Downshire
is a relatively small English county but that didn’t bother its inhabitants,
the may not have been the biggest, but they were in no doubt that it was the
best and that belief was no truer than in the southern town off Abbottsford
which was Downshire’s administrative capital and the seat of the Downshire
government.
It
was also a place of learning thanks to the Downshire University, it could also
boast that it was a Cathedral City, was home to Abbottsford Town football club
and benefitted from the renowned Winston Churchill Hospital, and Twin sisters
Ariadne and Scarlet
Shakespeare were both nurses at the Churchill.
They were identical twins, Ariadne was the older of
the two by an hour and was five
feet eight with bobbed brunette hair and an olive complexion and hazel eyes,
while Scarlet was two inches taller than
her sister and had more hair.
The girls were both foot lose and
fancy free and liked to party and had no intrest in tying themselves down, but
on the occasion of their 27th birthday, on New Years Eve, that all
changed, when they met best friends Marcus Birkin and Gareth Clare.
They both worked for Bramstock,
Goodman, Crossfield and Bushe solicitors in Abbottsford, although they hailed
from Turnoak-Under-Hawthorne,
a large rambling village, originally settled in the 12th century on
the sparsely wooded slopes on the Northern fringe of the Finchbottom Vale about
5 miles from Purplemere, and it was everything you would expect from a
Downshire Village.
The Birkin and Clare families had
lived in the village for many years and were of the landed gentry and the boys
were public school and Cambidge educated.
Abbottsford
was a world away from Turnoak-Under-Hawthorne and socially the Shakespeare
girls were a world away from Marcus and Gareth and their meeting on New Year’s
Eve was purely by chance.
The
twins were travelling from home after getting ready to party into the New Year,
and the solicitors were in Marcus’s car travelling in the opposite direction
from work when the two vehicles collided.
It
wasn’t serious just a bit of minor damage, but Marcus had only had the car for
a month so an angry exchange between him and the cab driver ensued, which
Gareth tried to cool, to no avail, but when the two-leggy drop
dead gorgeous brunette
girls emerged
from the Taxi, the two adversaries’ and the peacemaker all went quiet.
They
were both stunningly beautiful and wearing low cut party outfits and when
Marcus first saw the one with the bobbed hair, he was smitten, and the fender
bender was no longer of any importance to him, whereas Gareth felt the same
about the taller one.
The
taxi driver, who had been at fault for the accident, took full advantage of the
distraction and got in his cab and sped away.
“Hey
come back!” Ariadne shouted
“What
are we going to do now?” Scarlet asked as the Cab disappeared around a corner
“Don’t
worry” Marcus said “We’ll get you to your destination”
“You
don’t know where we’re going” Ariadne pointed out
“You
could tell us and then we would” Gareth said
“Problem
solved then” Scarlet added and gave her sister a look that said “just get in
the car”
Ariadne
complied because it was obvious her sister fancied the drivers friend, and she
thought the driver was ok, and he was posh, and she liked posh.
They
were on the way to a New Year’s Eve Party at the Hospital, and by the time they
got there the twins had persuaded the guys to join them at the party rather
than just drop them off and go their separate ways, not that it took too much
persuading, and the old year ended with the two couples kissing on the
dancefloor at midnight.
In
the following months the four of them spent a lot of time together, and the
relationships between the two couples growing and their feeling were deepening,
but it took some freak weather and a freak accident to take things to the next
level.
It
happened at the end of February when a weather feature bringing arctic Siberian
air across the country met a low-pressure front moving in from the west, and
the result was snow, and a lot of it.
As
a result, Downshire ground to a halt and schoolchildren and adults alike found
that they had an unexpected snow day.
Ariadne
and Scarlet unfortunately had to work but Marcus and Gareth took to the hills
around Abbottsford for a spot of sledding, not that they had a sled, in fact
most of the participant didn’t, but it didn’t stop the sledding, as they
improvised with anything they could find, tea trays, plastic sheets, pallets,
even black sacks and carrier bags.
Marcus
and Gareth’s mode of locomotion was a “keep left” road sign they had
commandeered from the site of an RTC, and they had made several successful
descents before tragedy struck.
They
were at the bottom of the slope gathering themselves for the climb back to the
top, as the snow had begun to fall heavily again, and visibility wasn’t great,
four teenagers sliding down the hill on a van door, wiped the men out.
