Downshire is a relatively small English county but
like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a
channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy
ridges and manmade lakes of the
Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the
beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the
Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light
infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in
the North but it’s in leafy Shallowfield where our story takes place but it
actually begins in the busy town of Purplemere on the other side of the
Finchbottom Vale which nestles
comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling
Pepperstock Hills in the north, those who are lucky enough to live there think
of it as the rose between two thorns.
The Vale was
once a great wetland that centuries earlier stretched from Mornington in the
East to Childean in the west and from Shallowfield in the south to Purplemere
in the north.
But over the
many centuries the vast majority had been drained for agriculture, a feat
achieved largely by the efforts of famous Mornington Mills, of which only three
had survived to the present day and even those were no longer functional and
were in various states of repair.
There were
only three small bodies of water left in the Vale now one in Mornington, one in
Childean and third of course was Purplemere,
It was in
Purplemere were the Obertelli’s owned the Vale Farm Pizza House franchises in Purplemere, fraternal
twins Roberto and Gianluca having inherited it from their father.
Although Gianluca’s share passed to his wife Annette three
years earlier when she became a widow.
Gianluca and Annette were married for five years when
at the age of 31 he was tragically killed when his motorcycle collided with a
HGV that failed to stop at a red light and he died instantly.
Annette was 33 and very close to 34 and she loved Roberto
with all her heart but only as a brother and he felt the same way about her so
it was only natural that they continued to run the business between them.
And they would probably have gone along quite happily
doing that if it had not been for the fact that he had met Dora, and
furthermore fallen in love with her.
She and Roberto both lived in the Gracewoods, she in
Middle and he in Upper.
Throughout
its history the Finchbottom Vale was largely dependent on agriculture and so it
remained into the 21st century but many and varied occupations and endeavour’s
thrived alongside the traditional rural livelihoods but it was in an
agricultural landscape that the Gracewoods sat.
Despite the fact that they worked together and lived
in relatively close proximity they lived very independent lives but nonetheless
Roberto finding love affected her much more than she imagined it would.
It gladdened her heart to see Roberto so happy but it
also saddened her a little because it highlighted her own deficiencies in the
love department.
There had been no one in the three years of widowhood
and due to recent events she felt that keenly, but there was almost someone.
It gladdened her heart to see Roberto so happy but it
also saddened her a little because it highlighted her own deficiencies in the
love department.
There had been no one in the three years of widowhood
and due to recent events she felt that keenly, but there was almost someone.
It was a glorious day in the Finchbottom Vale, though
the occasion at the Waterside Country Club in Purplemere, was a gloomy one,
when Fabrizio Orsini saw her standing
alone on the terrace, bathed in the afternoon sun and staring out into the
distance.
He was a thirty something accountant who worked for Brady
and Clare and he was a longstanding family friend of the Obertelli’s and was
Gianluca’s best friend.
He walked up behind her and lightly stroked the back
of Annette’s naked arm.
“Are you ok honey?” he asked
“No not really” she replied and the tears immediately
welled up in her eyes as she turned towards him, so he took her in his arms and
she dissolved completely into tears.
“Its ok honey” He whispered, “let it all go”
And as she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest
Vincent kissed the top of her head.
He held her close and stroked her back as she sobbed
until she lifted her head and said
“I’m getting you wet”
“I don’t care” He replied and she broke down again
which was when he realized that, to his eternal shame, his love for her was not
that of a friend.
He had always dreamed of holding her in his arms, he
had long thought her the most beautiful woman he had ever met, and he always
cursed his misfortune at not meeting her before his best friend did.
But Gianluca did find her first and he had to settle
for admiring her secretly for more than five years because he couldn’t have her
and now that Gian was dead he still couldn’t have her because that would have
felt like a betrayal.
He could offer no excuse for feeling the way he did
and he felt no guilt because he had never acted on his feelings.
But he was there for her in that moment as she sobbed
her heart out and he consoled her with his empty words.
But he also knew that this would be the first and last
time that he would hold her in his arms, so he savoured the feeling until Annette’s mother appeared and took her back inside to
grieve more privately but as she led her daughter away and offered her words of
comfort he remained on the terrace and watched her walk away.
