Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 14 – New Year’s Eve

Jack considered going to the club to celebrate New Year’s Eve, it was always a busy day and a very lively night but he didn’t really want to, so he stayed at home and sulked and spent much of the day in reflective mood and felt more than a little saddened by Kayleigh’s absence.
The village was shrouded in freezing fog which did little to lift his spirits so he just slobbed around the house and watched old movies,
Not that he was particular big on New Year’s Eve, it was not a time that held any deep significance for him and he was normally feeling a bit jaded by the time it arrived anyway but it was a good earner at the club and that year was certainly going to be no exception
He would have preferred to have spent the evening in the same vein as he had recently, another cosy and intimate day with Kayleigh would have been lovely but there was a very good reason why she couldn’t be with him.
She wasn’t really a New Year’s Eve person either.

Jack wasn’t the only villager facing the prospect of seeing the New Year in alone, Church warden Tony Vassell, church organist Ian Riley and Plaxton Park Matron and all round good egg, Gemma Frost were in the same boat although that wasn’t the plan.
Tony and Ian were supposed to be spending the evening together but during the afternoon Ian received a phone call from Reverend Massey about a change to the New Year’s Day service.
He wanted to include The 18th Hymn for New Year’s Day by Charles Wesley in the service, and Ian was not entirely unfamiliar with it but he hadn’t played it for a while so he wanted to practice it that evening so that left his old friend Tony on his own.

Gemma also had alternative plans for the evening which involved dinner with friends in Purplemere, it was the first New Year’s Eve she hadn’t had to work for three years, so dressed to kill in a new dress and all the accessories, hair, nails and makeover courtesy of Mazzone’s, she walked down the drive and unlocked the car .
“Hi Gemma” Tony Vassell said, making her jump
“Oh goodness” she exclaimed
Tony was just going back in the house after retrieving his book from the car.
After a brief greeting Gemma got in her car and Tony went indoors so wasn’t there to witness the fact that her car wouldn’t start.
“Bollocks” she shouted before getting out of the car again and going back in doors.
First she phoned the RAC but she was told it would be at least 2 hours before they could get out to her, so she then phoned a taxi to take her to Purplemere but she couldn’t get one of those either.

Meanwhile at St Lucy’s church Ian Riley was sat at the organ stubbornly practicing the troublesome piece by Wesley and was cursing Reverend Massey for his last minute change to the New Year program and wished he was at Tony’s place drinking a quality whisky while beating him at chess.
Ian Riley was thin and pale with sandy hair, sharp featured and keen eyed, not entirely unlike a bird in appearance, he was 45 year old and still lived in the house he was born in with his Niece Elise who was only 10 years younger than him, the only child of his elder brother.
When he was 22 years old Elise’s parents were killed in a car crash so Ian suddenly had a 12 year old child that he had to raise.
But he took it in his stride and as they had lived in the same house all of her life they were able to be there for each other without the need to get to know a stranger.
She was now in her mid-thirties and apart from five years living in Purplemere she had lived her whole life in Turnoak with her Uncle and he was delighted when she chose to move back to the village after her divorce.
It was assumed by those who didn’t know him very well that she was the reason he hadn’t married but that was only partly true
Ian had his heart broken when he was young which was why he settled in a Village where he thought he would be safe, where he could indulge his love of music as the Church organist and play chess with his best friend Tony Vassell.

Like Gemma Frost, Tony Vassell was forty six years old and divorced and was born and bred in Turnoak in fact they had known each since nursery school and he also worked up at Plaxton Park though his job was in administration.
The other thing they had in common was the fact that they fancied the pants off each other.
Tony though could do nothing about it because he thought that romantically Gemma was so far out of his league and would never give him a second look in that regard.
After all he was overweight, balding and had the physique of a couch potato even though he was far from being one, and what hair hadn’t fallen out had gone grey.
Whereas she was lovely, a short rotund redhead with a heart as big as her bust size and the persona of one of the angels, so he just admired his neighbour from a distance.

Meanwhile as Gemma stood in front of her hall mirror she smiled at her reflection and winked.
“This is providence” she said out loud “and it would be a shame to waste this outfit”

Martina Wingrove was second in command to Gary Spiers at his company Sound in Spiers and was staying at her sister Anne’s house in Clarence for the New Year celebrations but she told Anne that she needed to go to St Lucy’s in Turnoak to tweak the sound system to make sure everything was all set for the next day.
But that was not entirely true, she needed to go Turnoak that was certainly true but the real reason was that she wanted to see Paul Massey.
So Anne dropped her off just after lunch and was picking her up again at 9 o’clock from St Lucy’s.
She was to the casual observer unmistakable Martina’s sister, just a different build she was also tall, but was slight to Martina’s curvy and her eyes were a darker blue and her straw coloured hair was straight rather than curly and was less unruly.
However what she didn’t know at the time she arrived to collect her sister, was that Martina was in the Vestry kissing Paul Massey.
What she did find though was someone doing battle with a piece by Wesley.
Anne was also an accomplished organist and often played at her church in Clarence, Mary of Bethany.
So as there was no sign of her sister she decided to sit down in one of the pews and listened to the music and when the piece was finished she nodded and smiled and when he emerged from behind the curtain she said
“You really nailed it that time”
“Oh bless me” he said “you scared me”
“Sorry” Anne said and giggled
“That’s ok I just didn’t know there was anyone else here” he said
“How come you’re practising this late on New Year’s Eve?” she asked
“Ah it was a last minute inclusion” he said and raised his eyebrows “And I needed to reacquaint myself with it”
“That makes sense then” Anne said “It’s a tricky piece if you haven’t played it in a while”
“Do you play then?” he asked with genuine interest and sat on the pew in front of her
“Yes I play at St Mary of Bethany” she replied
“In Clarence?”
“Yes” she replied “but alas our organ is being renovated at the moment”
“Oh dear, how long for?”
“We are hopeful it will be completed in time for Easter” she said wistfully “I will be quite rusty by then”
“Would you like to play now?” he asked hopefully, it was so rare for him to have someone to talk to about music let alone church music and even rarer than that, organ music
“Oh yes please” she replied enthusiastically

Ian was sat in a pew with his eyes closed and moving his hands and fingers as if he were playing it when he was discovered
“Now that’s clever Ian” Reverend Massey said “You don’t even need to touch the keys and you can make it sing”
“I wish I could play that well” he said modestly
“So who is playing?” he asked
“It’s Anne isn’t it” Martina said “My sister”
“Oh she’s your sister?” Ian said noticing the resemblance for the first time.
A few minutes later the music stopped and Anne’s face appeared from around the curtain
“Oh there you are” she said addressing Martina “Ian kindly let me play…” she began but stopped herself because she thought completing the sentence with “with his organ” didn’t sound quite right.
“So have you finished playing?” Martina asked with a grin knowing exactly where Anne’s sentence was heading
“I wouldn’t mind a quick two hander” she said “if Ian is amenable”
And Martina dissolved into fits of laughter and Paul had to guide her away.
Ian was completely oblivious to the double entendre, which went straight over his head, but then he was just pleased to have been asked to play a duet by such an accomplished organist.
So Anne and Ian sat at the Church organ and played a two hander while Paul calmed Martina down at the back of the nave by kissing her again.

Gemma Frost had unfortunately been thwarted in her plans for the night due to car trouble.
She was going to spend the evening having dinner with friends in Purplemere, which was the first New Year’s Eve she hadn’t had to work for three years, so she was dressed to kill in a new dress and all the accessories, hair, nails and makeover courtesy of Mazzone’s,
So in essence she was all dressed up with know where to go, that was until she decided to pay a surprise visit on her neighbour Tony Vassell after a couple of large white wines for Dutch courage.

