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, which is where our story
begins.
Jack Wyatt was born and raised on Stoney Meadow Farm, which
nestled on the slopes of the Tipton Hills in the lee of the Town of Nettlefield.
He was a tall lean man
with a well-toned physique and a weathered complexion born out of a lifetime
spent in the open air.
Jack had happy
memories of the farm and nearby hamlet of Nettle Green and could never imagine
living anywhere else.
He and his twin
brother Steve did leave the farm to go to University and Jack couldn’t wait to
return.
Steve however, who
wasn’t one of life’s natural farmers decided to try a different path, so when
their father died 7 years later, Jack took over the farm.
He was always very
close to his father, and they were very alike so it was quite natural for him
to take over, ably supported by his mother and the farm went from strength to
strength, but in the fullness of time Steve returned to the nest, with his
pregnant girlfriend Mehreen Yusuf, which upset the equilibrium.
The reason for that
was twofold, firstly because Steve didn’t return home because he wanted to be a
farmer, what brought him back to the place of his birth was desperation, he was
unemployed, homeless and he was in debt, and the cause for all three was either
directly or indirectly the result of his wandering eye.
He lost his job for
sleeping with his boss’s wife, his girlfriend threw him out of their flat for
the same reason and his debts were the consequence of his persistent
philandering and the excessive entertaining involved.
The second reason was
Steve’s girlfriend Mehreen, and not because she was pregnant, neither Jack nor
the Grandmother in waiting were phased by that, Mehreen’s arrival at the farm
upset things because Jack instantly fell for her.
She wasn’t beautiful in the “magazine cover” way that most people
considered to be perfection.
Mehreen had an
aquiline nose and finely chiselled features, and her eyes were warm.
Because she was dark
skinned, to the casual observer her hair looked black, but it was actually dark
brown, straight fine hair which she wore shoulder length.
Jack thought that he
only judged her to be on the attractive side of beautiful by, virtue of the
fact, that she wasn’t wearing a scrap of makeup, but with just a little makeup
on her pretty face she’d have looked gorgeous.
“More gorgeous anyway”
Jack thought.
But he tried from the
start not to see her in that light and banish the growing feelings from his
heart, but he failed.
Steve had been back at
the farm just over a month when it became patently obvious to Jack and his
mother that he had no interest in either Mehreen or the child she was carrying.
Steve pitched in
around the farm by some small measure but nowhere near to a level to be able to
reduce the hours of the two labourers that the farm employed, and he only did
that for the sake of appearances and to avoid spending time with the mother of
his child.
It was clear to
everyone that he had no feelings for her, but she loved him regardless and she
thought that would be enough as he would eventually fall in love with her.
Jack and his mother
thought that was unlikely, Mehreen herself was under no illusion that he was
going to be faithful to her, after all he had impregnated her while he was
living with someone else, but she loved him and that was all that mattered.
The other thing that
she loved was the farm and she threw herself into the day to day routine and
kept herself very active and her mind so fully occupied that she didn’t notice
Steve was paying attention to everything but the upkeep of the farm, in particular,
Sarah Bright, who was a barmaid at the Green Man in Nettle Green.
As the year slowly
ebbed away and Christmas approached Mehreen continued to busy herself with
chores around the farm despite the fact that she was nearing the end of the
seventh month of her pregnancy and her girth had increased exponentially.
She was a stubborn
girl however and would not take heed of any advice that suggested she should be
taking it easy.
“I need to do my
share” she insisted, and any protestations were waved away.
As a compromise it was
suggested that she should at least have someone with her when walking to Nettle
Green or to the hen house, she reluctantly agreed, and the idea was put to
Steve who claimed to be too busy so it fell to Jack, which he was very happy to
do as his feeling for her had grown by the same degree as her girth had.
He liked spending time
with her and although she didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, she enjoyed
the time they spent together too.
But after an
expedition into Nettle Green together she couldn’t hide it anymore.
It was quite a long walk back between the farm and the shops and was
predominantly uphill on the return journey and because Mehreen was almost eight
months pregnant she got all hot and breathless by the time they reached halfway,
so Jack suggested she sit on a tree stump to catch her breath while he looked
on with concern, as she chattered on about how she was perfectly fine but he
was more focused on the speaker than words.
He thought she was so lovely, bright, intelligent and with a quirky
sense of humour and then he was suddenly
brought back to the moment when Mehreen said
“We’d better get
moving”
“Why?” he asked, and
she pointed heavenward, so Jack looked up as well to see the sky had visibly
darkened.
