Ordinary People

Phil Boast

Description

Tara’s musical career continues in its’ upward trajectory, and Reginald has a significant question to ask of his beloved, but has to seek Meadow’s advice as to how to go about it. Michael, Elin and Victoria have plans regarding Nathaniel and Henry, but must use subterfuge to see it done. Sandra and Barrington continue their quest to find a way to be together, and a new gardener at the Manor House is something of interest to Abigail, and is perhaps a way for her to express a part of herself which she feels is in need of expression. Rebecca has news to impart to Victoria, which she knows will have a devastating effect upon her, so should she tell her, or keep the secrets of the witches, and Rebecca herself must find a place to hide with her daughter, to escape real and encroaching danger. May Thomas has an idea, which rather to her surprise comes to fruition, and which will have a profound effect upon the residents of the Manor House, in both positive and negative ways. Megan makes her final choice, which leaves Sharon alone in her quest to seek vengeance for the wrong which she considers has been done to her, and Percival receives a series of cryptic notes from the most powerful witch of all, but should he trust her, thereby putting himself at the mercy of the sect, or should he hold to his own council?

Sujets

• Witchcraft
• Witches
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Trafford Publishing
• Date de parution: 05 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781698713533
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

ORDINARY People
 
 
PART XIV
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PHIL BOAST
 
© Copyright 2022 Phil Boast. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6987-1351-9 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-6987-1352-6 (hc) ISBN: 978-1-6987-1353-3 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921649
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
Trafford rev.  11/16/2022
  www.trafford.com North America & international toll-free: 844-688-6899 (USA & Canada) fax: [phone]
CONTENTS
Chapter 1       The Sleep of The Just
Chapter 2       Becoming Gwendolyn.
Chapter 3       Concerning The Immediate Future of Nathaniel Michael Tillington
Chapter 4       Women Keeping Secrets
Chapter 5       A Mysterious Disappearance
Chapter 6       A Good Result
Chapter 7       What to Do About Sandra
Chapter 8       Of Rings, Witches and White Goods
Chapter 9       Contemplations and Instincts
Chapter 10     Important Indecision
Chapter 11     Secrets Upon Secrets
Chapter 12     The Very Best of Days
Chapter 13     Searching for Clarence
Chapter 14     Concerning People Who aren’t There
Chapter 15     The Contemplations of Witches
Chapter 16     Anger and Acceptance
Chapter 17     Of Death, and Secrets Revealed
Chapter 18     Upon an English Summers’ Day
Chapter 19     An Entirely Different Game
Chapter 20     The Empty Road
CHAPTER
1
The Sleep of The Just
Since long before the ancient houses which were to become constituent to the village of Middlewapping were built, the village church had stood upon its’ hallowed and sanctified ground. For centuries its’ single, iron bell had sounded the death – knell for those who had died, and rung out on happy, marriage days, calling the faithful to prayer each Sunday, who would travel often from miles around from their rural homes and their often hard rural lives, to congregate in praise of their God. Here had been the spiritual and social focus of this quiet backwater of the country of England, which had stood through wars, plagues and many generations of its people. Here had Edward, the second Lord of the Manor, been married to his bride, Jane Mary, and our story has already told of how significant a marriage this had been, and how the echoes of the life and untimely death of this young woman have resounded ever since, for all of those whose lives have been touched by her so cruel demise.
As we recommence our tale, however, a quite new sound is soon to be heard within these ancient and once holy walls, as Keith has been commissioned to begin conversion of the building to living accommodation for Ashley Spears, the once and now once again famous musician, the work to include a recording studio, the ostensible reason that Ashley bought the church in the first place. Indirectly, Keith has a vested interest in this last aspect of his work, as it will be here that his eldest daughter, Tarragon, will likely one day continue in the furthering of her singing career, and to this end he has recently made a decision. He and his now well established fellow workers, Will Tucker and Damien Fotheringay are still at this time engaged in refurbishing the ancestral and future home of the next in line to the Tillington dynasty, an undertaking which cannot at this stage lose its’ momentum, the future Lord and his new wife having by now taken up residence. Thus it was that Keith, after some consideration and soul – searching, had decided to engage the services of Mike, known to some who know him as ‘ Mike the Bike’ to be the primary presence and prime mover in the new contract. Mike the pedant, who lacked anything in terms of academic qualification, but had nevertheless become a rich source of information on many and various topics and subjects, upon which he held strong and unyielding opinion. He of the steady and quite phenomenal work output, whose skills included everything required to undertake the task in hand; he could build partition walls, had a more than sufficient working knowledge of plumbing, electrical work and carpentry, and could tile a wall as well and as quickly as anyone that Keith had encountered in his time as a builder. From a purely practical viewpoint, therefore, it was an easy decision, Keith’s main reservation existing at the interface between contractor and client; two more diverse and contrasting personalities Keith could scarce imagine, and he felt it beholden upon him to raise the matter with Ashley at one particular site meeting, where they were discussing the finer points of the work to come.
‘He’s a particular kind of human being is our Mike.’
‘In which sense..?’
‘Just don’t ask him his opinion on anything apart from the work would be my best advice. I mean he’s an excellent builder and I can absolutely vouch for his craftsmanship, and I’ll be keeping a daily eye on things anyway, but he can be a hard guy to get along with.’
‘I can deal with most people, but I’ll bear it in mind. I’ll be going home for a while anyway, so I doubt if I’ll see much of the dude.’
‘Sure…He can start here on Monday, so if you could wait out the weekend I’ll do the introductions.’
‘Sounds cool, so this Mike character works alone, does he?’
‘Experience has taught me that this is for the best unless I’m around, I can handle him okay but others struggle with it. He’s best left to his own devises, so I just tell him what’s needed, give him his own head and let him get on. He does the work of two people anyway. We could wait, you know, until I can free some time up and get more people on the job, but that could be a few weeks.’
‘No, man, let’s start. Thing is Sam’ll want me around, and we’d have to prevail upon your hospitality for the duration, I’ll tell her to come here for the weekend if you’re cool with that.’
‘Of course, whatever, but if Sam’s here we’ll let you have our bedroom.’
‘Wouldn’t hear of it, man, floor space and something to sleep under is all we need, Sam can sleep just about anywhere, you dig, and I don’t need much sleep anyway.’
‘Well if you’re sure, I mean it’s the least we can do after all you’ve done for Tara.’
‘Most of that she’s done for herself, she’s totally self – motivated now.’
‘She always was that, I guess, in her own way.’
‘My faith in her has been completely vindicated, I always thought she had that in her, you know? These days I just give her the songs and she does the rest, a bit like our builder, you might say.’
‘And there the parallels end.’
They smiled, leaving the old church to the last days of its’ peace and quiet as they walked across the village Green together. Quite aside from Ash’s influence upon his and most especially his daughters’ life, and however he himself might in the future be further involved with Ash’s music, Keith had grown to love and respect the person who now walked beside him; the world famous musician who would sleep on the floor of his humble abode without a second thought, and who had by degrees become his friend, and a friend to all of his family.

