For sale
One
broken heart
Good
buy
One
careless owner
For
sale
My
happy dreams
Good
bye
No
sale
Our
golden memories
Good
buy
My
love on sale
For
sale
Love
I once treasured
Good
bye
No
sale
Loves
fond Remembrance
Don’t
sigh
Too
late for sorry
For
sale
One
broken heart
Good
bye
The southern town off Abbottsford was the biggest in Downshire and was
the 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.
Jason Drake was born
and bred in Abbottsford, he was also a graduate of the University and sang in
the Cathedral Choir, but he worked in London as a civil servant in the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office.
But towards the end of
April he found himself employed in his home town.
He was waiting in
reception at the Regents Hotel to meet a delegation from Tunisia, who were in
Downshire as part of “Girls Football Week”, as a team from Tunis were playing a
series of friendlies, against Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and Northchapel.
Jason was there as a
cultural liaison, accompanied by a graduate, Owen Teale, who was very keen and
enthusiastic about the whole thing, but Jason saw it more as babysitting a
bunch of girls, and a junior, he only got lumbered with them because he was
once on secondment in Tunisia, a few years earlier, but that was serious
Consular affairs, not nursemaiding a bunch of silly schoolgirl footballers.
Not that he had
anything against women’s sport, it was that he didn’t like football, he was a
cricket man, and he didn’t think it would help his career.
But he soon changed
his tune when three members of the delegation approached him, and he recognised
one of them instantly, Félicité Furneaux, a petite well-tanned girl with hair the
colour of ripened corn who he had known when he was in Tunis, and she beamed a
smile of recognition, he didn’t know the other two, but they introduced
themselves as, Afchine Montpelier and Henri Tabritzian,
The former then
introduced him to Félicité, and when they
shook hands all the memories flooded into his head.
When he was in Tunis
Jason was staying in a very luxurious hotel, which was clearly a remnant of the
French colonial days, but he planned to see some of the city as soon as he got
the chance.
Which he did thanks to Félicité, who worked as a translator at the
Consulate, and after that he found plenty
to occupy his mind both in the city and the colonial splendour of the Hotel,
because they promptly fell in love.
Firstly, she just
acted as his tour guide, showing him everything of interest, like St. Louis
Cathedral, the Porte de France and the Souks Market, but very soon they were
back at the Hotel and she gave him her heart and he gave his.
As the weeks went by
they were so engrossed in each other that they didn’t notice the weeks had turn
into months and all of a sudden, his secondment had come to an end and he was
booked on a flight back to the UK.
On their last night
together, they dined alone in his room and when they had finished picking at
their food, they stood on the balcony and listened to the sounds of the city
and he said
“Come with me”
“I can’t” she retorted
“I mean as my wife,
marry me” he said as he held her hand
“What?”
“Please be my wife” he
begged
“Oh yes” she said and
leapt into his arms.
They had a joyful
night and sat up until the small hours making plans.
The next day however,
they were brought down to earth with a bang, because her father refused his
consent and forbade her even to see him, and he was immovable despite her
entreaties.
She knew from bitter
experience that she would not persuade him, once his mind was made up there was
no changing it, however she defied him in one respect, she did see Jason again
and they had a tearful farewell at the airport, made all the worse because she
refused his suggestion that they correspond and phone.
“It will just make it
harder” she said “if I can’t have you, all of you, body and soul, then I will
have nothing, I won’t settle for second best”
And that was that,
they had a final kiss goodbye at the departure gate and then he turned and
walked through the gate and when he looked back she had gone, and the next time
he saw her was in reception of the Regents Hotel.
When he returned home
to Downshire he was left alone with his own thoughts for the remainder of the
week, until he took up his new post, and he found them uncomfortable
companions.
But as a result of
them he concluded that she was the one that got away and no one else would ever
measure up to her so he wouldn’t bother looking, and as her surname was still
Furneaux, he hoped she may have made a similar pact with herself.
Luckily because Owen
was keen as mustard he enthusiastically took the initiative with the delegation
and Jason would have been happy to let him, had he actually noticed, which he
hadn’t because he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Félicité, and she also had eyes only for him.
