Following Ben Overton
and Dorcas Fox-Martin’s unusual first date back in June on the Tree Top Trail
in Dancingdean Forest, Dorcas and he had spent a lot of time together on the
full range of more conventional dates, country walks, museums, art galleries,
pubs, restaurant’s, cinemas and bowling alleys.
Over which time they
had gotten to know each other very well and he discovered that quite apart from
being gorgeous, which was plain to everyone, she was also witty, intelligent,
sensitive, loving and a totally rubbish bowler, even worse than him.
As the weeks went they
virtually became inseparable which was why at the beginning of August on a
bright Friday morning they were driving along the Pepperstock Express
Way on their way to celebrate, Cambridge
Professor, Uncle Herbert’s 60th birthday by which time Dorcas and Ben were well
and truly a couple.
It was to be a full on
family weekend, which was something they did rather, but even by his families
standards this one was to be even more special because this was one of the
rarest of occasions when absolutely everyone would be in attendance.
Apart from the
birthday boy Herbert and his wife Alexandra, there was his elder brother Edgar,
Ben’s eldest sister Abi and her husband Bijs, who were coming over from
Holland, his younger brother Danny and his girlfriend Siti, who were driving
down from the Millmoor, baby sister Helen, hubby Mark and baby Connor who were
a few hundred yards ahead of them on the motorway and his Mum and Dad who were
about 50 miles behind them, despite the fact that they left home in convoy,
because Ben’s Dad never broke the speed limit.
Although Dorcas was a
longtime friend of his sister Helen, she didn’t know all the players involved
in the weekend’s events and was a little apprehensive about meeting them all,
so on the journey he filled in any blanks in her knowledge of them.
“Have you met Abi
before?” he asked as they approached the junction for Finchbottom.
“Not really” she
replied “She was in the back of your Dads car once, I think she was on her way
back to Uni, but I didn’t meet her exactly”
It was hardly
surprising really as she never really came home again after Uni.
Abigail met Bijs at
University and went out to Southern Holland almost as soon as they graduated.
Now they both worked
at the City Hall in S-Hertogenbosch and lived a few miles away in Rosmalen and
only got back to the UK once in a while.
“You know Danny
though” he said as Helen’s car took the exit for Finchbottom and the Dulcets.
“Yes but then he is
nearer my own age” she said
“And he asked me out
once”
“I didn’t know that”
Ben said with surprise
“I said no” she assured
me
“I’m pleased to hear
it” he retorted
“How come we never
met?” he asked
“I don’t know” Dorcas
said thoughtfully “Just my good fortune I suppose”
“Bloody cheek” he said
as she laughed hysterically
After his sister
exited the Express Way he and Dorcas stayed on and head for Pepperstock bay and
the ferry terminal.
Forty five minutes
after parting company with Helen they rejoined the Expressway at the
Pepperstock Bay end with Ben’s sister Abi and her husband on board and they
were still making better time than his Mum and Dad.
With the introductions
done and Dorcas thoroughly interrogated by Abi they made steady progress
towards the Dulcets.
“You’ll like Uncle
Herbert” Abi said either to Dorcas or Bijs, Ben wasn’t sure which
“He’s Professor of
Medieval Studies at Cambridge University” Ben said proudly
“Just like CS Lewis”
Dorcas contributed
“That’s right” he said
surprised “How on earth did you know that?”
“Well I’m not just a
pretty face” she said
“Clearly” he concurred
“He’s at Magdalene College”
Abi continued
“Also like Lewis”
Dorcas responded
“Have you been
swatting?” Ben asked suspiciously
“No I’m just a big
fan” she replied
“Of Lewis or my
Uncle?” he asked with a smile
“He is also a wit” Abi
added
“A raconteur, a lay
preacher and an all-round good egg” Abi and Ben said in unison and laughed, as
it was a well-worn phrase often quoted by the family in relation to Uncle
Herbert.
Bijs and Dorcas looked
on in bemusement.
When they reached Dulcet-on-Willow
Ben drove onto the driveway of chez Cush, more formally known as Willow House,
just before one o’clock and Ben took a moment to take in the familiar vista
before he took Dorcas inside to do the introductions.
Edgar, the elder of
the Cush brothers still lived in the ancestral pile built by Ben’s great great
great grandfather at the height of the industrial revolution as a country
retreat.
