath the duvet with the spring sunshine spilling through the curtain he decided that he should seize the day.

“Well as you can see it’s a lovely morning” he said “so get yourself up and showered and I’ll make us some breakfast”

“Ok I have time for a quick breakfast before I start on my paper” she replied indifferently

“Oh that’s a shame” he replied “I thought I might take you out for a pub lunch once I’ve done the laundry, but if your too busy we could do it another time”

“Well I’m sure if I crack on I could have it finished by lunchtime” she said coolly

“Good” he said and scooped up one of the of washing baskets

“Time to get on then”

 

Charlotte showered while Jonathon made poached eggs on toast and after he had put the first load of washing on they sat in the kitchen and enjoyed an unhurried breakfast.

“So what is the paper on?” he asked as he drained his coffee cup

“What?” she gasped

“What is the paper that you need to complete” he clarified

“Finite Mathematics and Applied Calculus” she replied

“Really?” he asked and smiled because he was pretty sure that was actually an A level text.

“Well I’d better get on” She said heading towards the door

“Charlotte?” he called after her

“Yes” she replied looking like a startled rabbit

“It was a really nice surprise to see you this morning” he told her

 

He got the chores done that he wanted to do and then he got changed and then knocked on her door.

“Come in”

Jonathon opened the door

“Its…” he began but couldn’t finish because she looked so stunning in a yellow dress with white dots.

Obviously she hadn’t spent a moment on Finite Mathematics and Applied Calculus and she had spent the entire time since breakfast making the best of herself.

When he saw how gorgeous she had made herself it reinforced his belief that he had a chance with her.

 

She had gone to all that trouble because even with her limited experience with the opposite sex she knew when he said

“It was a really nice surprise to see you this morning”

That he liked her as well, which just left the fly in the ointment, Katie.

How would she ever explain to Katie?

“It’s time to go” he said at the second attempt “you look great”

 

So they left Pangmere and he drove her to Dulcet-on-Brooke where they ate lunch at The Waterside Inn.

But there were awkward silences as the two of them battled with the internal struggle on whether to take a chance, expose themselves and risk rejection even if the reward could be their hearts desire.

They spent a pleasant couple of hours of a warm summer afternoon in the beer garden on the banks of the River Brooke but had resolved nothing by the end of it.

But it was really the fear of upsetting Katie that played heavily on both their minds.

 

Jonathon and Charlotte ambled disconsolately away from the pub garden with the burning issues unresolved but despite that neither of them wanted to call a halt to their first outing together so Jonathon blurted out

“Let’s go into Sharpington”

And Charlotte had no hesitation in saying

“Oh yes what a lovely idea”

 

Sharpington-by-Sea is a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper, all very tame compared to a 21st century roller coaster but was still great fun.

 

They managed to park at the Southern end of the promenade.

“We’re a bit away from the action but we can get the bus down to the pier” he suggested

“Would you mind if we walked?” Charlotte asked “I’m in no hurry to get back”

“Nor am I” he said “and it’s such a beautiful day”

They walked along the promenade with a gentle breeze blowing off the sea and reminisced about the times he brought her and Katie to the seaside when they were little and they both talked about the places in the town that held special memories for them.

The Ghost Train in the Fun Park, Sharpington Day Parades, Halloween Fright Nights, Firework displays, Candy Floss, sand castles and paddling in the sea.

“Can we go and paddle now?” she asked

“Why not” he replied and they spent the next hour on the water’s edge, splashing in the waves, and they were so totally absorbed in what they were doing that they didn’t realize how far down the beach they had gone and when they looked up they were close to the pier.

They looked at each other and then the pier and then each other again

“Ice cream” they said in unison and raced up the beach towards the steps.

Whenever they went to Sharpington on day trips they always went to the Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour on the Pier.

With his longer stride he could have easily beaten her but he held back to give her a chance and when they were 10 yards from their objective they were neck and neck but one more stride and Charlotte went head first into the sand.

“Oh God are you ok?” he asked and pulled her to her feet but she couldn’t answer because she was laughing so much.

Jonathon used his handkerchief to brush the sand off her laughing face and when he had finished she stopped laughing and they had their first kiss at the bottom of the steps by the Pier.