What he knew and Annette didn’t was that she would not
see him again because he couldn’t trust himself not blurt out to her that he
loved her, so he slipped quietly away from the funeral and out of her life and
he transferred from the Purplemere office of Brady and Clare and moved to Sharpington.
Seeing Roberto with his girlfriend made her very
envious, not that she begrudged him his happiness, she didn’t, she just wanted
what he had.
Apart from envy she had two other overwhelming
feelings, one was feeling like a third
wheel and the other was that she had to make a change.
In the three years after her husband’s death, working
with Roberto and sharing each other’s life, things had gotten a little too comfortable.
So with that
in mind Annette Obertelli decided to travel to the other side of the Vale with
a view to taking over the Pizza franchise in Shallowfield.
Her thinking
was that it would give Roberto space for his relationship with Dora to develop
whilst giving her a new start at the same time.
The Obertelli’s had been offered the franchise for the
failing Shallowfield shop on several occasions over the previous year as they
had the best performing outlet in the county but they had held back for fear of
overstretching themselves but with his change of circumstances when they were
approached for a third time at the end of July Annette said she was interested,
which took Roberto completely by surprise.
“I thought you said it was too big a risk”
“I think that’s what I need, to take a risk” she said
“Is this because of me and Dora?” he asked
“No, not really, I really like Dora and you clearly
love each other and you have positively come alive since you met her, but it
has shown me what I’m missing and I’m not going to properly live if I don’t
step out of my comfort zone” she explained “I’m just too comfortable here with
you and I’ve gotten lazy”
It was a grey drab Friday morning at the end of the
first week of August when Annette left her home in Middle Gracewood and drove
to Shallowfield.
She was meeting with the representatives of Vale Farm
Pizza’s at 11 o’clock at the premises but she had arranged to meet the
Obertelli’s solicitor Christine Prunot
from Curtis,
Mitchel and Lovegood, so they could get the lay of the land before the meeting.
Despite the grey start the skies brightened and painted
the landscape of the Vale with a very sympathetic hue.
But as pleasant as the journey was she thought to
herself that she would not be wanting to do it every day and she would have to
find somewhere in Shallowfield to live.
She would obviously keep her house on in Middle
Gracewood in the short term at least just in case she fell flat on her face in
her endeavour.
She then spent the next 15 minutes chastising herself
for her negativity.
When she arrived in Shallowfield she was pleasantly
surprised, it was a much more vibrant place than she was expecting, in fact on
first impressions she rather liked it.
It didn’t take long to track Christine down, she had
stayed the previous night at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel so they were to meet
there.
She drove up the lane which ran
parallel to
the River Brooke, which flowed from the
head of the lake and on through Shallowfield.
And then she
got her first view of the lake and was blown away by the view which was spectacular, although
she couldn’t see it all or discern the teardrop shape that gave the lake its
name.
But the view of the surrounding ancient woodland of the Dancingdean
Forest was majestic.
Shallowfield’s
fortunes had always relied largely upon forestry and agriculture for its
survival.
In the post
war years with rationing and a shortage of work a lot of people moved away, to
Abbottsford, Abbeyvale and beyond and it only barely survived.
And the
community around Teardrop Lake fared even worse.
Only a few
of the houses around the Lake were thriving, a lot of the houses had been
rented out and those that hadn’t were in a poor state of repair, some too such
an extent they were little more than ruins.
But by the
1970s things were beginning to change, thanks mainly to tourism and an increase
in leisure time.
More
importantly these people had money in their pockets.
This trend
was reflected by the fact that the derelict Shallowfield Lodge, which had been
inherited by a young couple from Lincolnshire, Rob and Sheryl Brown, was being
turned into a hotel.
Its
completion formerly marked the rebirth of Teardrop Lake and by extension,
Shallowfield, forty plus years later it was thriving.
Annette met Christine at the Hotel and then they drove
in her car to the where the premises were located.
Which was a
relatively modern mixed use trading estate on the outskirts of Shallowfield in
what had once been a wood mill.
It was first converted into offices in the 1970’s and was occupied by a firm of Accountants,
Cooper, Brandon and Holland who had relocated from London.