Dulcet-on-Willow was a
large sprawling village beside the gentle shallow River Willow, which ran
unhurriedly from the Pepperstock Hills to the more vibrant River Brooke.
Willow House had
featured prominently throughout Ben’s life, where all the family gatherings had
taken place, and he wanted very much to feature in Dorcas’s future.
It was not a
particularly esthetically pleasing structure but it was typically Victorian and
it held fond memories for Ben.
The harshness of its
hard lines had been somewhat softened over the years by the matured sympathetic
planting which blended it into the unfussy landscape of the Vale where many a
long summer holiday had been spent.
At the time Ben was remembering
the past the birthday boy Herbert was still at Cambridge University about to
depart for the weekend, but Edgar had a light lunch prepared for the guests
which they ate on the terrace.
They had just finished
when Ben’s, Mum and Dad arrived followed shortly by Danny and Siti.
“Well better late than
never” Ben said
“I thought we made
good time” his Dad replied
“Not you Dad” he
responded “You’re actually early, I was talking to desperate Dan”
“I have just one thing
to say to you bruv” Dan said punching him on the arm
“Finchbottom contra
flow”
Enough said everyone
concurred.
After lunch as they
had a couple of hours to kill, there was some debate as to how they should spend
the time, but in the end they left the oldies and the baby to doze on the
terrace and set off for a walk along the river on a route that the Overton’s
had taken many times before.
What began with a huddled
chattering group eventually spread out into a ragged strand.
Danny and Ben were at
the back about 20 yards astern of Dorcas and Siti who appeared to be getting on
like a house on fire.
Danny and Siti lived
in Millmoor where he was an Estate agent and she was a primary school teacher
so he didn’t get to see him as often as he’d like.
It was only on one of
the mass family gatherings that they were able to catch up, they spoke on the
phone regularly but that wasn’t quite the same so they wanted to make the most
of the time they had.
“I have a question for
you bruv” Danny said
“What’s that mate?”
“How the hell did you,
of all people, manage to snatch up a little gem like Dorcas?” Danny asked in
utter disbelief
“Well she obviously
fell for my charm” Ben said smugly
“You don’t have any
charm” his brother pointed out
“Au contraire” Ben said
“I clearly ooze charm”
“You ooze something”
Dan retorted “I thought she had better taste than that”
“Dorcas has excellent
taste” Ben said
“She knocked me back
you know?” Dan said in disbelief
“I know” he replied
“Turned me down flat”
he continued
“Which just goes to
prove she does have good taste” Ben said and then Danny tried to push him in
the river.
The commotion caused
the girls to turn around to see what they were up to and they both gave their
respective other halves a look that said
“Just behave
yourselves” so they returned to their previous positions and smiled then Ben
whispered
“You know you’ve got
yourself a good one in Siti”
“I know” he said
smugly
About half an hour
later we were in sight of Dulcet on Brooke and Abi shouted back from her place
in the vanguard.
“PUNTS”
And in response Danny
and Ben started jogging towards her.
“What’s going on”
Dorcas said with alarm
“Were going punting”
he said and took her hand and they ran hand in hand along the path
“But I’ve never
punted” she exclaimed
The reason for all the
excitement was that because of all the summers spent by the River a
disproportionate amount of time was spent Punting on the River Willow.
The Willow was perfect
for punting, shallow and slow moving, and it was appropriate that punting was a
tradition in the family as it was Edwin and Herbert’s father who brought the
punts to the Willow from Cambridge in the 1930’s.
They hired 4 punts and
divided up into their respective couples, and apart from punting being a
tradition, so was the competiveness.
The Overton’s and
their respective partners hired 4 punts and divided up into their respective
couples, and apart from punting being a tradition, so was the competiveness.
And when the Overton
clan took to the water the object of the exercise was not to get wet.
They had all been in
the river at one time or another over the years, some more than others, but when
they were punting the winners were the ones who stayed dry.
One of the occupational
hazards with punting was getting your pole stuck in the mud and if that
happened you should just let it go, if that unfortunate situation arises then
you stay with the punt and not with the pole, its simple really, or should be.
Now to say that the
object of the exercise is to stay dry isn’t strictly true, what the object of
the exercise actually was, was to get your opponents wet and once both
occupants of a punt have been dunked then they can take no further part.
Now under normal
circumstances hostilities wouldn’t begin until all craft were out of sight of
the dock and the prying eyes of the boat keeper.
