Putting up the decorations
And
trimming the Christmas tree
Writing all
the cards
This year
from you and me
Your
presents are wrapped
Only bows
and tags to do
Until this
moment I didn’t know
Just how
much I loved you
So, I will
have a happy Christmas
With the
love of my life
The very
first Christmas
Since we
became man and wife
I have a new love in my life
That all
Christmas I’ll be pleas’n
I will
bring Joy to her world
When I go
south for the season
Six months had passed since Francine Delise and Iain
Akhurst made love in his room at the Seaview Hotel in Sharpington and two days
short of six months since she said she wasn’t sure that they could be together.
Not that she didn’t love him or enjoy being with him,
and it was fairly obvious on the evidence of the weekend in June that it wasn’t
because she didn’t enjoy making love with him.
Nor did she think it was a mistake, a moment of
madness or because she had drunk too much.
“I don’t regret it for a second” she said as they
lay entwined beneath the duvet
“I just have doubts”
Francine wasn’t sure if she could or should give
over her heart, soul and life to a man 12 years older than herself.
Iain couldn’t deny that he was disappointed and he
wasn’t altogether happy about it but he wasn’t angry with her in fact he agreed
with her up to a point, and he wanted her to be as sure as he was.
After all he had no words to convince a 29 year old
woman to give her life to a man the wrong side of 40 and nor would he have wished
to have used them if they were in his possession.
“I love you Iain but I just have to be certain
sure” she said the moment before she drove away.
It was heart-breaking to watch her drive away
because Iain had no such doubts.
For him that first night together was the blissful
culmination of eight years of hope and desire.
Not just the love making, which he thought was
wonderful, but to hear his declaration of love returned in word and delicious
deed.
It had been pretty much love at first sight for him,
but then she was a beautiful sight to behold.
For her it was a more gradual falling and one that
she desperately fought against tooth and claw whereas Iain simply surrendered to
her.
Even before their chance meeting at the Seaview Hotel,
Francine had agreed to take a six month secondment in Sharpington where she could
be close to her sister and the twins so she suggested they take that time to
think.
And in that time she would either get over him or
know for certain sure he was the one.
While she was away he convinced himself almost on a
daily basis that it was over, and rightly so he thought at times.
If the worst came to the worst he consoled himself
with the thought that he would always have the memory of that wonderful weekend
when his love for her was finally validated.
Though in his darkest moments he did question if it
was indeed a moment of madness that brought the gorgeous young Francine to his
bed.
Though he was glad for that madness if that’s what
it was.
But if Francine did resolve that it was a mistake
and that it was over he would at least have the memory of that wonderful
weekend to sustain him forever.
He preferred to think that it was fate that brought
them together on that wonderful weekend and not an error of judgement.
He would have liked to have exchanged the
occasional text or email with her but Francine had asked for total separation.
As a result all he could do was throw himself headlong
into his work totally and fill his every waking moment with thoughts of
anything and everything that wasn’t her.
Impossible of course but if in the unlikely event
that he could exclude her from his thoughts for a single second he couldn’t
stop her invading his dreams.
When he slept he dared to dream, so in the small
hours of the sleepless night he resorted to the only thing that prevented him from
being driven insane.
He wrote in a diary, which he called a dream diary,
it was where he wrote every detail, every thought that filled his troubled
sleep on a nightly basis, thoughts of love for the girl of his dreams.
The closer the end of the six months got the more
intense the dreams became and evermore vivid with each passing day.
It was the day before Christmas Eve when he got the
long awaited phone call, so he took a deep breath and hit the button.
“Hello, Iain Akhurst” he said
“Hey Iain” she said
“Francine?” he asked “God it’s good to hear your
voice”
“Ditto” Francine replied “Where are you?”
“I’m in Abbotsford” he replied “Are you still at
your sisters in Sharpington?”
