Mornington-By-Mere is
a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the
Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
It is a quaint
picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor
House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge,
a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But Mornington-By-Mere is not just a
quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of the Finchbottom
Vale and there are a number of cottages
and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which formed the part
of Mornington Village known as Manorside and Karl Potter lived at number 3 Dulcet Mill Lane
with his teenage sons Mark and Shaun.
The Potters had only
been in the village since April when the company he worked for, Digitize Image
Lab, moved to Mornington Field from Northchapel.
It was very opportune
timing because he had already decided before he found out about the move that
he would move to pastures new so he and the boys could have a fresh start,
because they all struggled to come to terms with the loss of their wife and
mother, respectively, in the family home they had all shared.
Rose Potter was
diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2014 and finally succumbed to the
disease in mid-August.
They had thought that
with times healing hand things would return to some form of normality, but it
didn’t work out that way and in reality everything in the house was a constant
reminder of what they had lost, every stick of furniture, every picture,
ornament and memento screamed at them, “she’s gone”, even the wallpaper and
carpets joined in the chorus.
It was after a very
tortuous Christmas, when they all tried their hardest to make the best of
things, that prompted a New Year’s Eve heart to heart in which they talked for
the first time about how they felt and the conclusion they all came to was that
they didn’t want to live in that house anymore.
So when he returned to
work after the Christmas break he went to see his boss, Brian Brushwood, to
tell him of his decision.
“Well that’s bizarre”
Brian said
“Well that’s our
decision” Karl said crossly
“No it’s not that”
Brian said “I was only thinking over Christmas that we had outgrown this
building”
“Really?” Karl asked
“Yes and I have also
been thinking a lot lately about the place of my birth, Mornington”
“Mornington” Karl
mused
“I’ve been getting a
lot of marketing emails lately” Brian said “because they are redeveloping the
old RAF Base, Mornington Field, into a commercial park”
“I’ve never been to
Mornington” Karl said “What’s it like?”
“It’s idyllic” Brian
replied
“What about
accommodation?” he asked
“According to the
correspondence I’ve been getting, that’s not a problem” Brian replied
“So what do you
think?”
“I think its happenstance”
Karl retorted
“Grab your coat and
we’ll go and take a look” Brian suggested
“What now?”
“Strike while the iron
is hot” Brian said
As a result of their New
Year reconnoiter they moved into the new Digitize Image Lab premise’s which was
located in what used to be the old Crew Quarters which they shared with another
company, Premier Lace, on the day after the Easter Bank Holiday and all the
staff moved to Mornington with them.
The Potters moved into
number 3 Dulcet Mill Lane at the
end of March, a week before Easter.
The house in
Northchapel was sold, along with most of the furniture, but there were some things
they couldn’t bear to part with even if they couldn’t bear to be around them so
they were put into storage.
So the house in
Manorside was furnished from scratch, but fortunately O’Sullivan and
Springthorpe had premises at Mornington Field.
Apart from their
normal business as one of the premier auctioneers in Downshire, they were also
required rather more often than they would have liked to do house clearances.
On many occasions they
would turn up a few choice pieces to at least cover the cost of the clearance
but that still meant there was a lot of serviceable items that weren’t worth
auctioning but still had value which eventually found their way into one of
their many second hand shops across the county however most of it spent a
prolonged period in storage first.
As a result they were
only too pleased when cash customers knocked on the door to relieve them of a
few piece’s and with all the new residents in the village they had had quite a
few of those, chief among them being Karl Potter.
Karl was very pleased
with his decision and the boys loved it, despite it being in the back of
beyond, so the move to pastures new was a hit and they easily made new friends.
By August they had all
settled down to life in Mornington and survived unscathed the first anniversary
of Rose Potters death and having survived that they knew they could survive
anything.
When they moved to
Manorside they left behind them a well-designed and well maintained garden but
what they moved to was an untamed jungle and Karl was ill-equipped to do
anything about it, as he did not possess green fingers, gardening was his wife’s
forte and the garden in Northchapel was all her own work and all he and sons
did after her death was to keep it tidy.
Not one of them possessed
either the skill or the will to make a garden out of the wilderness at number 3 Dulcet Mill Lane and even if
he did, Karl did not have the luxury of endless leisure time in which to do it,
he had enough on his plate with getting the interior sorted, combined with the
relocation of Digitize from Northchapel to Mornington Field.
