#demelza carne | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anglophiletraveler · 1 month

Text

Chapter 36

Two of Us

Written by Paul McCartney

****

A big shout out to Nicky Matthews for helping me with all of my real estate questions! It was a huge help. When I decide to move to England, I’ll know who to hook up with! Also, another big shout out to Karen Bockius for her support and help as my beta. She wasn’t able to help me with this chapter, so if it’s worse than usual it’s because it doesn’t have her magical touch on it. Thank you also to everyone who keeps reading!

It was deemed that Saturday morning would be a lazy morning for Demelza and Ross and just take the day off from life and hibernate after a very busy and emotional week. After weeks of rehearing, and working with a private instructor, Demelza had won the audition. Things were getting busier at work for Ross, not to mention the issue with Jenny that had yet to be sorted. Even Seamus was dead to the world this morning. Demelza stirred first, feeling mother nature calling, but she was trying to push it out of her mind and go back to sleep. Ross was still curled around the back of her, his around her waist, one leg over her, and his face snuggled as close to her neck as possible. Just one more hour! she thought to herself. But it was hard with Ross breathing in her neck.

She was just falling back to sleep when she heard Seamus starting to whine and growl needing to go outside. Finally Ross began to stir. Demelza managed to turn to face Ross, “Ross. Ross, love. You need to get up and let Seamus outside.” He didn’t stir at all. This called for more than just a sweet voice. Demelza shook his arm, “Ross! Wake up!”

“Hmmm what’s wrong? It’s Saturday, we’re supposed to sleep in,” Ross replied.

“We have slept in, and now Seamus needs outside, and it’s your turn to let him out,” Demelza started pushing on him to get him out of bed.

“Mmmnnnooo not yet. Ten more minutes,” Ross whined.

Seamus wasn’t having any of it and jumped on top of Ross and started licking his face! “Nnnnooooo Seamus ssstop! Get down.”

Demelza started laughing at the scene and started egging Seamus on, “Get daddy Seamus!, go on get him!”

Ross finally gave it up, “Alright, alright, but I’m going pee first Seamus! Wanker!”

“What do you want for breakie?” Demelza asked.

“I don’t care. We could go out for all I care,” Ross answered back.

Demelza looked at her phone, “Well, it’s 10:30, I suppose we could catch brunch somewhere. We haven’t done that for a while. I just wasn’t sure if you just wanted to stay in and not go out at all today?”

“No, not necessarily. I don’t think it’s supposed to rain, so it might be nice to get out and about. It’s up to you, if you want to stay in I can just eat cereal. Ohhhhhh I better get him outside.”

“You’re whining sweetheart!” Demelza yelled after Ross.

And in a whining voice, Ross answered back, “You’re whiiiiininnnng!”

She laughed at his response back to her. She started to check out local brunches on her phone and found a couple of good prospects that sounded better than cereal, so she got up and got in the shower. By the time Ross came back up the stairs, Demelza was getting out of the shower. “Is that my clue that we’re going out for brunch?”

“You assume correctly. There’s a place a couple blocks from here that serves Saturday brunch until 2:00, so we have plenty of time to walk there if you’d like,” replied Demelza.

Ross was admiring her miles of soft white skin and couldn’t resist wrapping his arms around her waist. “So then we have plenty of time before brunch,” he was laying soft butterfly kisses on the back of her neck, smelling her scent as he made his way down her shoulder. Demelza turned in Ross’s arms to face him. “Aren’t you hungry Ross?”

“Oh indeed I am,” he kissed Demelza on the lips, “I’m also hungry for brunch, but I would rather have you for breakfast first, my love,” Ross continued his kisses down Demelza’s neck.

Demelza was enjoying the attention until she remembered, “Oh Ross, we can’t…”

“Hmmm why not? I fed Seamus…”

Demelza pulled away from Ross, “Ross, I can’t, it’s my time of the month. I’m so sorry.”

Ross sighed and dropped his head, “Rats, foiled again! No worries, love. I’ll just go get my shower so we can head out.” Ross was trying his best not to moan about the circumstances. Demelza gave him a sad face as he turned and walked away.

*****************************

Winter was still hanging on, so the couple decided to drive to brunch. The server brought a pot of tea for Demelza and a French press coffee for Ross.

“What are you hungry for, Demelza?” Ross asked.

“I don’t know, I can’t decide between some French toast or a full English. What about you?”

Ross smiled to himself. Demelza wasn’t a very decisive person when it came to ordering at a restaurant. She can never make up her mind and usually is the last to order to see what everyone else orders, and then sometimes she still can’t make up her mind so she usually just ends up ordering whatever someone else orders.

Ross looked at her, “Do you think that you can eat a full English?”

Demelza was biting her thumbnail, “I am pretty hungry. Ohhh but I do want a bite or two of French toast.” Demelza raised a brow at Ross and had a big grin on her face.

Ross just shook his head at his fiance. “Alright then, I guess I’m getting the French toast! But I’m not handing over my bacon!” Demelza giggled at him.

