The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (137) Romantic Italy

 

Lawrence Gilbert and Brian Baker had been friends all their lives and when they left school aged sixteen, they both started working for a Chandler’s in Pipershaven and ten years later they decided to go out on their own and were doing very well for themselves, in a much smaller way than the company they had worked for, but after three years they had established themselves in St Pierre and in mid-October they opened a second premises at the Old Mill in Spaniards Creek, next door to Baker’s Tree Surgery, who were one of the first tenants to move in, back in June.

 

The Hotel Danny and Molly were staying in had a wonderful view over the bay of Naples and Capri beyond and as the scented sea breeze gently caressed her brunette hair Danny thought he had finally found the right moment in the right venue.

So on Friday Evening as they were gazing at the spectacular sunset he said

“Molly, I have to ask you something”

“What’s that?” she replied without looking at him

“Well it’s something I’ve been trying to ask you about for the last week” he added

“Well what is it?” Molly asked still staring at the sunset

“Perhaps this will give you a clue” he said putting a small package on the table and she turned to look

“It’s not my birthday for another week” she said and looked away again

“This is a different kind of gift” he said

“I’m not opening it until my birthday” she insisted

“Please”

“Definitely not” she replied  

“Molly Barrington, will you please do what you’re told when I’m asking you to marry me” he said

“What?” Molly exclaimed and turned around

“But if you don’t want to marry me, then I’ll take it back to the shop”

“No, no you can’t do that” she said in a panic

“No, the moment has passed” he said

“But you have to marry me” she pleaded, “You asked me, so you can’t take it back”

“I feel a bit silly now, but ok, will you …” he began said

“Yes, Yes, and Yes” she screamed and threw her arms around his neck.

He rummaged in his pocket and gave her the package and said

“You’d better have this then”

She snatched it from his hand and ripped the packaging to threads to expose a ring box.

Her hands were shaking as she snapped the lid back and when she saw the contents she gasped

“If you don’t like it, we can buy another ring together”

“It’s beautiful, I’ll keep it forever” she said and kissed him, and it was the kind of kiss that meant that they wouldn’t see any more of the sunset.

 

After celebrating their engagement rather spectacularly the night before they decided they had had enough of sightseeing so they thought they would take the ferry to Sardinia and have a bit of relaxion on the beach for the last five days of their holiday.   

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (136) Good Friend’s and Artisan’s

 

The beginning of the second week of October Molly and Danny left Beaumont Island for a short holiday in Italy, and their first stop was Venice.

They stayed at the Palazzo Canova and from there they did all the touristy stuff, a romantic cruise in a gondola along the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge and fish market, St Marks's Basilica, the Bridge of Sighs and the grandiose Doge's Palace.

They enjoyed it well enough, and the Hotel was excellent, but he wasn’t feeling how he wanted to feel in a city fabled for its romance.

 

Molly enjoyed the sightseeing in Venice, and they talked in loose terms of what Sharon Jacques or Frazer Markham might get up to, but Venice hadn’t really lived up to their expectations.

So after two chilly nights they decided to get on the train and three hours later they were in Rome, and it was everything they expected it to be and more, but it still didn’t tick one important box for Danny.

 

Tracey Moran and Penny Keats were lifelong best friends and were inseparable, and every milestone they had reached in their lives had been reached together.

They lived in Spaniards Creek and had both recently had their 18^th birthdays and were in their last week before going off to university.

Their parents were not well off so they had got all the grants and bursaries that were available to them and being hard workers, they earned every penny they could to fund the shortfall.      

Since their early teens they had worked as Stable Girls at Woodside Farm and as soon as they turned 18, they started doing bar work at Philips Folly in the village.

It was while they were working at the Folly that they first saw Ben Arscott and Paul Young on Thursday evening and they were instantly attracted to them.

 

Ben and Paul were not islanders and were in Spaniards Creek to work on St Clara’s as they were apprentice Artisan Stone Mason’s, and they too liked what they saw, and as trade was slow due to the inclement weather there was plenty of time for chatting up.