“Yes and No” she replied enigmatically
“I’m at the Hotel, the Seaview”
“When are you back?” he asked
“I don’t know yet”
“Oh” he responded disappointedly
“Can you come down?” Francine asked
“When?” he asked
“Tonight” she replied
“Sure, but I don’t know what time I’ll get there”
“That’s ok but I want to meet” Francine said
“Alright I’ll leave now” he said “Have you made a
decision?”
“Yes I have” she replied
“And?” he enquired trying to keep the anxiety out
of his voice
“I don’t want to say on the phone” she answered “I
want to do it face to face”
“Ok” he said not knowing if that meant it would be
good or bad
“Come straight to the Hotel” she said
“What time do you think?” she asked
“Around eight” he replied
“I’ll leave a note at reception in case you’re late”
“Ok, I’ll see you tonight then” Iain said
“Ok, bye”
The journey out of Abbottsford was an absolute mare
and consequently he was significantly late and it was nearly 10 o’clock when he
drove onto the promenade at Sharpington-by-Sea.
It was a bit different from when he was there last,
back in June but it still made him smile as it always did when he visited the
traditional seaside resort.
Sharpington still boasted a Victorian Pier, The
Palladium ballroom, and of course the Sharpington Fun Park which were considerably
quieter than at the height of the summer.
He liked it because it was like stepping back in
time with the illuminations, crazy golf, and the amusement arcades in fact all
the usual things to have a great time by the seaside.
He parked the car and walked briskly along the
promenade and unlike his last visit he didn’t pause to sit in the well
maintained gardens and look out to sea or muse over all the happy hours he
spent in the Sharpington Fun Park, on the Rotor and the Wild Mouse, The Cyclone
and the Morehouse Galloper.
He was in too much of a hurry to reach the Seaview
Hotel.
Since her phone call his stomach had been in
absolute knots and arriving in Sharpington late didn’t untangle it in the
least.
He wondered if she would be sat at the bar
surrounded by admirers or sat alone in a corner the worse for drink and coiled
to strike with venomous words on his tardiness.
He only hoped she was still there and hadn’t got
tired of waiting.
As he sat in the pre-Christmas traffic he tried to ring
her to warn her of his delay but his phone died.
So he stood in the foyer trying to summon up the
courage to go further, he was so desperate to know her answer but equally
terrified of what it might be, yes or no.
“Yes” meaning she was sure and she would give all
of herself to him unreservedly
Or
“No” and they would never be together.
He reran the earlier conversation through his head
and tried to read between the lines to find some hidden meaning or some
indication as to her decision.
He checked in the bar and there was no sign of her
“Shit” he exclaimed and unzipped his coat and
walked up to the reception desk.
“Hi” he began “Do you have a message for Iain
Akhurst?”
“I’ll just check for you Sir” the receptionist said
“Oh yes here we are” she added and handed him an
envelope
“Thank you” he said and when and sat down to open
it.
He slowly opened the envelope and withdrew a sheet
of note paper which he unfolded and read the few lines
“What kept you? I thought you were impatient for an
answer,
I’ve gone up, use the key, and I’ll see you when
you get here”
Frankie x
“Well that was all cheerful and light hearted” he
thought to himself “but it still doesn’t tell me anything”
So he tipped up the envelope until the key card
fell out and he saw it was for one of the posh rooms on the top floor and
walked towards the lift.
Iain slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
“Hi Francine” he called “I’m sorry I’m late the
traffic was hell”
But there was no answer.
He closed the door and walked into the room and
expected to find Francine asleep having got fed up of waiting for him.
But it was just a dimly lit little lounge area,
which was empty.
Although hung on the back of a chair he noticed a
coat.
“She is here” he said “But where?”
There were two doors leading from the lounge so he
opened the first one which proved to be the bathroom, he hoped the other was to
a bedroom and not an adjoining door to the next room.
Then he questioned whether or not she would even be
in there, the fact that her coat was there meant nothing she could just have
left in a huff and forgotten it.