Having completed their duet on the organ Ian and Anne walked slowly through the nave and found Martina and Paul waiting sheepishly by the door.
“Well we had better get going if we’re going to get home in time for Big Ben” Anne said
“Well you’re more than welcome to see in the New Year at Chez Riley” Ian said and before Anne had the opportunity to answer Martina said
“What a great idea, lead the way”
Which had she been allowed to respond herself Anne would have responded likewise.

In the absence of his best friend and chess partner, Tony settled down to a quite evening on his own and apart from bumping into the lovely Gemma when he was putting the rubbish out he hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone.
He had his favourite book to hand, the complete collection of Christmas books by Charles Dickens and he read for about an hour, then he made himself a sandwich and watched TV as he ate it.
It was about an hour later as he was taking his dirty plate to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
He had no idea who it might be, he certainly wasn’t expecting anyone.
When he opened the door he was surprised to see Gemma Frost standing on the doorstep.
“Hello” he said with genuine surprise
“Hello Tony” Gemma said, “Can I come in? It’s a bit chilly”
“Of course you can” he said fussily “come in, come in”
Once inside she slipped off her coat and walked through to the lounge and Tony thought she looked absolutely gorgeous in her knee-length blue cocktail dress, and she was perfectly accessorized to boot.
“You look lovely” he observed
“Thank you” Gemma said as she sat down “I was going out to dinner in Purplemere but…”
“But?” he asked
“The car broke down” she replied
“Oh no” he exclaimed
“I’m afraid so” she said “And it’s the first New Year’s Eve I’ve had off for three years”
“Oh that’s not fair, why didn’t you knock?” he said “I would have driven you into Purplemere”
“Would you?” she asked
“Yes”
“That’s really sweet” she said and blushed
“So are you on your own tonight then?” Tony asked
“Yes the boys have gone to a party” she replied
“Well I’m on my own as well so would you like to see the New Year in with me?” Tony asked
“I would love too” she replied “in fact I was hoping you’d ask”
“Great I’ll get us a drink then” he said “is wine ok?”
“Perfect” she replied

As Martina and Paul walked up from the church they were desperate to hold hands but they couldn’t do so in public at that moment, she hadn’t even told her sister Anne about her and Paul, although several of her inner circle, as well as most of the members of St Lucy’s Church committee, were aware that they were smitten.
But at that precise moment Anne’s thoughts were not concerned with her sister she was giving her undivided attention to her new acquaintance, Ian Riley.

At Tony Vassell house, after several drinks, as they approached midnight Tony said
“I should be sorry,”
“Why is that?” she asked
“Because you missed out on dinner with your friends” he said “but I’m not in fact I’m rather pleased I got to spend it with you”
“Why?”
“Because I could have been sitting here alone but instead I’m spending New Year’s Eve with an attractive woman, a sexy woman” he said
“Well thank you” Gemma responded and blushed and then added
“Oh look it’s nearly time, I need more wine”
“Ok” he said cursing himself for saying too much as he walked to the kitchen, then he opened the fridge and took out an open bottle of wine.
Tony then filled two large and returned to the lounge where Gemma stood up and walked towards him.
He expected her to take the wine glass from his hand but instead she walked between his outstretched hands and kissed him.
“I think this is the best New Year’s Eve I have ever spent” she said and kissed him again.

“Happy New Year” they all cheered and chinked glasses
“And new beginnings” Paul added and Ian awkwardly kissed Anne’s cheek making her blush
“I… we, have an announcement to make” Martina began
“Oh do tell” Anne urged
“Ok then” she said and took a deep breath, “Paul and I are a couple again”
“Is that it?” Anne asked
“Yes” she said with affront
“Well I already knew that” she said
“What?”
“Me too” Ian added
“Oh God, does anyone else know?” Martina asked and Paul smiled at her discomfiture
“Jack, Kayleigh, Katie, Sarah, Elise, Gemma, Tony……” Ian listed
“Ok, ok I get it” she said “But how does everyone know?”
“Oh come on we’re not blind” Anne pointed out “you look at each other like a couple of love sick cows”
“In fact you make love sick cows look cold and aloof” Ian said and he and Anne dissolved into laughter

They left Martina and Paul at Ian’s house where they could discreetly kiss good night while Ian walked with Anne to collect her car from outside the church then she drove it back to his house to collect Martina.
“There is an organ recital at Abbottsford Cathedral next weekend” he said “would you like to go?”
“Yes that would be lovely” she said “And perhaps we could have dinner while we’re there”
“That’s a great idea” Ian agreed “If you give me your number I’ll call you to firm up”
“There is a card in the glove box with all my details on” she replied
So he opened the box and took out her card and read the details for Anne Wingrove, Deputy Head at Purplemere Park Music Academy.
Ian also worked in a musical capacity but in a much more humble way in the Music department at St Hilda’s Theological College in Grangemount.
“No wonder you’re so good” he said

It was one thirty on New Year’s morning when Anne drove Martina home after Ian’s wonderful New Year.
Perhaps not the start to the year he had planned, it was supposed to be a quiet night in with a friend but he much preferred what transpired but then he began to feel guilty because his best friend Tony had had to spend the evening alone due to his absence.
However his guilt soon melted away when he saw Gemma Frost emerge from his house and a long lingering kiss on the door step followed and Ian smiled.

Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 13 – Christmastide

The next day was Christmas Eve and apart from the delivery of Christmas gifts and cards to friends and exchanging seasonal greetings with those important to him he spent the day alone as unfortunately he wouldn’t be seeing Kayleigh
She always spent the important dates, Birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, New Year’s Eve, Halloween and Valentines with Carl up at Plaxton Park even if she didn’t know if he knew she was there or not because Carl was involved in a devastating car accident that left him severely, physically and mentally disabled and in need of perpetual care and had not responded to any external stimuli.

So Jack spent the majority of the day listening to Christmas music and watching schmaltzy movies on TV but his mind kept wandering to Kayleigh and how he really wanted to be spending every moment of Christmas with her, he just didn’t know when that might be the norm.
He concluded that Kayleigh was the woman for him but in the meantime he would just have to be satisfied with the stolen moments and that day’s stolen moment was at midnight mass where they held hands in the dark.

As usual St Lucy’s was well attended for Midnight Mass, despite the bitter cold and to the great delight of everyone in attendance Reverend Katie Watson led the service.
After the mass was over they all gathered at the rear of the church and shared the peace then Jack walked Kayleigh to her house and he went home alone.

Christmas morning began with a frosty glaze decorating the rooftops and lightly dusting the evergreens.
And as the bells rang out to celebrate the birth of the Lord the joyous faithful arrived under a clear blue sky.
It was a most glorious Christmas morning and Jacks spirits were high as he knocked for Kayleigh and she invited him in for a Christmas kiss, although her would have preferred to kiss her lovingly in the sunshine, before they walked down to St Lucy’s to join the rest of the congregation.
It was an excellent service with Katie Watson back to her very best while Paul Massey graciously took a back seat.
Afterwards it took some while for the Church to empty as everyone wanted to share their best wishes with Katie and she was clearly overcome with all the attention.
In the days preceding Christmas she had also been inundated with invitations to share Christmas dinner and was quite overwhelmed by people’s kindness.
In the end she accepted Gemma Frost’s invitation and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas lunch with her and her sons and their other guest Jack, which although they didn’t know it at the time was to be Katie Watson’s final Christmas as the vicar of St Lucy’s.

After he left the church and said his goodbyes, Kayleigh spent the rest of the day at Plaxton Park with Carl and Jack went to Gemma’s where he ate too much, drank too much and left just before he’d over stayed his welcome but still returned home quite late to find Kayleigh in his bed.