 

On Friday it was a busier night, but they still kept a watchful eye on the girls during the evening and even chatted them up some more, but it wasn’t until Saturday night when they were at bar and noticed Tracey head off in the direction of the smoking area, and they nodded to each other, so Paul went in search of Tracey while Ben walked briskly over to where Penny was standing. 

 

Ten minutes later Ben walked back to the bar just as Tracey returned from outside, accompanied by Paul who then returned to their pints.

“Well?” Tracey asked when she returned to her friend.

“Well, what?” Penny replied

“Did Ben ask you?” Tracey asked

“Yes” she said excitedly, and they hugged

“But how did you know?”

“Paul told me” She replied

“But how did he know?”

“Ben told him?” Tracey said

“Oh”

“Anyway, Paul told me” She said “and then he kissed me”

“Where?” asked Penny, wide eyed with curiosity

“On the lips stupid”

“No, I mean, where?” she explained “Where were you when he kissed you”

“Oh outside” Tracey clarified

“What were you doing outside?” Penny asked “Apart from being kissed”

“Well, I went to the smoking area” Tracey explained “and when I came back in Paul was there waiting for me and he told me not to go back to the bar because Ben was asking you out”

She paused for breath and then continued

“Which was taking forever by the way, and we were blocking the door, so he suggested we went outside to get out of the way and that was when he kissed me, in the moonlight, it was very romantic”

“Wow” Penny responded “And did he ask you out as well?

“Yes” she said excitedly, and they hugged again

“Who’d of thought it, I have a date with an Artisan”

Penny said

“Me too” Tracey squealed just as the last bell rang.

 

In Rome, Molly and Danny had seen all the sights the great City had to offer until their feet were sore, so they decided they needed a change of pace by Sunday.  

So after 5 days in the eternal City they sat on the terrace of the Palazzo Canova Hotel drinking Wine Danny and asked

“So where to next?”

And the words had barely left his lips when she said 

“Naples”

“That was very definite” he said, and she grinned

“Naples it is then”

 

So the next morning after breakfast they got the train from Rome and an hour and a half later, they were in Napoli.

“See Naples and die” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once famously said.

Well Molly and Danny did see Naples and they didn’t die, but they enjoyed amongst other things the ruins of Pompeii, Mt Vesuvius and a day trip to Capri.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (135) Harvest Festival

 

Paige Chapman went to the University of Downshire where she did Business Studies in Abbottsford and it was for her, like many girls of her age, a life defining time.

She was in halls for the first year and she shared with three other girls from Beaumont Island, Stacey Jackson, a tall, beautiful and kindly brunette girl, curvy redhead Poppy Nunthorpe, and Nicole Wilson a quiet busty brunette.

All four of the girls were studying different subjects, but their strong friendship resulted from their shared history as islanders, and as they got on so well the four of them decided very early on to rent a house between them for the second and third years.

 

Paige was five foot two, skinny and flat chested girl, beautiful and painfully shy, with blonde hair and a sweet smile and she lived at Crag Edge Farm which is the smallest of the five farms on the island, on the west of the island bordered in the east by Roman Road and Halfway Lane to the south.

 

There was a major effort during the Indian summer to harvest all the hay before the weather turned, but such was the intensity of the task they didn’t have time to stow it away as neatly as they normally would, so all the barns were full, but not tidy.

So ironically on the day of the harvest festival service at St Clara’s, all the farms were busy frantically getting their barns in order to make sure none of the hay and straw went to waste.

All the farms helped each other out during busy times which was why Phil Wilson from Roman Water Farm was in the barn at Crag Edge helping Paige stack hay bales.