After the waitress took their order, Ross held Demelza’s hand. “So I was thinking that maybe this weekend, we could have a look at some houses. What do you think?”

Demelza’s expression changed abruptly, “Now? Today?”

“Yes, today. Is there a problem?” Ross asked.

“Well, I guess not. Don’t you have to plan that sort of thing?”

“

Ross shook his head, “Not necessarily. On the weekends sometimes there are open houses to visit. And I’ve been looking at real estate ads online. We could call a realtor and ask to see a couple places. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately, and I think to get the home that we would like, we might have to go outside of London a bit to get a decent price.”

“Bloody hell, you’ve really been thinking about this. How do you even know what kind of home we might want. We haven’t really talked about it that much,” Demelza was just a tad worried now.

“Well no, I haven’t wanted to bring it up with the audition and everything going on.” The waitress had brought over their tea and coffee. Ross had poured his coffee and was stirring cream into it, “But soon it will be spring and that’s always seems to be a good time to buy a home. I was thinking that we will need at least 3 bedrooms, an office for me, a music room for you, a dining room, a full kitchen and two and a half bathrooms,” Ross was sounding like an advertisement for a realtor. “Am I wrong?”

Demelza shrugged, “Well, I guess not. But that sounds like an awfully big house to take care of and pay for. Are you sure you’re not biting off more than we can chew? Or jumping the gun? It just seems like you’re moving awfully fast. I…”

Ross put his hand on Demelza’s arm, “Baby, I know it might seem fast to you, and maybe it is, but if we don’t start looking we will never find a place. We’re not making any offers or putting down a down payment, we’re just looking. I just feel like if we don’t start looking, we won’t get a good idea of what we like.”

The waitress brought their food over. Demelza’s eyes got as big as tennis balls when she saw all of the food on her plate. “Judas! I forgot how much food comes with a full English!”

Ross smiled at his fiance, “I had a feeling you might say that. So, do you want to switch plates?”

“No way! I’m starved! I might give you a couple of bites in exchange for a couple bites from your French toast, but I’m tuckin in mate!” Demelza wasn’t about to give in to Ross on her breakfast!

Ross put his hands up in submission, “Alright, enjoy your food.”

They enjoyed their meals with the occasional “mmm’s” and “this is so good”. Ross could tell that among the bites of food that Demelza was thinking of something. “Sooo whatcha thinkin about?”

Demelza took a drink of her tea and took a beat, and looked Ross in the eye, “I’ll agree to look at some houses if you agree that we don’t sign any papers, or put a down payment on anything this weekend. We just look to see what we like.”

Ross smiled, “Agreed.”

****************************

Ross and Demelza were now sitting across a standard office table with pamphlets scattered about it, waiting for the real estate agent that was assigned to them. Demelza was trying not to wring her hands together but she wasn’t doing a very good job of concealing it, so Ross put a hand on hers to try to calm her down. Just a few moments later a dark haired gentleman who appeared to be a little older than Ross entered the room. He bent over to shake hands with Ross and Demelza, “Hello there, sorry about the wait. My name is Scott Weston, I’m one of the senior agents here at Carlyle. It’s nice to meet you.”

Ross spoke up, “Hi yes, my name is Ross Poldark, and this is my fiance Demelza Carne.” Demelza nodded hello to the agent.

“Ah engaged, congratulations. I understand that you’re interested in looking at some homes. Do you have an idea in mind of what you might be looking for?”

“Well, we’ve discussed it a little bit, and we would like at least three bedrooms, two and a half baths, full kitchen, an office and a music room, along with a back garden for Seamus,” Ross answered.

Scott was nodding his head in agreement and taking notes and smiled, “I take it Seamus is a dog?”

Ross smiled, “Ah yes, my Irish Setter. A large area for running around would be good for him.”

“Of course. And you mentioned a music room. Are there specific requirements for this?” Scott asked.

Ross looked at Demelza to speak up, “I’m a cellist for the BBC Orchestra, so it would be nice if I had my own space to practise, and also to eventually put a piano in as well.”

Scott raised his eyebrows, “Oh goodness, that’s very impressive. What a marvelous career.”

Ross was sure he saw the wheels in the agent’s mind turning at how much commission he could make from them after he heard about Demelza’s career. Ross smiled to himself knowing that Demelza’s salary isn’t as much as the realtor is guessing in his mind.

“Thank you very much! I really love what I do,” Demelza replied back to the agent. She was obviously flattered by the agent’s words.

Ross cleared his throat to get back to the matter at hand.

Scott took the hint, “Ahh yes, so are there any other aspects that you would like your new home to include? How about a formal dining room? Do you entertain a lot?”

Demelza looked at Ross. She wasn’t sure how to answer that question, “What do you think Ross? Do we need a formal dining room?”

“Well, it would be nice to have one. We do like to entertain, and have family over for holiday meals. But it’s not a deal breaker at this point. I think we would like to be around good schools, a safe neighborhood. A garage would be good to have.”