On Boxing Day all of Jacks closest friends were invited to all corners of the county, by either family or friends even Kayleigh had to spend the day and night in Roespring with her grandparents so he spent the day alone.
He couldn’t even go to the club to kill time as it was shut, so in contrast to the previous few weeks it was a very quiet and uneventful day but although he missed Kayleigh it gave him time to recover from the overindulgences of the preceding days and had a quieter day of television and slobbery.

From the moment he got up the next day he began looking forward to Kayleigh’s return unfortunately the weather had taken a turn for the worse according to the BBC Breakfast weather with heavy snow moving across from the east.
He had spoken to Kayleigh just before she set off from her grandparents and the snow hadn’t reached Roespring at that stage, they spoke several times before during the journey and she managed to avoid the snow in the main and reached Nettlefield in good time and she had got some way south before the weather caught up to her just after Millmoor, but she had stop outside the Oakham’s and take refuge from the worst of the storm at the Motorway services.
But Jack had no way of knowing that because he had lost touch with her about half an hour before she had to stop because her phone died, so he didn’t know where she was or even where she was coming from for that matter, the news bulletins talked a lot about road closures and diversions.
He was beside himself with worry all day and he kept ringing her phone but all he could do was leave voice mail after voice mail as she wasn’t picking up.
But just before seven o’clock he got a call from a land line number he didn’t recognize and it was Kayleigh.
“Thank God” he exclaimed “Are you ok?”
Kayleigh went on to explain about her phone dying and how she had to queue for more than two hours just to use the public phone.
But the good news was that they had just had word that the snow ploughs had the motorway open again and they would be on the move very soon and not to worry.

Kayleigh finally arrived back in Turnoak a little after eleven o’clock with the snow falling fast again and Jack was looking out the window, as he had been for the previous 90 minutes, when he saw her car pull up, and he was on his feet and sprinting for the front door in a Nano second and was standing on the doorstep before she had even opened the car door.

She slammed the door and ran towards him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her and said
“Thank God you’re here safe”
“Safe in your arms” she said and held him tightly.
“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you” he said “I was so scared”

Due to the lateness of the hour and the treacherous conditions and the fact that she had been on the road all day having left Roespring 16 hours earlier, he insisted he should unloaded her bags and take them next door.
“No that can wait until morning, I want to sleep in your arms tonight”

They had a blissfully undisturbed night’s sleep as a result they awoke the next morning rested and very, very contented.
“Morning” he said and kissed the top of her head “Sleep well?”
“Good morning darling” she replied as she rolled over and hugged him “Yes I slept very well”
“Me too”
“In fact only one thing could make it better”
“Oh yes?” he said
“Breakfast in bed”
“Is that right?” he retorted “Taking advantage of my hospitality eh”
“Absolutely” she giggled “but cuddles first”
And as they lay cosily embracing he thought how warm and loving Kayleigh was compared to the Ms. Frosty knickers that he met that first time shortly after he moved to Turnoak.

“It’s stopped snowing” he observed as he peered through the gap in curtains
“Never mind the weather report, where’s my breakfast” she demanded
“Yes ma’am” he said feigning a tug of his forelock

After he delivered her boiled eggs and soldiers he sat and drank his coffee while she ate.
“It’s snowing again” he said
“I suppose I’d better make a move shortly” she said between mouthfuls, “and get while the going is good”

So after breakfast while Jack was outside retrieving her bags from her snow covered car Kayleigh returned to her own house unseen via the kitchen door then he carried them to the house and knocked on the front door.
“Well thank you kind sir” she said then she added in a whisper
“I will see you later, and it’s my turn to make you breakfast in bed”

After breakfast in bed at Kayleigh’s the next morning they spent the rest of the day in each other’s company.
The village was still in the grip of winter and was very quiet because shortly after Kayleigh travelled along it, the road to the village was closed by a snow drift as a result none of their other friends made it back to Turnoak.
The day was a fairly mundane affair as Kayleigh needed to do her washing and ironing so while he kept her company he sat and watched TV.

However the mundanity of the day was more than compensated for by the cosy interludes, which were numerous, and as far from the mundane as it was possible to get.
They wanted to make the most of the time they had to themselves which would be up all too soon as when he left her house on the morning of the 30th of December she was spending the rest of that day at the Vicarage with Katie Watson and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with her husband.

Love and Admiration # 2

I LIE IN THE FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN

I lie in the first light of dawn
Alone, thinking of her,
Wishing her next to me
Feeling her breath
Against my skin
Her breasts
Pressed against my flesh
In the quiet of the new day
Hearing her breathing
I ache for her touch
I long for her soft body
Against mine
In the dawns pale light
And in the darkness
I want her
I want her so much,
But she is gone
She is mine no more
Never again will my hands
Caress her form
Never again will I hear
Her murmur and sigh in pleasure
She is mine no more
My angel of the night
Has left my side
And dwells now
With others of her kind

BUTTERFLY SUMMER

I remember well, when we were young
And all those long halcyon days
We spent so many joyful hours
Just idling our time away
Down on her dad’s farm.
They were such happy lazy days
Swinging on that old rustic gate
Fishing in the mill pond,
Pooh sticks on the stream
And roaming the countryside
With nothing particular to do
And a world of time to do it in.
They were truly wonderful days
Pleasure filled days, innocent days,
Before the end of childhood
But that was before those amazing weeks
Of that one very special summer,
So many summers ago now,
When she transformed before my eyes,
A little more each day, into something new
Like a butterfly, emerging from its cocoon
Spreading its glorious wings in the sun
Displaying a previously unseen beauty.
A wonderful transformation
When she magically changed
From the cutely naive country girl,
An awkward and ungainly tomboy,
Into an altogether more graceful being
A beautiful young woman,
Though I was fond of the grubby faced girl
With the unruly hair, wispy and uncombed
But fondness paled and I very soon fell in love
With the beautiful butterfly that had replace her
And with the emergence of the butterfly girl
Possessed of all the wondrous beauty
Of the first flower of spring
We trod an unfamiliar path
And left our childish games behind
Taking our first tentative steps towards love,
A love that was a stranger to us, an alien thing
Yet we stepped eagerly into its turbulent sea
And immersed ourselves in its waters
We knew at once that excitement of first love
When joy was all we could see
And all of our thoughts were only for each other
Sweet moments spent in blissful adoration
Until love was burnt deeply on our souls.
Now when we walk the familiar places
Of our distant youth, as we so often do
We can stand in that very spot
Where first I beheld the butterfly
Resplendent in the sunlight
And say to her with heartfelt sincerity
That I love her still

OUR FIRST MEETING WAS BENEATH

Our first meeting was beneath
A sky of perfect blue
When a shaft of summer sun
Set your copper hair ablaze
Unspoken smiles were exchanged
Followed by silent acknowledgement
And love bloomed like a desert flower
After fall of summer rain

HAIR OF JET

Hair of jet
Falls untamed
Over alabaster skin
Stark in contrast
Like a ravens wing
Against fresh snow

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (Rewrite)

Harry's mind wandered
As he wended his way
Through crowded streets
To a special someone
Anna was his new love
And he would see her that night
As he hurried along
He could smell her hair
Feel the softness of her skin
He could even taste her
And he longed for her
As he remembered
Her smile, her kiss
Her writhing body
Then Harry stepped off the curb
Oblivious to the danger
And was struck
By a car unseen
Tossing him like a rag doll
Depositing him unceremoniously
Between car and gutter

His body lay broken
And bleeding
Where it came to rest
On the unforgiving street
And the last image in his mind
Was not the killer car
But Anna his new love
As his life ebbed away
His heart beat its last
The paramedic's best efforts
Were to no avail

A moment's carelessness
Had cost a young life
And his heart beat no more
In his broken body
But would beat once more
In another's chest
And reanimate
To bring new hope
To rekindle another's existence
Bringing a new beginning for Sally
Who, like a phoenix
Rises from the ashes
Of her frailty at the price
Of another families grief

THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE

Like the star-crossed lovers,
Romeo and Juliet,
They come from feuding kin
And must hide their love
From those closest to them,
So they meet in secret
Beside the quiet lake
At their secret place
To share a clandestine love
Where the only sounds,
Are of the faintest breeze
Disturbing the lofty tree tops
A gentle lapping of water
Against the bank
And ducks squabbling on the lake
But despite the quiet
They are fearful of discovery
As they embrace hidden from view
Beneath a weeping willow tree,
Its leafy pendulous branches
Trail down into the water
Where, stirred by the gentle breeze
They dip in an out of the water
Like the toes of a reluctant bather.
Despite their fear, the lovers
Kiss in the quiet shade
And feel at once renewed
No words are spoken
Their language is of caress and kiss
Such a tender converse
With limitless vocabulary
And languid pronunciation
Every syllable well employed
And when the final paragraph is reached
They end with perfect punctuation
And bask in its afterglow
Until they must once again stir
From their lovers languor
And sadly tread separate paths
To re-join their warring tribes
Adopting adversarial manners
No knowing looks to be exchanged
No casual brushing past
When for an exquisite moment
A hand might touch a hand
They must remain entrenched
With their warring clans
Until they can once again
Embrace beneath the weeping willow tree

Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 12 – The Secret Songbird

After all his guests had left, despite the fact he had had the busiest week he could remember and he’d been up half the night he had no intention of trying to catch up on his sleep so Kayleigh drove him into Purplemere to pick up his car then she went to visit Carl up at Plaxton Park while Jack went home and spent his time tidying the house and to keep him going he put on some music.
And as often was the case the album he selected was “Twilights love” by the love of his life, Kayleigh Parkes.
It was a massive hit in the early 1990’s and was a platinum selling album and everyone expected her to follow it up with more of the same but a second album never materialized because she stopped recording and performing after her husband Carl’s tragic accident.

He finished the tidying and sat down with a cup of coffee and despite his intention not to do so, he promptly dropped off and he had a lovely restful dream filled sleep, and he was dreaming about Kayleigh.
It was a lovely dream and it was so vivid that he imagined he could feel her soft lips on his but when he opened his eyes, his beautiful sweet Kayleigh was kissing him.
She smiled at him when she realized he was awake and then she got up and turned off the music and said with a laugh
“Why are you listening to this rubbish?”
“Because I love it” he said “and the singer used to be really sexy”
“Used to be?” she said and jumped on him and began tickling him mercilessly
“She used you be sexy did she?”
“Ok, ok, she’s still sexy” he said

As they sat on the sofa in each other’s arms he said
“I’d love to hear you sing again”
“No, no” she insisted
“But you could do a set at the club” he said “You have such a lovely voice”
“Honestly, have you been talking to Katie” she retorted “She’s always on at me to sing again, but those days are over”
After a moment or two he said
“You could still play” he said “or write? You used to write great songs”
“I do” she replied
“What?”
“I do still play and write and…” she said “record”
“You’re kidding” he said
“Come on I’ll show you” Kayleigh said and took his hand

She led him into her house, where he had been many times before, but went through the kitchen and out the back door and down to the end of the garden and into a brick built out building and he gasped when he saw it was fitted out as a recording studio.
“Wow, if Gary and Martina saw this lot they would think they’d died and gone to heaven”

“So, you write songs, you sing and play the songs, and you record the songs” he said
“Yes”
“Then what?” Jack asked
“I put them on Carl’s MP3” Kayleigh replied “I know it’s silly and I don’t know if he can actually hear them, but I like to think that he can”
“I don’t think it’s silly” Jack said and hugged her

He arose very early on Sunday morning, well before first light as a matter of fact, and felt as fresh as a daisy.
The first thing he did was to breakfast and then stripped all the beds following because of his house guests and laundered the bedding.
After he had loaded the machine and set the program to wash he went upstairs and remade the beds with fresh linen in preparation for the next impromptu visitors.
His exceptionally early start to the day enabled him to complete all his chores with ease and then after a long leisurely shower he left for church after first calling for Kayleigh.
For a change they were amongst the first to arrive and they were delighted to see Katie Watson in attendance looking much more her old self.
However Paul Massey took the Sunday service with Katie giving the sermon.
It was a great service and there was genuine warmth emanating from the congregation towards Katie and a collective relief to see her looking so well.
Afterwards the usual suspects were meeting for lunch at the Hen and Chicks, Sarah declined on religious grounds namely that she didn’t want any further communication with God on the porcelain telephone as she still hadn’t recovered from Friday nights over indulgence.
Kayleigh also declined as it was the Christmas party up at Plaxton Place.
But that Sunday Martina Wingrove, at Paul Massey’s side, were joining the Sunday lunch club for the first time.

After lunching with his friends at the pub and making merry he walked home and when he reached his front door he found standing on the doorstep, what was clearly a bottle of something in one of those decorative bottle bags, so he picked it up and read the tag.
“Have a Merry Christmas Jack, with love from a grateful Damsel in Distress”
“Well that was a nice thing to do,” he said to himself, the damsel was
Gemma Frost, who lived across the road from him and she got locked out one cold miserable afternoon.

He was in the house for about an hour before there was a knock at the door and when he opened the door, he found a tipsy Kayleigh on the other side of it, holding another bottle bag.
“Happy Christmas” she said beaming.
“Hey! Happy Christmas hon” he responded with a smile, “come in”
“Ok” she said still smiling broadly “but no funny business”
“What do you mean, no funny business” he asked as Kayleigh stepped inside
“I mean you taking advantage of me because I’m squiffy” she pointed out
“Oh I see, but you didn’t have to get me a gift,” he said to her as he took her coat.
“I didn’t get you a gift, this is mine” she said as she sat down on the sofa “I won this in the raffle, but you can help me drink it”
“I’ll get some glasses” he said

When the bottle was almost finished Kayleigh slurred
“This is the best Christmas I’ve had for years”
Tears were beginning to form in her eyes as she added
“And it’s all thanks to you”
Then she gave him a big hug and a kiss and an hour later beneath the laundered duvet on his bed he said
“So much for no funny business,”
As a result of Kayleigh’s Yuletide felicitations they were almost late for the carol singing in the village and as they went from house to house it started to snow but it was little more than a flurry really and barely even enough to qualify as a light shower.

Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 11 – The Night Out

The following day they woke together in his bed on a grey cold morning and had a lazy start to the day and after a late breakfast she slipped out into the grey to get her hair done for the night out and an hour later Jack left and drove over to the Waterside Club.

On that day Gary Spiers had the day off and slept until lunchtime, as that night was his first patrol with the Roving Angels.
He had his reservations about doing it despite the encouragement from his friends and wondered if it was really for him.
He left the house in his newly acquired uniform, worn over several layers including, Long John’s, and the stout boots and socks he purchased specially for the occasion as there was still snow on the ground.
As it was forecast to be minus 6 that night so he was going to need every stitch to keep warm, so he donned a woollen hat and scarf and gloves.
The Roving Angels had been in existence for about three years and was similar to the Street Angels, Street Pastors and other groups that had sprung up all across the UK in the previous 10 or 12 years.
They had made a really positive impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in Purplemere town centre over their first three years particularly in the general vicinity of the bars and clubs.
They provided a calming presence on the streets late at night in situations where a police uniform might have had the opposite effect.
In the two years since they began Roving Angels had contributed to a 29% fall in public place violence on the weekends.
It all began when Christian Churches in the area came together with the Police and the Borough Council to establish the Angels in Purplemere.
But it took people of faith to make it work, as with so many things in life.

