Mornington-By-Mere – (26) ABC

 

Twenty three year old twins Cordelia and Corliss St George lived at Mornington Manor, in Mornington-By-Mere with their brother, two elder sisters and an aunt.

They were tall, a smidge short of six foot, strikingly attractive with warm smiles, blue eyes and long blonde hair and hearts as big as a the Manor House they lived in and felt blessed to have loving siblings and 3 particularly good and longstanding friends.

         

Apart from the fact they all lived in Mornington and were all 23 years old, the five girls also went to Abbottsford University together.

And it was while they were at University that Lisa Kincaid-Smith, Megan Murray, Carina Crockford and twin sisters Cordelia and Corliss St George performed as the Jackson 5 for the first time.

It was during rag week on their first week when they donned gold lame flares and black wigs and sang “I want you back” and from that moment it became their party piece and one that had been repeated on many occasions since.

So when they signed up for the Sharpington Day Parade on Bank Holiday Monday, a Charity event which raised tens of thousands of pounds every year, much of which was collected by volunteers rattling tins along the route whilst in fancy dress, it was a forgone conclusion who they would dress up as.

Sharpington-by-Sea was a traditional seaside resort complete with a Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park.

Which was the first purpose built amusement park to open in Britain, which had an assortment of rides, like the Rotor and the tame compared to a 21^st century roller coaster but still fun.

But on the August Bank Holiday Monday it wasn’t the Fun Park people were interested in.

It was the parade that attracted people from all over Downshire and beyond and Carina had an idea to make their Jackson 5 homage even better by having all the girls professionally made up to match Megan Murray’s skin colour which was dark caramel due to her mixed race heritage.

However much to her consternation her suggestion wasn’t greeted with universal approval.

That was mainly due to the fact that the St George girls were very white with pale skin and blue eyes and Lisa was a proper ginger who actually ended up paler when she went out in the sun.

Although their concerns centred more on not wishing to look ridiculous rather than the fear of any offence they might cause.

 

However their fears were soon put at ease when Carina explained what she had in mind. 

Since leaving University Carina Crockford had worked in the makeup department at the Purplemere Studio’s and it was there where she had charge of a group of trainee make-up artists and among them were Karen Cooper and Ivana Holubova, and it was they who Carina had persuaded to make the girls up.

Also she had co-opted the help of Sue Moss and Lisa Mendez from the costume department.

As a result the girls reluctantly agreed to go along with it but reserved judgement on whether they would allow themselves to be seen in public made up and costumed.

 

As it turned out the makeup and costumes were so good that on the day of the Sharpington Day Parade no one realised that only one of the Jackson 5 was actually black.

It was only at the very end of the day as they were getting into the car when Lisa’s wig fell off to reveal her ginger hair that a member of the public realised something was amiss.

There was however no public outcry though they got a mention in the Sharpington Courier and there was talk of a Police investigation but nothing came of it and the tale of the Jackson 5 passed into modern folklore.

 

Apart from the girls being twins Corliss and Cordelia were also the best of friends and like all the St Georges they were tall, blonde, blue eyed and strikingly attractive and yet they had passed the age of 23 without a steady boyfriend between them.

They weren’t exactly sweet sixteen’s and they had certainly been kissed but to be perfectly honest they weren’t really interested in men, not that they were otherwise inclined, it was just that their leisure time was precious to them and they hadn’t yet met the men that they would give up the time they had spare.

They both worked for the Mornington Estate and when they weren’t working they were sailing, canoeing, mountain biking, climbing, horse riding, you name it they spent their down time doing it, because basically Corliss and Cordelia were the outdoorsy type.

 

They both lived at Mornington Manor, and their primary aim in life was to have fun and keep their independence.

However while they were intent on enjoying themselves at every opportunity they met the devastatingly good looking White Brothers at the Mornington New Year’s Eve party at the Manor.

