EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (13)

I’ve sailed from the Bell Rock Light House

Where the North Sea swells

And to the Newfoundland grand banks

Where the hardy mariner dwells

But on my own it was so unfulfilling

Having you with me is what tells 

THE BOUNTY OF OUR UNION

 

The sun set the sky ablaze

In the silent dawn

Before spilling golden light

Through the window

Illuminating the room

Disturbing my slumber.

Through sleep filled eyes

I gaze at the window,

And on the sill

Framed in the sunlight

There sits the bounty of our union

Her golden curls aflame

In the morning sun

Smiling that familiar

Heart melting smile

But that time it was heartbreaking

Because it was a smile

I would never see again

On the face of my daughter

In earthly form

A THIRD KISS

 

A third kiss

Is eager, yet restrained

Slow, yet purposeful

And when lips meet

Hearts start racing

But each moment,

Is savoured

This kiss, though not life changing

Will be remembered

EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (12)

 

I’ve walked the Mongolian steppes

And felt the desert heat of the Sahara

I’ve climbed Virginias Blue Ridge

And felt the coolness of Niagara

But every step was worth it

Because it delivered me to Sara

TEARS BEJEWELLED HER CHEEKS

 

Tears bejewelled her cheeks

Like lustrous pearls

And her heartfelt sobs shook

The Ribbons from her curls

Those tears and sobs you only hear

From broken hearted girls

 

I couldn’t ignore the anguished

Sound of her cries

So I lifted up her chin 

And wiped the tears from her eyes

Then I held her in my arms

As her sobs turned to sighs

 

And when I looked at her

Tearstained face I could see

A girl as fragile as a butterfly

A thing of infinite beauty

And when she smiled

It was like a sunset on the sea

PERFECTION

 

Their meeting was

Serendipitous

When cupid’s arrow struck

Nothing planned

Simply a case of luck

She ticked all his boxes

In her perfection

And in her eyes

He was flawless

In all things

They were Simpatico

And Romance blossomed

Perfect moonlight

Bathed them

Perfect stars adorned the sky

And a Perfect kiss

Sealed their fate

EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (11)

I’ve sailed around the Cape of Good Hope

Where the two great oceans meet

I’ve sailed from the stormy southern isles

In the winter through the rain and sleet

I did all this and more for a reason,

The moment when we would meet 

A SECOND KISS

 

A second kiss

More eagerly awaited

Full of conviction

Yet overconfident

Hearts race unchecked

When over eager lips

Engage, like spaceships docking

And both parties forget to breathe

I WISH I’D KNOWN

 

I wish I’d known,

As the door slammed shut

Behind you

 

That it would be the last time

 

As I would have said

I love you

Just to remind you

 

I wish I’d known

We would never have

Another day

 

That it would be the last time

 

So when you tried to kiss me

I wouldn’t have looked

The other way

 

I wish I’d known,

As I watched you sleep

Peacefully beside me

 

That it would be the last time

 

So I could have told you

Of the life

Growing inside me

EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (10)

 

I’ve seen the distant far pavilions

And the land of the rising sun

I’ve seen Tierra del Fuego

And where all life was begun

I’ve seen the Pyramids of Giza

But now my travels are done

I’ve found what I’ve sought

And you my love are the one

SHE KNOWS NO OTHER COMPANY

 

She knows no other company

Than her own,

Her only friends

Are heroes and heroines

Of the classic tales

Or message boards

And chat rooms

She never sleeps

And spends her time

Dancing to the old tunes

And weeping over lost love

ON THE HUMID EVENING

 

On the humid evening

The heady cloying perfume

Of red camellias

Filled the air

Confusing the senses

And amidst the scent of desire

I found in the moonlight

I was falling in love with her

EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (9)

 

From the stormy southern isles

To the exotic land of smiles

I will carry with me a constant love

Over the distant countless miles

AWE AND WONDER

 

Awe and wonder

Fills my heart

As I stare at her,

I dream a dream

Of what could be

One day,

She could be mine,

Or maybe not

But it costs me nothing

Just to dream

LEAVE THIS WORLD WITH ME

 

Leave this world with me

And together you and I,

Will discover the universe

And explore the heavens

Until our souls forever join

EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD (8)

 

From Tierra del Fuegos archipelago

To the land of the rising sun

I will follow you to the ends of the earth

Because for me you’re the only one

HOW I WAS FOOLED BY YOUR DISGUISE

 

How I was fooled by your disguise

When at the very start

You had summer in your eyes

But you had winter in your heart

I WILL LIFT YOU UP

I will lift you up

On the days

When you are blue

I will reach up

And touch a rainbow

And capture it for you 

Downshire Diary – (51) Heatherlands – Doctor in the House

 

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 but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.