 

They had been at it for about an hour and a half, and there was the normal amiable chatter between them as they stacked the bales, with Phil at ground level handing the bales up to Paige who was about ten feet up, piling them layer on layer, but then as she reached down for the next bale, the one she was standing on crumbled, and she fell forward onto the bale he was holding, which in turn fell on Phil and they ended up in a straw covered heap on the floor facing each other and then while she was still trying to catch her breath he took her by surprise and kissed her

“Oh” she exclaimed when he stopped

“Sorry” he said “I couldn’t help myself”

“Oh, that’s ok, it was very nice” she said “you just took me by surprise”

“Sorry?”

“It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Well I always assumed you were gay” Paige said

“Why?”

“Well there are at least seven attractive women on the local farms, and I rather immodestly include myself in that number, between twenty-one and twenty-five and to the best of my knowledge, which is extensive, you haven’t tried it on with any of us, have you?”

“No” he said very definitely

“Why?”

“Firstly, because I’m not interested in your sister, random shepherdess’s or the stable girls” he said “and secondly because I was trying to get up the courage to ask you out, but then gravity intervened, and I seized the moment”

“Well you haven’t” she stated

“Haven’t what?”

“You haven’t asked me, you’ve invaded my personal space and assaulted me, but you haven’t asked me out” she said matter of factly

“Oh, I see, well yes I see what you mean” he said, “would you like to go out?”

“Of course, I do” she replied and then pushed him back on the pile of straw and invaded his personal space, and she was doing that to great effect when her sister Stacey walked in  

“I’ll come back later” she said

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (134) Mending a Bridge

 

The following week was very difficult for Stuart and Deborah, the reason for their angst was not the kiss in isolation, they both rather enjoyed that, no, what had them both tied up in knots was the fact they had jeopardised their friendship.

There were a number of occasions over that week when their paths crossed at the hospital or in Manor Row, but they had adopted a distanced stance and only spoke to one another, when necessary, they had also adopted an attitude of deliberately avoiding each other on a day-to-day basis.

 

After a couple of weeks at the farm Natasha Baker said

“You’re a really hard worker, the Beaumont’s could use your energy and enthusiasm with the harvest if you’re interested”

“Really?”

“Yes really” Natasha said

“Then yes I’m interested” Sheridan Tilbrook said

 

October

 

The following weekend, when they would normally have been out and about together, on a very pleasant Sunday morning, they spent it alone walking aimlessly hoping not to bump into each other.    

Their intention was an invigorating walk to clear their heads and not to keep thinking about the other, which of course was the complete opposite of what happened.

It was damp and drizzly by midmorning but an hour later the drizzle had turned to persistent rain, and they made the decision that enough was enough and turned for home, by the shortest possible route, which for both of them was through Bellevue Woods.

They were both rushing along the path, head down and aware only of the fact that they were getting wetter with every step when the paths converged and they almost collided.

“Oh it’s you” he said in a surprised tone.

“You frightened the life out of me” she said and failed to suppress a laugh

He stood and watched rivulets of rain running down her face and she stared at the large droplets on the end of his nose.

Then they simultaneously exclaimed

“I’m sorry” and then they hugged, it was a long comfortable hug, and they were oblivious to the rain, they were just so happy they had their friends back. 

They restrained themselves from kissing again even though that was the opposite of what they wanted to do and contented themselves with the hug.

 

After the hug they trapsed less urgently back to Manor Row and had lunch at his house.

The problem was that the kiss had opened a “Pandora’s Box” of emotions in him and now he was desperately attracted to her, Deborah was now coming to terms with the fact that she had fallen in love with him, and had he ever known love before in his life he would have recognised the fact that he loved her.

As they sat in his lounge enjoying a hot chocolate she suddenly said

“Perhaps in future we should wait to be invited before we do any more kissing”

“Good idea” he concurred

This was reassuring for both of them as it meant that kissing was very definitely not off the menu.

 

The Beaumont’s were every bit as impressed with Sheridan Tilbrook as Natasha Baker was, but they weren’t able to keep her on more than a couple of weeks after the harvest.

