NB Although all of the great houses and historical figures are real, current period characters are purely from my imagination and have no link with anyone living or dead.

Part 6 In the Public Eye

When the article in the paper was printed, we started to get a lot of attention. Many of the local lads found out where I lived and sent me letters to tell me how beautiful I was and that they wanted to marry me.

“Yes” I thought “For a few nights, only!” Thankfully, my phone number was not printed and I did not get pictures of cocks sent to me.

Other than the headline ‘The Fish-Kisser of Coggeshall – thrown back by a Frog!”; I must say that the article was very well written, giving the basic facts of who I had been before with a potted history up to the ‘Frog Affair’ with before and several after photos. It did say that I was one of the presenters at Paycockes; that my parents looked after.

For the following weekend we had a bumper crowd at our tours, the reporter and his photographer on the Saturday with the reporter recording our presentation. I was the centre of attention but I did my best to be professional as a Trust Guide and deflect unwanted discussions. On the Sunday we had someone from the Dunmow School of Drama who spoke to my father afterwards, asking if we could come up and speak with them during the week.

On Monday my father took me and Alec down to Colchester to collect my car. With my plates on and Alec beside me we went back home. I was now mobile and would be very mobile once I had passed the test. I had been driving with my father and Alec (in his Prius) for some months so thought that it would not take much more to get me through. I booked the test for the following week.

In the meantime, we had started to put together our presentation. Alec, Stella and Sarah were keen to be part of it and we had a rough outline where I played the part of Anne DeHavilland, Tristans’ mother, and opened up with a brief discussion about the Plantagenets and the First Earl before getting to the Second Earl and his dalliance with me.

Then Tristan and Sarah would join me and we would talk about life at Estaines, with Sarah as one of the scullery maids that Tristan had been friendly with between 1500 and 1512, when we were sent away. Then I introduced Stella and Alec as Anne and Willian Parr who described their own chaotic time on the land.

Well, she did leave him and he did get Parliament to annul the wedding and declare any children illegitimate, the swine. After that I finished my MC part by introducing the first of the other presenters to carry on with the Maynards and beyond.

By the time we got to Dunmow in two cars we had the bulk of it written with just some of Tristans memories to be put into words. Much of Tristans’ dialogue was ‘off the cuff’ because he didn’t read but the script helped us. I drove my car with my mother beside me and Tristan and Sarah in the back, holding hands. Alec drove his with my father and Stella.

We were able to run though the presentation so far with someone filming us so that the following presenters could see how they could seamlessly link with us. After that we were led, in a convoy, out to the Manor where we would do the presentation. It would take place on a lawn area and we would have a marquee where we would change and get our make-up.

We took pictures and asked questions and Tristan asked about the original house, being told that this one was on the site of an old hunting lodge and his face went white. He then had his bearings and led us off some way and pointed out the original site of the main manor.

The Trust chap with us had a wealth of knowledge and nodded as Tristan pointed out roughly where all the out-buildings had been sited. The original building, being mainly wooden, had not left any marks we could see but geo-phys had allowed them to map it.

He then saw a large old oak tree and started towards it. The Trust chap said “Wait, Tristan. Tell us what you expect to find as nothing has been found in that direction.” Tristan said “There was a smaller oak tree at that spot and it had a carving in it. My mother told me that the carving was done by Edward the Fourth and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, when they stayed here on their honeymoon in 1460.” We all followed him and watched as he examined the tree.

Of course, anything carved five hundred years ago could now be a little hard to find but he did, finally, let out a cry and pointed to a spot about six feet from the ground. The Trust chap took a picture on his phone. He was jubilant and showed us why. There was a carving, very old, of a heart and two ‘E’s intertwined with the date 1460 underneath. He told us that it was a rare example of Edwards own work and would have protection from vandals next time we came up.

On the way back Tristan took me aside as we walked and told me that his mother had told him that the hunting lodge was where he had been conceived. That was something I could add to the talk! Actually, Tristan and Sarah were walking together, hand in hand, while Alec was walking alongside me.

Stella had been mixing with the drama school members since we had arrived and I noticed was taking particular notice of a very handsome lad with a goatee beard. I pointed this out to Alec who said “Yes, unfortunately we have not been so close lately; I think that she is looking around.”

I said “What about you?” and he smiled at me and said “I don’t have to look around, Beverley, I do think that I may have already found who I want to be with, it just is a matter of whether she likes me enough” and then he gave me that smile that works on everyone and I suddenly realised who he was talking about.

Of course, the whole time we had been there I had been being peppered with questions about my transformation which I tried to answer as clearly as I could, even though several obviously thought it was a hoax. It was, though, a very interesting time as it helped Tristan place himself in our world with far more knowledge of where he had come from.

While we were there the chap from the Trust took a swab so that they could see if he really was who he said he was, there being many descendants of the early kings who had DNA already on databases. The odd thing with Tristan was that there were no intervening generations to distort the result.

Stella declared that she would be going into Braintree with her new-found friends and that Hamish, he of the beard, would get her home. So I got my father to drive my car home with my mother, Sarah and Tristan, while I said I would go with Alec into Colchester to see a movie we both wanted to see.

My mother gave me a very old-fashioned look before they left. We gave them a bit of time while we strolled around the Manor gardens and then we followed down to the main road and back to Coggeshall, going past my house and turning south instead of keeping on the main road to Colchester to go a place that we had gone to as a foursome with the girls.

On the way we chatted a bit about what we had got ourselves into, although we had helped out at Paycockes this was a whole level or two above that. It took me the whole trip to come to grips with the fact that my best mate was now thinking about me in an amorous way. We had done a lot of crazy things together, over the years, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that this may be the craziest. We were lucky that the Halfway could fit us in on a table for two and Alec and I had what could be described as a romantic dinner.

On the way home he pulled into a small lane where we had cuddled our girlfriends and I knew that this was the make or break moment. I was in two minds still when he leaned over to kiss me but the moment our lips met I threw all caution to the winds and that kiss lasted several minutes.

When he drew back he looked at the back seat and raised an eyebrow and I nodded. We both got out and into the back seat to be instantly entwined and kissing again. It was like a dam had burst for me and all I wanted was to have Alec hold me and, perhaps, do some other things that was crossing my mind that no-one had done to me before.

By the time we left that lane we had achieved many of the things that I had thought about. He had fondled, kissed and sucked my breasts and used his finger between my legs, bringing me to a raging orgasm. I had kissed him in as many places as I could and had sucked him dry, swallowing something very new for the first time.

We had sat for some time after that, cuddled together and occasionally kissing, before I looked at my watch and said we had to go. He dropped me off at my house, saying “Goodnight, beautiful, I’ll see you tomorrow for a driving lesson.” So I kissed him again and waved as he left.

When I got in the house my mother said “Goodness, girl, you look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge. You obviously enjoyed your evening. That Alec is a very nice boy and I would not mind him for a son-in-law; but not until you have finished university!”

The next day my mother gave me a pack of condoms and told me to keep them in my bag, just in case. I took extra care dressing for our driving lesson; it would be going down to Colchester and driving in all of the main streets that the examiners used. We then drove to Witham where we had lunch and walked most of the River Walk, arm in arm and talking about us. That is, us as a unit, a married couple, a family of two and- maybe- more.

Marianne Gregory © 2022