But despite their
obvious delight at reconnecting they never got a moment to themselves to ask
the questions they wanted answered and to find out if the other was still free
or if another had occupied their heart in the time they had been apart.
Owen was very helpful
due to his over enthusiastic approach and his eagerness to please, added to his
indiscretion, he unknowingly gathered and disseminated titbits about members of
the delegation to him, including Félicité’s
marital status.
What Jason wasn’t aware
of was that even though her marital status had not changed her personal
circumstances had.
Her father had died the
year before and she no longer had any family ties to Tunisia or any obligation
to honour her father’s wishes.
Félicité found out what
she needed to know about Jason by simply asking Owen, he was so willing to
please that he told her chapter and verse.
However, knowing that
each other were free still didn’t help to facilitate an opportunity for them to
talk freely, and in private, about the things that were of burning importance
to them both.
So Félicité engineered an
opportunity on the night the Tunis Girls were playing Abbottsford Town Ladies at the Abbottsfield ground.
Afchine Montpelier,
was in the visitor’s dressing room giving his team talk, while Jason waited in
the corridor with Owen, Félicité and Henri Tabritzian.
Henri spoke no
English, and Jason and Owen spoke no Arabic, and only a smattering of French so
as he was a very chatty man Félicité was fully
occupied translating.
Henri was still talking
when the dressing room door opened and Afchine stepped out.
“Henri says that Owen can
lead the way and he and Afchine will follow ahead of the girls, and he asks
that we check the dressing room to make sure no one gets left behind”
“Very well” Jason
responded “Off you go Owen”
They stood and watched
the noisy procession walk away and when they were happy that no more were
coming out they went in to search, but almost as soon as they were inside she
pushed him up against the tiled wall.
“Shouldn’t you be with
the team to translate?” he protested meekly
“Football is a
universal language” she replied “they will manage”
“I suppose so” he
agreed
“And so is this” she
said and kissed him
“I like that universal
language very much” he said, and they conversed some more.
After that ice
breaking conversation in the dressing room they managed to find ways to spend
their free time together, but inevitably the more they were together the
quicker the time passed by and all of a sudden, the series of matches had come
to an end and she and the team were booked on a flight back to Tunisia.
So once again they
were to spend a last night together after they had dined with the rest of the
group.
Alone in his room they
lay in his bed after making love and he said
“You could stay”
“I can’t” she retorted
“We can finally be man
and wife” he said
“I can’t stay” she
repeated
“But why?” he asked “I
thought we were in love”
“We are” she agreed
“So why can’t you
stay?”
“Because…” she began,
and his heart sank
“…I have to pack my
things, sell the apartment, and work my notice”
“What?”
“Yes, I will be your
wife, yes I will marry you” she said and began to laugh
“Truly?”
“Oh yes” she said and
hugged him tightly.
They had a joyful
night and lay in his bed until the small hours making plans.
The next day however,
they were brought down to earth, because at the airport he had to watch her
leave, and that hurt, but unlike the time he left her in Tunis he knew it was
only a temporary parting, and she would return to him soon.
I imagine the scent of you
Because
you are far away
I
imagine your hand in mine
Because
you are out of reach
I
imagine you in my arms
Because
you’re no longer there
I
imagine your sweet smile
Because
now you look at me with scorn
I
imagine your lovely voice
Because
now you speak only bitter words
I
imagine that you love me
Because
your love for me is past
I
imagine myself in your heart
Because
you no longer love me
Don’t forget me, now I’ve gone
But
remember me in happy ways
Don’t
dwell on all the sadness
Bring
to mind those special days
Don’t
wipe me from your memory
But
don’t grieve now I’ve passed
Remember
all the good times
And
the joy from good days past
Don’t
be lonely now I’ve gone
My
life ended yours did not
Find
happiness where you can
I’m
happy knowing I’m not forgot
Don’t
forget to visit my grave
But
only do it on a sunny day
Don’t
stand at my stone in the rain
Blow
me a kiss then walk away
So
mark the passing of me well
But
don’t shed too many tears
Gather
friends and family round
Raise
a glass to me with “cheers”
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 when a late snow storm ground Downshire
to a halt and made children of every adult with a snow day, and then an
accident on a snowy hill put Marcus and Gareth in hospital, the former with a
broken ankle and a dislocated knee and the latter with a broken collar bone and
wrist.