“Ok” he said “Let’s
go”
And he pulled her
gently to her feet and they made their way back along the lane just as the
heavens opened.
They were walking
along the most exposed part of the lane and for a moment they were caught like
rabbits in the headlights.
“Quick this way” Jack
said and grabbed her hand and they ran to the nearest large tree which offered
them some protection from the deluge.
They were giggling
like children when they reached sanctuary and squeezed up close to the trunk.
Jack looked down at
the giggling Mehreen as rainwater dripped from the tip of her aquiline nose.
She giggled again and
put her head back and shook it like a dog would, and that was when he did it.
Mehreen was only 5ft
tall so with his height advantage he was in the unusual position of being able
to kiss downwards on to her inviting lips.
It was a deliciously gentle kiss, sensual and romantic to which she
responded in kind.
When they stopped Mehreen looked up at him and said
“I wasn’t expecting that" and then he kissed her again.
A much more urgent and passion filled kiss altogether, perhaps too much
so, because she suddenly pushed him away.
“No, no” she said, “I can’t” and then she ran off into the rain
“Merri!” he called after “Please don’t go, I’m really sorry”
But Mehreen just kept going and didn’t look back once.
Jack traipsed home miserably through the rain, kicking his way through the
puddles and chastising himself for his impetuous haste.
“You idiot, you stupid bloody idiot, you’ve lost her for sure now” she
shouted into the rain.
When he got home to the farmhouse he got out of his wet coat and boots
before walking into the kitchen to switch on the kettle but when he walked
through the door he saw Mehreen sitting at the table with her back to him and her shoulders were shaking,
“Are you crying” he
asked with concern
“Yes” she sobbed
“But why?” he asked,
“what’s wrong?”
“We did a terrible
thing” she replied “It’s was so wrong”
“It was so nice” He
corrected her “Didn’t it make you feel good?”
“Yes of course it did”
she snapped “but that just makes it all the more wrong”
“Well I disagree, we
did something I’ve wanted to do for months, and the way you joined in I think
you wanted to do it just as much” he pointed out “it’s not like we planned it”
“I know but I still
feel guilty” Mehreen said “I’m in love with your brother and carrying his baby”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure”
she said angrily “I don’t make a habit of it, I’m not a tart”
“I meant, are you sure
you love him” he said and smiled, and the anger drained from her face and she
smiled too.
But before she could answer the question the back door opened, and Steve
walked in so Mehreen hurriedly got to her feet and rushed out before he could
see her tear stained face and that was the last time the two of them were alone
until the New Year.
It was an enjoyable Christmas at the farm despite the fact the Steve was
seldom there as he was still chasing, and regularly catching, Sarah at the
Green Man.
He was quite brazen about it and made no effort to keep it from Mehreen,
in fact the opposite was true, and he seemed to delight in seeing her flinch at
the mention of her rival’s name.
Something that his mother made a point of chastising him for in no
uncertain terms as Jack looked on with fists clenched.
Everything came to a head on twelfth night when Jack was taking down the
Christmas decorations and Mehreen was sitting at the table packing them neatly
back in their boxes, which they did largely in silence.
There had been a big row that morning after Steve had again flaunted his
relationship with Sarah in Mehreen’s face and his mother had launched into a
tirade at him which culminated with her stating.
“If you cannot conduct yourself with any decorum and treat the mother of
your child with any decency then you need to leave”
This came as a complete shock to Steve as his behaviour was calculated
to provoke Mehreen to snap and pack up and leave because he had no interest in
her or the brat she was carrying, he just wanted her gone.
It never occurred to him that the family would side with her against him,
so his mother’s ultimatum to him came as an epiphany to him as it did to
Mehreen.
While Steve was upstairs packing, Mrs Wyatt was out in the yard trying
to calm herself down, and Jack and Mehreen continued with the decorations.
“Do you want to go with him?” Jack asked with his back to her and as he
turned around he saw Mehreen standing right behind him
“No” she replied “Because I don’t want to settle for second best”
“You don’t have to baby” he said, and his heart swelled as he looked at
the beautiful young woman and looped a length of silver tinsel around her
shoulders and pulled her towards him as the static played around the fine
strands of dark brown hair and when she stood there looking up at him with her
big brown eyes she asked
“Can you kiss me now?” and Jacks heart skipped a beat and he smiled at her
and duly obliged.
They were still kissing when Steve stomped down the stairs and slammed
the door behind him and were totally oblivious to his exit and to Mrs Wyatt’s
return to the kitchen and the subsequent smile and sigh.