However he and his
boys all enjoyed sitting outside in the garden to relax on a pleasant day and
Karl was a keen Chef de Barbeque on any kind of day.
So he came to the
conclusion that there was only one alternative remaining and that was to employ
the services of a gardener to sort the garden out for him, so Karl asked around
the village to see if there was anyone local they could recommend and he
expected them to come up with the company name of a Landscape Gardening Contractor’s
based in Shallowfield or the Dulcet’s, but instead everyone he spoke with gave
the same name, without exception, and that was a local girl called Annie
Wilson.
Annie Wilson lived in
The Close at number 7, with her parents Lloyd and Alex and three younger
siblings, Patsy, Cally and Andy.
She was 27 years old
and just like her sisters she stood six feet tall and had curly auburn hair, lovely
blue eyes and a very large bust and also in common with her siblings the auburn
haired giant was quiet and reserved and also possessed another Wilson family
trait which was the hard work ethic.
When she left school
she went straight to work on the Mornington Estate as a trainee gardener and 11
years later she was still there, although in truth she had dreamed of working
further afield on grander gardens but life had a habit of getting in the way of
dreams and such was the case for the Wilson’s when her mother Alex was
diagnosed with MS only a year after Annie started work.
Because Annie’s mum
had MS and everyone in the family had to do their bit, working on the Estate
was perfect and her dream would just have to remain a dream.
Annie worked three
days a week in the Manor grounds so she could take her turn helping with her
mum and the other two days she worked part time as a domestic gardener which
was very flexible so also fitted in with helping her mum.
And if that wasn’t
enough to keep her busy she also did a Saturday and Sunday shift for Sebastian
Fox-Martin at Dulcets farm, where he had a small holding, situated between
Mornington and Purplemere.
So Annie was never idle
and never still and was an absolute dynamo and was tireless in her work ethic,
and she had no time for anything other than the work and her family.
So although she was
supremely busy she never turned down an opportunity to fill any would be holes
in her schedule, therefore when she got home one evening and her mum told her
she had received a call from a man in Manorside who needed a garden she was happy
to take a look, despite the curious wording of his enquiry.
“He said he “needed a
garden”?” Annie asked “And not a gardener?”
“No love” her mum
replied “he defiantly said he needed a garden”
“Ok I’ll go and have a
look” she said and put her coat back on “What was the address?”
“Dulcet Mill Lane” her
mum said looking at her message pad “number 3, and his name was Potter?”
“Ok, do you need
anything before I go mum?” Annie said
“No I’m fine” she
replied “I’m really intrigued to know what it is he wants”
Because of her MS Alex
was unable to get out and about very much to enjoy village life so she relied
on her family and friends to bring news of the village to her.
So happy that her mum
had everything she needed Annie left the family home at number 7 The Close late one Thursday
afternoon in the week after Easter and headed down the Close because in between number 4 and number 5 there was an alleyway
which led from The Close and emerged between Mazzone’s Hairdressers and the
Dental Surgery in The Street.
It was late one Thursday afternoon in the week after Easter and the weather
was typically showery for April but as Annie Wilson left home the sun was
shining.
She turned right and headed down the Close, because in between number 4 and number 5 there was an alleyway
which led from The Close and emerged between Mazzone’s Hairdressers and the Dental
Surgery in The Street.
Once she exited the Alley she crossed over to the pub side and then crossed
over Church Bridge and proceeded along the
riverside path on the Southern Bank of the River Brooke with Mornington Field across
the water on her right and Manor Wood on her left.
It was the woodland that drew her eye because the foliage was appearing, she loved the spring, and it was her favourite time of
year, when everything came alive again
After the Wood stood the famous Mornington Brewery and immediately before
the river changed direction, stood Dulcets Mill, one of the last three
remaining Mornington Mills.
She left the river at the point it turned sharply to the right and she
followed the path passed the mill which lead to Dulcets Mill Lane.
There were only six houses in the Lane and number three was the first one
on the left and she was pleased to see it had a South Facing garden.