They
occupied the site until the end of the 20th Century when they moved
into more modern, eco-friendly premises at the Childean end of the village.
When the Accountancy firm vacated the site it was
completely transformed with the addition of further units, into a popular
trading estate with retail and fast food outlets with offices above.
It was vibrant and busy and was clearly very popular,
there was a well-balanced mixture of traders and Annette was quietly impressed,
that was until they reached the Vale Farm Pizza House.
“Oh dear” they said almost in unison and then they
stood looking at tawdry façade.
It was an absolute mess, it was scruffy, flaking
paintwork, letters were missing on the shop front, litter was everywhere and it
only got worse when they went inside.
It was such a
mess inside the shop, with boxes stacked everywhere, that she immediately
turned around and went the other way.
“Second
thoughts?” Christine asked
“Not at all”
Annette said “And I think with some canny negotiations they will agree to
whatever terms we set in order to get me to take it on”
“Well I
think if you want it they’ll pay you for the privilege” Christine agreed
“And we’ll
get lunch out of them as well” Annette added and smiled
“The Phoenix
is very good, and it’s not cheap” Christine suggested
The meeting went ahead on time and they got more than favorable
terms due to the dire straits that the shop was in.
They also agreed to close for two weeks to revamp the
place as it was looking very tired and then they would open again for business
on the twenty first of August and have all the wrinkles ironed out before the
bank holiday weekend.
Afterwards
with only the formalities to be completed later that day they went for a very
pleasant lunch at the Phoenix.
After a very
pleasant lunch at the Phoenix Restaurant good byes were said and as there were
only legal formalities to be dealt with it was left to the lawyers to draft the
contract, which would be signed and sealed later in the day, so Annette said to
Christine.
“Do you need me for the next bit?”
“No it will take a couple of hours to tie everything
up in a bow” she replied
“Good because I need to walk this off” Annette said
and patted her stomach
“Well I would suggest taking a walk up by the lake
it’s really wonderful” Christine suggested
So after a very nice lunch and feeling a little over
indulged, she headed off in the direction of Teardrop Lake for a
constitutional.
However on their
way to view the shop that morning she noticed a cottage with a for sale sign on
display with Lyndon-Sanders on it and as she walked along she passed right by
Lyndon-Sanders Properties so she decided to go in but when she tried the door
it was locked.
“I’ll try on the way back” she said to herself
The walk up
to the lake had been very beneficial for her bloated stomach and it also
cleared her mind as she began her return trip she paused by the water’s edge
and stared out across the calm water, flat like glass, and just before she left
she looked at her reflection on the water and was unimpressed with what she
saw.
She was
neither tall nor short, her hair was blonde, but of an indistinct shade, which
was short and bobbed, she thought she was vaguely attractive with an average
figure other people of course saw her differently.
As she
walked back into Shallowfield she reviewed the important moments of the day and
was very pleased with how things had gone.
She had
gotten much better terms on the franchise than she had expected which left her
in a good position to buy a house in the village and rent hers out in Middle
Gracewood, which she owned outright and if she didn’t make a go of thing there
she would just sell up and move back to her old house.
When she
returned to the village she called into Lyndon-Sanders Properties again,
where she met the man himself, William Lyndon-Sanders.
He was in his early to mid-thirties and was best
described as dapper, and he had clearly spent more on the suit he was wearing
than was really decent.
But she thought he seemed amiable enough.
“How may I
help?” he asked
“I’m taking
over a business locally and I’m looking for somewhere to live” She said
“What sort
of property were you interested in?” he asked arming himself with pen and
paper.
“Actually I
saw somewhere this morning that I liked the look of” she said
“Oh?”
“Yes it’s
called “Old Mill Cottage”” she said
“Well that’s
very fortuitous, it’s only just gone on the market” he said “in fact we only
put the board up this morning”
“Excellent”
“Its vacant
possession” he explained “so I could show it to you now if you like”
“That would
be really nice” replied Annette
After viewing
Old Mill Cottage she fell in love with it and put in an offer there and then,
£5000 below the asking price, and within half an hour it had been accepted.
She couldn’t
believe how well the day was going.
“I will have
to buy a lottery ticket” she said to herself
When she met
up with her solicitor and friend Christine Prunot outside the Vale Farm Pizza
House she asked
“So how’s it
going?”