The agent kept taking more notes, “Do you have any children now?”

Demelza looked out of the corner of her eye at Ross and saw that he shook his head no.

“Do the two of you own a home or a flat now? If you do, that could go a long way to help with the price of what you can look at? Where do you work, Ross? I don’t think we got that far?” Scott was getting down to the nitty gritty now.

“Yes, I own a two bedroom half terraced home. I’ve owned that for about five years. I work at Falmouth, Pascoe & Tonkin. I think we’d like to keep the asking around 650,000 pounds,” Ross explained to Scott, who did his best at hiding his shocked face at the low asking price.

“That price point could prove to be difficult with what you are asking for in a home. You’ll have to go outside of London for sure, and even then it will be tricky. But we will see what we can find. I’m going to print off some flyers on some homes for you to look at. I’ll be right back. Can I get either of you something to drink? Water, tea?” Scott offered.

Demelza’s throat was dry from worry, “I’d love some water.”

“Great, I’ll have my assistant bring some,” Scott left the couple alone.

Demelza waited for Scott to leave the room, “Ross are you out of your mind?! 650,000 pounds!! We can’t afford that!” Demelza was about to burst a blood vessel now.

Ross smiled at her innocence, “Love, I know what I’m doing. Remember, I’m the banker here. We can actually afford more than that but I don’t want him to know it. Just play it cool and let me do the talking.”

Scott’s assistant walked in with bottles of water for Ross and Demelza and left. Demelza grabbed one and immediately drank half of it down.

“I thought you said we wouldn’t be signing anything or making any offers today!” Demelza was starting to panic now.

Ross put his hand on her arm, “We’re not. I’m just letting him believe that we are. I need to see what’s out there, especially to find out how much we can get out of my place when we sell it.”

Demelza growled, “Ross, I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit! I’m going to start getting hives from all of this.”

Ross smiled to himself at how worked up Demelza had become. It was obvious that she’s had no experience in buying a large ticket item, let alone a house. “It will be fine sweetheart, I promise. It’s okay to just look at homes that are for sale, how else will we find out what we can afford, and what we like? And who knows, maybe we’ll decide to stay where we are for now, but it’s best to check out options,”

Scott walked back in with some flyers for them to look at different homes that were for sale. The cheaper ones were 2 or 3 bedroom terraced homes that looked similar to what Ross already owned. The way they were laid out was better though, with all of the bedrooms on the upper level. “So, as you can see these are 2 or 3 bedrooms, terraced homes, but they are pretty representative of what we have available at this time. They’re on the outskirts of London, so it wouldn’t be a huge commute for either of you. And these other ones are 3 plus bedrooms, with some office space, some are terraced or half terraced, and they are further out, even as far as Windsor. I don’t know if you consider that too far out for a commute or not. Now this one here is a rare find, and it won’t last long. It’s a one story bungalow with 4 bedrooms, a utility room, a large kitchen area and a family room tied in with the kitchen, a large back garden. Would you like to go see any of these? Perhaps tomorrow? I could also take a look at your current home and give you an idea of how much it’s worth. That is, if you’d like and you’re that far in your house search?”

“Ohhh I do like the idea of being on one floor for some reason. What do you think, Ross?” Demelza had fallen for the one floor bungalow.

Ross was looking over the paper of the one floor bungalow. It all looked very enticing on paper. “Well, I have to admit that I never gave any thought to a one floor bungalow, but it does sound appealing,” he looked at Demelza, “Do you want to take a look at it tomorrow, love?”

Demelza looked at him and then stared at the paper chewing on her lip. Finally she sighed, “I guess so. I don’t really want to look at any two bedrooms since that’s what we already have. To me that seems pointless.” Demelza surprised herself with that statement, she almost didn’t recognize her own voice!

Ross looked at her and shook his head, “I agree, no two bedrooms.” He looked at Scott, “Does that sound doable, to look at the bungalow and the three bedroom tomorrow? Or is that too soon to let the owners know.”

Scott had his game face on, “The bungalow is empty, so that’s not a problem, and I can let the owners of the three bedroom know. This should give them plenty of warning. And if I find anything else that I think you might be interested in, I’ll pull those as well. If you want to leave me your phone number, I’ll call or text you what time and where to meet me tomorrow. Sound good?”

Ross wrote down his information, “Sounds good Scott, thanks mate.” He and Demelza stood up and shook hands with Scott.

“My pleasure! See you tomorrow!”

**************************

Ross and Demelza got in their car and looked at each other, and screamed at each other!

Demelza was shaking her head and was covering her face with her hands, “Ross, I can’t believe we just did that! What did we just fecking do?? That was just so crazy, my mind was, is, spinning a mile a minute! Oh Ross, I’m starving!”

“Starving? We just ate! That’s just your nerves talking. Let’s go home and relax, yeah?”’

“Ok, sounds good. Can we stop for Chinese first?”