“I can do something with that” she thought to herself
Annie walked up to the door and rang the bell and a few minutes later it
was opened by a middle-aged man who she
thought, by his mode of dress, that he looked like a used car salesman, who
wore a surprised expression.
“Mr. Potter?” she said
“Yes”
“You called about a garden” she said “I’m Annie Wilson”
“Ah Annie” he said and
offered his hand “Thanks for coming, do come in”
“Ok I’ll just take my
boots off” she responded
“Don’t worry about
that” he assured her “The carpets haven’t gone down yet”
“Oh ok” Annie replied and
followed him into the house
“Call me Karl by the
way” he said as he opened the back door and stepped out onto the patio
“Oh my goodness” Annie
said and chuckled “it’s a jungle”
“It’s a bit wild” he
agreed
“I understand why you
told my mum you wanted a garden and not a gardener” she said and laughed
“Yes I need help” he
said
He went on to say that
he was not blessed with green fingers and nor had his sons inherited the gift
from their mother.
“If she were still
alive she would know what to do” he said
“But alas I do not”
“So what would you
like me to do?” she asked “I could just knock it into shape and make it more
manageable”
“I was think more like
clear it out and start again” Karl said
“Would you be interested
in taking that on?”
“Well do you have
anything in mind?” she asked
“Not a clue” he
retorted
“Ooh a blank canvas
then” she said excitedly “I’m definitely interested, but it won’t be a quick
fix”
She went on to explain
about her other work commitments and how she would only be able to do a day and
a half or so each week.
“That sounds fine with
me” Karl said “Let’s go inside and talk money”
When he was
interrupted by the doorbell ringing late one Thursday afternoon, in the week after Easter,
Karl Potter was ill prepared for the sight that greeted him when he opened the
door.
He was met with the
vision of the striking figure of a lovely auburn haired giant of a girl.
He estimated her to be
in her late twenties, standing six feet tall with curly auburn hair, lovely
blue eyes, a nice smile and a very large bust.
“Mr. Potter?” she said
“Yes” he replied
“You called about a garden” she said “I’m Annie Wilson”
They spent about half
an hour, firstly looking at the jungle that was the garden and then discussing
time frame, budget and remuneration.
When the discussion
was over everything was settled and she would start work later that week and
fit it in as and when she could.
When she had left he
sat in the kitchen and spent a reflective twenty minutes drinking coffee.
Karl was rather taken
with the gardener and had been from the first moment he saw her and it took him
by surprise somewhat, because he hadn’t expected to look at a woman again and
feel an attraction, in fact it was something he thought he would never feel
again.
It wasn’t as if he saw
his wife Rose in her, she was as different from his wife as it was possible to
get, Rose was petite, outgoing and feisty, whereas Annie was statuesque, quiet
and reserved.
But when he opened the
door and saw her it was like a bombshell going off, such was the impact and he
hadn’t been expecting anything like that, not ever.
Rose and Annie did
have one thing in common which was a love of gardening and an enthusiasm for a
challenge, and just like his wife she was not deterred by the thought of hard
work.
Because when she saw
the task ahead of her she was not daunted by the prospect of the job in hand in
fact she seemed to relish it and he liked that very much.
As he drank his coffee
he came to the conclusion that he was really rather taken with her, not that that
mattered on a personal level, but he was new to the village and knew no one
other than work colleagues, so he could see that he and Annie might well become
friends.
“Well he was nice”
Annie said to herself as she stepped onto the riverside path.
Her first impression
of him based on his mode of dress, making him look like a used car salesman,
turned out to be unfounded, he wasn’t a used car salesman at all, in fact he
wasn’t any kind of salesman.
She didn’t fully
understand what it was that he did do, but it was something to do with websites
and computers, not really her field of expertise.
Not that he talked
down to her or belittled her for her lack of technical savvy.
He even
self-deprecated himself for his complete ignorance of all things horticultural
and his inability to distinguish between a flower and a weed.
So she came away from
Dulcets Mill Lane with the feeling that working for him would not be too much
of a chore and probably the contrary would be true.
When Annie Wilson
returned home after meeting with Karl Potter she was in a very buoyant mood and
was singing.
Her mum, Alex, didn’t
read too much into that after all it was not a wholly unusual occurrence, she
often sang.