But then something caught his eye, tied around the
door handle he saw a black stocking.
“Well she wouldn’t have gone without that” he said
Iain slipped off his coat and threw it onto the
armchair and walked towards the door and that was when he noticed something
else attached to the stocking, it was a gift tag.
He opened it and read the words inside
“Happy Christmas Iain
All my love
Francine”
And beneath her signature there were three letters
“PTO”
And when he turned the tag over there was only one
word
“Yes”
The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa.
It
was once the home the Clerembeax’s, who arrived in Downshire following the
Norman conquests and stayed for a thousand years before the name died out
following the death of the reclusive Marcus Clerembeax at the age of 96.
The current owner was Yvonne Labuschagne, who
decided to open it as a Hotel and Spa.
The
Spa was a good attraction, but it was crucial for them to maintain a high
occupancy rate, however things were tough in the Hotel trade with the success
of Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express
and so places like the Palace needed to offer something extra to attract the
guests, apart from the Spa.
So, they put on novelty weekends, such as “Murder
Mysteries” and in addition, they had a sizable Ballroom which was used for
special occasions, high days and holidays, which boosted occupancy and Spa numbers
at the same time, Christmas being a prime example, when there was great demand
and grand Christmas function took place.
One of the guests at such an event was forty-seven years
old Eric Price, who was widowed
three years earlier, and immediately after his wife’s death he seemed to
suddenly appear on the radar of the local spinster’s, widows and divorcees
in and around his own age.
In
fact, it all started at his wife’s funeral where he was buttonholed by two
well-presented mourners who made it perfectly clear he could avail himself of
them if he chose to do so, which he did not.
But
three years after his dear wife was laid to rest, and only after repeatedly
rebuffing the endless advances of even the most attractive of the local
pursuing vultures, did he finally decide, out of desperation and loneliness to
dip his toe in the water and began to entertain the possibility that he might
once again share his life with another soul.
His
friends suggested he start internet dating but that was a step to far in his
opinion, he wasn’t going to try something if his heart wasn’t in in it.
His
friends continued trying to persuade him to try it nonetheless but then one day
he met Charlotte Euringer at a mutual friend’s garden party.
Now they were attending a
party of a different kind and his hand was shaking as he was stood at the
bathroom sink to shave and looked at his reflection.
“Who am I trying to kid?” he
asked himself “I don’t stand a chance with her”
Despite his misgivings he
shaved and showered and made the best of what he had, and dried, perfumed and
powdered himself before he changed into his dinner suit, complete with
cummerbund and bow tie, he was feeling rather nervous as he stood before his
reflection and tied his tie for the fourth time and wished he worn a clip on.
“She’s not going to look twice
at you anyway” He said to himself “She’s way out of your league for God’s sake”.
At
the precise moment that Eric was questioning the wisdom of pursuing such a
beautiful woman, 45-year-old Charlotte Euringer was stood in front of her
mirror looking at her reflection.
She was immaculately dressed
in a full length green halter necked designer evening dress and she sighed when
she slipped on a lavish faux fur shrug and left the room and knocked on the
door across the hall where her best friend Daphne and her husband Geoff were
staying.
“Wow” he said, as he opened
the door “you look stunning”
“Bless you darling” she
responded “but I’m scared to death”
“You shouldn’t be” he
reassured her “Eric will trip over his tongue when he sees you”
“I wish I shared your faith”
Charlotte said
“Come on gorgeous, come and
talk to Daphne”
He stepped aside and let her
walk past as he closed the door and she went straight to where Daphne was
sitting at the dresser and she turned to look at Charlotte
“You look gorgeous”
“Do you think so?” she asked
before adding, with panic in her voice
“What if he doesn’t like me?”