To be perfectly honest he was feeling a little apprehensive about his maiden patrol as he drove to Purplemere town centre.
He was after all doing something he had never done before and patrolling the streets in the small hours was not without its risks one of which being that drunks are such unpredictable creatures.
Not to mention the fact it was a bitterly cold night and he was a bit of a wimp and it was to be a long shift starting at 10pm and possibly finishing as late as 4am.
All the bars and clubs close for the night at 3 am but the clientele have been known to hang around.

He had butterflies in his stomach when he went into the council building where the Angel volunteers congregated.
In truth Gary was nervous of meeting a bunch of strangers but when he walked in he found that he knew almost half of the assembled group one of whom was Jacey Linton.
“Gary” he said offering his hand “good to see you”
“Hi Jace” he responded taking his hand “I didn’t know you were an Angel”
“Yes” he said “since the beginning”
“Really?” he asked
“Yes” he responded proudly “three years now”
Although he had been trained he didn’t really know what to expect so Gary was quite relieved to find he was going out on the first hour, the quiet hour, with Jacey, who was a veteran.
As expected it was an uneventful maiden patrol which saw Jacey taking the lead with Gary carrying the back pack full of Flip flops, lollipops, space blankets and the first aid kit.
It was useful for him, Jacey showed him the boundaries of the patrol area and he pointed out the potential hotspots for later, he showed him all the CCTV camera locations and identified areas not covered and crucially the radio dead zones.
Also the quiet stroll gave Jacey and Gary a chance to chat.

After spending much of the day at the Waterside Club Jack Morehouse persuaded the Entertainments Manager
James Lynch to go for a drink in Purplemere and when they were happy that everything was running smoothly they left the club and Jack drove him into the centre and after parking the car they walked towards the main pedestrianized thoroughfare where the majority of Bars, Clubs and Restaurants were located which was where they bumped into Gary and Jacey coming the other way.

After the initial surprise Jacey and James talked about the club and Gary and Jack talked about the work he was doing at St Lucy’s Church in the Village but the conversation soon turned to Gary’s second in command at Sound in Spiers, Martina Wingrove and the new associate Vicar, Paul Massey.
Gary and Jack had both noticed the closeness between Martina and the Reverend and Gary said
“I’ve never seen her so smitten before”

After about five minutes the Angels continued their patrol and Jack and James went on their way towards their destination, La Florenza, not that James was aware of that.
As they approached Jack looked in through the window and spotted his quarry immediately seated at a large to the right of the entrance.
“Look who it is” Jack said
“Who? What?” James retorted
“The girls from the Village” he replied “Let’s go and say hello”
“Do we have to?” James protested but Jack was already through the door.
“Hello ladies” he said “Fancy running into you lot here”
“Fancy” Kayleigh said and laughed
“Hello James, why don’t you join us” Elise Riley said sliding along the bench seat to make room for him
“Love to” James said and sat next to her and Jack did the same beside Kayleigh
They spent an amiable hour or so together with a lot of chatter as Elise and James made eyes at each other and Kayleigh and Jack held hands under the table and a lot of wine was consumed.
As they were leaving Hannah Peters kissed Jacks cheek and said
“Thank you so much for getting me the trial at Plaxton Park”
“That’s ok” he said “But it’s up to you now”
“But it means so much because when she gets the job she can come and live with me” her sister Sarah said and kissed his other cheek

After their first uneventful hour on Patrol there was an hour of coffee and chat in the council building then Gary and Jacey went out again at midnight until 1 o’clock.
This also proved to be rather uneventful in fact Jacey said he had never known it so quiet, they concluded it must be the low temperature, so nobody was hanging around.
On their last lap around town they came upon a group of women who had just spilled out of one the restaurants and were laughing and joking with two men and were discussing if they should or shouldn’t go into one of the bars or onto a club and as they reached the periphery of the group Gary recognized the face of one of the men.
Jacey would have recognised that it was Jack as well if he hadn’t been looking intensely at the tall slim woman in the group.
He hesitated before speaking, because he didn’t want to embarrass the girl or himself but while he was wondering what best to do Jack spoke to him
“Hey Jacey” he said “Let me introduce you to everyone”

Sarah was the last one to be introduced
“Look another gorgeous man”
Sarah said a little tipsy “Oooh now we have one each”
“Yes Sarah” Hannah said dismissively already with her eye fixed firmly on Gary who said to Jack, who was the oldest member of the party
“What are you doing out this late Jack?” Gary asked “Shouldn’t you be at home drinking Horlicks?”
This was greeted with a great deal of mirth.
It was then that Jacey noticed a small group of lads lurking in the shadows watching a young girl very much the worse for drink.
“I’m sorry” he said addressing Gary while looking at Sarah “but we need to go”

They walked towards the girl and the others walked with them until they all filed into the pub, Sarah included, and Jacey watched her until the last possible moment.
“Are you on your own?” Jacey asked the drunk girl,
“I’m with Jenny” she slurred
“Where is Jenny?” Gary asked and she shrugged
“So are you going home?” Jacey asked and she nodded
“Come on then we’ll make sure you get a cab home,” he told her
“Ok” she answered
“Have you got enough money?” he asked
“Yes, I’ve got taxi fare,” she slurred
“Look” and she waved a ten-pound note at him.
“What’s it got to do with you?” a loud mouthed girl asked
“Are you a paedo?”
“That’s enough of that, move along” a bouncer said
“Come on let’s get you that cab” Gary said and he noticed the group of lads had evaporated away, probably looking for another vulnerable young woman.
“Thank you” she said and hugged them both
“You’re welcome, now you’d better get in” Gary said
But after the cab drove off with the girl Jacey radioed control and gave them the heads up to keep an eye on the bunch of lads.

As they were walking back to the council offices Gary said
“So you liked Sarah didn’t you?”
“Yes” he replied
“She isn’t normally that flirty” Gary added
“You know her then” Jacey said as they approached the office.
“Yes” he replied, “Sarah Peters, she lives in Turnoak village, she’s the verger at St Lucy’s church”

They were both mightily relieved to get back inside at one o’clock, they were frozen.
Gary didn’t know how the girls could walk around half naked in that weather.
It took almost all the next hour to thaw out and they were not looking forward to another shift and they were mightily relieved when the Supervisor announced that they would be finishing at 3am.
Because it was so cold no one was hanging around to cause trouble so their final patrol was deemed unnecessary.

With the news that they were no longer needed Jacey and Gary said their farewells and headed out towards the car park.
They were parked within a few cars of each other and after a brief chat Jacey got in his and would have driven out of the car park before Gary had even started the engine had he not got a phone call.

Once the engine had warmed up a bit and hot air started to blow through the vents he got out and took off his coat and fleece.
He knew from the journey over, that once the heater got running full throttle it would be too hot with them on.
But before he got back in he noticed the Jacey was still there so he walked over to make sure everything was ok.
“Ok we’ll see you up by the station” he said and put his phone on the seat and turned to Gary and said
“It looks like our services are required”

As he drove out of the car park the car was toasty warm and he followed Jacey who took the route that took them past the railway station and the taxi rank and as they reached the former he spotted some familiar figures staggering towards the latter.
They pulled up just ahead of them and wound down the window.
“Do you want a lift?” Gary called and Hannah was the first to respond and got in the passenger seat, and when she got in the car he noticed she was shivering so he reached over to the back seat and grabbed his fleece
“Put that around you” he suggested
Ok” she said, “Oooh it’s still warm”
Then he gave her his coat and put it over her legs and lap and tucked it around her just as Kayleigh and Jack got in the back.

In Jacey’s car the uncharacteristically flirty Verger Sarah called shotgun on the passenger seat although James and Elise were more than happy with the backseat.