 

It was not a short kiss it was long and simmering after all it had been a long time coming and when it was over they smiled at each other and he asked

“Do you still want that ice cream?”

“Of course” she replied “it wasn’t that good a kiss”

The moment she finished speaking she ran squealing up the stairs, she paused at the top, briefly to claim victory in the race but set off again towards the pier when she realized how close behind her he was.

 

After ice cream they walked to the end of the pier where they kissed again as the day drew to a close and the most perfect day was made more so by another perfect kiss and then they walked hand in hand back towards the car.

 

They were about fifty yards from the car park and totally absorbed by each other that they hadn’t noticed Katie Overton pull up to the kerb and park, nor did they notice her exit the car and lean against the side of the car with her arms folded while she waited for them to reach her.

In fact they would have missed her altogether had she not yelled

“Oi”

They both turned around and looked in the direction of the call and then froze when they saw Katie standing with her arms folded and wearing a face like thunder.

“Shit” he exclaimed

“Oh God” Charlotte thought

“So what all this then?” she asked crossly as she walked towards them

“Well er…” he began

“It’s kind of…” Charlotte added

“It looks to me like you two are an item” Katie said only a yard away from them and then her face cracked and she hugged them both

“It’s about bloody time” Katie added and the three of them stood on the promenade in a group hug which expressed a warm hearted beginning to their love.

 

It turned out not to be a flash in the pan or a silly crush and they had many more trips to Sharpington over the next three years, for Ice creams at Bizzoni’s, chip suppers from Cod’s Plaice and kiss me quick hats.

But the most significant visit was three years after they had that first kiss.

 

They parked at the southern end of the promenade and walked along the beach paddling in the waves and as they reached the steps up to the Pier, Charlotte said wistfully

“This is where it all began”

“Yes it was” he agreed “But that was three years ago”

“Yes but it was a beautiful day” she mused “the most special day”

“It was but…” he began

“But what?” she asked with alarm

“I think I can do better this time” he said

“Really?” she said “I don’t think so, I don’t think you could ever top that day”

“Well I disagree” he said and knelt down in the sand and she went pale “Charlotte Kay will you marry me?”

When she regained the ability to speak Charlotte said yes and then he kissed her and another perfect day was made more so by another perfect kiss.

Downshire Diary – (40) In an English Country Garden

 

The village of Brocklington was on the River Brooke about six miles downstream from Sharping St Mary in the Finchbottom Vale which was nestled 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.

The Vale was once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere in the north.

But over the many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and were in various states of repair.  

There were only three small bodies of water left in the Vale now one in Mornington, one in Childean and third of course was Purplemere.

 

One of the newest inhabitants of Brocklington was a Purplemere native, Sam Townsend, who had moved to the village to live with his widowed sister Ruth and her two children Olivia and Cecily.

Ruth was five year older than her brother and was a few months short of her milestone 30th birthday. 

They were unmistakably siblings with their dark curly hair and green eyes.

Sam wore his hair collar length while Ruth’s tumbled lavishly onto her shoulders.

She was originally from Purplemere but her husband Jack was Brocklington born and bred and when they married she moved into his house and they raised their family and they were very happy and content.

They met while at University and married when they graduated and they were married and a year later the twins were born.

Jack Martin was 33 years old and by profession was a gamekeeper,

when he died suddenly and tragically of anaphylactic shock when he was on a charity bike ride and he was stung by a single bee.

 

His death came completely out of the blue and left her high and dry, with the only bread winner dead she struggled to make ends meet and very soon went through what little savings they had and because she was originally from Purplemere and living in Brocklington she was a long way from her support network.

Which was why her brother Sam moved in with her, he still worked in Purplemere and travelled back and forth to work by train and in the evenings and he babysat the girls while Ruth worked behind the bar at the Mulberry Tree and thanks to Sam stepping into the breach Ruth was able to get her finance’s back in the black.

He became a vital part of the household and Olivia and Cecily loved their uncle Sam but far apart from his babysitting duties he also regularly took the girls to school in the morning and often picked them up when they did after school clubs, the school had a breakfast club and an after school as well as clubs during the summer holidays, when Sam’s involvement would lead to some confusion later.