Ross started laughing, “No, we are not stopping for bloody fucking Chinese!” He pulled out of the parking lot and headed out onto the street and headed for home.

Demelza was quiet at first, chewing on her thumb nail, Ross kept glancing at her to see if he could figure out what she was thinking of besides Chinese food. Finally she spoke, “Ross, how much do you think you could get out of our place, your place?”

“Mmm I have been looking at similar properties, and I’m guessing around one million. It’s on a busier street so that might keep the price down, but it is on a corner and has a garage, and several updates. So it’s hard to tell without someone coming in and giving us an estimate.” Ross was deep in thought now about their place. He has done a lot with it, especially the kitchen and baths. Hopefully he’ll get his money out of it.

“How does this work? Do we have to sell first and move out before we buy another place? I wish that I knew more about these types of things. I feel like such an idiot when it comes to this stuff.”

Ross scoffed, “Demelza, why would you know about real estate? You’ve always rented, and besides, I’m sure that you didn’t have any real estate or business classes amongst your music courses while at uni.” Ross gave Demelza a loving smile at this. He knew that things like this didn’t come naturally to Demelza, and he tried to teach her about things like investments once in a while without making her feel bad. And of course she never learned anything from her father, except how to make every penny count when trying to feed her brothers, which Ross greatly admired her for.

Ross continued on, “As far as your question goes about if we have to wait to see our home first, it just depends on the situation. There are loans that can be obtained when the owner hasn’t sold their first home yet.” Ross let out a heavy sigh, “How about we put this subject aside for the rest of the evening, alright? Let’s go home and relax and think of other lovelier things.”

“Like…”

Ross smiled, “Oh I don’t know, maybe start thinking of a wedding date? I do recall that is something that we said we would work on once your audition was over.”

Demelza’s face glowed with a large smile on it at that thought, “I do believe we did. And we do have your mother’s surgery date. We should decide on where to have the wedding… Nampara or Killewarren? Have you talked with your parents lately about possibly having the wedding at Nampara?”

Ross sighed, “No, no I haven’t. I’ve been bad. I need to call them later on today. I just wonder if mum will even be truthful if it will be too much for her to have the wedding at Nampara. Maybe I’ll try to talk with da and see how he’s feeling about it.”

“Well Ross, we could always have pictures taken at Nampara. There’s plenty of spots there that would be a beautiful background for pictures,” Demelza responded back.

“You know that’s a good thought. I like that. Thanks, love,” he smiled at Demelza and picked up her hand to kiss it.

“You are very welcome. So when we get home, I’ll work on lunch while you talk with your father.”

************************

“So da, that’s what we’re thinking of doing. Pictures at Nampara, the wedding and reception at Killewarren. What do you really think?” Ross asked his father.

“Well Ross, I think it’s a good way to compromise, and I think deep down your mother will think so as well. She’s not up to having the wedding here, but she just doesn’t want to admit it. Don’t worry, I’ll tell her when she gets up from her kip and explain it to her.”

“Thanks da I appreciate it. So we’re going to work on a date today, so hopefully we can at least get that finalized by the end of the weekend. Oh, and we are going to be looking at houses tomorrow,” Ross walked back into the kitchen to see if Demelza was done fixing lunch.

Joshua’s tone raised, “Oh really! That’s exciting news. I can’t say that I’m surprised, I’m sure that shoe box is getting quite crowded. Where are you thinking of landing?”

“Well, for now we’re going to check out Essex and Windsor. We went into a real estate agency today to look at some pamphlets and picked out a couple to look at tomorrow,” Ross looked around for Demelza and saw that she wasn’t close by so he opened the freezer and dipped a spoon into the ice cream before she came back.

“Windsor! Isn’t that pretty far out?” Joshua asked.

“Mmmm maybe, we’ll see.” Demelza came back into the kitchen and looked at Ross and smacked his arm, “Ow! What was that for?” Ross asked.

Demelza tilted her head at Ross, “You’ve been into the ice cream!”

Ross’s brows came together, “How did you know that?”

Demelza shook her head, “You have ice cream on your chin, wanker!”

Ross wiped his chin right away, “Uh da I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to you when we have a date, yeah?”

Joshua was laughing at the scene he overheard, “Sounds like you’ve just been busted! Alright son, give Demelza a hug for me.”

“I will, cheers.” Ross hung up his phone and gave a side eye to Demelza. “I didn’t know that I was marrying a detective.”

Demelza raised an eyebrow, “Oh I have many hidden talents Mr. Poldark.”

“Oh bloody hell don’t call me Mr. Poldark, it makes me think of me da!” Ross complained. “So what’s for lunch, I’m starving.”

“Hmmm usually it’s me that is starving. I’m warming up the leftover roast and shredded it to make BBQ out of it, and some chips are in the air fryer as well. It should be ready soon. I set the calendar on the table to look at while we’re eating,” Demelza started setting the table.

“Oh cool sounds good. Do you want a beer?”