“But he does like you, you
know he likes you, and he’s going to love you even more tonight when he sees
you” Daphne said to her softly in response to her crisis of confidence
“I hope so” she replied
forlornly
Geoff poured them all a glass
of Champagne and Daphne massaged her ego while her husband plied her with
drink, and half an hour later they left the room and headed towards the lift.
When Eric emerged from the
lift, the reception was jammed with an array of stunningly turned out men and women,
but he couldn’t see Charlotte anywhere.
However, while he stood on the
periphery of the throng Geoff, Daphne and Charlotte arrived behind him and
Charlottes heart skipped a beat when she first caught sight of his dapper upright
figure.
“Hello Eric” She said warmly
and the moment they made eye contact all their previous doubts melted away.
The beautiful Downshire village of Clerembeax St Giles was situated to the west of Abbeyvale located between Grace Hill and Bushy Down and on the outskirts was the Clerembeax Palace Hotel and Spa and when Yvonne Labuschagne inherited it from her cousin, the last remaining Clerembeax, she undertook the task of modernizing the Palace and opening a Hotel and Spa offering, fitness classes, gym, rock sauna, infra-red sauna, aroma steam room, ice fountain, drench showers, Jacuzzi, a Romanesque pool, Reflexology, Raki, facials, scalp massage, hand massage, Manicure and Pedicure, while also providing accommodation, meeting and function rooms, a superior restaurant and whatever temptation might attract potential visitors.
She was by
profession a masseuse and had worked for many years along with her late husband
at the Dancingdean Spa Hotel in Childean.
Staffing the Hotel and Spa was crucial, and Yvonne
used her contacts in the Spa world to find the right specialist people in her
field of expertise’s and employed Hannah Morgan to fill the remainder of the
roles, on the understanding that she employ from the village populous where
possible, and that was how the Ward girls came to work at the Palace.
The Ward family had a small holding on the North side
of the village, parents Jack and Olive, and daughters Donna, Felicity, Josephine, and Maxine.
It was a
profitable concern and gave them all a modest living but when the Palace
opened, it gave them a chance to supplement their incomes without having to
travel to Abbeyvale.
They were
all hard-working girls and didn’t care what work they did so Hannah Morgan
didn’t hesitate to offer them all housekeeping jobs.
Felicity was
the second oldest at twenty-three and the tallest at 5ft 8, but she was also
the least confident, and was oblivious to how attractive she was, with her
willowy figure and long brown hair.
Unlike her
siblings she was painfully shy, and was a quiet studious girl, who never went
out, preferring to immerse herself in books, in fact she only ever left the
farm for work and church, and she hadn’t left the village since she left
school.
but the one
thing that she shared with her sisters was her work ethic.
At the beginning of November Stephen Shepherd arrived as
Hospitality manager.
He was in his mid-twenties, tall, with a military
bearing, blonde hair, blue eyes and a smile that melted Felicity’s heart the
first time she saw it, and if that alone hadn’t been enough to catch her eye,
Stephen was also an immaculate dresser, Blazer, Slacks, collar and tie,
finished off with tie pin and cufflinks.
As the
Palace was doing so well, with the Spa, Hotel and hospitality out performing
expectations, Hannah Morgan was stretched to breaking point, so Yvonne decided
she should bring someone else in to share the burden, so at the beginning of
November Stephen Shepherd arrived as Hospitality manager.
He was in
his mid-twenties, tall, with a military bearing, blonde hair, blue eyes and a
smile that melted Felicity’s heart the first time she saw it, and if that alone
hadn’t been enough to catch her eye, Stephen was also an immaculate dresser,
Blazer, Slacks, collar and tie, finished off with tie pin and cufflinks.
Some of the
girls in housekeeping thought his “uniform” was odd and made fun of him behind
his back, but Flis liked it.
After about
a week in the job he asked Hannah if he could have the assistance of someone
from housekeeping to assist him with the linens, table cloths and napkins etc.
Hannah had
no problem with his request and was about to assign someone when much to hers,
and everyone else’s surprise, Felicity volunteered.