 

Peter and Paul White weren’t twins, in fact there was a two year gap between them, but they looked identical, they lived in The Close, at number 2 with their parents and younger brother.

They were also employed on the Mornington Estate as watermen,  

A role that they inherited from their father Andy who was now semi-retired due to ill health.

Their job was to maintain the health and wellbeing of the stretch of the River Brooke that dissected the Estate as well as the Mornington Mere and the numerous streams and ponds.

 

Although neither of them let on to the other at the time the twins thought the brothers were absolutely gorgeous and as a result from that moment on their perspectives on life altered.

 

Before the New Year’s Eve party they had no recollection of having seen the White boys despite them being Mornington natives, but from January the 1^st of the year onwards they saw them absolutely everywhere especially as their work for the estate took the twins all over.

 

It wasn’t until Easter however that Corliss confessed to her sister that she was attracted to one of the White brothers.

They were at the Manor and had spent the evening of Good Friday drinking more wine than was good for them.

“I really like Paul White” she blurted out and braced herself for Cordelia’s savage response, but instead of being cross she just laughed.

“I really like the other one” she said

Thankfully there was no argument as to who liked which brother they were instantly attracted to one hunk each, which was great for their friendship.

The problem was that as they had never really been interested in the opposite sex very much, they didn’t have a clue how to proceed, they only knew that they were smitten.

Looking the way that they did, tall, blonde and striking, they had had no shortage of male attention ever since their breasts arrived but historically they had hung onto the occasion one but mostly they just beat them away with a stick, but now the boot was on the other foot.

 

Nothing happened at all after the first encounter with them on New Year’s Eve at the Manor other than watching silently from afar and following their mutual confessions at Easter the twins did little else than talk about them a lot but that was as far as it went.

 

Once both girls had come clean they took their admiration to closer quarters and when the girls came upon their quarry they politely said hello and smiled and sometimes they even chatted briefly, they often came upon them on the River, fishing, but it was the closed season in April so they got harder to find.

 

By the beginning of May along with their ambushing the Whites whenever possible, which clearly wasn’t working, Cordelia and Corliss had adopted a different tactic.

They had established a pattern of where and when they would be on certain days and planned their working week around them.

Being the outdoorsy type they would take the mountain bikes, or the horses and ride past where they were working in the hope of catching site of them or engaging them in conversation but this proved to be a fruitless endeavour as did canoeing on the Brooke when they were taking water samples.

 

The four of them had lived in Mornington their whole lives and yet it wasn’t until they were in their early twenties that they actually met, quite remarkable really.

Paul White was a year older than the St George girls and Peter was a year younger but Corliss and Cordelia had no recollection whatever of them even though they must have gone to the same college in Finchbottom, they must have been either anonymous or invisible.

 

Paul was the older brother by two years, he was also two inches shorter and less self-confidence than Peter.

They were both athletically built with curly black hair and dark eyes and although the girls were unaware of it Corliss and Cordelia had not gone unnoticed.

 

It was about a week into the month of May that Cordelia St George was walking past the Vicarage and it was early on Saturday morning which was when Peter White came racing across the bridge on his bike at great pace and nearly took her out.

“Whoa” she said and jumped out of the way and Peter screeched to a halt.

“Sorry Miss St George” he said “I didn’t think anyone else was up and about this early”

He was up that early as he wanted to ride over to Shallowfield to order his brother’s birthday present so he would be back before Paul realised where he’d been.

Cordelia on the other hand was on her way home after an early shift at Windmill Farm due to a sick cow.

“Don’t call me Miss St George” she said “I’m Cordelia”

She looked at his gorgeous black curls beneath his helmet, and his dark eyes and sighed.

Peter had one foot on the floor and the other on the pedal and her eyes were fixed on the shape of his muscular thigh and the firmness of his buttock and she was transfixed until he caught her looking and she blushed and looked away.

“So why are you up so early?” she asked

“I’ve got to sort out a birthday pressie for Paul” he replied

“Where from?”