“All done”
she replied “you just need to sign on the dotted line”
“That’s
Great news” Annette said “Because I just bought a house”
“Crikey you
don’t hang about do you” Christine said
“So what are
you doing with the house in the Gracewoods?”
“I’m going
to rent it out, in the short term anyway” Annette replied
“Can I have
first refusal?” she asked
“What a
fantastic day” she thought to herself, not only had she got the Shallowfield
franchise for a song, but she had bought a new house and got a tenant for the
old one.
However when
Christine drove her back to the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel to collect her car for
the drive home, it wouldn’t start, and she thought her luck had finally ran
out.
“What’s
wrong?” Christine asked
“The car has broken down”
Annette replied “I’ll never get a garage out at this time on a Friday”
“AA, RAC,
Green Flag” Christine inquired
“I’m not a
member” she replied “I never go anywhere and Roberto drove me to and from work
so I never bothered”
“Not to
worry I’ll call Jordan” she said
She was referring to Jordan Donaldson, who was
one of Christine’s client’s although Annette suspected she would have liked
there to be more.
He was one of the “Donaldson Automotive”
family, and the Donaldson’s bought, sold, repaired, raced and rallied cars of
all makes and models.
“I thought
he worked in Purplemere” Annette said
“He does but
he’ll know who to call to get you sorted” she replied.
After a five
minute phone call in which Christine constantly fiddled with her hair and
giggled, she announced
“Someone
will be with us in half an hour”
So while
they waited they sat in the hotel garden and drank tea.
Jordan
Donaldson came good and a mechanic, Darren, duly arrived in the allotted time
and after 20 minutes said that he would have to get it back to the workshop and
he’d have her up and running by midday on Saturday.
The fact
that the car wasn’t going to be ready until the next day left her in a quandary,
about how she was going to get home.
Under normal
circumstances Christine could have driven her home but she was going to Sharpington
straight from Shallowfield to spend the weekend with her parents and the coast
was at the opposite end of the Vale to Middle Gracewood.
She could of
course have gone by train, which had its own problems, first she would be
travelling through the rush hour and then she would have to repeat the exercise
on Saturday to get back again.
There was
also the option of hiring a car for the night, Annette had seen a car hire
place on her travels, but she decided it wasn’t worth it and she might just as
well spend the night in Shallowfield.
Having made the decision to stay the night in the area
the obvious choice was the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel.
Unfortunately having to spend an unplanned night at a Hotel meant she
had no change of clothes, and in particular no clean underwear.
So before she checked in Christine drove her into the village to make
some vital purchases and the Christine delivered her to the Hotel door
“Thank you so much” Annette said and kissed her cheek and then she got
on her way.
Annette watched Christine drive away and then she went inside and
straight up to the reception desk where a small trim well-dressed young woman
was stood smiling in her direction.
“Can I help?” Dorcas Overton said
“I do hope so” she replied dropping her bag to the floor
“I’m stranded in Shallowfield because of car trouble and I’m hoping you
have a room”
“Yes of course” Dorcas replied “Is it just the one night?”
“Oh yes just the one”
Dorcas nodded and gave her a registration card to fill out and Annette
put her credit card on the desk.
After all the formalities were completed Dorcas handed her the key and
said
“Thank you” Annette said
“The restaurant is still open if you’re hungry” Dorcas suggested
“Well I had rather a large lunch at the Phoenix earlier”
She retorted
“Then I would recommend an omelette” Dorcas said
“That’s a great suggestion” she said
So after taking her new purchases up to her room and
freshening up she went down to the restaurant and taking Dorcas’ advice she
ordered an omelette which she a ate in a quiet corner.
“Do you mind if I join you miss?” a man asked and Annette looked up to
see the smiling face of Fabrizio Orsini looking back at her.
“My God” she squealed and leapt up from her seat and hugged him until
she cried.