 

Chris Palmer was new to the area having moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce.

He was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes.

He also had had very bad luck with the opposite sex, which was why he was now divorced, but he planned on turning over a new leaf and leaving his courting days far behind him.

As he was rubbish at picking the targets for his affection he decided the safest thing to do was stop picking.

 

After his divorce he decided not only to give up on relationships but also to give up on Purplemere, so he sold up and planned to head for pastures new.

His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.

It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.

 

The senior partner at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, she had Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.

But he was a new man and besides she was probably a lesbian because she seemed to have a very close relationship with one of the practice nurses, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl ten years her junior.

But the fact that he suspected Clarisse was playing for the other side didn’t stop him admiring her lovely long legs or her impressive cleavage at every opportunity and Josie’s sexual orientation, if he had read the situation correctly, didn’t prevent her from flirting with him outrageously on a regular basis.

In fact her flirty behaviour led him to what was a false assumption, namely that she swung both ways, because she was very definitely straight and the close relationship she shared with the lovely Doctor Lowe was as a result of Josie being her step daughter.

 

Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.

The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.

She had been a widow for 10 years which had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness.

 

In the beginning, as Clarisse was the senior partner at Heatherlands, Chris was required to have almost daily briefings with her on his progress and he took those meetings as an opportunity to feast his eyes on the good Doctors assets, though he drew the line someway short of staring down her blouse at her large breasts in their lacy hammocks, though he could quite easily imagine them.

But he did look at the gorgeous Doctor Lowe in a less than professional manner however discreetly that might have been and over the weeks, he found that despite his pledge not to get involved with any more women, he had fallen for her in a big way.

 

Clarisse for her part had noticed the effect she had on Chris but did nothing about it and certainly didn’t encourage him, but she was flattered that she was still alluring enough to quicken a man’s pulse.

But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t go against her own edict.

 

After he’d been at Heatherlands for a few days short of three months, which just happened to be the week before Easter, there were quarterly reports to be completed and as it was his first quarterly reporting, combined with the fact that it was their yearend as well, he had to spend disproportionately longer in Clarisse’s office than was normal.

Which he for one didn’t mind as it meant that he got to spend more time with her as well as giving him additional ogling time.

 

Come the day before Good Friday however they worked late into the evening and they still hadn’t finished.

By 7.30 Dr Conway had left for the day and there were just the two of them, although Josie was due back from a home visit.

“Let’s call it a day” she said 

“Are you sure?” Chris asked “we need to finish them before next week”

“I know but I can’t look at another number tonight” she said

“That’s ok you get off and I’ll press on and finish” he offered “it’ll only take another couple of hours”

“No I don’t think that’s a good idea” She said and rubbed her eyes

“Why not come to the house tomorrow after church and we’ll carry on when we’re fresh, with clear heads and we’ll be done in no time”

“I think that’s a great idea” he said “I’m done in”

“I thought you said you’d be done in a couple of hours” she said and smiled

“That was just bravado” he admitted and laughed

 

Clarisse lived in the village of Heathervale in a six bedroom converted farmhouse that was originally her marital home which she now shared with her stepdaughter Josie and although she was a lonely widow she was blessed because she and Josie had a very close relationship.

 

Clarisse and Josie were very strong in their faith even before Edwards’s untimely death but it had deepened in the years that followed and they were both regular congregants at St Giles’ church so on Good Friday Clarisse and Josie attended the midday service at the village church but Josie had to leave before the end because she was working and had a couple of home visits to do.

 

Chris also had a strong faith but he had lapsed in his attendance since his divorce, partly because he felt ashamed that he had failed in his marriage.

So when Clarisse walked back to the house after the service he was waiting in his car on the drive when she reached home.

It was a cold day and as she approached he could see that she was wrapped up against the cold but he knew it was her by the way she moved, which was quite distinctive to someone who had spent a lot of time watching her walk around the health centre.

“Sorry I’m late” she said as he got out of his car “I got chatting at the church”

“No problem” he said amiably and opened the car boot and removed his laptop bag and some folders.