But on this occasion
Bijs missed his footing and fell in the river without even setting foot onto
his punt.
“God Bijs your whole
country is below sea level” Danny shouted “you should be more at home on the
water than any of us”
It wasn’t long before
Abi, the least sea worthy of the Overton’s, succumbed to an early bath and the
contest was down to 3 boats.
Once the flotilla had
travelled sufficiently up stream so as to be out of sight of the boat station
the hostilities could begin in earnest.
There had been a
number of harmless skirmishes when Danny, who normally wins hands down,
narrowly avoided a ramming by Helens punt only to find himself heading straight
for a weeping willow.
Siti panicked and ran
to the rear of the vessel and then she and Danny slid down the pole together.
During the ensuing
laughter Mark and Ben collided, and the pair of them got dunked.
Dorcas stood up and
laughed like a drain before she shouted
“Abandon ship” and
jumped in and joined him.
“I’ll save you
captain” she said and wrapped her arms around him as they stood in the cool
water, Ben up to his thighs and Dorcas waist deep and they laughed in the
summer sunshine, which was when he knew for certain sure that he had fallen in
love with her.
As he stood in the
waters of the Willow kissing his girlfriend, Helen noisily declared herself the
winner.
She had never won
before and she wouldn’t shut up about it on the walk back to the Cush’s so they
picked her up threw her into the river.
Her last words before
she hit the water were
“You can’t do that I’m
a mother”
After the family Overton
had done battle on the River Willow they squelched their way back along the
river bank to Chez Cush in high spirits.
As they got closer to
the house they could hear a happy chatter and the sound of glasses chinking.
We walked around the side
of the house towards the terrace and found the family gathered.
“Oh goodness you’re
all wet” Mum said “You’re worse than you were when you were children”
“Aha the motley crew
return” Uncle Herbert said jovially “Who won the Battle of the Willow?”
“I did” Said Helen
triumphantly as she squelched onto the terrace.
“So why are you
dripping wet?” asked a bemused Uncle Edgar
“They threw me in
river” said Helen indignantly
“Why did they do
that?” Edgar enquired
“Because they’re mean”
she replied, this information was greeted with raucous laughter and not with
the wave of sympathy she had been expecting so she flounced off to get changed.
The rest of soggy
group decided to have a drink on the terrace first.
During their absence a
large white marquee had appeared on the lawn on the west side of the house in
preparation of Uncle Herbert’s 60th Birthday party the next day.
Over the next hour
everyone slowly drifted off in their ones and twos to get ready for the evening
meal until there was only Dorcas and Ben left and they spent a romantic hour cuddling
in the hammock watching the sun go down.
“This is nice” Ben
said
“This is perfect”
Dorcas corrected him
Ben was up early on
Saturday morning, as was his Mum, there were only the two of them, and everyone
else was sleeping in after the severe over indulgence at dinner the night
before.
So they sat in the
conservatory having breakfast and watched a procession of vans arrive on the
drive and disgorge their various cargo into waiting hands who transported them
to the marquee or its environs.
“What do you think of
Dorcas?” Ben said suddenly, although his Mum had known her a lot longer than
she had as she had been at school with Helen.
“She’s very nice dear”
she replied as she stood up
“Of course she’s far
too pretty for you to keep” she continued and left the room before he could
respond.
““She’s far too pretty
for me to keep” What on earth did she mean by that?” he thought to himself
Ben spent the rest of
Saturday morning wondering what the hell his mum had meant by her remark, it
was very cryptic.
Did she mean Dorcas
was too pretty for him? Not good enough for him? Or too good for him?
Anyway the conclusion
he reached was that he loved Dorcas Fox-Martin and he was going to keep her,
end of story.
At two o’clock people
started to arrive and the party slowly got going with the garden quickly
filling with familiar faces.
Ben was appointed one
of the “meeters and greeters” which was a great opportunity for him to
introduce Dorcas to all and sundry.
After about an hour
she went off to babysit Connor so Helen was free to mingle and he had a chance
to catch up with old family friends and acquaintances but as a result he hardly
saw Dorcas all afternoon and he really felt her absence.
As the evening gave
way to dusk all but the hardiest of the guests had moved into the marquee where
shortly before the band started their set Ben’s kid brother Danny said he had
an announcement to make and a murmur spread around the room in anticipation.