It had been three years since she had seen him and she had missed him so
much.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in disbelief
“Well I’ve been to an interview” he replied
“Really where?” She asked with surprise
“Cooper, Brandon and Holland” he replied
“What? In Shallowfield” she said and he nodded
“But you’ve been with Brady and Clare since University”
“I know but I suddenly thought I needed a change and this opportunity
came up” he replied not entirely truthfully
He had made a rather sudden decision and he wasn’t entirely sure where it
came from but he
had spent a rather aimless three years in Sharpington since he last saw her.
In truth she was never far from his thoughts and try as he might to get
on with his life without her in it he had failed miserably.
“So what about you?” he asked trying to change the subject
“Car trouble”
She then went on to explain to him about her car breaking down and not
being ready until Saturday.
“Yes but what were you doing in Shallowfield?”
“Oh yes how silly of me” she said and giggled “I’m taking over the Pizza
House”
“Really? So you’re going to be based in Shallowfield?” he asked
“I’m going to be living in Shallowfield” she replied
When she got
up on Saturday Morning Annette was feeling wonderful, she had the best night
sleep she’d had for a long time.
The day
before had been a fantastic day, she had signed up the Shallowfield franchise of
Vale Farm Pizza’s for a song, she had bought a new house and got a tenant for the
old one.
However when
Christine drove her back to the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel to collect her car for
the drive home, and it wouldn’t start, she thought her luck had run out.
But having
been forced to spend the night at the Hotel thinking she had exhausted her
supply of luck, he appeared.
She hadn’t
seen Fabrizio
Orsini since her husband’s funeral.
She had
always known that he secretly carried a torch for her but he was far too much
of a gentleman, far too right and proper, and far too good a friend to
Gianluca, to make his feelings known to her.
On the day
of the funeral he had held her in his arms to comfort her and that was the one
and only time he let his guard down.
After that
day he moved from Purplemere to Sharpington because of the feelings of guilt
and a sense of impropriety.
But in those
three years, his want of her did not fade, and she never forgot the feel of his
comforting arms around her and the previous night she felt them again.
She quickly
showered and made herself presentable because there was some mention the
previous night that they might have breakfast together.
When she got
downstairs she went straight to the reception desk and spoke to the
receptionist.
“Good
morning” she said “could you tell me if Mr Orsini has been down for breakfast
yet?”
“I’ll just
check for you” she replied and after some tapping of keys she announced “I’m
afraid he checked out before breakfast”
“Oh I see”
she said failing to hide the disappointment
After
breakfasting alone she moped about in her room for a while until the Garage
phoned to say her car was ready, so she checked out and walked in the village
to Donaldson’s.
Despite her disappointment
at not seeing Fabrizio on Saturday morning she didn’t have time to dwell on it
because as soon as she returned home she had to start packing.
She officially
took over the Shallowfield franchise on Monday when they closed for business
for two weeks to smarten the place up.
She still
had the staff in as usual so they could be interviewed to see who she would
keep on and who she would let go.
Most of the
staff passed muster and where then sent to Purplemere for three days to learn
how it should be done.
As a result
Annette spent the first week flitting back and forth between Shallowfield and
Purplemere.
When the
staff had done their training Annette gave them a week off with pay.
Although her
offer had been accepted on Old Mill Cottage and it was
Vacant
possession it would be four to six weeks before she could actually move in so
when she was in Shallowfield she had to stay at the Hotel.
But she
couldn’t wait for the day to come when she could move in to the cottage.
The
Shallowfield branch of the Vale Farm Pizza House’s reopened on the twenty first
of August and looked much more the part.
Although the
old staff had been retrained there were quite a few new additions who hadn’t so
she managed
to borrow a couple of experienced staff from Purplemere for a week to help
train the new staff in the proper ways.
But on
Wednesday Annette had to go to a family funeral in Abbottsford and as her car
was still making unnatural noises from time to time she decided to travel by
train.
It was a wet
miserable Wednesday, and it was a distant cousin, she considered not going but
thought her absence might be conspicuous.
She was glad
she went in the end but was relieved when it was over.
Once on the
train she was feeling the fatigue of the previous couple of weeks, combined
with too many drinks at the wake and she knew what would happen the moment the
train pulled out of the station that the motion of the train would cause her to
fall asleep, and she was not wrong, fortunately her train terminated at
Shallowfield so she wouldn’t miss her stop.