So Alex would have
thought no more about it had it not been for the fact that the moment she took
her boots and coat off she began to relate the events of her visit to Manorside
with great zest and zeal and her rendition of the episode was not restricted to
the task involved but also covered her employer in some detail.
That was a new
departure for Alex, she was not used to her talking in such terms about a man,
the garden was normally the all-consuming focus of her passion.
It was certainly out
of character for her to speak so passionately about a man.
Annie had never shown
much interest in the opposite sex, apart from a few teenage romances that
seemed to be little more than distractions to her, so Alex was delighted to
hear her daughter talking about this man with such enthusiasm and she had only
spent half an hour with him, so with the prospect of a summers worth of contact
Alex was hopeful.
Because of her MS she
was hopeful that her children would all find someone to share their lives with
before she lost the battle with the disease.
Cally was the only one
of her children that was all loved up but now there was the prospect of Annie
joining her.
Annie was eager to get
started on the Potter’s garden, but prior commitments prevented her from
starting the job until the Friday after she and Karl had met.
Unfortunately this
also coincided with an important meeting in Abbottsford which he had to attend
and so he wasn’t aware that Annie had started work until he got home long after
she had gone home again, to find a considerably smaller jungle than there had
previously been.
Karl cursed under his
breath to find he had missed her but he was more than compensated for that by
her putting in an appearance for a couple of hours on Saturday and the same
again on Sunday, during which time she told him that she had cleared her Friday
schedule for the next two months as there was so much to do.
Karl used that
information to ensure he didn’t commit to any out of town meeting on those
Fridays.
In his mind Friday became
known as gardening day, or Annie’s day, and Karl had taken to going home for
his lunch on gardening day so he could see his buxom auburn haired gardener and
he also made sure he left the office promptly so he could see her before she
finished for the day.
Annie quickly became
conscious of Karl’s lunchtime visits and his eager appearance’s at the end of
the day but she was not concerned by them, on the contrary she looked forward
to them.
They would often sit
and eat lunch together and discuss the progress she was making and at the end
of the day she would make sure she was still cleaning her tools for his timely
arrival and then they would sit on the patio and drink a beer or a glass of
wine and the duration of their cocktail hour lengthened exponentially.
Karl told himself from
the outset that it was only her friendship that he liked her for but try as he
might his feelings deepened and he fell for her.
It wasn’t planned, it
just happened, not that he intended to do anything about it, apart from the
ethics of employer and employee there was also the problem of the age
difference of 17 years and of course the guilt he felt for betraying his wife.
But despite all those
impediments he still had feelings for her which were only deepening with the
passing of time.
By August the Garden
was pretty much finished and had really reached the stage where she only needed
to do little more than maintenance, at least until the end of the season.
So Annie was forced to
do something she had never done before, she padded out the work to make sure
she still got to have lunch and their cocktail hour together.
She knew it was mad,
being besotted by someone who was so much older than her, but she couldn’t help
it, she was soppy about him, and she had never felt the way she did about a man
before.
Not that it mattered a
jot in her mind, because she didn’t stand a chance with him anyway, he was an
educated man with a good job and she was just a gardener, plus the fact that he
was a man of the world and she was a country bumkin, as well as him having
experienced life and Annie being an innocent and because of her innocence and
lack of experience with the opposite sex she wasn’t aware that he was as mad
about her as she was for him.
Karl liked to watch
her work, although she was quite a muscular girl and of statuesque proportion’s
she was very agile as she maneuvered around the garden and toiled in the soil
and she appeared to not be left wanting in the stamina department.
He also liked to hear
her sing which she did all the time when she was gardening, especially when she
thought she was alone, or she forgot she wasn’t alone.
It was while he was
staring out through the French window’s watching her robust, yet graceful form
moving a large planter that a voice said
“Why don’t you ask
her?”
Karl turned around to
find his eldest son Mark standing there smiling.
“Ask her what?” Karl
spluttered “I don’t know what you mean”
“Ask her out on a
date” Mark said
“On a date? Don’t be
ridiculous” he snapped
“I’ve seen the way you
look at her, and the way she looks at you”
“Nonsense” he said
“Just ask her” Mark
said
“I can’t” Karl replied
“Why on earth not?”