“No, I think I’ll just have water,” the oven timer went off so Demelza began to finish putting lunch together.

They sat down to eat their lunch and started looking through the calendar and their own diaries. “Well the surgery is at the end of June, so what about early June? Does that look good for you?” Ross asked.

“Um let me see. It looks like the album will be done by then….what about the second weekend of June?”

Ross tilted his head back and forth, “Mmmm I don’t know, that doesn’t leave us much time for a honeymoon before the surgery…”

Demelza’s eyebrows raised, “Oh I wasn’t thinking about a honeymoon. Are we? …going on a honeymoon?”

Ross stole one of Demelza’s chips, “Well of course we’re going on a honeymoon. Why wouldn’t we?”

“I don’t know, guess I didn’t know about getting time off for a honeymoon and the surgery. Where would we go?” Demelza took a drink of Ross’s beer.

Ross chuckled at her and kissed her on the temple, “You leave that up to me, love. Will you have time off after the wedding? For a honeymoon?”

Demelza looked at her diary again, “I’ll have to check. But we need to make sure that we’re back in time for your mum’s surgery.”

“We will be. I’ll make sure of it. So Saturday, June 3? How does that sound?” Ross asked.

Demelza raised an eyebrow and smiled at her fiance, “Well, if it’s alright with Caroline’s uncle, then I think that will work. I’m going to text her right now and see what she thinks. Soooo tentatively June 3! Oh my gosh this is actually happening, Ross!”

“Yes it is my love!” Ross put his arms around Demelza, rubbing her back, he pulled back and put both his hands on her face, and kissed her passionately. She ran her tongue over Ross’s lips causing a moan to escape Ross. Demelza chuckled, not in a funny way, but in a seductive way. She quickly made her way to his jaw, rubbing her cheek against his stubble and purred like a kitten. Ross did the seductive chuckling this time, “You’re fucking killing me.” He pulled Demelza into his lap cradling her behind in his hands, “Mmmm now this is better, Mrs. Poldark.”

“Don’t call me that, you’re going to jinx everything.” Ross attacked the hollow of her neck making her gasp and giggle.

“Mmmm baby I don’t believe in jinx’s. I think we need to take this upstairs,” Ross began to stand up while holding her when Demelza’s phone started ringing. “Don’t answer it, I’m going to ravish your body.”

“Oh stop, stop it might be Caroline about the wedding date,” Demelza leaned down to the table to grab her phone while Ross was still holding her. “Caroline! That was fast! How are you?” Ross managed to sit back down while still holding Demelza.

“Hello darling, I’m fabulous! So you’re finally setting a wedding date! That’s exciting!” Demelza was giggling from Ross was nibbling on her neck. “What on earth is going on there?”

Demelza was trying to whisper to Ross, “Ross stop it. I'm sorry Caroline. Ross is getting fresh. So yes, we were wondering if June 3 would work for you and your uncle, mmmmm.”

“Mmmm Demelza? Should I call back in an hour or so?” Caroline was teasing now.

“No! Ross, stop it, I need to concentrate!” Ross put on a pouty face. “What do you think Caroline? I know it doesn’t give us a lot of time. I’m not even sure I can find a dress in that short amount of time.”

“Oh love, don’t worry about a dress, I’ll make sure you get the dress of your dreams, and, I’ve spoken with my uncle, and June 3 is good for him! So you see, everything is a go! Let’s start planning!” Unbeknownst to Demelza and Ross, Caroline had already been working on a seating chart for their wedding reception!

“Oh Caroline, that's incredible! Thank you so much! And you’ll make sure Dwight has the time off as well?”

“Oh of course, don’t you worry about Dr. Enys, I’ll make sure that he has the week off.” Demelza had put the call on speaker so Ross could listen and he was chuckling at Caroline and her ‘Dr. Enys’.

“Hey, Caroline, this is Ross. I just wanted to say thank you and your uncle so much for letting us have the wedding at Killewarren. We do want to have some pictures done at Nampara as kind of a compromise for my mother for not actually having the wedding at Nampara.”

“Oh of course Ross, that’s a wonderful idea,” Caroline’s pencil lead was going dull from taking notes.

“Oh and how many people do you think we should invite,” Ross asked. He knew his mum was going to soon start working on a guest line.

“Well, the ballroom can hold several people. I would sit at the most 150. We could go with more but you don’t want it to be crowded so much that people are bumping into each other,” Caroline responded.

Demelza and Ross looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces, “Oh well Caroline, I don’t think we will be inviting that many people. I don’t know that many people to start with,” Demelza said.

“Well you say that now, but once you start making a list, you’ll be surprised, and I’m sure Ross’s parents will have a rather large list between family and business associates through the years, and Ross’s colleagues, and..”

Ross interrupted her, “Well, I don’t think Demelza and I want a Royal wedding by any means. But I think you’re right and that we do need to start making a guest list, so we can work on controlling it don’t you think babe?”

Demelza was shaking her head, “Oh most definitely.”