The young lady being discussed was at this time sitting up on her bed in the trailer, distractedly reading and replying to messages on her telephone. Her initial transition back to a life more ordinary was, she supposed, going well enough. There were times, particularly during the latter part of the tour, when she desired very much to be back in the bosom of her family, and now she was here, she had begun to miss her other adrenalin and cocaine fuelled life, and the other band members, who had de facto become as her family during her time away. Most of the others had been through this before, some of them many times, and had warned her that the coming down would not be entirely easy, and now she was finding this to be true. They had dispersed now, and had returned to their loved ones and their own domestic circumstance, and aside from Ash and Samantha she supposed that it would be an indefinite while now before she saw them again, which for now made her feel sadder than she would have anticipated. At the peak of her recent life, when she had stood under the stage lights in her high - heels and her scant finery and sung her own songs to the assembled multitudes, she had sung of romantic love, and sex, and had been very much dressed for the latter, but here in her real life she had neither; the façade had been broken, and the reality of this was something with which she now must come to terms. Now she was Tarragon again, who helped her mum with the cooking, and wore comfortable clothes, and could spend hours on her bed with nothing in particular to do. She had money now, at least, more money than she would ever have imagined having, and she owned a house, and it was to this house that she now turned her thoughts. She and her father had been inside the house yesterday, this for her for the first time, and had inspected each room carefully, and it was during this inspection that she had decided definitively that she certainly did not wish to live there. In the first place it was too big for her to live in alone, and whilst its’ ancient oak - beamed ceilings and uneve