On the journey back to the village Gary gave Hannah his almost undivided attention apart from the occasional glance in the rear view mirror at Jack and Kayleigh who were sitting very close together on the back seat although he couldn’t see that they were holding hands underneath her folded coat.

When they reached the Village Jacey pulled up outside White Rose Cottage and Gary parked behind and as soon as he pulled on the hand brake Sarah leapt into his arms.
“Oh Jacey you are my hero” she slurred, “You should get a reward”
“No need for tha...” he began but she had passed out
“Oh dear” Jacey said and sat her up before getting out where
Jack and Kayleigh were already out and on the doorstep.
“Is Sarah not getting out?” Jack asked
“She’s already out” he replied
“What?” Kayleigh asked looking around “Where?”
“She’s still in the car but she’s out alright, like a light” he said and laughed
When the occupants of Gary’s car emerged, they all got out safely though Elise was feeling no pain at all.
“Oh dear” Jack said “We certainly can’t take her home in that state”
“Definitely not” Kayleigh agreed
“Well everyone can stay here, I’ve got 5 bedrooms after all” Jack said
“Come on let’s get the wounded inside, and nightcaps for everyone else”
“Not for me I need to get going” Jacey said “it’s getting late”
“Nonsense you and Gary can stay over too” he insisted
“Oh alright” he said resignedly and set about carrying the drunken Sarah into the house.
Not an easy task even though she was barely eight stones, in the end he chose the fireman’s lift technique, which was the easiest once he got her out of the car and then he took her straight up the stairs and deposited her on the bed in one of the spare rooms.

After nightcaps Hannah shared the second bedroom with the snoring Sarah as it was an en suite, Elise was in the small room, Gary and Jacey had a room each and James slept on the sofa in the lounge.
Jack having a houseful of guests kept his own room but he slept at Kayleigh’s.

It was just after eight the next morning when Jack awakened and sneaked back into White Rose Cottage.
He would have loved to have stayed cuddled up under the duvet with Kayleigh but he knew James and Jacey would be up and about early because they had to touch base at the Club and make sure everything was on track for the Saturday night show.
But they didn’t make an appearance until after 9 o’clock, Jacey was first and just looked tired because he only had the one drink and James emerged from the lounge 10 minutes later looking a little green around the gills, but having arrived in the kitchen late, neither of them seemed eager to get going, obviously because they wanted to see their respective girls before they left.

They were all sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee when Gary joined them looking very pleased with himself then Hannah appeared looking as fresh as a daisy which was amazing considering what she’d put down her neck.
But then came the serious drinkers just before 11 o’clock firstly Elise walked in sheepishly and sat down next to James and put her head on his shoulder
“I’m sorry James” Elise whispered
“What for?” he asked
“For being a drunken bum.” she said “and embarrassing myself”
“Don’t be silly” he said
“Am I forgiven then?” she asked
“Of course” he replied “but the next time we go out perhaps just the two of us”
“The next time?” she asked
“Yes”
“I like the sound of that” she said and kissed him

A few minutes later Kayleigh arrived through one door and Sarah through another and the latter looked like death warmed over.
“Good God” Kayleigh said
“Heavens” exclaimed Jacey
“Right, I figured someone would be in need of a remedy” said Kayleigh taking charge.
“I have just the thing for what ails you Sarah”
And she rummaged in her bag and fished out a medicine bottle with a dirty brown substance in it.
“I’ll try anything” Sarah said pitifully about to sit on a kitchen chair
“No don’t sit” Kayleigh commanded, “You need to be ready to move”
She handed the glass bottle to Sarah and said
“Take a good slug of that”
“And then what?” asked Sarah
“You’ll know what” Kayleigh said
Sarah took a good long pull on the bottle and then licked her lips before saying
“That’s not as bad as it lo….”
She never finished the sentence as she turned a funny shade of puce and headed for the toilet.
The noises that came from behind the toilet door are best not described but left to the imagination.
When she emerged some ten minutes later she looked more like her old self.
Another twenty minutes after that she was fit to be seen in church.

Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 10 – The Busy Season

In the week following he saw very little of Kayleigh but he didn’t have time to miss her as his feet barely touched the floor.
He was spurred on by his mother’s words to him when he was a boy, which reverberated in his head, like a mantra.
“You should give more of yourself, if everyone gave one hour a week, what a change that would make to the world”
Which was something he couldn’t argue with back then and could argue with it now even less which was why he threw himself into it totally and agreed to do everything he was asked without question.

His busy week started on the morning of the third Sunday of advent where he was involved as a greeter, Katie Watson wasn’t well enough for the service but she did put in an appearance for the carol singing at St Lucy’s that evening looking pale and wan.
She was under strict instructions from Dr Anderson not to attend any of the usual clutch of seasonal outdoor events, which although she was most unhappy about it she thankfully did as she was told as winter had arrived in Turnoak with a vengeance.

On Monday it was his turn to man the Soup Kitchen in Purplemere on a bitter cold night, it was his first time there, and what an eye opener it was.
He was absolutely staggered firstly by the number and variety of homeless people in a relatively small town and secondly by how human beings could survive living at the mercy of the elements.
Some of them, the lucky ones, they were able to place in hostels or shelters but for the rest all they could do was give them hot food and a blanket.
He had clearly found a deserving recipient for some of the money his Uncle Daniel had left him.

He slept in until lunch time the following day and reflected on how lucky he was to have a comfortable home and a roof over his head.
On Tuesday night he was again out on the streets of Purplemere this time with the Christmas Charity Wagon.
It was an old brewer’s dray pulled by two white shire horses.
The whole thing was bedecked with tinsel and lights and carried on the back a multidenominational choir while the rest of the volunteers went from door to door, as the wagon drove around the town, collecting donations in plastic buckets and handing out sweets to the children, there were a number of faces he recognized amongst there number, Gemma Frost, Sarah Peters, and Elise Riley to name but three.

On Wednesday afternoon it was The Santa Express, which was a renovated steam engine and coaches, which ran from Sharping St Mary station to a secret location where Santa was waiting in his grotto.
It picked up the local children and their parents late afternoon so that they arrived at the grotto in darkness, in order to make the most of the spectacular lights.
It was Jack’s responsibility to deliver the family’s to Sharping St Mary on the coach, ensuring firstly that everyone was accounted for before departure and more importantly that he had the same number of people on the return journey.
The kids were going crazy with excitement and Jack had to confess he found it quite exciting himself.
But his job on the trip was to make sure none of the over excited little darlings fell off the train.
Karen Clarke, among others from the committee were also present and at one point she managed to trap Jack between the carriages armed with a bunch of mistletoe and only when she had satisfied herself at the pagan ritual she let him go, he was mightily relieved that she didn’t have a mouth full of pins like the last time he had seen her, when she was altering costumes in the Church Hall.
Also helping on the trip were Reverend Massey and to his surprise Martina Wingrove, Paul and Martina seemed to have become inseparable in the short time since he introduced them, or more accurately reintroduced them, although he didn’t know that at the time.
Jack had never believed in love at first sight or in soul mates, he thought them rather fanciful notions the stuff of romantic fiction and sentimental movies.
That was until he first lay eyes on Kayleigh, and when he introduced Martina and Paul and they were instantly smitten, but he had come to the conclusion much earlier that anything can happen in Turnoak.
Afterwards when he saw them together, they were like two halves of a different whole, each of them was the missing piece in the others puzzle.
Of course he was not privy to the fact that they were old flames so it wasn’t love at first sight, but it was unmistakably love.
As he watched them together he remembered a long ago conversation he once had with her when she said
“I’m not looking for a life partner”
Well Jack thought she had found one whether she was looking or not.

Now if the kids were excited on the way to the grotto then judging by the decibel level they were even more so on the way back but by the time they got on the coach they were a spent force and the coach ride back to the village was very peaceful.