“Oh and Demelza, what are you doing Thursday?” said Caroline, the wedding planner.

Demelza was taken off guard, “Oh um, this Thursday? Nothing until the performance that night. Why?”

“Well, I thought we could go wedding dress shopping. I could make an appointment for us at one or two of the shops.”

Ross was getting bored with this conversation and started kissing on Demelza’s neck again, “Oh, um. Maybe just one shop. I don’t know if I would have enough time for two shops before a performance. That might be a bit much. But yeah, I guess I might as well start looking.”

Caroline was excited, “Great! I’ll let you know the time and where to meet. Now what else…”

Ross interrupted again, “Ah Caroline, I love your enthusiasm, but I think that might be enough planning for today, yeah? Yeah. We’ll talk to you later. Bye!” Ross took Demelza’s phone and hung up on Caroline.

“Ross Poldark! That was rude! But I’m glad you did it!” Demelza giggled and wrapped her hands around Ross’s neck and kissed him.

“Look Demelza, Caroline is great. I love her. But I think we are going to have to make sure that she doesn’t take over our wedding. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate being able to use Killewarren, but I think it’s important to make sure that when our guests at the wedding can tell that it’s Demelza and Ross’s wedding, not Caroline’s wedding. Do you know what I mean?”

“Mmmm yeah I think so. But I’ve only been to one or two weddings so I’m not very knowledgeable about weddings. I never dreamed of getting married when I was growing up. It was never in my thoughts. I was too busy keeping my brothers fed and clothed.” Demelza’s face had darkened when thinking about her childhood.

Ross’s eyes softened while listening to Demelza. He pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear, “I know my love. I know that is something that’s hard not to think about. Just remember that you are a strong, smart, confident woman, and I love you, and I will be by your side, no matter what, until the day I die.” He pulled her close to gently kiss her lips.

********************

After a lazy night of making love, Ross and Demelza headed out the next day to meet with their new friend, realtor Scott Demelza dutifully brought a pad to take notes of the houses, even though they weren’t making an offer on any of them. They had just left one of the homes they agreed to see with Scott. It was a three bedroom, terraced on one side, with two bathrooms. It was on an end so there was a small garden in front, and a larger one in the back that would have to be fenced in for Seamus. Fortunately there was room on the side for a garage. That was one of the things that Ross insisted on.

Ross sighed, “So what did you think?”

“It was alright, not much bigger than what we have now. What did you think?” Demelza asked

“I think you’re right. It wouldn’t be worth the cost of hiring a moving van to move. I want a lot more room than that,” he plugged in the address of the next house into the GPS. “So I guess make notes on your pad, that we didn’t want that house. And onward we go, yeah,” Ross started the car.

“I did like the kitchen in that house, it was a little bigger than what we have now,” Demelza said.

Ross nodded his head, “Yeah it did, and it had been updated, as were the bathrooms. So what do we know about this next place?”

Demelza was looking at the description, “Umm well, it’s four bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, looks like it’s on a bit of land, oh and it has a garage already on it. It looks a little old though.”

“Old? Well, that’s pretty typical for England isn’t it? I like the sound of four bedrooms though. How much land? Does it say?”

“Five acres..”

“Five acres?!! Bloody hell, that’s a lot of work to take care of depending on if it’s farmland, or woods. I guess we’ll find out. Is that one of your bridal magazines?”

Demelza shook her head. It was obvious she wasn’t very excited at what she was looking at, “Aye, yes it is.”

Ross was watching her out of the corner of his eye, “Hey, something wrong?”

Demelza let out a heavy sigh, “Oh, it’s just that most of the dresses are strapless, and a lot of them are see-through in the back. They have a white netting or a nude netting, so even though that’s there, you can still see through it. They’re pretty, I just don’t know if I want something that revealing.”

Ross had a feeling why she was worried, “Are you worried about your scars showing?”

She closed the magazine and looked at Ross and nodded her head. Ross put his hand on hers, “You don’t have to get what every other woman wears. Get what you’re comfortable in. I’m sure once you get to the bridal store with Caroline that you’ll find something that isn’t so revealing.”

“Maybe. Most of the time I don’t think about the scars until… I just don’t want to talk about them with a bunch of people I don’t know. I don’t want everyone looking at them while I have my back to them during the wedding. I'll be thinkin ‘bout it the whole time,” Demelza’s eyes were shiny now.

“Would you like me to go with you Thursday?” Ross asked.

Demelza looked at him, “To the bridal shop? Oh, Caroline would have a fit!”

“Demelza, I really don’t have a care what Caroline thinks. I’m not marrying her, I’m marrying you thank the Lord above. And, if you’d like me to be there, then I will. I don’t have a problem with going. I don’t want to see you in the gown you choose, but I could maybe help you look for something that I think you’ll like. I could always leave if you find the dress you want to get.”

“I hadn’t thought about you coming along. Let me think about it,” Demelza had a small smile on her face now.