 

Glyn Tucker was the newly appointed Deputy Head Teacher of St Cuthbert’s School, which was only the second school he had taught at in the whole of his professional life.

 

He had previously lived and worked in Northchapel which was a much larger and more challenging location but he didn’t move to Brocklington because of that.

 

Since July, 31 year old Glyn Tucker, was a resident of Brocklington where he lived alone, though that wasn’t always the case in Northchapel.

He had been married, he still was married for that matter, but not for much longer.

He had been separated from his wife Brenda for two years at her suggestion and he was still angry about it.

It had come completely out of the blue, he loved the very bones of her and he thought she felt the same about him but he was clearly mistaken because she left him, and children were at the root of “irreconcilable differences”.

And his abandonment became the second great sadness of his life.

The first one being his inability to father a child which eventually led to the second.

Brenda saw her husband’s inability to get her pregnant as a personal slight which diminished her as a woman.

Glyn pointed out to her that there were other options like fertility treatment or adoption, but she refused point blank even to consider adoption as that would undermine her even further and to even suggest that she participate in IVF was an insult to her and how dare he suggest that she humiliate herself. 

So she left him and her vehemence and anger rang in his ears for days after.

Although she spoke of separation as she packed her bags, after the angry outburst he knew that it was only ever going to end in divorce.

Even in the unlikely event that she wanted to return he could never forgive her aggressive behaviour or the things she said to him, demeaning and belittling him. 

 

So as soon as he realized that the writing was on the wall he made the decision to start afresh somewhere new and started looking around for a new position and couldn’t believe his luck when he heard about the vacancy at St Cuthbert’s School which not only catered for students from years 1 to 6 which just happened to be what he was looking for but the Head teacher Sophie Welby was a very good friend of his and she was able to persuade the governor’s to offer him the Deputy Head’s position.

 

He soon fell in love with Brocklington and St Cuthbert’s School and the children in it and they would love him back.

He was also accepted by the people in the village and he had made many new friendships inside and outside of the Church.

He also found that he had fallen in love with one of the villagers when he became a regular at the Mulberry Tree.

 

His last day at his old school was the 19th July and on the 20th Glyn Tucker moved to Brocklington, and he quickly settled into village life and on his first day he took a walk to the local hostelry to have a pint of Mornington Ale at the Mulberry Tree and that was when he saw her.

 

She was pulling a pint and sharing a joke with a regular, she was very attractive with her long curly dark hair tumbling over her shoulders, green eyes and a lovely smile and she had a tall and slender figure with nice long legs, though he would have had to admit she was fairly shapeless and her chest was as flat as a bowling green.

 

She had seen in her peripheral vision a man walk in wearing a t-shirt and shorts and then he stood at the end of the bar but it wasn’t until she had finished serving one of her regulars that she actually got a good look at him.

He wasn’t a big man, 5’ 9” at most and quite wiry, with skinny legs that made his baggy shorts look even baggier, but he stretched himself up to his maximum height to greet her approach and he brushed his Sandy coloured hair off his forehead and smiled.

His craggy features and tanned skin made him look older than his thirty three years but not drastically so.

But Ruth liked what she saw.

“Hello” she said “what can I get you?”

“Hi, a pint of Mornington please” he replied

“I haven’t seen you in here before” she remarked as she pulled his pint

“No I only moved here today” he replied “I’m Glyn”

“Pleased to meet you Glyn” she said “I’m Ruth”

She finished pulling his pint, and they exchanged pleasantries while he paid and then he went and sat down, which was a decision he immediately regretted as he could no longer stare at her legs.

He was rather taken with her eyes as well, which were the most stunning green, and a lovely smile which he could still see.

 

As he walked home that evening he surprised himself somewhat with his appreciation of the barmaid because he hadnt looked at anyone in that way since his separation from his wife and then said

“Nothing will come of it”

But he was in the pub the next evening however, but it was a really busy night, the pub was packed and the place was really buzzing in fact the landlord regretted not putting more staff on, and so did Ruth.