When the family arrived, 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, and when the girls were sleeping all day after a night shift
they were spirited away in a private ambulance to a nursing home, to get them
away from their clutches.
However, the families underestimated the Shakespeare
girls because they tracked them down, with the help of some allies and when the
four of them were reunited it lead to universal declarations of love.
The girls went to visit the boys early on their
last day at the Nursing home because they knew that once they were back home in
Turnoak they wouldn’t be able to see them, so they planned on meeting them
early and then leaving Withery before the Birkin’s and the Clare’s arrived to
pick them up.
Marcus was laying on his bed with Ariadne
sat beside him holding his hand and Scarlet and Gareth were in the Garden
enjoying the spring sunshine, and for both couples the conversation was
strained.
“I’m going to miss you” Ariadne said
“I’ll miss you too” he said “But we can
skype and facetime everyday”
“It won’t be the same” she said
“I know it won’t, and I want this to be
the last time we have to be apart” he said “When I get back to I want to…”
Outside in the sunshine it was just as
tortuous with each syllable feeling like a pulled tooth.
But finally, Gareth killed the
conversation stone dead when he began his sentence
“I think we should….”
Five minutes later the two girls rushed
towards each other down the corridor uttering a language, if that’s what it
was, that only they could understand and when they were face to face they said
in perfect union
“You’ll never guess what’s happened?”
“You first”
“No, you first”
“Ok”
“We’re getting married!”
And then there was complete silence for
thirty seconds and then they screamed out a cheer in others face and began
dancing around in circles like a demented waltz.
After the proposals were accepted, there
was the question of when and where they would marry, none of them wanted a
particularly long engagement, in fact the opposite was true, the wanted to do
it as soon as possible.
They wanted a double wedding, that was a
given, and a church wedding was preferable but not practical given the
timescale, so it was decided that they would marry at Abbottsford Registry
Office and they would have a blessing at St Hilda’s Church as soon as they
could accommodate them.
The length of the wedding planning
discussions meant that they stayed at the Grange longer than they intended, and
their visit was almost discovered by the families, fortunately the girls were
in the appropriate uniforms so when they arrived all they saw were two nurses
walking away.
When they got back to Abbottsford, Ariadne
and Scarlet went straight to the registry office to find out what dates were available,
and they discovered that a significant date was free which they took as an
omen, so they went for that day, so the date for the wedding was set for April
23rd which was appropriately Shakespeare Day as the brides were both
namesakes.
After booking the registry office, came
the fun part, shopping, outfits, lingerie, shoes, accessories, the full Monty.
Once they had shopped till they dropped,
it suddenly occurred to them to tell their parents and friends.
The day before the Wedding, courtesy of their
mum and aunties, they spent the whole day at
Mazzone’s and had the full range of treatments on offer, including having their
hair done, along with a premium Buffet lunch and copious quantities of
champagne.
They were pampered and preened
all day and when the giggling overexcited and slightly tipsy Shakespeare’s were
manicured, pedicured, coiffured, waxed, buffed, threaded, tweezed, perfumed,
painted, and powdered to the point of perfection.
On the day of the wedding Ariadne and
Scarlet looked stunning and were indeed radiant and had permanent smiles on
their faces, but when Marcus and Gareth arrived their faces did not to show the
same level as happiness, in fact they tended toward the grave end of the
spectrum, so the girls rushed straight over to them.
“What’s wrong?” they asked
“We need to tell you something” Marcus
said
“Something important” Gareth added
“You’ve changed your minds, haven’t you”
Ariadne stated
“Is that it? You don’t want to marry us
anymore” Scarlet said
“No, no, it’s nothing like that” Marcus
replied reassuringly
“But you might change your minds when we
tell you what’s happened” Gareth said
“Oh God, you’re already married” Ariadne
exclaimed
“Were you already engaged when you
proposed to us then?” Scarlet asked
“Absolutely no” replied Marcus
“Very definitely not” Gareth concurred
“Then what?” They asked
“We’re not the prospects you thought we
were” Gareth began
“We have been told that if we go ahead and
marry you we will be disinherited” Marcus concluded “The family will disown us”
“That’s it?” Ariadne asked and smiled
“That’s what the long faces are for?”