“Shallowfield” he replied “There’s a guy that makes handmade fishing rods”

Peter looked at his watch and said

“Oh damn, I really have to go”

“Oh ok” she said failing to hide her disappointment as he pedalled away.

“Bye” he said and as he pedalled off he cursed his luck after finally making some progress he had to leave.

“Paul had better like his bloody fishing rod” he said to himself

 

Peter was desperate to tell his brother about his encounter with Cordelia on the river bank and to recount the story of him catching her devouring him with his eyes, but that would have necessitated him telling Paul about the circumstances that brought him to the river path at that time of the morning on a Saturday so he had to keep it too himself.

 

A few days later Corliss was just leaving Addison’s Bakers when she saw Paul walking the other way, she liked Paul, and she thought he was cute, but she never got a chance to talk to him when he was alone or when she was alone.

He was either with his brother Peter or she was with her sister Cordelia.

She saw him on the pavement, he slowed down as he approached the shop and when he saw her he waved.

Corliss waved back and then suffered a rush of blood to the head and inexplicably blew him a kiss.

He stopped waving, went beetroot red and turned around and sped off.

“Shit” Corliss said out loud “too far, too soon”

 

“You stupid idiot” Corliss muttered under her breath as she shuffled disconsolately along the road cursing her missed opportunity.

In fact she was so distracted, as she ambled along berating herself for her stupidity, that she didn’t even notice her sister Cordelia coming the other way.

“What’s up sis?” Cordelia asked but Corliss didn’t react and carried on muttering to herself as before.

“Corliss!!” Cordelia called and grabbed her shoulder     

“Wha…” she exclaimed

“What’s the matter?” Cordelia asked

“I’m such a fool” she replied

“Why?”

“I had a chance to talk to Paul, one on one” she said “but instead of chatting him up I scared him away before I could”

“Ah, I see” Cordelia said “Was it really bad?”

“Oh it was bad alright” she said “it was much easier when we used to let the men make all the moves and we just cherry picked, I like him though”

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed”

“Very funny”

“I’m just as crazy about his brother” Cordelia admitted

“So what are we going to do about it?” Corliss asked

“I have a plan” she replied

“Good”

“So what exactly did you do to scare him off?” Cordelia asked

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” she replied

 

After running away from Corliss St George outside the bakery Paul went straight to his brother and blurted out the sorry tale.

“I behaved like an idiot”

“Don’t be daft bro” Peter said

“But she blew me a kiss and I ran away” he responded

“How could I be so wet?”

“It’s not so bad” Peter said encouragingly

“She’ll never look at me again” he said and buried his head in her hands.

Peter was desperate to tell his story about meeting Corliss but it would have to wait until after his birthday.

However on reflection he thought it probably wouldn’t have made either of them feel any better.

 

It was Paul Whites 25^th birthday on the 23^rd of May and his brother Peter’s was on the 27^th.

On their actual birthday they were going out to a restaurant of their choice with their family.

Paul’s favourite was a Chinese in Abbottsford called the Scented Garden while Paul liked the Brown Windsor in Shallowfield.

 

It was a week after Corliss had frightened away Paul and a week away from his birthday that the two brothers were walking passed the Mornington Mere heading away from the village.

They were on their way to take water samples for testing and were chatting about their upcoming celebrations.

But when they were about halfway along the path they found Corliss and Cordelia St George waiting by a tree.

“Hey you two” Corliss said and she and her sister smiled broadly. 

Peter smiled back and Paul blushed.

“Do you want some company?” Cordelia asked 

“Who are you asking?” Peter replied

“You of course” she said

“Then yes I do” Peter said cockily and she and Corliss walked slowly away.

While all this was going on the normally gregarious Corliss was suddenly uncharacteristically tongue tied and just kept grinning inanely at Paul.