“I’m sorry” Natasha said “I wish I could keep you on longer”

“That’s ok”

“But I have a friend at the Beaumont Manor, and I recommended you” She said

“Really?”

“Yes, she’s emailed me an application form for you” she said

“Oh, I can’t do it then” Sheridan said

“What do you mean?” Natasha asked

“I can’t fill in forms”

“Why not?”

“I can’t read or write very well” she said quietly and started to cry

“Don’t cry honey” Natasha said

“It’s ok, I’ll help you with the form”

“Will you?” she asked as she wiped tears off her cheeks with her sleeve

“Yes of course”

“But what if they ask me to read something, or fill something in while I’m there” she said in a panic

“You’ll be making beds and cleaning bathrooms” Natasha said “All you need to be able to do is recognize room numbers, and I know you can do that”

“But…”

“And I will help you improve your reading and writing in the meantime” Natasha said

“Honestly?” Sheridan asked and began crying again

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (133) Overstepping

 

Also on that morning Doctors Woodward and Cameron took advantage of the fine day and the fact that they were both off work on the same day.

When Deborah knocked for Stuart, he had his binoculars around his neck and when she saw them, she said

“I hope you’re not going be saying “Oh what a beauty” every five minutes”

“I don’t say that” he said, and she laughed

“Or “Cor look at that lovely pair”“

“I don’t say that either” he said indignantly “People only say that in “Carry On” Films”

Deborah was chuckling loudly

“I would only say “Oh what a beauty” if I was looking at you” he said

“Oh!” she exclaimed and they both blushed

 

It was wet underfoot as they walked through Bellevue Woods following all the rain from the past week and with the wet  leaves beneath his feet, he suddenly lost his footing.

“Wha…” he exclaimed, followed by “oh shit” and the sound of breaking branches and a thud.

She pushed her way through some bushes and found Stuart getting to his feet and rubbing his hip.

“You didn’t see that coming with your binoculars?” she said, and laughed

“You’re mean” he replied and rubbed his hip again as if he had just remembered he had hurt it.

“Are you ok?” she asked, and they both giggled and then he replied

“I’m fine”

“Are you alright to continue?”

“Yes” he said “but somewhere more stable underfoot”

“Ok” she said, “What about up by the river?”

“Ok the river it is” she replied

 

When they got back to Manor Row Stuart was feeling the effects of his fall so, she offered to apply some Voltarol gel on his hip and lower back and when she had finished, without any warning she kissed him and he kissed her back and then almost telepathically they communicated that they had made a big mistake, and without speaking she left the house. 

“You are a stupid, stupid woman” she said out loud as she marched towards her the house “what on earth were you thinking”

She went through the front door still berating herself.

“Well that’s the end of the friendship now, and he’ll never trust you again” she said and went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

 

As Deborah was stomping her way to number 6, Stuart was doing much the same thing in his own house.

“My God man, have you no self-control?” he muttered

“Just because she’s a beautiful woman, you think it ok to go and kiss her”

He ran the bath still muttering

“Just because she’s funny and has an infectious laugh and has a pretty smile, and smells divine, you cannot go around kissing her, her….” and as he struggled to complete the sentence he plopped down on the toilet and concluded.

“… beautiful soft lips”

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (132) Surprises and Endeavours

 

The next day after Frank Neary and Maya Davenport shared a goodbye kiss, and Frank was walking away, Maya suddenly said

“Oh Frank I almost forgot”

“What?” he said and turned around

“Violeta wants you to pop into the shop, sooner rather than later,” she said

“Ok”

He had to admit he was a little intrigued, but he would have to wait until the next day to find out what Violeta had to share that was so important.

 

Violeta and Arron were outside the shop arranging the assortment of goods on display.

“Hello, you two” Frank said brightly

“Frank” she said excitedly and ran towards me.

“Frank” she said again “Arron darling Frank’s here”

“Frank” Arron said as he offered his hand

They were both in a state of great excitement

“Is everything ok?” he asked

“Oh yes” Violeta said grinning from ear to ear, then after an exchange of looks between them and a nod from Arron she waved her slender hand under his nose and displayed the sparkling engagement ring.