“Yes” Marcus replied
“If that’s all it is then we don’t care”
Scarlet said “we didn’t fall in love with your “prospects” I fell in love with
you”
“So, you don’t mind?” Marcus asked
“Of course, not” Ariadne said and kissed
him
“As long as you get to keep the car” she
added and laughed
Downshire
is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a
lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of
Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the
Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the
beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the
Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light
infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in
the North and it’s at the Downshire Country Park Hotel situated equidistant
between Great and Little Trotwood where the St Georges Day Ball was taking
place.
It was a
beautiful moonlit night and Mark Cooper was enjoying a cigar on the Garden
Terrace.
The reason
he chose that particular place to smoke was because it was the far enough away
to escape the noise but close enough, so he could still hear the band.
He also
went there to be alone because he liked to enjoy his smoke in peace, while he
mulled things over.
He looked
up at the hunter’s moon hanging in the clear night sky as he exhaled the mellow
smoke long and slow, which was when his peace was broken by the appearance of a
familiar face.
When Elspeth
Humphreys left the Hotel Ballroom via the French doors she was carrying her shoes in one hand, her pashmina was
draped over her arm and she was carrying her evening bag in her other hand as
she padded along the terrace.
“Here you
are” she said “I wondered where you’d got to”
“I thought
I would leave you to your posse of admirers” he said
“They’re
not my posse” she replied as she put her shoes and bag down on the terrace wall
“Just your
admirers?”
“No,
they’re not that either” she giggled “Let’s have a lug”
“You can
have one of your own if you want” he retorted
“No, I’ll
share yours” she said, and she stood very close to him as she took the cigar
from his hand and took a long drag on it.
“So is that
why you came out here, to smoke my cigar” he said
“No, I came
to find you, and to cool down” she said and giggled before adding “it’s very
hot work having a posse of admirers”
He studied
her while they shared a smoke and Mark thought she looked fabulous in the
moonlight and after they finished the cigar Elspeth suddenly shivered
“It looks
like you’ve cooled down too much” he said “Come on I’ll take you back in side”
“No, I
don’t want to” she protested
“All right
then but put this on” he said and slipped off his dinner jacket and put it
around her shoulders
“Thank you
kind sir” she said “That’s lovely and warm”
“I’m here
to serve mistress”
As she
stood before him in the moonlight she commanded
“Good then
dance with me”
“Why here?”
“Because I
command you” she said flamboyantly
“Very well
then mistress, but why wouldn’t you dance with me in there?” he asked
“Because I
didn’t want to share you with the crowd” she replied
“I wanted
it to be just the two of us”
And then he
became aware of being manipulated as if they were in a slow dance on the dance floor,
so he just went with her and then he found his back against the wall.
“You may
kiss me now” she said
“Yes mistress”
We walked together in the spring
When
our love was a new thing
And
the cherry trees were in blossom
And
we thought life was awesome
Our
hearts were so full we sighed
But
that was before love died
In
the summer we walked together
In
the fine and sunny weather
Through
fields of golden corn
When
we parted we were forlorn
We
felt a burning passion deep inside
But
that was before love died
In
the autumn we walked abroad
And
our hearts were of one accord
We
wandered thought the golden gown
And
nothing could ever get us down
We
felt as one when side by side
But
that was before love died
When
winters chill fell upon the land
We
still walked together hand in hand
We
played in the snow like children
Making
snow angels again and again
I
even asked her to be my bride
But
that was before love died
We
had walked hand in hand
As
a life together we planned
We
sat beneath a leafy oak
As
of true love we spoke
We
loved laughed and cried
But
that was before love died
Now
I walk alone in the familiar places
Where
we enjoyed our fond embraces
Where
we kissed and spoke of tomorrow
Places
that now bring me only sorrow
Her
love made me feel alive inside
But
that was before love died