He had stopped blushing and was waiting patiently for the invitation which didn’t appear to be coming so he said

“Alright then”

“Wha… what?” Corliss responded

“Yes alright then” he repeated

“Alright then what?” she asked

“You may keep me company” Paul said confidently

“Thank you” Corliss said and they walked off behind the other two.

By the time both couples had reached the end of the Mere they had arranged to go out for a meal at the Worsted Viper Hotel in Purplemere that evening.

QUITE UNAFFECTED

 

She was beautiful, elegant, and graceful

And held herself with dignity and poise

Yet was unaware of her own attraction

At school, boys of her age, for want of her

Cried themselves to sleep, and not only boys,

But she was unaware of the effect she had,

She turned heads and yet did not notice

This was not arrogance or even aloofness

She just did not see herself as others did

It had always been so, her innocence

Not that she did not date boys or even men,

She was neither virginal nor chaste

She was chased and pursued but not caught

Her heart, when given, went to the one man

Who saw beneath as only a soul mate can

Mornington-By-Mere – (25) The Santa Express

 

Mornington-By-Mere, is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

A quaint picturesque village, a chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12^th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

But it wasn’t just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale.

And although the village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life blood.

One such Farm was Manor Farm on the Western side of the village.

The Hargrave family had farmed the land at Manor Farm since the days when Napoleon was still a Corporal and they were showing no signs of bucking that trend.

The head of the Hargrave’s was Bruce though he leant heavily on his wife Karen.

They were in their mid-fifties and were looking forward to many more years at the helm.

There were three children the eldest at 32 was Mandy who along with her husband Jason McCabe had produced the first grandchild.

The second child was Norman who was two years younger than his sister and two years younger still was Michael and neither of them showed any sign of producing a little Hargrave.

 

Michael was a serious farmer, and a good one at that, but there was more to him than just farming.

Michael was very active in the church, at St Winfred’s as well as farther afield.

This involved among other things, being a greeter at the church services, delivering Parish Magazines, helping at the Christmas Bazaar, you name it and he did it and that was only in the village.

His wider good works included the Soup Kitchens in Finchbottom or Purplemere, who were always desperate for volunteers.

 

The Christmas Charity Wagon in Sharpington, which was an old Mornington Brewery dray pulled by two white shire horses.

The whole thing was bedecked with tinsel and lights and carried on the back a multi denominational choir.

Michael was not however among those going from door to door, as the wagon drove around the town, collecting donations in plastic buckets and handing out sweets to the excited children, no he was in the choir because he had the voice of an angel.

 

He was also volunteered for the Roving Angels which had been in existence for about two years and was similar to the Street Angels, Street Pastors and other groups that had sprung up all across the UK in the previous 12 or 15 years.

They had made a really positive impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in Finchbottom and Purplemere town centres over the first two years, particularly in the general vicinity of the bars and clubs.

They provide a calming presence on the streets late at night in situations where a police uniform might have the opposite effect.

In the two years since they began Roving Angels had contributed to a 29% fall in public place violence on the weekends.

It all began when Christian Churches in the area came together with the Police and the Borough Council’s to establish the Angels.

But it took people of Faith to make it work as with so many things in life.

Michael had been with them since the beginning.

 

But one of his favourite good deeds was to help out on the Santa Express, which was something to behold, and he loved it because it reminded him of his childhood.

 

The Boddingtons were pig farmers at Saddleback Farm near the hamlet of Fallowacres, which was as near as damn it the center point of the Vale, though only geographically.

But they also had a number of butcher’s shops in and around the Vale.

The Mornington Estate heavily subsidised the businesses in the village among them were a General Store, Farm Shop, Bakers and of course a Boddington’s Butchers Shop.

It was only a small shop located on the River Brooke side of The Street next to Addison’s Baker’s.

As a result of it being a small shop located in a small village it hadn’t had a full time butcher since before RAF Mornington was mothballed at the end of the 90s. 

However when the Mornington Estate exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD it also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military personnel.

Once plans were drawn up to optimize the newly acquired assets and more people moved to the village all the businesses benefitted.