“Because it’s only a
year since your mother died and Annie is so much younger than me” Karl pointed
out
“Well I don’t think Annie
cares about that and as for mum I heard her to say to you at least 10 times
when she was ill, that you were not to live your life alone, you needed someone
in your life” Mark reminded him
“Remember?”
“Yes I remember” he said
quietly “she said I needed someone if for no other reason than to stop me
wearing ridiculous ties”
They both laughed at
the memory.
“But it feels like a
betrayal” Karl said
“Well it isn’t” Mark
insisted “And mum wouldn’t have thought it was”
“What about Sean?” he
asked
“He feels the same as
I do” Mark replied “he wants you to be happy”
Karl hugged his son,
and knowing that he had their support helped, although he still had to ask
Annie and he wasn’t as convinced as Mark was on her disposition towards him.
After the conversation
Karl had with his son Mark regarding his attraction to the lovely gardener, Annie
Wilson, he spent a very tortuous few days as he wrestled with the dilemma of whether
or not to act on his feelings, and Mark’s advice, and ask his alluring young
horticulturist out on a date.
The problems being
many fold, firstly that he was only widowed the year before, secondly she was
17 years younger than him and lastly the thing that was upsetting his sleep
pattern was the very real fear that she would repel his advances or laugh in
his face.
However by the last
week of august he had decided to go for it and as he was on leave for two weeks
he was going ask her as soon as he saw her on Friday.
Unfortunately his
plans were scuppered when he found out that the Wilson’s were going to
Sharpington for a week.
He found out when
Annie popped round to the Potters on Sunday afternoon and if he had had his
wits about him he would have taken his chance and asked her out then, but
instead he was speechless at the prospect of not seeing her at all on his week
off that his mind went blank and all he could do was to say he hoped she would
have a nice holiday.
Having committed to
taking a fortnight’s leave he filled his time as best he could.
He did have plans for
his time off, other than asking Annie out, or watching her doing the garden,
his main task was to get his son Mark ready for University.
They had a long list
of items they needed to buy for his year in the halls of residence, so that occupied
quite a bit of his week but that still left plenty of time to stare wistfully
out of the French windows.
Every time he looked
down the garden he wished Annie was toiling down there in one of the beds or
bent unintentionally salaciously over a
planter while she softly sang something by Rumor or Eva Cassidy.
He liked her singing,
she had a lovely voice, which was one thing she very definitely didn’t share
with his wife Rose.
Rose could not in any
way be described as a singer, in fact she was totally incapable of carrying a
tune.
He used to tease her
about it all the time and she would say
“I’ve had my voice
trained I’ll have you know”
And he would reply
“Yes but it escaped
and returned to the wild”
He completely lost
track of the time as he stood gazing out across the lawn
“Don’t give up dad?” Mark
said and patted him on the arm after he discovered him.
“She’s only away for a
week”
“Oh I don’t know, I
think I should take this as a sign” he retorted despondently
“No” Mark said firmly
“I was just being
foolish” Karl said “There’s no fool like an old fool”
“Look dad it’s hard enough
finding someone special even when you’re my age” he said “But it’s even rarer
to have that special someone come knocking on your front door”
“I wish I was as confident
as you are” Karl said
Karl Potter was not
the only one to be taken by surprise by the Wilson’s holiday in Sharpington,
Annie was also shocked by the disclosure by her parents that they had booked a
week at the sea side on a whim.
Annie was going to cry
off but her sister Cally told her privately that she had found her mum crying
the day before.
With her confinement
to the house she often fell victim to depression and found herself in despair.
She felt like a
prisoner and needed desperately to get out of the house so her husband quickly organized
a brief escape from captivity to Sharpington-By-Sea.
Their destination was
to be one of the properties owned by the Mornington Estate, one of the historically
significant buildings that had at one time or another been under threat from
modernizers.
The other jewels in
the crown that the St George’s had also saved from the Philistines were the
Sharpington Pier, the yacht club, and the Fun Park along with a number of shops
and businesses in the historic seaside town of Sharpington-by-Sea.
The traditional seaside resort was a place which held particularly
fond memories for Alex Wilson and her family, where they spent their summer
holidays throughout the years when the children were growing up.
They all loved the Pier, the kids loved the beach, the crazy golf,
amusements, the Fun Park and the illuminations.