“Alright. You’re the boss!” Ross brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

*****************

Ross and Demelza let Scott take them through the next house. They wanted to turn around and leave when they pulled in the driveway and saw an old farm house in front of them that looked like it hadn’t been lived in for 100 years.

“Just think of the potential,” Scott told them. There was a lot of potential, and the house was large, but it was just too much for the couple to even entertain. So they went on, discouraged, to the next place.

“I’m getting hungry,” Demelza announced loudly in the car.

Ross looked over at her and smiled, “Keep your eye open for wherever we end up next, maybe we can find a restaurant after we look at the last house.”

That seemed to settle Demelza’s stomach for now, “We’re driving pretty far from London aren’t we Ross? I definitely don’t want a long commute.”

“Nor I, but we’ll see where we end up. Maybe it will be close to a train station. Didn’t Scott say that it was a bungalow?”

“Yeah that’s what this paper says too. That will be interesting to see. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a bungalow before,” Demelza added.

“I kind of like the idea of everything being on one floor. No stairs for my aging knees. Does it say how much land it’s on?” Ross asked.

Demelza was reading the flyer they had on the property, “Umm yeah .75 acre, so just over half an acre. Sounds like it’s rural. I hope it’s not like that last place we looked at! Asking price is, oh Ross we can’t afford this place!”

Ross crinkled his eyebrows, “Why? What’s the asking?”

Demelza’s eyes were wide and she had a smirk, “950,000 pounds! Why are we even looking at this place Ross!”

“Now, don’t get your bloody knickers in a twist! We’re on our way, so we might as well see it. I’m really curious now. GPS says 15 more minutes, baby. Do you see any restaurants?” Ross knew he could distract her by looking for restaurants.

“Just a couple of pubs so far. And no train stations I might add,” Demelza was worried about the commute, especially since she has yet to learn to drive.

“I know what you’re thinking. But you know, learning to drive way out here instead of in the city would be beneficial. Just sayin’!” She gave him a growl, which made him smile at his future wife.

Ross heard the female voice on the GPS, “Your destination is one quarter mile on the left.” That surprised Ross, “Oh well okay, I guess we’re close now. Do you see the address?”

“Oh stop Ross it’s right there! See the mailbox!”

“Your destination is on the left. Your destination is on the left.”

“Thanks Captain Obvious,” Ross talked back to his GPS. He slowed down quickly. “Your destination is on the left.” Luckily there weren't any cars behind him. He pulled into the driveway, “Wow look at this place, babe! So far so good!” Ross was already excited at the large drive and parking in front of the home.

“You have arrived at your destination.”

“Ross we can’t afford this place! So don’t even think of getting attached to it!” Demelza warned.

“You have arrived at your destination.”

“No we haven’t because we can’t afford this place!” Demelza was screaming at the GPS now!

Ross chuckled and turned the car off. He reached over and kissed Demelza, “Let’s go check it out!”

They both got out of the car and saw Scott standing at the front door with his arms out, “Well what do you think?”

Ross tried to tamp down his enthusiasm but he wasn’t very good at it, “Well the outside is nice. But bloody hell mate, it’s 950,000 pounds!”

Scott held up his hands, “I know, I know. But I think it ticks most of your boxes. Just half a look. Demelza, I think you’re going to really love it, plenty of room for a music room.”

Demelza rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, “It’s 950,000 pounds Scott!”

Ross leaned over to Scott and patted him on the back, “I’d watch out for Demelza if I were you, mate. She has that red hair temper ya know. She poisoned our last real estate agent.” Scott gasped and gave Ross a quick look of fear.

They walked in and the front reception room was cozy and beautiful with a fireplace, although a little out of date. Scott cleared his throat, “Okay, so we have four bedrooms, three baths, and a really nice kitchen family room combination. Plenty of garden in the back to add on if you feel the need. I think having everything on one floor is brilliant,” Scott was really hoping that the couple, especially Demelza, liked this property.

They walked around in the four bedrooms. The master had a really nice ensuite that caught both Demelza and Ross’s attention. One of the bedrooms could easily be used for a music room for Demelza. The master was big enough that Ross could put a desk in it to work from home. They were looking around but didn’t find a formal dining room which Ross was hoping to have for entertaining. The table in the kitchen/family room combo wouldn’t be big enough for an entire family to sit at. “The kitchen is pretty small. The family/kitchen combo is nice, but it doesn’t leave much room for cooking for a family dinner,” Ross complained.

Scott spoke up, “Well, like I said, there’s plenty of room to add on. You could add on a larger kitchen with a more formal dining room if you think you need one.”

Ross shook his head, “I don’t know, mate. If we’re already at 950,000 pounds, that doesn’t leave anything for a renovation budget. It’s too bad because it’s a really nice house. What’s the commute like? It seemed like a full hour to get out here.”

Demelza gave Ross a stern look, “Ross…”

Ross tried not to smirk at Demelza.

“Oh, depending on which way you take it can be about a 45 minute drive, and by train they say it’s a 35 min commute one way. So not horribly bad. Could be worse,” Scott answered Ross.