On Thursday he had nothing planned other than to treat it as his day off.
But it was also the nativity play at St Lucy’s School that evening and shortly after breakfast he took a phone call asking if he could help out because they were shorthanded due to illness.
He really could have done with a restful day but he was needed, and he liked being needed so he did a machine full of laundry and made lunch for himself and Kayleigh and they finally had an engaging conversation about his inheritance and what to do with it.

Shortly after lunch Reverend Paul Massey had to go and visit a parishioner, it sounded like it was going to be a waste of his time, however he knew as he was the new man at St Lucy’s he had to earn the trust of his flock even if he had been asked to pop round because an octogenarian couldn’t get the web cam to work on her laptop.
Paul knew it probably meant that she had disabled it by accident but he had to go out in the cold just to tick a box.
The temperature hadn’t got above freezing all day and his car was covered in frost and ice so he decided to walk on the basis that he should be able to walk there and back in the time it would take to sufficiently defrost the car.

As he suspected Mrs. Nelson had accidentally disabled the web cam so he worked his magic and went back out into the cold afternoon air and by the time he got down the path it had started snowing and by the time he reached the main road it was coming down hard and fast.
It was coming down so rapidly that visibility was instantly reduced to zero.
It was so disorienting that he couldn’t have found his way back to Mrs Nelson’s house despite being no more than 50 yards away.
So he inched his way along the footpath tucking up close to hedges, picket fences and garden walls so he didn’t wander off course.
When he reached the end of a row of houses he had to take a leap of faith, as he couldn’t see the other side of the road.
As he trudged onward he realized he had gone off course because he hadn’t reached the other side.
Paul had no idea how far he had gone, he had no point of reference, so he decided the best course of action was to veer left to try and find the footpath again.
Unfortunately he had no idea how far left to go or for that matter how far left he had already gone.
He wasn’t that familiar with Turnoak in crystal clear visibility let alone in a blizzard and Paul was just beginning to panic when he tripped on a curb stone and crashed into another lost soul and they fell to the floor in an untidy heap.

Martina Wingrove was working alone at St Lucy’s installing a new control desk and was totally oblivious to the weather until she stepped outside, and it was snowing.
She didn’t particularly want to go out in it but she really wanted a sandwich and a drink and Stephenson’s Corner shop was only about a hundred yard away.
So she zipped up her coat and pulled up her collar and set off down the road but she only got halfway to the shop before the snow fell thick and fast and had trouble seeing her way and a couple of minutes later she crashed into someone and they fell unceremoniously to the floor.

When Paul got to his feet he found he was outside Stephenson’s
“I’m saved,” he thought as he envisaged taking refuge in the shop until the snow abated, but first he had to help the other poor traveller he had left prostrate on the snowy ground.
“I’m so sorry” he said as he grabbed a handful of coat and pulled the stricken body to its feet.
The individual muttered incoherently under their breath as they brushed themselves off and Paul got the impression his apology was not accepted and when they began to turn in his direction he was bracing himself for a volley of unchristian language but to his great surprise he found the previously stricken figure to be Martina Wingrove and the muttering scowling indignant face instantly changed to a beaming toothy smile when she recognized the face of her assailant.
“Paul” she said excitedly and then cautiously gave a long look in the direction of the shop doorway then in a quieter voice she continued
“I didn’t know it was you Vicar”
“Are you ok?” he asked
“I am now” she replied and was still looking anxiously towards the shop so he steered her around the side of the building and kissed Martina in the snow, which she reciprocated eagerly.
“Is this appropriate behaviour Vicar?” she asked “Taking advantage of a defenceless woman, what will your parishioner’s think?”
“My parishioners can’t see us” he said
“Well in that case” she said and spun him around and kissed him.
The kiss continued until the snow began to lighten and there was a risk of discovery.
“We’ll I’d better let you go” she said but kissed him once more quickly
“Regrettably yes” Paul said and they both started walking towards the shop door a respectable distance apart.
“I only came out because I was peckish” she said and giggled
“But now I’m ravenous”
“I have to admit that I’m quite hungry myself now” Paul said

At the precise moment that Paul and Martina were kissing in the snow
Jack and Kayleigh were cuddling on the sofa in White Rose Cottage when she said
“Sarah, Hannah and Elise are going for a meal in Purplemere tomorrow night and they’ve asked if I want to go with them”
“I was hoping we could go out for an intimate dinner at the Runcible Spoon” Jack said but she was a little apprehensive about them being seen
“If People see us they might think we’re on a date” she said
“We would be on a date” he pointed out
“That’s not the point” Kayleigh retorted and giggled
“Well I don’t mind if you want to go” he said “Where are you eating anyway?”
“La Florenza”
“You’re passing up on an intimate dinner for two at one of the poshest restaurants in the county, to eat at a cheesy pizza place”
He said
“Well if you just happened to be in town tonight, and just happened to be in the vicinity of La Florenza you could join us” she said seductively and nibbled his ear
“Ah is that because you’ll miss me?” he cooed
“No it’s so you can pay “money bags”” Kayleigh said and laughed

Angels, Lovers and Songbirds Chapter 09 – Helping one of the Angels

The next morning after a couple of lengthy phone calls to the club to catch up with the business side of his life Jack went out the door and took a walk in the direction of the church and discovered Gary had been true to his word, as one of the two vans parked outside the Church bore the livery of Sound in Spiers, he was tempted to go in and see how they were getting on but in truth he wouldn’t have been able to tell how they were progressing.
So he decided to go for an extended walk around the village as the previous days boozy lunch had left him feeling a bit brain fogged and he had just reached Stephenson’s Corner Shop when someone grabbed his arm, and he turned around to see it was Katie Watson.
“Hello Jack” she said
“Hello Vicar, you surprised me,” he responded then she surprised him again by giving him a bear hug which almost crushed his ribcage and then she kissed his cheek several times.
“You’ve saved my life Jack Morehouse” Katie said and hurried off towards the church and then over her shoulder she shouted
“You are my Christmas star”

When Jack walked past the church on Wednesday on his way to the Church committee meeting there was only the one van parked outside and there were a lot of strange noises emanating from inside and by Thursday lunchtime everything was set for St Lucy’s Day.

It all began once the darkness had fully descended with a celebration service and then after the church service a parade of school children from St Lucy’s school processed through the village carrying their Lucy lights and then threw them onto the bonfire to light the Lucy fire on the village green.
It’s all very pagan and a Swedish tradition originally, a mixture of the Christian and the pagan really, something that Elise Riley’s grandfather introduced to the village more than fifty years earlier.
It was believed that St Lucy’s light can lengthen the winter days.
The St Lucy’s day festival was always well attended as it’s such a unique event.
Christians from churches far and wide attended the service and a healthy crowd both church and secular turned out for the parade, even the odd humanist had been known to turn up, but to Jacks mind most humanists were odd.
Katie gave thanks to God, for all those involved and Gary Spiers in particular, for making St Lucy’s day such a great success.

For Reverend Katie Watson the second weekend of advent was a test of endurance but with the success of St Lucy’s day under her belt she approached the first leg of the marathon with renewed vigour.
The Carol Concert on Saturday night was an all ticket occasion and as always it was performed to a packed house.
The sound system was excellent and the new visual displays really came into their own.
But as successful as the concert was there was no time for Katie to rest on her laurels because the next morning brought the Sunday Service and the lighting of the second candle of advent.

After another success, with the morning service going off without a hitch, there was just time for a light lunch before she was off again for Christingle.