Alex and Lloyd’s fondest memories were of the theatre and dancing at
the Palladium ballroom.
Even as a child Annie was drawn towards the numerous well maintained
gardens along the promenade, when she wasn’t at the Fun Park enjoying one of
the many rides, like the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, the Cyclone and the
Morehouse Galloper.
The whole family drove to Sharpington on Monday morning as they had done
on many holidays in the past, however on the numerous Wilson summer sea side
holidays of years gone by they didn’t spend it at a Hotel, the Wilsons stayed
in a static caravan up at the Whitecliff
Hill Caravan Park.
Lloyd parked the car
and because they had an hour to kill before check in they walked along the promenade
with a gentle breeze blowing off the sea and reminisced and laughed as they
related in turn events that occurred on previous visits and the things that held
special memories for them.
The Ghost Train in the
Fun Park, Sharpington Day Parades, Halloween Fright Nights, Firework displays,
Candy Floss, sand castles and paddling in the sea.
Quite naturally the
mention of paddling problem the four younger members of the family to discard
their footwear and run headlong down the beach, where they spent the next hour
on the water’s edge, splashing in the waves, as their parents watched from the
promenade.
They were so absorbed
in what they were doing that they didn’t realize how far down the beach they
had gone and when they looked up they were close to the pier.
They all looked at
each other and then the pier and then each other again
“Ice cream” they said
in unison and raced up the beach towards the steps which led firstly to Pier
and then to Bizzoni’s Ice Cream Parlour where they always went to on days in
Sharpington after which they walked back the way they had come and checked into
the Seaview Hotel.
Despite the fact Annie
hadn’t really wanted to be there, she and her family had a brilliant week by
the sea, the kids, even though they were now very much adults, threw themselves
whole heartedly into reliving their childhoods and doing all the things their
former younger selves did without a second thought.
And while their grown
up children spent the week acting like they were children again Alex and Lloyd
revisited all their own haunts from their courting days and although Alex was
no longer able to dance they spent every afternoon at the Palladium Ballroom
tea dances.
“Look at the way they
look at each other” Annie said to her siblings as they walked along the
promenade one afternoon.
“I wish someone would
look at me like that” Patsy said
“Me too” Annie agreed
“You already have
someone that looks at you like that” Cally pointed out to her big sister and
Patsy nodded in agreement
“What are you two on
about?” Annie asked
“Karl Potter” her
three sibling said in unison
“Tosh” she exclaimed
“He does not”
“And you look even
soppier when you look at him” Andy said and burst out laughing and his sisters
soon followed, all except Annie who stopped in her tracks and protested loudly
“No I do not”
Which just made them
laugh even more as they walked on, and Annie trotted after them still
protesting her innocence.
On the last mornings Annie
didn’t visit the Sharpington Fun Park with her siblings, who wanted one last go
on the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone and the Morehouse Galloper.
Nor did she amuse
herself in the arcades or thrashing her siblings at crazy golf, Annie chose
instead to sit in the well maintained gardens on the promenade and looked out
to sea and mused over all the happy hours she had spent in Karl Potter’s garden
that year and how she wanted to be doing it again soon.
She also reflected on how
wonderful it was to see her parents together, and how marvelous it was that
they were so very obviously still in love and enjoying every moment of their
time together.
They knew that because
of the MS every second was precious because Alex’s health was getting progressively
worse and they didn’t know how much longer they would have each other.
But watching her
parents all week long she couldn’t help but see they were still so in love, and
she was envious because she wanted that passion and longing more than anything
but it wasn’t until she spoke with her siblings that she realized it wasn’t
beyond the realms of possibility.
She already had
someone in her life who she looked at like that and who apparently looked at
her the same way.
So she decided to make
it happen on her return to Mornington but not until after she visited Mazzone’s
in the village and had her unruly auburn hair sorted out.
Karl had spent a very
dull week off and despite filling some of his time fulfilling the items on the
comprehensive list of requirements for his son Mark to take off to university,
he still found that time hung heavy when he was not fully occupied.
When he got to the
beginning of his second week he was hopeful that he might see Annie at some
point, however fleeting, but he was left disappointed, it bucketed down of rain
from about 10 o’clock on Monday and the forecast was for more of the same and
he thought it unlikely he would see her before Friday.