Demelza gave Scott another stern look, “No Scott, it couldn’t be worse, because I wouldn’t allow it to be worse. I want to be able to enjoy my new home, not sit in a car for half my life.”

Ross smiled to himself hearing Demelza. He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, “So Scott, this is considered Berkshire?”

“Yes, yes it is,” Scott said.

“Do you mind if we walk around and take some pictures, so we can keep it in mind?” Ross asked.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Demelza piped up again, “Ross, it’s still 950,000 pounds, plus that long commute. It’s really nice, but I don’t think it will work for us.”

Scott jumped in, “Well you can always start lower with your first bid. I might be able to talk them down because of the updating you will want to do. You never know. Apparently the owners are empty nesters now, wanting to downsize and all.”

Ross was going around the house taking pictures. Demelza didn’t understand why he was going to all of that trouble because she didn’t think there was any way they could afford the house. She did like it though. She could picture the two of them in the kitchen cooking even though it was smaller than the one in their place. But the back garden was huge. They would have to put a fence up for Seamus. There were lots of flowers already planted. She would love to putter around in the flower beds, plant some herbs. She was staring out the kitchen window when Ross snuck up behind her and wrapped her in his arms.

“You doing some daydreaming, love?” Ross kissed her on the neck.

“Shh Ross don’t, we’re not alone. Maybe a little. It would be nice to have some flowers, and an area to cook outside,” Demelza was using her soft voice so that Scott couldn’t hear them.

“Mmm that would be nice. Seamus would love this huge garden to run around in. But we’d have to put a fence up. I’m loving that big bedroom with the nice big ensuite to fool around in!” Ross was chuckling.

“Shhh Judas Ross! Behave yerself!”

“Oh alright party pooper, let’s go and see Scott,” Ross grabbed her hand and walked to the front of the house to speak with Scott.

Scott had been talking on the phone but hung up quickly when he saw the couple, “So what do you think? Do you want to put in a bid? I don’t think she’s going to stay on the market for long.”

Ross looked down like he was thinking, “Just how long has it been on the market?”

“Um, well it’s going on 50 days now,” Scott’s voice lowered, he really didn’t want them to know that little tidbit.

Ross’s eyes became wide, “Really? That’s interesting. Makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with the place.”

Scott was shaking his head, “No, there’s nothing with it that I know of. You can always have an inspection done.”

“Maybe. Thanks for showing us the properties today, Scott. We’ll get back with you if we decide we want to see it again or put a bid on it,” Ross held out his hand to shake Scott’s.

“Right then. I’ll just lock the place up and be on my way. I think the two of you would be very happy here!”

‘Cheers,” Ross said as they got in their car and left the property.

Ross looked at Demelza, “Well, did you find a place for us to eat?”

“Yeah, we passed a nice place just before we turned in here. It was on the right side coming in,” Demelza answered.

“Well, let’s go it. I’m sure you’re still starving!” Ross laughed at his fiance.

“Yes, Ross!”

*****************************

Just some FYI!

Terraced - a home that is terraced is a home that is attached to another home on each side.

Half terraced or semi terraced - a home that is attached to a home just on one side.

Bungalow - in the UK and possibly Europe, a bungalow is a home that is all on one floor. In America, a home all on one floor is referred to as a ranch style home. There are bungalow home in America but those are usually a really small home, one or two bedrooms, not a lot of square footage.

Estate agent - I refer to the character of Scott as a real estate agent or realtor. I believe in the UK, they are referred to as an estate agent.

Garden - In the UK and possibly Europe, the area in front of the house and behind the house are referred to as gardens, whereas in America we refer to them as yards. For Americans a garden in a piece of land that is used to grow flowers or vegetables.

As an American, it’s been very interesting to get on real estate web sites for the London area and Windsor area. Check it out!

*******

youtube

When writing this chapter, I picture Ross and Demelza driving around looking at the homes for sale, bee bopping along in the car to the music playing on the radio. I doubt if the song Two of Us would be playing on the radio, but it’s got the vibe that I was striving for.

The song Two of Us written by Paul McCartney was on the Beatles’ final album. He wrote it about his ‘fondness for getting deliberately lost in the country with his future wife Linda.’

“One of the great things about Linda was that while I was driving and going, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m lost,’ she’d simply say, ‘Great!’ She loved getting lost. And she pointed out to me quite rightly that there would always be a sign somewhere saying ‘London’, so we’d just follow that.

One day we went out into the countryside and found a little wood that looked as if it might be a good place for a walk. I parked the car. There’s a photograph of me in the Aston Martin, sitting with the driver’s door open and my feet out. I’ve got my guitar. That’s me writing ‘Two of Us’.”

–Paul McCartney

#aidan turner #modernpoldark #ross poldark #poldark #six sentence sunday #work in progress #eleanor tomlinson #demelza carne #demelza poldark #Youtube

15 notes · View notes