The large attendance was as a result of a quiz night which was obviously very popular.

He stayed for two drinks, but she didn’t serve him either time.

 

The next day he took himself along to St Cuthbert’s School because he had agreed to help out at the summer holiday club, which was when he first met Olivia and Cecily Townsend Martin when their Uncle Sam dropped them off

All the teaching staff devoted some of their time to the Holiday Club, in a supervisory capacity only, as most of the activities were run by students from the village.

And although he didn’t technically start at the school until September he volunteered to help out for two or three days a week as and when he was needed and that evening he was back at the Mulberry Tree.

 

Although he didn’t technically start at the school until September he volunteered to help out for two or three days a week as and when he was needed and that evening he was back at the Mulberry Tree.

He decided to go in earlier in the evening in the hope that it wasn’t too busy and he might get to engage Ruth in conversation and so he walked in and walked straight up to the bar and she wasn’t there because it was her night off.

But he didn’t know that so he had a pint and went home.

 

Over the weekend he was working around the house, DIY, painting and decorating and at the end of each day he was so knackered he didn’t bother going for a drink.

The following week he spent Monday to Wednesday supervising at the Holiday Club and each evening finishing the decorating and Thursday and Friday ferrying all his worldly goods from Northchapel with the help of his mate Danny and a hire van.

 

On Friday morning a small DIY Van Hire vehicle pulled up in Riverview Road outside number 24 and two men climbed out and went to the back and opened the doors.

At the same time Ruth, who saw the van pull up, was walking home after dropping the girls at Club.

As she was about level with the open door a figure suddenly jumped out and made her jump out of her skin.

“Oh God” she exclaimed “You almost gave me a heart attack”

“I’m so sorry” Glyn said and then recognized who it was he had almost frightened to death

“Oh hello Ruth” he said

“I’m sorry I startled you”

“Oh that’s ok” She said and laughed

“I haven’t seen you in the pub all week”

“No I’ve been decorating before I moved the last of my stuff in and by the evenings all I have the energy for is dozing off in front of the TV” he admitted

“Oh that’s a shame” she said and blushed lightly

“Where does this one go Glyn?” a man asked

“Bedroom two” he replied and then thought he should introduce his best friend to the woman he had been talking about all the way over from Northchapel.

“Danny this is Ruth, who I was telling you about” he said

“Ruth this is my best mate Danny”

“Pleased to meet you” Ruth said and offered her hand

“Likewise” he said and was about to shake her hand but realized just in time that they were dirty.

After avoiding dirtying her hand Danny carried the box into the house and Ruth said

“I’ll leave you to it

“Oh ok” he said “Bye”

He watched as she walked away before picking up another box and following Danny into the house.

“That’s was a shame” he thought to himself 

He was enjoying their little chat and he would have liked to have invited her in for coffee, maybe another time.

He wasn’t certain sure, due to his being out of practice with the opposite sex, but he thought there was definitely some flirting.

 

At the end of the day, with everything from the old house moved Glyn took Danny to the Mulberry Tree for a pint but it was really busy by the time they got there so apart from admiring her legs and exchanging a smile or two it was a fruitless visit.

 

On Saturday and Sunday Glyn and Danny were in the formers old house cleaning and decorating as it was being listed with the estate Agents after the weekend and his absence had been noted by Ruth who had passed by his house on her way to work and noticed it was uninhabited.

 

On Monday he was back in Brocklington and on duty at School Club when Sam dropped Olivia and Cecily off and he was looking forward to seeing Ruth again, at the pub that evening.

He decided to go in earlier in the evening in the hope that it wasn’t too busy and he might get to engage her in conversation and so he walked in and walked straight up to the bar and she was there immediately to greet him.

“Hello” she said “Glyn”

“Hi Ruth”

“A pint of Mornington?” she asked

“Yes please”

Once she had delivered him his pint he decided not to go and sit down at a table but instead he pulled up a stool and sat at the bar so he could continue to admire her legs.

Which proved to be exactly the right decision as she spent prolonged periods of the time chatting with him.

