29-5-2011

At this nod, Mr Muir looked from the young Mr Spring to the young lady standing next to him, and acted as though he had only just noticed the presence of his daughter at his side. He introduced the pair, and instinctively Phillip offered out his hand. Miss Muir stifled a laugh ad extended her hand to meet his. She shook his hand with the force of a farmer; the corners of her mouth curled into an involuntary smirk.

She persuaded him that he was pursuing her- that she was the mere innocent in the situation- without ever letting on that it was her directing their relationship. She guided him through their first conversations, their first touch and their first kiss behind the town hall on the night of the lunar eclipse. Phillip was of the age that it was now expected of him to attend the farmers and town hall meetings and contribute to the running of the district, and sit on various committees around town, so he was able to manoeuvre himself into positions of familiarity with Mr Monroe.

However Beth Monroe always had to find some excuse to go with her father to town, usually on the pretext of wanting to meet up with old high-school friends in town. Beth had recently finished her year twelve exams, and was intending to move to the city and start her teachers training. Her parents had conceded to this on the proviso that she take a year off between school and college to work on the family farm. While at first she had begrudgingly accepted this compromise, in her now-found situation it seemed almost serendipitous.

Her father would drop her off at a friend’s house, where she would stay for a time before leaving to walk to the town hall in time for the end of the meeting and the chance of again seeing Phillip. Once the meeting had adjourned there she would be waiting, and Phillip would try to disguise his eagerness to run straight to her by joining her father in conversation of whatever first (after Beth) came to mind as they descended the granite stairs together. Mr Monroe pretended not to notice the plot.

As things developed between them Phillip would call upon the Monroe house and they would appear together around town and at parties, and it transformed from an open secret to an open knowledge that Phillip Spring and Bethany Muir were an item. They were married a year after their meeting. The wedding was greeted with excitement throughout the Shire; the merging of two farming dynasties. A better match of breeding and spirit couldn’t be imagined.

A month before the wedding Phillip had moved back down the hill to the old Elliot cottage to prepare it as their new marital home. He furnished the house with new couches, a new double bed, new sideboards and new tables, and got a good deal on a refurbished slow-combustion stove. All this activity was conducted with precedence given to function rather than any matching colour or pattern scheme or finer touch, and upon moving into what would be her new home Beth set about rearranging those items she could salvage and ordering new furnishings with tasteful and soft floral upholstery. Phillip accepted this in much the same spirit as he would throughout their lifetime together- with self-deprecation and gentle mockery of the roles of husband and wife within the unit.