So everyone in the family did a stint in Mornington but no one wanted to make it permanent.

 

Eleanor Boddington was approaching her twenty fifth birthday and she was fed up with not having proper roots.

The longest she had in one place was a two year stint at the shop in Childean, which ended in disaster when her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Since then she had been like a nomad, she would love to settle in Mornington with a particular farmer she was keen on, providing she could get him to notice her.

Which shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was proving to be. she was a typical Boddington, good looking, thick black curly hair and wild gypsy eyes and she flirted with him for all her worth.

 

Over the last few years she had had a lot of dealings with Manor Farm because they were a heritage farm and as well as breeding more exotic animals like llamas and ostrich, the farm produced quality meat.
And it was during her dealings with Manor Farm that she first met Michael Hargrave.

 

She liked that he was a tall man with broad shoulders and hands like shovels.

Ellie also liked his short brown hair, neatly trimmed beard and thick rimmed glasses.

But the things she loved the most about him were his hazel eyes and his infectious laugh.

 

He seemed to enjoy their conversations which were lengthy and diverse and she learned a lot about him and his interests.

And she admired him very much for all his voluntary work and she suggested she might join him some time but nothing ever came of it. 

 

Until December came around and he suggested she join him on the Santa Express.

He had resisted previously because he wasn’t sure she genuinely wanted to help he thought her interest might be purely superficial.

“So if you’re really interested” he said “I will pick you up outside the shop at 1 o’clock on Wednesday”

“I’ll be there” she promised

 

The Santa Express was a renovated steam engine and coaches, which ran from Sharping St Mary station to a secret location where Santa was waiting in his grotto.

It picked up the local children and their parents late afternoon so that they arrived at the grotto in darkness in order to make the most of the spectacular lights.

It was one of the high points of his year, he well remembered his parents taking him when he was a young lad and he liked to see other the kids as excited as he used to be at their age.

 

On Wednesday afternoon Eleanor was standing outside Boddington’s at 1 o’clock as promised and they talked the whole way as they drove to Sharping St Mary and when they got there the kids were going crazy with excitement and the excitement was quite infectious.

But Michael’s job on the trip was to make sure none of the over excited little darlings fell off the train.

John Cooper and his sister Lyndsey, and Bizzie Lizzie Florist Michelle Norman among others from the village were also present and at one point Michele managed to trap him between the carriages armed with a bunch of mistletoe and only when she had satisfied herself in the pagan ritual did she let him go.

Eleanor witnessed the kiss and she was not at all happy about it but she did enjoy the day as a whole.

 

Now if the kids were excited on the way to the grotto then judging by the decibel level they were even more so on the way back to the station.

When they disembarked and the children and their parents made their way home Michele Norman kissed Michaels cheek and said goodbye and then Michael and Eleanor went back to his car. 

On the journey back to Mornington Eleanor barely spoke because she was sulking about all the kissing.

 

Back in Mornington he drove into Military Row and dropped her off outside number 7.

“Well did you enjoy the day?” he asked

“Most of it” she replied, kissed his cheek and got out of the car.

 

He had never believed in love at first sight or in soul mates he thought them rather fanciful notions the stuff of romantic fiction and sentimental movies.

That was until he met Eleanor and he was instantly smitten, and he thought she may have felt the same.

Even his mother had noticed and after she had seen them together she said

“You two are like two halves of a different whole, and that each of them was the missing piece in the others puzzle”

It wasn’t many months before when his mum was nagging him about getting a wife he had said

“I’m not looking for a life partner” well he thought he may have found one whether he was looking or not.

But after the Santa Express experience he was beginning to think he and his mother had misread the situation and over the following week that feeling was reinforced as she appeared to be avoiding him.

 

On Christmas Eve local Vet Hayley Gwilym was at Manor Farm to look at a sick Lama and she happened to mention that her retired mentor Robin Jeffrey had been bending her ear all morning.