Annie was also
disappointed not to have seen him but having taken a week off at short notice
she had a lot of work to catch up on and she had to work from dawn until dusk.
Plus the fact that if
she intended to make the best of herself she did not want to get her hair done
at Mazzone’s on a week when the weather had forecast torrential rain for four
days.
She wanted to make a
better impression on him than that of a drown rat.
By Friday the weather
was supposed to finally clear up and according to the met office the Vale was
in for a prolonged spell of warm, dry days, a proper Indian summer.
Karl wasn’t holding
his breath however, he had little faith that they could manage to predict the
weather for 3 weeks hence when they struggled to forecast with any certainty
what would happen that afternoon.
He hoped they were
right but doubted it so on Friday morning he got up early and loaded the car
with all of Mark’s goods and chattels and then went indoors and got Mark and
Shaun up and into the bathrooms while he cooked them some breakfast and after
they had eaten and Karl had cleared away he went up and showered himself.
Friday was gardening
day, and so by extension it was also Annie Wilson day but due to the amount of
rain that had fallen and having seen nor heard anything from her he was not
filled with any conviction that she would appear.
However he thought it
would be nice to get out of the house, he had confined himself at home since
the weekend, in the forlorn hope that he might have a visitor.
But he decided on
Friday that he would end his self-imposed exile and take his son Mark to
Abbottsford and help him move into the halls of residence and he was taking his
younger son along as well to help with the unloading.
“Ok you two” he called
up the stairs, “we’re leaving now”
The he grabbed his
keys and headed out the door.
As he stepped out into
the sunlight of Friday morning he saw a sight which took his breath away, he
found Annie standing only a few feet away where she was taking the dead wood
out of a climber on the pergola while she sweetly sang to herself and he gasped
in surprise at the beautiful vision in front of him before giving her a smile.
“Hello Karl” she said and returned his smile
with interest
“What a lovely
surprise” he said failing to keep the delight out of his voice “I wasn’t
expecting to see you today”
Annie just smiled in
response, because she knew instantly by his reaction to seeing her that her
brother and sisters had been right, he did look at her the way her dad looked
at her mum.
As she smiled at him he
just stood looking at her, with her neat auburn curls, courtesy of Antonella Gardelli at Mazzone’s in the village, her sweet smiling face which
had been delicately made up, thanks to her sister Patsy and her lovely eyes
given to her by God.
“You look lovely” he
said, and thought now was his chance to ask her out, this was the opportunity
he had been waiting for, but just as he had the sentence perfectly phrased in
his head and he opened his mouth to speak, his boys came bursting out through
the door chattering loudly.
“Hi Annie” they said and
Mark grabbed the car keys from his dads hand and then they went noisily down
the garden and out the back gate.
“Are you going
somewhere?” she asked with smiling lips
“Yes I’m taking Mark
to the campus in Abbottsford I’m afraid” he replied “if I had known I….”
“No problem, I’m not
going anywhere” she replied with another dazzling smile
“I’ll still be here
when you get back”
“Promise?” he asked “because
I was rather hoping we could talk, it was something rather important”
“Yes I promise” she
replied “And we could talk over dinner if you like”
“Excellent idea” Karl
said enthusiastically “I can’t wait”
“Well you’d better get
going then” she said as he made no move to leave and smiled again “Then you’ll
be back all the sooner”
“Ok see you later” he
said reluctantly taking his eyes off her and headed towards the gate.
He turned and gave her
one last smile before he went through the gate and as he closed it he heard her
start singing again.
“Well?” Mark asked
when he got in the car
“We’re having dinner
tonight” Karl replied
“Sweet” Shaun said
“Great” Mark agreed
“You see I told you that you just had to ask”
“She asked me” Karl
replied
“That’s even better”
Mark said and hi-fived his brother as Karl drove away.
And While Karl was being
congratulated by his sons’ Annie was on her phone to her mum.
“So how did it go?”
“Dinner tonight” she
squealed in reply
“That’s wonderful
darling” her mum said
“You’ll never believe
it but I actually asked him out” she said “I was quite brilliant”
“How wonderful, I had
to do the same with your father” Alex said “and that turned out ok”