She slept
for half an hour and when she woke up she checked her watch and after looking
out the window to get her bearings she nodded as they were making good time but
then they stopped at a signal and waited there for what seemed like an
eternity.
When they
eventually got going again it was apparent that they were no longer making good
time.
As the train
pulled into Childean station it was raining hard, very hard indeed.
Luckily she
was in the dry, she looked across the platform to the one adjacent and assumed
that the passengers disembarking the train were waiting to board Annette’s
because when she heard whistles blowing they started to sprint in her direction
and the moment the last one was on board, the train pulled out of the station.
She made
herself comfortable again and was quite confident that she would fall asleep
and dream away the remaining thirty-five minute duration of the journey.
However a
rain soaked figure in a blue hooded rain mac appeared, which dripped water
everywhere including over Annette, which was when she turned into her mother
and tutted loudly.
The figure,
realising what they had done turned round.
“I’m so
sorry did I get you wet?” the person said then continued with surprise.
“Oh Annette”
She tried to
recognise the owner of the voice but there was only a small circle of face
visible and that had hair plastered to it and drops of rainwater dripping off
their eye lashes.
It was
definitely a man, tall and wet, she supposed it could equally have been a tall,
wet masculine woman but she didn’t think she knew any.
Annette
didn’t have a clue who it was so she did the only thing left open to her.
“Hello” she
said feebly
The figure
unzipped their coat and removed the hood and she suddenly recognised him.
“Oh it’s
you”
The figure
unzipped their coat and removed the hood and she suddenly recognised him.
“Oh it’s
you” she said “I didn’t recognize you Fabrizio”
He threw his
wet coat down on the seat and was about to sit next to it when the train jerked
and he fell into her lap but he quickly pushed back against the seat and
scrambled to his feet
“Sorry” he
said and as he did so she was able to detect the aroma of alcohol, which
pervaded her nostrils.
Then the
train lurched once more and he again fell against her.
Again he
scrambled to his feet.
“Sorry” he
said once more just as the train lurched for a third time and he fell into her
lap once again.
This time as
he scrambled up she aided his ascent by pushing against the small of his back but
instead she ended up with a handful of buttock which made her blush.
“Sorry” he
said again
“Stop
apologizing man” she chastised him and directed him to the seat beside her.
What
happened next only occurred because she had had one too many glasses of wine at
the wake and he had enjoyed a boozy night out with some mates, but she said.
“I’m not
sorry in the slightest, you have a very nice bum by the way”
She
immediately blushed scarlet and said to herself
“You
shouldn’t say things like that”
“Why not?
It’s true,” she replied in her head and then she leant over and kissed him
which at first he reciprocated with interest but then he stopped abruptly,
wearing a quizzical look and then he kissed her.
The kiss
lasted another minute and was only brought to an end this time by a battle axe
of a woman demanding Fabrizio move his wet coat so she could sit down and that
kind of killed the mood.
“I’m still
cross with you” she said
“With me?”
he exclaimed “Why?”
“You
promised to have breakfast with me and then you did a disappearing act” she
explained
“But I left
you a note” he said “at reception”
“Did you?”
“Yes” he
said “my grandfather had a stroke”
“I’m sorry I
didn’t get it” she said
“That would
explain why you didn’t call” Fabrizio said
“You could
have called me” she suggested
“I didn’t have your number so I couldn’t” he retorted
“I did try Roberto’s number but all I got was a girl called Dora”
“That’s his girlfriend” she said with some pride
“I even drove over to the Gracewoods but you weren’t
there and I tried to find you at the shop but that was shut and I didn’t know
where you live in Shallowfield but I have been looking for you” he said and
smiled
“Well I’ve been staying at the hotel” she said “Eating
breakfast alone”
He looked around
the carriage and it was much busier than he wanted so he stood up and led her
around the bulkhead away from prying eyes and he said
“I need to
know if this is just a drunken snog on a train or if it’s something else”
“I can’t
speak for you” she retorted “but for me it’s definitely something else”
“I’ve waited
so long to hear you say that” he said and smiled at her
“Was it
worth the wait?” she asked
“Oh yes”
“So can we
get back to the drunken snogging now?” she asked
“Absolutely”
Fabrizio said and kissed her again.