And during her visit she asked Michael if he would pop up to Dulcets Mill because he couldn’t get the web cam to work and he needed it functioning for Christmas Day so he could skype his kids and grandchildren.

They both knew it probably meant that he had disabled it by accident but she had tried to explain over the phone and failed miserably, she would have gone up to see him, but she had an extraordinarily long list of calls so she pleaded with him to go in her stead.

So later that afternoon he had to go out in the cold and trudge across the village through the snow just to tick a box.

 

As he suspected Robin had accidentally disabled the web cam so he worked his magic and went back out into the cold night and by the time he got to the road it had started snowing again and by the time he reached the Close it was coming down hard and fast.

In fact it was coming down so rapidly that visibility was reduced to zero.

It was so disorienting that he couldn’t have even found his way back to Robin’s despite being no more than 15 minutes away from Dulcets Mill.

So he inched his way along the footpath tucking up close to hedges, picket fences and garden walls so he didn’t wander off course.

When he reached the end of a row of houses he had to take a leap of faith, as he couldn’t see the other side of the road.

As he trudged onward he realised he had gone off course because he hadn’t reached the other side.

He had no idea how far he had gone as he had no point of reference, so he decided the best course of action was to veer left to try and find the footpath again.

Unfortunately he had no idea how far left to go or for that matter how far left he had already gone.

Michael was just beginning to panic when he tripped on a kerbstone and crashed into another lost soul and they fell to the floor in an untidy heap.

 

When he had scrambled to his feet he found he was outside Boddington’s

“I’m saved” he thought as he envisaged taking refuge in the shop until the snow abated, but first he had to help the other poor customer he had left prostrate on the snowy ground.

“I’m so sorry” he said as he grabbed a handful of coat and pulled the stricken body to its feet.

The individual muttered incoherently under their breath as they brushed themselves off and he got the impression his apology was not accepted.

And when they began to turn in his direction he was bracing himself for a volley of abuse but to his great surprise he found the previously stricken figure to be Eleanor Boddington and the muttering scowling indignant face instantly changed to a beaming smile when she recognized the face of her assailant.

“Michael” she said excitedly then cautiously gave a long look in the direction of the shop doorway then in a quieter voice she continued

“I didn’t know it was you”

“Are you ok?” he asked

“I am now” she replied and glanced again at the door

He looked her up and down and realised why he hadn’t recognized her before, she was dressed in heavy duty winter clothes.

Her lovely thick black curls were completely covered by a red woolly hat, her dainty feet were in wellies and her slender figure was concealed by a puffer jacket.

She was still looking anxiously towards the shop doorway and then impulsively she steered him around the side of the building and kissed him as the snow fell steadily on them, which he reciprocated.

After a minute of mutually beneficial passion he said

“Does this mean you’re talking to me again?”

“That depends” she said enigmatically

“On what?”

“On whether you go around kissing Michelle Norman every five minutes or not” she said 

“I see, you are referring to the mistletoe kiss on the train”

“I didn’t see any mistletoe” Eleanor said

“So you thought it was just a snog?” he asked

“Yes” she replied and looked down at her feet.

Michael lifted her chin so he could see her eyes and then he kissed her.

It was less prolonged than the first however because a voice called from the shop doorway

“Ellie?”

So Michael released her reluctantly and she called.

“I’ll be there in a moment Dad”

“I have to go” she said and kissed him again

“Perhaps we can pick it up again later” he said

“We’re going to Fallowacres”

“How long for?” he asked

“Until the New Year” she replied

“In which case I’m going to need another kiss before you go” Michael said and then they kissed one last time

“Happy Christmas Ellie” he said

“Happy Christmas” she echoed and she paused by the door and added

“I’ll bring you a present”  

“You’re the only present I want” he said and she ran straight back into his arms.

 

Michael watched as they drove away from the shop and then turned around and continued his journey home as the snow abated.

And he spent all that Christmas looking forward to the New Year.