“We wanted you to be the first to know” Violeta said and then danced excitedly on the spot, then after a quick glance at Arron they said together

“We are engaged”

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Aunt Louisa said as she stepped out of the shop

“Congratulations” he said shaking hands with Arron

“Congratulations” he said again kissing Violeta “I couldn’t be more pleased”

And he really couldn’t have been more pleased, especially with himself as he had engineered the union unbeknown to both parties.

After leaving the lovebirds he continued on his way to work.

 

Rachel Musson was a very stern looking young woman with short brown hair, who managed the commercial side of the Yacht Club in Sharpington.

Her attire was always dour, and drab and she never smiled, and peered superciliously over her spectacles at everyone, and was universally believed that she was not a joyful person.

William Bailey was the treasurer of the club, and they exchanged pleasantries, if you could call them that, but nothing more than that.

However, one weekend a month they travelled independently to the Beaumont Manor Hotel on the island, where they entertained one another, while her normal dour and drab attire was replaced by much more exotic garb.

 

While the Island was enjoying an Indian summer Molly and Danny’s near miss with Max Parsons the previous week threw them into a blind panic.

So they spent Monday to Friday working frantically to get the Sharon Jacques Book back on track and worked from early every morning and burnt the midnight oil, and when they were done Molly said

“Wow that’s good stuff”

“I agree,” Danny said “perhaps we should work like this all the time” 

They looked at each other for about 10 seconds and they both said simultaneously

“Nah”

 

Elisa and Henry were staying on St Giles for the weekend so Molly and Danny could have a chilled-out weekend which was just what they needed after the kind of frantic week they’d just had.

In the final week of September the Island was still enjoying an Indian summer as the harvest came to an end while they had a more restrained week of writing and by Saturday, they were ready to take a trip up to see Max after the weekend.

 

Midday on Monday Molly and Danny left St Pierre on the ferry when the weather broke, and it rained all the way

to Applesford where they stayed overnight at the flat.

It was still raining heavily when they set off again the next day, but it had eased off by the time they got to Abbotsford.

They booked straight into the Regents Hotel and had a relaxing remainder of the day then met up with Max on Wednesday and he was delighted with their output and over dinner that night they announced that they were taking the rest of the month off, which he took surprisingly well.

They spent Thursday in Abbottsford and did some shopping and in the evening had dinner and went to the theatre.

The weather on the return journey on Friday was atrocious so they overnighted at the flat again and got the ferry back to the island on Saturday morning in the sunshine.

The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (131) Assignation’s

 

On Tuesday Danny received a message from his publisher

Max Parsons to say he was visiting the island which threw them into a panic because they had allowed themselves to be side tracked from the Sharon Jacques Book that they had been  working on and had turned their attentions to a Fraser Markham story instead.

 

As it turned out he wasn’t there to pester them about the latest chapters, which were well overdue, he was there to see St Clara’s Headteacher Margaret Johnson.

Max had been seated next to the striking redhead at Arielle and Harry Archer’s wedding reception and they spent the first of many nights together, and it was the busty redhead that had drawn him to the island.

 

On Wednesday, single parent Billy Forster walked his daughter Kayleigh to school and made sure that he made eye contact with her teacher Maureen Morrow who smiled knowingly at him.

When he had kissed Kayleigh goodbye, and she went inside he stood beside her teacher.

“Hello Miss Morrow” he said

“Hello Mr Forster” she replied a little flustered.

“So you have a busy day today then, with it being parents evening” he said

“Yes, busy and late” She replied “Not quite burning the midnight oil though”

“But quite late” he mused

“Yes,” she replied with a blush “No later than 9 o’clock”

“I’ll bear that in mind Maureen” he whispered then much louder he added “Goodbye”

Then he walked back home safe in the knowledge that their assignation had been arranged.