“Come in out of the cold” she said and he followed her in

When she had slipped off her long winter coat and removed her boots he could see that instead of her normal tweed suit she was wearing trousers, tweed obviously and a chunky sweater.

Her apparel, for her at any rate, was casual in nature but in Chris’s eyes made her no less alluring.

“I thought we could work in the dining room, we can spread out in there” she said as she walked down the hall and he followed on.

 

Chris was correct in his assessment, they did finish in a couple of hours but that was only due to the fact that they were fresh and rested as Clarisse had stated.

“I just need to print off copies for the partners” he said “And we’re done for another year”

“So you’re planning on still being here next year then” she said “We haven’t managed to scare you off, or rather I haven’t”

“Not at all I like working at Heatherlands, and I really enjoy working with you” he replied

“Good, I think we are good together” Clarisse said and fearing she had given him the correct impression that she liked him she hastily added “I mean we work well together”

Chris did indeed get the impression that she liked him more than a colleague and he liked that she did, even though he had sworn off the opposite sex.

“Do you mind me asking you a personal question Clarisse?”

“It depends what it is” she replied

“It’s very personal” he said

“Ask away then”

“Why are you always wearing tweed?” Chris asked

“That would be telling wouldn’t it” she said

“Then do tell” he encouraged her and she blushed slightly

“Oh dear” she began “I wear tweed so that people see me as a Doctor and not just as a woman”

“Really?” he exclaimed and she nodded

“Well I can tell you for sure, it’s not working”

After he said it she went properly red and became quite flustered

“I’ll make us a drink” she said and hurried out of the room.

 

While she was gone he packed all of the folders away and stowed his laptop in his bag and sat back and waited for her to return, positioning himself so as to have the best view of her when she re-entered the room.

 

Clarisse returned after about twenty minutes with the drinks and Chris gave her a good appraising look as she walked in, as had become his habit, but this time she was wearing a different outfit,

Instead of the tweed trousers she was wearing jeans and the chunky sweater had been replaced by a figure hugging white top and her chestnut hair that had been tied back now hung loosely onto her shoulders.

If he thought she was sexy and alluring in tweed then seeing her in tight jeans and a clingy top sent her sex appeal off the scale.

 

As she walked towards him she was moving differently than normal as she was no longer trying to look like a Doctor and then when she was close enough to hand him his drink he could smell her liberally applied perfume which heightened his senses further.

“Thank you” he said but he wasn’t really thanking her for the tea.

Clarisse then sat with her bum perched on the dining table beside him and sipped her tea and he thoroughly scrutinised her from head to toe.

 

On the outside she was very calm and collected but inside she was ablaze with desire.

She knew what effect she had on him as she entered the room and was still having on him because she also knew he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

What she didn’t know was what she should do next, she was a little out of practise, not that she was ever that well versed, but with a man five years younger than her she was a bit out of her depth.

Fortunately her dilemma was brought to a resolution when Chris put down his tea on the table and stood up.

“What if he walks out?” she asked herself in a panic “How will I face him in the centre next week”

She needed have worried because when he stood he took the mug from her trembling hand and put it on the table next to his before taking hold of that same quivering hand and pulled her to her feet and then he kissed her.

They were alone in the house, so neither Clarisse or Chris held back as the longing and want of each other that they had been suppressing for weeks surged to the surface and the kiss was progressing well, he feel her heart pounding in her chest and there appeared no end in sight to the kiss as the door was flung open and Josie appeared.

“I don’t believe it” Josie said holding the door handle as she stared at her stepmother kissing her practise manager, which of course stopped as a result of the interruption.

“How could you?” Josie said as the pair continued to hug in front of her. “You said no fraternizing with colleagues”

“I did say that” Clarisse agreed

“I think she’s miffed” he said

“Miffed, I’ll say I’m miffed” she said

“I’m very bloody miffed, I could have got off with the locum last month, but I said no because of the “No Fraternizing” policy”

“Ah I think we’re scrapping that policy” Clarisse said and they all laughed

“By the way you said that that locum was an oily creep”

“That’s not the point” Josie said “he still asked me out”

“Well you are now free to say yes to the next oily locum that asks you out” Clarisse said and kissed Chris again and Josie was laughing as she went out of the room.

 

So that was how it came about that two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.