I HAD A VIVID DREAM

 

I had a vivid dream

And you were there

Lovely as the day we met.

I smelt your perfume

It was heavenly

A fragrance so evocative

I was intoxicated

It was blessed Euphoria.

I felt your caress

Tender like the first time

It was so real

My flesh tingled

The hairs on my neck stood up.

I kissed your lips

Like I did so many times

And my heart missed a beat

Just as it always did.

I would have stayed with you

Forever in your embrace

I wanted to stay

But I was dragged away

To awake in the real world

Where you no longer reside

And I was once again alone

But for a short time

I had you back

Even if it was just a dream

But what a special dream

A priceless dream

A dream, that if I could

I would dream again and again

IT ISN’T LOVE

 

It isn’t love, when you kiss all the time

Lust is what that is

The bits in between the kissing

Now that’s where the love is

Snippets of Downshire Life – Epiphany

 

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.

Mornington-By-Mere – (24) Christmas Surprise

 

There are four Windmill Cottages in the village of Mornington-By-Mere and they are as quaintly picturesque as is the rest of the village.

They stand detached in a neat row alongside the southern bank of the River Brooke situated between the East Bridge and Church Hall.

The Chapman family live in number 1 and Jo Williamson and her daughter Cassandra live next door at number 2.

 

Alan Chapman was a 50 year old widowed Farm Labourer and was very highly regarded and as such he was never out of work as a result and because of that he could easily pick and choose where he worked.

As a consequence of his outdoor life he was a lean fit man with a full head of sandy hair and a weathered complexion.

His daughter Lorraine didn’t live with him full time as she was a Nurse at the Winston Churchill Hospital in Abbottsford and rather than commute back and forth she shared a flat with two other Nurses, Jane Hall, and Rosie Parsons who also lived in Mornington and worked at the Churchill.

It wasn’t a huge flat and nor was it in the smartest part of town but it was perfect for them as it meant that they had a place to live that was close to work, which was ideal for them all as they worked shifts, and it meant that split between the three of them their expenses were less than their travelling would have been. 

His 23 year old so James was also a Farm Labourer but he worked exclusively at Windmill Farm and the baby of the family Siobhan went to college and was well employed in the evenings babysitting.

So as a result of his children’s independent existences Alan spent a lot of his leisure time on his own.

He wasn’t altogether happy with that but he had been a widower for ten years so he was getting used to it.

 

He was not an unsociable man however and was well liked by those who knew him and he got on well with his neighbour’s.

 

One of those neighbour’s was Josephine Williamson who he knew very well and would have liked very much to have known her better.

But what held him back was that she was 8 years younger than him, so he admired her from a distance.

She was five foot eight with luscious thick ginger curls tumbling down onto her shoulders and mesmerizing green eyes, with a lovely figure, curvaceous and perfectly proportioned.

 

Jo was a divorcee but had raised her daughter single handed and had to stand on her own two feet, she had managed to get a full time job with one of the new firms up at Mornington Field, Paige Turners and things were going well for her so she was happy-ish.

But Caz was in her final year at University and when she graduated she was going to marry the love of her life, Alex Kincaid-Smith who lived at number 4 which meant Jo would truly be alone.

But she wouldn’t under any circumstances tell her daughter how scared she was of that prospect because she didn’t want to hold her back.

 

Alan was in a much more positive frame of mind when December came around, because Christmas was just around the corner.

He liked Christmas and so did the kids so he was guaranteed they would all be around if only for a few days.

Alan had spent the whole week working up at Wood Hill Farm for the Newman’s but they had got on so well that they were finished by Friday lunchtime so Kashveena fed him a good lunch and sent him on his way with a full weeks wages.

Kash Newman was renowned in the area for her cooking and she didn’t stint on the portions either.