It
was probably because they hadn’t seen it coming that they weren’t more
seriously injured, but even so Marcus had a broken ankle and a dislocated knee
and Gareth had a broken collar bone and wrist.
The
nearest hospital was the Winston Churchill, so the twins heard about it very
quickly and were on hand to offer a hand to hold, and because of the extent of
the snow and the relative remoteness of Turnoak it was two full days after the
accident before a family member could get to the hospital.
When
they did arrive, they were more appalled by the two common, overfamiliar nurses
that were hanging around the boys, than they were at their injuries, but when
they did remember why they were there they completely blanked the girls, and
even when addressed directly, they ignored them.
“I’ll
see you later babe” Ariadne said and leant over Marcus and kissed him slowly
and deliberately and there was an audible intake of breath, and then Scarlet
did the same to Gareth, and then they both headed toward the door.
When
they looked back the family were wearing expressions raging from shock to
disgust, but the boys were smiling.
They
were working the nightshift following their meeting with the family and then
slept all day, but when they went to visit the boys before the next shift they
found that they were conspicuous by their absence.
“Where
are they?” Scarlet asked
“No
idea” Ariadne replied “Let’s ask Katie”
Katie
Blake was the Senior Staff Nurse on the ward.
“I
thought I’d be seeing you two sooner or later” Katie said “and I can well
understand why you would be anxious, they’re gorgeous”
“They
are, and they’re ours” Scarlet said with a giggle “Where have you stashed them”
“What’s
it worth?” Katie teased
“Are
you going to tell us, or do we have to waterboard you in the sluice room?”
Ariadne asked menacingly
“Ok
I’ll tell you, they were spirited away in a private ambulance to a nursing home”
Katie said “I overheard the wicked grandmother say, and I quote, “we need to
get them away from the influence of those common gold
digging fluesy’s””
“Bloody
cheek” Ariadne said “we’re not common”
“This
is where they took them, but you didn’t get it from me” Katie said handing
Scarlet a piece of paper “my Auntie Rachel works there so I’ve included her
phone number”
“Thanks
Katie” the girls said
The
medieval Village of Withery, was located between
Purplemere and Finchbottom, which was where once the Monks of St Vitus Abbey
were the first to grow grapes in the county.
The
Abbey was long ago reduced to rubble and provided much of the fabric of the
Village cottages surviving from 15th and 16th centuries.
Withery
Grange Nursing Home was the 21st century incarnation of the Manor
House.
It
was another two days before the girls could get away from Abbottsford and
although they had spoken to their lovers, they had been denied the pleasure of holding
them and the boys holding them.
And
when they did set off, in a hire car, they didn’t tell them they were on the
way.
Marcus
and Garth were in a private two bed room and they were both getting stir crazy,
they would have been happier had they been aware they were about to get some
special visitors.
Gareth
was asleep, and Marcus was listening to music and dozing off when he was
disturbed by the sound of the door opening followed by footsteps approaching
his bed.
“What
now?” he snapped without opening his eyes
“Temper,
temper” Ariadne said, and he opened his eyes and couldn’t believe what he was
seeing, and couldn’t speak as he was filling up because he was so pleased to
see her friendly face
“Hello”
she said and kissed him
And
then out the corner of his eye he caught sight of Scarlet standing holding
Gareth’s hand.
“And
the other one as well” he said
“As
if I could keep away” she said and kissed he lovers sleeping face.
Marcus
and Ariadne glanced across as Gareth opened his eyes and gasped
“My
Scarlet” he exclaimed “Is it really you?”
“Of
course, it’s me darling” she replied and kissed him
“Where
did you get uniforms?” Gareth asked, as they were very different from what they
normally wore.
“We
borrowed them” Scarlet said and then she kissed him again.
“I’ve
missed you” She said wanting to say the “L” word, but afraid to jinx it
“I’ve
missed you too” he confessed
“I
missed, your smile, your kiss and your love”
“You
know?” she whispered
“I
do” he said “and I feel the same”
“I
can’t believe you’re here” Marcus said, and they kissed again
“Well
I am” she retorted
“I
love you so much” he said, and Ariadne cried because he had never said it
before.
“I
love you too” she sobbed
