There was a lot of
love on Teardrop Lake that Christmas, some was old and had stood the test of
time, and some had led to marriage already, while others waited in the wings.
Some loves were still
in the first flush while others were mere embers that were yet to ignite.
And there was more
than one person with the hope of love in their hearts.
The old loves on the
Lake, like Patrick and Kay O’Neill were approaching 30 years of Marriage and
Paul and Lynn Cooper were in their 35th year and both couples were
blessed with children.
Chris and Jemima
Harris had just celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary and Ellen
and James Huston were in their 10th year.
Daniel and Winifred
Travers were married for 40 years in a Childless union, but one that was overflowing
with love and they were still a sublimely happy couple.
Even Rob and Sheryl
Brown had survived the ups and downs of the hospitality business and remained
married for 42.
So it was another year
when the Lake had worked its magic and those who had no romantic love were
blessed with familial love in its stead.
Some loves born on the
Lake celebrated Christmas on foreign shores and others returned in time for the
special day.
It was a week before
Christmas and India Harris was waiting at the arrivals gate as the passengers
from the Sydney flight came through.
She was there to meet
her best friend Penny Davies who had been in Australia with her artist fiancé
for over two months.
Danny had a commission
piece to do over there and neither of them wanted to be without the other for
so long so he took her along.
Penny came through the
gate and squealed when she saw Indie and then her friend did the same.
On one of their trips
in the woods, Penny’s fiancée, Danny had spotted something glistening in the
water of the brook, so he braced himself against a tree trunk and reached down
and picked it up, it was about the size of a pocket watch and was made of some
kind of Perspex.
The sort used on world
war two German aircraft, a Messerschmitt probably that had been shot off during
a dogfight.
The aircraft that may
or may not have survived, there was no way of knowing, he slipped the piece of
Perspex into his pocket and he thought he could do something with it when he
had a spare minute of two.
Well every spare
minute he worked on the Perplex and he fashioned it into a number of small
objects one of which he slipped on Penny’s finger as an engagement ring.
But on that day she
wore a different ring on her finger and when India saw it the squealed again
and then Indie showed Penny her ring they were off again.
Penny still proudly
wore the Perspex ring on her other hand, and that would remain special to her
forever.
Just then Danny
appeared pushing the heavily laden trolley.
“It’s ok I can manage”
he said before kissing and hugging Indie.
“Is Paul with you?” he
asked
Paul was India fiancé
Capt. Spreadborough of the Downshire Light Infantry.
“No he’s still on
camp” she replied “He’ll be home for Christmas though”
“Did you come on your
own then babe?” Penny asked
“No, Dad’s waiting outside”
she said
On the Tuesday
afterwards, paramedic Chris O’Neill took Karen Cooper out on their first date
to a very exclusive restaurant in Purplemere called the Runcible Spoon and
after all the attention he lavished on her she began to feel that she might be
as pretty as her sisters after all.
On the following day
it was his brother Fran’s turn when he when on his first date with the lovely Dakota
Harris, but being a student he couldn’t afford a fancy restaurant their date consisted
of bowling and a slice of pizza, but Dakota didn’t mind a bit.
Danny and Penny found
the whole week after their return from Australia quite exhausting.
As they went from one
friend’s house to another, retelling the same tales of their trip down under to
different audiences.
So when Christmas
finally arrived it came as something of a relief.
After midnight mass at
St Mary’s, Megan and Angel shared the peace with fellow worshippers and then went
back to Angelika’s Cottage and made love, again.
Early the next
morning, just before dawn, Megan woke up and when her eyes grew accustomed to
the dark she kissed Angels shoulder and got up.
She dressed quickly
and then loaded Paris, Angel’s chocolate coloured Labrador, into her car and
drove “Harrison” home to her flat.
She parked the car and
went inside and when she came out again she was carrying a bag containing two changes
of clothes and the Christmas presents and Skipper was trotting along behind her.
She let Paris out of
her car and then she walked the dogs back to the Cottage.
“Settle down you two”
she said to the dogs who quickly arranged themselves in front of the fire, then
she placed the presents beneath the tree and returned to bed and cuddled up to
Angelika.
“Merry Christmas Angel”
Megan said as she kissed her lover awake.
“Merry Christmas
honey” she replied sleepily and they cuddled up close.
“This is really nice
but we’d better get up and walk the dogs before breakfast” Angel said
“I did it already”
“Really? So nothing to
get up for then” Angelika said and started nibbling Megan’s ear.
Admittedly Christmas
morning was special for everyone but it was also different for everyone.
Olivia Shenton’s
Christmas for example was the busiest she had ever known and her organizational
skills were invaluable to steer her husband Ben through his numerous seasonal
commitments and she loved every minute of it.