“Ok then off
you go” Hannah said with a smile.
“Hi, I’m Stephen” he said, rather pleased that his helper was the
attractive girl he’d seen busying around everywhere.
“Felicity” she said
“That’s a lovely name” he said, “Doesn’t it mean Happy or is it lucky?”
“” she replied
“Much more interesting than mine” he said “I’ve always thought Stephen was rather a dull name”
“Nonsense
it’s a great name, which means “””
she explained
“Really? I
didn’t know that” he responded and chastised himself for thinking that just because
she worked in housekeeping she wouldn’t be very bright, having spoken to her
for only a few minutes it was clear he was in error.
“I’ve seen you quite a lot, busying around the place” he said
“That’s right” Felicity said “There’s not much going on at the farm at present,
so my sisters and I have increased our hours up here”
Felicity worked with him on and off all that week and in the weeks that
followed whenever he needed help he asked for her, and every time they talked
she surprised him anew.
But although
it was clear to everyone that there was more to their relationship than
Hospitality Manager and Housekeeping girl, it didn’t become evident to the two
of them until
The Second
Sunday of Advent.
The Ward family
had always been churchgoers and not out of a sense of duty, the whole family
had very strong faiths, and they only missed in exceptional circumstances, and
the same was true of Olive Ward’s family Sunday Lunch.
The family
arrived at St Giles’ en masse and milled around at the back of the church
chatting to some of the other congregants, although Felicity tended to just
hover until it was time to take their seats.
But after
only a few minutes of shuffling around staring at her feet, she was
interrupted.
“Hello
Lucky” a voice said and when she looked up it was Stephen
“Oh hello”
she responded “I’ve never seen you here before”
“No, I
normally work on Sundays” he replied
“Yes, I
know, I thought that was because you didn’t do church” she said
“No, I do it
so people with family can get the most from the day” he explained “Then I come
to the evening service”
“Oh, I see”
Felicity said, “So why not this week?”
“I need to
go and do my Christmas shopping” he said “I’m going to Abbottsford straight
after the service”
“Oh”
“Why don’t you
come with me?” he asked
“Me?”
“Yes” he
said
“We always
have a big lunch on Sunday” she said
“I’ll buy
you lunch”
“Mum
wouldn’t like it” she said resignedly
“What
wouldn’t mum like?” Olive Ward asked, having seen her daughter with her head up
talking to a man, so she had to investigate.
“Stephen
just asked if I wanted to go Christmas Shopping in Abbottsford” Felicity
explained “But I said you didn’t like us to miss lunch”
“Nonsense”
Olive said “Of course you can go, as long as Stephen promises to feed and water
you”
“Absolutely”
he assured her and then Olive nodded and left them alone, and as she joined her
husband she was wearing a broad grin.
“So that’s
settled then” he said “You can go home and get what you need, and I’ll pick you
up from the Farm, agreed”
“That’s a
date then” she said and then got flustered
“I
mean…sorry… I didn’t mean date”
“Really?”
Stephen said “I did”
Merriment abounds
And music
fills the air
And in the
cosy room
I’d hoped
to see you there
Friends and
loved ones
Surround
me, old and new
I wished that one of them
Might have
been you
Outside its
cold
On this
Christmas Eve
When the party's over
I won’t
want to leave
But I will
head home
Trudging
through the snow
And in my
loneliness
I’ll wonder
how I let you go
Oh my pretty little elfin faced girl
In green
woolly tights and pixie shoes
I’ve
admired you from a distance
Where your
smile melts away my blues
I watched
you bloom in the spring
And bask in
the warm summer glow
Then
dressed in russet colours of autumn
And all the
year I’ve felt my love grow
Now winter
is here and Christmas is near
Oh how I
long to kiss your sweet lips so
Oh my
pretty little elfin faced girl
I pray I
meet you beneath the mistletoe