“So what brought you to the village?” she asked, he didn’t particularly want to go into all the details of his failed marriage so he just replied

“Work”

“Oh really, what do you do?” she asked

“I’m the new deputy head at St Cuthbert’s” he said “And I have been helping out at the Holiday club, in between everything else”

“Really?”

“Yes” he replied “it’s been fun”

“Then you must have met my….” She began but was drowned out by a rowdy group who appeared nosily at the bar and she had to go a serve them.

 

When she had finished with the rowdies she returned her attention to Glyn, the fact that she was about to tell him about her twin daughters had gone right out of her head and the conversation became more general and lasted pretty much the whole evening.

Of course what he wanted to do was ask her out so he could take her out for dinner but he was so out of practice he didn’t know what to say and even in his dating days he wasn’t particularly good at it.

 

The last bell rang and he knew it was now or never so he took a deep breath and steeled himself and said

“I was wondering if, sometime, maybe, but feel free to say no, you had a free evening, we might, possibly…”

“I’d love to” she said putting him out of his misery

“You would?”

“Yes”

“Great, when are…”

“I’m not working at all on Friday” she said and wrote her number on a beer mat

“Friday it is” he said “Goodnight”    

 

On Friday morning Glyn Tucker was on duty at the Holiday Club and was there about half an hour before Sam dropped Olivia and Cecily off and he spent the whole morning looking forward to seeing Ruth again, when he was taking her out for dinner that evening.

 

Holiday Club was open for morning and afternoon sessions and parents could pick and choose which sessions they needed in order to make it the most cost effective for them, so just before lunch Glyn positioned himself by the gate to supervise the children being collected by their parents.

He had only been there for a few minutes when he spotted Ruth approaching which lifted his spirits, but then Olivia and Cecily ran out through the gate towards her 

“Mum, Mum” they cried

“Look what we’ve made”

“Wow” she said in response

“They called her mum” he said to himself “I must have misheard

“Do you like it mum?” Olivia asked

“Yes I do poppet” she replied

“No apparently I didn’t mishear” he thought “I knew she was too good to be true”

He was totally deflated, the first time he let his guard down since his separation and he picks a married woman, well that was not acceptable, and he did not behave that way.  

“I’m looking forward to tonight” Ruth whispered and smiled

“I’m afraid I can’t make it” he said “Somethings come up”

“Oh! Ok another time then” she said disappointedly

“Yes another time” he lied

 

The twins chattered away incessantly but Ruth was very quiet on the walk home, she just couldn’t understand why Glyn had been so cold, she had clearly misjudged him, it had to be because she had kids, she couldn’t think of any other reason why he would behave like that.

 

Glyn was convinced he had misjudged her, he had looked at her hand when she delivered his pint the first time he met her and there was no ring, so not only was she married but she was deceitful as well.

Not that he had a problem with the fact she had children, they were lovely girls, but why didn’t she say anything.

 

He stayed on at school until after lunch and then walked slowly towards home and bumped into Sam coming out of Stephenson’s shop with a pretty black girl on his arm.

“My God they’re both at it” he thought “what kind of a half arsed marriage do they have”

“Hello Mr Tucker” Sam said

“Hello” he responded “Are you not spending the afternoon with your girls?”

“My girls?”

“Yes Olivia and Cecily” Glyn said

“They’re not my children” Sam said with a laugh

“They’re my nieces”

“What?” Glyn exclaimed

“I’m their uncle Sam, not their Dad” He explained

“Oh my God what have I done” he said and put his hands on his head “I’ve made a terrible mistake”

“Why what have you done?” Sam asked with concern

“Where’s Ruth? I must talk to Ruth” he said

“She’s at home” he replied “In the garden on a lounger knowing her”

“Great” Glyn said and ran off “I just hope I’m not too late

 

Once Glyn realised that Sam and Ruth were not husband and wife but were brother and sister he was desperate to find Ruth and try to redeem the situation.

The last time they spoke he was quite brusque because he thought she was a married woman.

They were supposed to be having dinner together but he brushed her off and he was afraid he may have burned his bridges with her.

 

The good news was that Ruth had the afternoon off and he had it on good authority that she was in her back garden, the bad news was he didn’t know what to say to her to repair the damage he had done.