The Christingle Service has become ingrained in Anglican worship though its origins were in Eastern Europe.
It is a service of candle lights where very many years ago people gathered in the street, sang carols and collected gifts to help the less fortunate in the community.
It is a beautiful candle lit service of hymns, carols, recitations and bible readings, but Christingle goes beyond a candle light service and it tells a story.
A story is told with the symbolic use of the following items:
An orange, representing the world.
A red ribbon tied around the orange, to symbolize the blood of Jesus shed for his people.
Toothpicks, decorated with dried fruits and sweets are placed at the four corners of the orange, representing all the people of the world.
And a lighted candle in the centre of the orange, represents the gift of the light of Christ to the world.
It all begins in the morning at Sunday school where the children make the Christingle lights, and then they carry them proudly in procession into the church where they are lit for the service.

By Sunday evening it was over, Katie had got through it, the miracle marathon had been completed and she looked visibly relieved and hugged Kayleigh and Sarah who had been on hand at every stage of the proceedings, watching, supporting and worshipping.
It certainly had been a funny old week, a week in which Gary Spiers had saved the day, and Katie Watson’s sanity, and Katie had survived the miracle marathon and Hannah Peters had been drawn back to the church again and as a result there had been a spark of love lit in her heart as well as the flickering flame of her faith.

The following week by comparison was a quiet one but he still saw very little of Kayleigh partly because on Monday and Tuesday he chose to put in an extended appearance at the club just to make sure everything was on track, because it was the first Christmas in which he was not going to be directly involved and it would be the last time until the New Year.

As he walked in to the village on Wednesday for the Church committee meeting he saw Dr Anderson leave the vicarage and get into her car, he wasn’t sure if she saw him but she didn’t stop and as she drove away he wondered what the Doctor was doing there, after all making house calls was not in vogue and he had heard that Katie had been at the surgery only the week before.
When he got to the Church Hall he was almost the last to arrive and he found the assembled group in sombre mood.
Also in the room was a stranger who was introduced to him as the Reverend Paul Massey, a tall good-looking man a year or two younger than him.
It seemed that the stresses and strains of the previous week had taken their toll on Katie.
But by all accounts she would appear to be no more than thoroughly run down and had been advised to take a complete rest.
That was obviously the reason why Dr Anderson was leaving the vicarage.
Full bed rest for the week would hopefully put her right and she would be strong enough to participate on Sunday was the expectation.
Reverend Massey would be standing in for her wherever and whenever necessary until then.
After all there was still a busy program to get through, two more advent Sundays, midnight mass and Christmas morning itself.
The meeting moved on at a pace once they got started and they covered a good deal of ground.
One of the things covered was Jacks position on the committee, his Uncle Daniel, whose position he had been substituting, being deceased would not be returning to the committee, and as he had given a good account of himself, it was decided that it was an appropriate time for him to be made a permanent member.

For the last quarter of the meeting the committee planned to discuss the technical issues with the church audio and visual system and with this in mind, Gary Spiers was summoned to the meeting, however due to a family crisis he was unable to attend so his second in command
Martina Wingrove attended in his stead.
This was a quite acceptable substitution as it was Martina who supervised the initial work.
She was a tall striking looking young woman with an abundance of curly straw coloured hair, pale blue eyes and a curvaceous figure and when Jack introduced Martina to the Reverend Massey there was an almost instant mutual attraction and to be quite honest he and the other committee members might just as well have been absent.
And when she began her dissertation on the Church system she aimed it directly at the new reverend and it was apparent to all that her eye had clearly settled on the replacement Vicar and not only was her attentiveness not discouraged it was clearly being reciprocated .

However despite what they may have thought they were not witnessing a case of love at first sight because although none of the assembled group were aware of it the smitten couple were not strangers, far from it.
They had once been engaged to be married but that had been when they were University students, but it all went wrong, probably because they were too young, and also they both thought there was more to life than marrying the first person you fell in love with and so they parted company.
They had their adventures in the world and independently they did indeed discover that there was more to life than they realized when they were together, Paul discovered God and Martina found music.
It was ironic really because when they were together Martina was the Christian and he was a guitar strumming doubter.
Although their lives alone took very different paths one thing in those lives was a constant and that was a regret at letting the love of their life slip through their fingers.
But by the time they realized their mistakes it was too late and they had no way of knowing where the other could be found although in truth they had never lived more than 3 miles apart and if the fates had allowed they could have run into each other at any given time.
But although they were clearly still attracted to each other that was only a starting place.

After the meeting Jack reflected on how love had an uncanny knack of finding its way into people’s lives even when you weren’t looking for it.
He also reflected that he had never been so busy since he made the decision to take a back seat at the club and having thought prior to the meeting that he only had one firm commitment until the turn of the year, he now found his diary suddenly full as a result of it.
December had always traditionally been a busy one for him but this year was turning out to be an exceptionally busy one.
Then he stopped suddenly because he had remembered something his mum had once said to him.
“You should give more of yourself, if everyone gave one hour a week, what a change that would make to the world”
“I can’t argue with that mum” he said
After the meeting he went home and made himself a sandwich and sat down in front of the TV and started watching “The Bishops Wife”, which was one of his favourite Christmas movies, but he lasted no more than 10 minutes before the long blinks set in so he spent the afternoon sleeping on the couch in a fitful dreamy sleep.
And it was just when he had woken from that long afternoons snoozing and surfaced from a strange dreamland that he heard the sound of the doorbell.
The bell continued to ring as he made his way up the hall and when he opened the front door he found one of his neighbours Gemma Frost standing there soaking wet.
“Ah Jack” she said, “I am a damsel in distress”
“How can I help?” he asked
“I’m locked out” she said “and the boys won’t be back for at least an hour, could I take refuge here until they get home?”
“Yes of course” he said just being neighbourly “Come on in”
“Thanks Jack” she said as she stepped inside.
“Take your coat off,” he suggested “And I’ll put the kettle on”

When he returned she was sitting on the bottom stair taking her boots off, then she stood up and straightened her uniform.
Gemma Frost was a forty six years old divorcee and worked up at Plaxton Park as a Matron.
“Come in the kitchen” he said “You look done in”
“Yes I am rather” she admitted as she sat at the kitchen table
“Two of the nurses didn’t show up so I had to pull another double shift”
“Does that happen a lot?” he asked
“More often than I’d like” she said “And I’ll be working all Christmas if I can get some reliable cover”
“Really?”
“I’m afraid so” she said
“Well Christmas might have come early for you then” he said
“Do you want another cup?” he asked and Gemma checked her watch before replying
“Yes please, but I must have a pee first”
“Ok, I’ll take it through to the lounge” he said
He was sitting on the sofa when she returned, she was a short rotund woman with a heart as big as her bust size and she was definitely one of the angels.
He knew that as a Matron up at Plaxton Park she didn’t have to stay and cover for a no show nurse but she could never compromise on the care for her patients.

Over a second cup of coffee Jack explained about the Verger’s sister, Hannah, Gemma knew Sarah Peters obviously from church and the Doctors Surgery, where she was the receptionist, but she didn’t know her sister although she had seen them together from time to time.
“If she can do a shift or two over Christmas or New Year we can assess her and she can assess us and then we can take it from there” she said “Do you think she might be happy to give it a go?”
“Well there’s only one way to find out” he said and picked up his phone and after selecting a number he waited for them to answer after several rings it went through to the answer phone.
“Hi Hannah, Jack Morehouse here” he said, “If you were serious about wanting to live in the village then you may be in luck.
There is a vacancy up at the Plaxton Park and if you can do a couple of trial shifts you’re in with a chance, if you’re interested”
“I’m interested! I’m interested!” Hannah squealed as she picked up the phone.
“Ok I’ll put you onto Gemma and you can talk details” he said and handed over the phone.
“Hi Hannah” she said

While Gemma and Hannah discussed the details he cleared away the dirty cups to the kitchen and when he looked through the window he could see lights on at Gemma’s across the road.