Downshire Diary – (50) On the Night of the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball

 

Neil Etherington was an average man approaching his thirtieth birthday not that he was a bad looking man, he wasn’t, but he wasn’t stunning, sexy or buff, he was strictly middling but his girlfriend

Samantha Barraclough was anything but, she was an absolute beauty three years younger, elegant, daintily petite, intelligent, funny, sexy and with a perfectly beautiful angelic voice, pure Carrington Chase educated perfection, Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and it was a voice that made Charlotte Green sound common.

He pinched himself at the start of everyday, especially the ones on which he woke up beside her, just to check he wasn’t dreaming.

Because the good fortune that brought Samantha into his life was the type of thing that didn’t happen to him, and everyone who witnessed them together unanimously agreed that he was punching well above his weight.

They first encountered each other at a business meeting at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel, where she was a potential new client and he was trying to win a new account, but the meeting was unresolved as it was love at first sight.

 

Neil worked for a firm of architects called New Horizons whose head office was in Sharpington by Sea while Samantha Barraclough was approaching her 28th birthday and was a project consultant for the family business, Barraclough Ventures and the project that Samantha’s company was heading up was the regeneration of the former Industrial Power House of the county, Northchapel.

 

The love that bloomed between Samantha Barraclough and Neil Etherington in Abbottsford in June went from strength to strength

 

However things had not been all plain sailing since they had met, though not between the two of them they were completely simpatico.

The problems stemmed from a different quarter entirely and from those who should have been the most delighted for them, their close friends and family.

Neil and Samantha were the victims of snobbery, inverted and otherwise.

Her family thought she had set her sights to low while his nearest and dearest believed he had set his too high.

Her friends thought he was common while his thought she was a snob.

Only their closest friends Jonathon Hardman and Isabelle Decoene stuck by them.

 

So as a result they had found it difficult to fit inside each other’s worlds, but the couple believed that love will out and Samantha drew a line under the difficulties when she said

“If you can’t live in my world and I can’t live in yours we shall just have to make a world of our own”

If he hadn’t been in love with her already he certainly would have been after that speech.

 

However there were still some events that she was required to attend as a representative of the company, such as the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball which was why he was at home alone in Brocklington on Saturday night.

He spent the day in the garden pottering about and the evening watching TV but by ten o’clock he was feeling a bit restless so he decided to take a shower then he would have a nightcap and go to bed.

 

Although she had suggested they create a world their own there were still some events that she was required to attend as a representative of the company, such as the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball which was why he was at home alone in Brocklington on Saturday night.

He spent the day in the garden pottering about and the evening watching TV but by ten o’clock he was feeling a bit restless so he decided to take a shower then he would have a nightcap and go to bed.

 

It was about half an hour later as he was coming down the stairs when the doorbell rang.

He had no idea who it might be, he certainly wasn’t expecting anyone and when he opened the door he was surprised to see Samantha standing on the doorstep in full evening wear and over her shoulder he could see a taxi pulling away.

“Hello” he said with genuine surprise

“Hello Darling” Samantha said and kissed him,

“Can I come in then?”

“Of course” he said fussily “come in, come in”

Once inside she slipped off her stole and walked through to the lounge looking absolutely gorgeous in a full-length black evening dress which was as usual perfectly accessorized with long elbow length gloves and clutch purse, etcetera, and he imagined her to be fully accessorized under the dress as well.

“You’re a bit overdressed for Brocklington” he observed while mentally undressing her.

“I know” Samantha said as she sat down “I was going to the Ball but…”

“But?” he asked

“I couldn’t face everyone quizzing me”

“About what?” he quizzed

“About my choice in men” she replied

“I’m sorry,” he said inadequately

“I’m not” Samantha said defiantly “I would rather be here with you”

And then she kissed him again

“So Cinders didn’t go to the ball” she added 

“I prefer you to be here as well” he admitted

“And you’re welcome to wine and dine here”

“Well thank you kind sir” Sam said “Lead me to the wine”

Neil walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge and took out an open bottle of wine and two large wine glasses from the cupboard and filled them.

But before he returned to the lounge Samantha walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you” she said

“That’s good, I wouldn’t want a woman to spend the night with me who didn’t love me” Neil said

“You’re being a bit presumptive” Sam said

“Well I did see the taxi drive away” he retorted

“I can easily call another one” Sam added

“Oh ok then” Neil responded “I’ll just get the phone”

“Don’t you dare” Sam exclaimed and playfully punched his back and he turned around to face her

“Ok you can stay” Neil said and kissed her “But only because I love you”