He had liked her from the first moment he saw her and she had been the first woman to reignite his interest in the opposite sex since he separated from his wife.

It took him an age to summon up the courage to ask her out and he was thrilled when she said yes.

But then he hit the panic button when he jumped to the wrong conclusion which was why he traipsed around the village for an hour trying to compose himself.

 

It was a glorious day and very hot, when he reached over the top of the gate and opened the latch and swung open the back gate and walked in.

It was a nice garden, much nicer than his, but he supposed you get out of it what you put in, and Ruth had obviously put a lot in to hers while the previous resident in his house had kept the garden simply functional and had put absolutely nothing into it and no effort was expended whatsoever.

Ruth’s on the other hand, clearly loved her garden and loved working in it and the result was there for him to see a delightful English country garden.

He could see Ruth immediately as he walked in, she was on the deck lying on a sun lounger wearing a pink bikini.
She had her back to him and was lying on her side reading a magazine the curve of her hip to her waist was like a mountain slope and her dark curly hair was tied back to reveal her neck and shoulders.
She was up on the decking which was located at the bottom of the garden, which was a real suntrap.
The garden sloped from there back to the house and was landscaped to form four distinct steps the decking being the highest and the patio outside the lounge being the lowest.

The second tier was predominantly herbaceous planting and the third was laid to lawn.
Ruth’s eight year old twin daughters were jumping in and out and splashing around in a paddling pool on the lawned area of the third tier.

He still didn’t know what to say or how it would be received so he took a deep breath and walked up behind Ruth and said

“Hello Ruth” and she turned and looked over her shoulder at him.

 

He could see Ruth immediately as he walked in, she was on the deck lying on a sun lounger wearing a pink bikini.
She had her back to him and was lying on her side reading a magazine and her eight year old twin daughters were jumping in and out and splashing around in a paddling pool on the lawned area of the garden as he entered

He still didn’t know what to say or how it would be received so he took a deep breath and walked up behind Ruth and said

“Hello Ruth” and she turned and looked over her shoulder at him.

“At last” Ruth said with a smile

“What kept you?”

“Were you expecting me then?” he asked a little confused

“Of course” she replied and sat herself up

“But how?”

“Sam phoned me” she said “So what did keep you?”

“Well I’ve been walking around for an hour trying to find the right words to apologize for being an idiot” he explained

“Aww that’s really sweet” she said and stood up and walked towards him and kissed him

“Aren’t you worried the girls will see?” he asked

Ruth looked over the trellised fence that surrounded the deck, and down to where the girls were splashing around but even if they were looking they wouldn’t have been able to see them clearly.

“They can’t see us from there” she said and kissed him again  

“Are you sure?” he asked uneasily

“Positive” she said, and then they kissed again and then came the tell-tale chimes of the ice cream van playing "colonel bogey" in a nearby street, and nothing says come and get an ice-cream more than "Hitler has only got one ball".
Then suddenly the twins were running up the garden
"Ice cream. Ice cream" they called
"Ok just a minute kids" Ruth shouted to them a little breathless,
He dug around in his pocket and brought out two, two pound coins which he tossed over the herbaceous border and landed them expertly on the lawn a few feet from the girls.
“Thank you Mr Tucker” the twins chimed in unison "do you want one"

"No thanks" he shouted back
“What about Mum?”

“I want a snog” she said with a leer

“No mum’s fine” he replied

“Ok” they chorused and went off squealing excitedly

“No you can relax and snog me properly” she said licking her lips "the twins will be at least ten minutes"
“Am I forgiven then?” he said

“We’ll see” she replied and kissed him again

 

By the time the twins returned from their ice cream expedition Ruth had forgiven him and they were sitting on the patio drinking coffee and laughing at his misunderstanding.

“I have a confession to make” Ruth said

“Oh!”

“I thought the reason you went all cold earlier was because you found out I had children” she admitted

“No not at all” he asserted

“I’m glad” she said and smiled

“Girls!” he called

“Yes Mr Tucker”

“How would you like to go out for dinner tonight with your mum and me?” he asked

“Yes please!!!” they squealed and Ruth squeezed his hand.