“I would just like to
make a short but significant announcement” he began and everyone was intrigued
but Ben was reasonably sure it was not a marriage declaration as he knew
Danny’s position on marriage very well indeed.
He loved Siti with all
his heart but he would never marry her because he thought marriage was a
nonsense.
Ben himself had no
strong opinion on marriage himself as he never thought the opportunity would
ever arise.
Although Danny was anti
marriage and Ben suspected he might change his mind if given sufficient incentive
to do so, namely if there was a chance he might lose Siti.
So when the
announcement was imminent he was certain sure it wasn’t marriage but wasn’t
prepared at all for what he did say as he stood holding Siti’s hand.
“We are having a baby”
he said excitedly and the tent erupted in cheers and then his Mum cried.
The excited chatter
rippled around the room and about an hour later Ben was on his way back from
the bar when he walked behind his Mums table out of her line of sight.
“You must be very proud
Eleanor” Aunt Alexandra said
“Yes all my children
are married or settled down” She Replied “apart from Ben of course”
At that remark he
stopped in my tracks.
“But he has a very
pretty little girlfriend” Alexandra corrected her.
“I know and she’s
lovely” Eleanor said “but he’ll never keep hold of her, she is way out of his
league”
There was a brief
pause and then she continued
“He really needs to
find himself a horsey type, not a pretty little brunette”
Well they say eaves
droppers never hear anything good about themselves well that would teach him
and as he continued on his journey he was feeling absolutely gob smacked.
I approached our table
and Helen slurred loudly
“Then they threw me in
the river”
Everyone laughed, but
he rather uncharitably thought
“For God’s sake let it
go”
He sat down next to
Dorcas who gave him a smile as he sat down, Ben smiled back but inside he
wasn’t smiling.
It was only when they
were on the dance floor smooching along to 10cc’s “I’m not in love” that he
felt at peace and he thought to himself
“Oh yes I am”
It was the next
morning when he was getting ready for church that he made the decision.
Because he had woken
up that morning having had an epiphany.
He quickly finished
getting dressed and rushed downstairs and into the kitchen.
“Where’s Dorcas?” he
asked abruptly
“And good morning to
you” Abi said sitting at the table still wearing her dressing gown.
“Have you seen her or
not?” he asked
“She’s in the shower”
she snapped
“Thanks” he said and
turned on his heels and left
“And I’m next” she
shouted after him
Ben sprinted upstairs
to the guest bathroom and pressed his ear against the door.
He could hear the
sound of the shower running and some very tuneless singing.
So having detected it
was Dorcas and not his mother he knocked on the door.
“I’ll be out in a
minute” she called
“I need to talk to
you” he called back
“I’ll be out in a
minute hon” she said
The door was locked
but it was an old house with a lot of the original fittings, including the door
latch on the inside of the bathroom door.
He couldn’t wait a
minute, what he had to say to her was urgent so as Dorcas wouldn’t let him in he
had to let himself in.
So he used his credit
card, sliding it between the frame and the door and lifting the latch and then
he pushed open the door which squeaked as it opened.
“Who’s that?” she called
in alarm
“It’s only me” he
answered
Dorcas was just stepping
out of the shower and hastily covered herself with a towel.
Although in the two
months they had been seeing each other they had, to put it as delicately as
possible, been intimate, but they were not at that stage of intimacy that
allowed naked converse.
“Get out I’m not
decent” she shouted
“I have something
important to say” he insisted
“Can’t it wait?” she
asked
“No it can’t” he said
“Well you can’t just
barge into the bathroom when someone else’s is in there” Dorcas said crossly
“It’s not decent,
we’re not some old married couple you know”
“That’s just the
point” Ben said
“What is?” she said
still very cross
“I want us to be” he
explained though not very clearly
“You want us to be
what?” she said with a puzzled expression
“Married” he said quietly
“I want to marry you”
Dorcas just stood
there in silence looking at him with a vacant look on her face.
“Well what do you
think?” he asked
“I think you should
come over here and kiss me” Dorcas replied
“Is that really
decent?” he queried
“It is now we’re
engaged” she answered and they kissed and it was a steamy kiss almost as steamy
as the bathroom it.
They decided not to
tell his Mum until after church as they thought her head might explode.
They did tell Danny
though but only as he happened to be passing the bathroom as they came out but
they swore him to silence until lunchtime.
“I’d better be your
best man” he said
“But you don’t believe
in marriage” he replied
“That’s not the point”
he said