When he got home to an empty house he sat down in front of the TV and started watching “The Bishops Wife”, one of his all-time favourite Christmas movies, but with his stomach still full with Kash’s lunch he lasted no more than 10 minutes before the long blinks set in and as a result he spent the afternoon sleeping on the couch in a fitful dreamy sleep in which Loretta Young featured heavily.

It was just when he had woken from that long afternoons snoozing and surfaced from an erotic dreamland that he heard the sound of the doorbell.

The bell continued to ring as he made his way up the hall and when he opened the front door he found a rather tipsy Jo Williamson leaning against the doorframe.

“Alan darling” she slurred, “I am a damsel in distress”

“How can I help?” he said

“I’m locked out” Jo said “and Caz won’t be back for at least an hour” 

Cassandra had gone to Abbottsford with friends to do her Christmas shopping.

“Could you be a dear and let me stay here until she gets home?”

“Yes of course” he said just being neighbourly “Come on in party girl”

“Thank you kind sir” she said as she almost fell through the door.

“Let’s get your coat off” he suggested which proved to be something of an effort, but they managed it in the end and when they had she adjusted her skirt and straightened her scarlet festive top.

He sat her on a chair in the hall while he pulled her boots off revealing her festive tights with a cute holly leaf motif.

“Come in the kitchen and I’ll put the kettle on” he said

“Wine will do” she suggested and fell against the wall giggling.

“Coffee I think” he replied

 

A couple of cups later and Jo had sobered considerably and she told him all about the Paige Turners Christmas lunch at the Old Mill Inn and how much she had enjoyed it.

Well he already knew how much she had enjoyed it by the way she fell in through the front door.

“Do you want another cup?” he asked

Jo checked her watch before replying

“Yes please, but I must have a pee first”

“Ok, I’ll take it through to the lounge” he said

 

Alan was sitting on the sofa when she tottered into the lounge, make up repaired, outfit perfect, and in one hand she held a sprig of mistletoe.

“Look what I have found,” she said and as she reached him she raised it above her head.  

So he stood up to face her, puckered up and gave her a Christmas kiss and as his lips touched hers her it was evident that it was a more intrusive kind of Christmas kiss she was interested in, which took him by surprise, but it was a nice surprise, so in the spirit of the season and just to be neighbourly he responded in kind.

Holding the bubbly redhead in his arms was something he had often imagined but never expected for a moment that it would actually happen.

She was gorgeous and felt so good in his arms and the smell of her hair and her perfumed skin intoxicated him.

He never for a second believed that she might view him in a similar light.

He supposed it must have been as a result of the over indulgent boozy lunch, but whatever the cause she was showing no signs of letting up and had consolidated her position by locking her arms tightly around his neck.

 

Jo and Alan lay silently in the afterglow in his bed and after a few minutes Jo turned her head to look at him.

“My goodness that was really powerful mistletoe” Jo said from beneath the duvet.

“It was that” he agreed

“This isn’t quiet how I envisaged the day going” she said

“Well we Chapmans take hospitality very seriously” he said

“I don’t make a habit of this” she said

“Nor do I” Alan said “And this isn’t something I envisaged happening either, but it’s something I pictured in my dreams, often”

He reached out and put his arm around her and she lay her head on his chest.

“Truly?” she asked

“Truly” he confirmed

“Mine too” Jo whispered and kissed his skin

 

“I’m sorry if it wasn’t as good as you dreamed” she said

“I’ve only ever been with… I had only ever been with my husband John”

“It was every bit as I dreamed it” he reassured her and she hugged him tightly

“I’m no serial philanderer” he confessed “There’s been no one since Eve, until now”

“I’m glad” she said and he felt her sighing breath on his chest

 

They lay entwined beneath the duvet and after about 5 minutes Jo broke the silence.

“I have to go” she said “Cassandra will be wondering where I am, and what I’m doing”

“I don’t want you to go” he said

“It won’t be forever” she reassured him

“I know” Alan said “I thought we could try another sprig of that mistletoe”

“Oh yes” she said “merry Christmas”