Practice nurse Kate
Marston meanwhile spent her Christmas morning doing home visits, she had
volunteered for duty because her Police Officer boyfriend Ian was on duty all
day so they had their Christmas Day on Boxing Day.
That year, Kate’s colleagues
Evangeline Christodoulou and Siti Shahara celebrated their first Christmas as a
couple and their first one living together.
Siti’s wounds from the
brutal attack by her estranged husband two months earlier, had all healed and
the invisible scars would be cured in time by Eva’s love for her, which was
abundant.
Siti’s estranged husband spent his Christmas
Day in prison.
Dr Claire Andrews and
film director fiancé Peter Lutchford were in California for Christmas and ate
their holiday lunch in bright sunshine on the terrace at a house in Beverley
Hills.
Penny Davies spent the
night of Christmas Eve at Lake View Cottage with Danny and after beginning the
day by making love they were nearly late picking up her aunts for Church.
After the Christmas
worship they went back with Julia and Amanda and spent the day with them at
East Side House.
Consequently they
didn’t get to open their presents until the evening.
Paul Spreadborough
only got home on leave from the army on Christmas Eve and he didn’t get a
moment alone with India.
Paul, his sister Ellen
and his brother in law James had all been invited to the Harris’s for Christmas
Day.
Chris and Jemima
Harris put on a wonderful dinner at Shoe Buckle House of tradition fare but
Paul’s appetite had not been fully satisfied.
So after lunch Paul
and India announced they were going for a walk but they only got as far as the
house next door and spent the following hour and a half in his bedroom in
Chapel House.
Later on Christmas
afternoon India’s younger sister Dakota also went out for a walk on the pretext
of seeing her friend Karen Cooper but in actuality she met up with Fran O’Neil
by the old Tower and they wished each other a happy Christmas.
Chantelle Dooney and
Richard Grimwood residents of East Cliff Lodge were unaccustomed to sharing
Christmases’ and so this one was a novelty so they had their Christmas lunch at
the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel and then they walked up to Lovers Leap and sat on
the high ledge eating mince pies and drinking Mulled Wine as the snow began to
fall.
Their downstairs
neighbours, the Charlton’s, were away for Christmas and although they were over
the moon at their recent reconciliation Matt and Emily’s Christmas was very hard
work.
They had to divide
their time equally between both sets of parents.
And neither set of
parents were as thrilled with their reconciliation as the couple were
themselves.
The atmosphere was at
times tense and at others downright hostile but somehow they got through it.
Suffice is to say they
were delighted when they returned to the sanctuary of their Lakeside home once
again.
The Cooper and O’Neil
families both had big family Christmas days full of loud voices and laughter.
But this year they
were full of love as well.
Both families met
briefly at St Mary’s on Christmas morning where Jane and Terry acted quite
self-consciously around each other.
While Chris and Karen
were quite conspiratorial, later during a lull in the festivities they snuck
out of their respective houses and met down at the boathouse where they sat and
held each other as they watched the snow fall on the lake.
Angelika and Megan
finally dragged themselves out of bed and Meg walked the dogs again while
Angelika put the bird in the oven and made breakfast.
After they’d eaten,
they both needed to shower but time was running out.
“We’d better get in
together” Angelika said
“Ok but no funny
business” Meg said
“But you like the
funny business” Angel pointed out
“I know but we don’t
have time” Megan said
They made it to the
service on time and when they returned to the cottage they got the lunch
prepared.
Which was when they
sat down with a large sherry and opened their presents.
Megan had never done Christmas
presents before and she was very excited indeed, almost as excited as she was
with the “funny business”.
She was already on her
hands and knees under the tree by the time Angelika entered the room
“Open this one first”
Megan said and handed up a little gift bag to her.
“Ok but let me sit
down first” she said laughing
When she was seated
she took the package and inside wrapped in tissue paper was a gold and platinum
angel pendant inscribed on the back
“Mijn engel van liefde”
To my angel of love
“It’s beautiful”
Angelika said and cried “So, so beautiful”
And then she joined
Megan on the floor and kissed her.
“Your turn” she said
and reached under the tree and brought out a small parcel.
“I’ve never had a
Christmas present before” Megan said
“Well, you have one
now” Angel said “Open it, open it”
“I’m savouring it”
Megan said
When she had carefully
removed the paper she put it on the floor and opened the gift box and inside
she found a gold locket.
“Wow” she exclaimed
“it’s lovely”
“Look inside” Angelika
urged “Look inside”
So Megan opened the
locket up and in one side, it housed a pearl and on the other there was an
inscription.
“To my little pearl”
When they had first
met Angelika had told her that Megan was an Anglo-Saxon name which meant “Little
Pearl”
“Oh Angel” Megan said
“It’s so beautiful, I love you”
“And I love you too”
she responded, and they hugged
Soon Christmas was
over for another year but the love expressed in its many guises would live on
into the coming year and beyond.
