Eternal Flame

They know nothing about each other, never meet, or hear their names mentioned, yet the lives of Alice and Charlotte are linked. Rochelle Jones brings us a story that includes the subjects of Spiritualism and reincarnation.

Alice had grown up on Dalton's farm on the Ashwood estate in the 19th century. Growing up, her greatest wish was to get a domestic position at Ashwood Hall rather then labouring on the farm as seemed to be her place as the youngest daughter.

Bobby is a farm hand on her father’s farm. He and Alice form an immediate bond when they meet and Alice soon has her parent’s blessings to marry. It is their hope to have their own home once they are married. They make their wishes for an empty cottage on the estate known to the landlord, Lord Ross. In making this request, little does Alice realise that this will bring her closer to Lord Ross, whom she has, until then, had little reason to come into direct contact. Lord Ross demands an interview before deciding who will have tenancy of the empty cottage, but in their case with Alice alone without her husband. Little does Alice suspect that this encounter will ultimately lead to life changing consequences.

Alice moves into the cottage, but the life she dreamt of is shattered when Bobby does not return home one night, his sense of betrayal is too much for him. But Alice lives in hope that he will return; she is sure that when he hears that he has a son, he will want to start again. However one day she hears that he has been killed in a colonial war. Alice cannot accept his loss and is convinced that she will see him again, she only has to wait and she will see him again and once more live the life she always wanted.

The years pass and Alice lives only for the day that she will see her lost love again, so much so that she neglects those around her, her mother and growing son. Only when they are gone does she see how empty her life has been. Yet new chances give her opportunities to make a better life, they are hers to take – but to do so she must give up on her lost past…..

Charlotte feels that she is content with her lot, she has no job and still living with her parents, but she is young and content to live this way for the moment, such is her life in early 1960’s London. Her parents hope that she will marry and settle down into family life, but their daughter is a solitary soul who feels that such things are old fashioned. She is content to go to the cinema and listen to The Beatles' music. Even when she does get a job in a local shop, she thought this only a small change, otherwise everything else was as normal, she had no reason to think life would not go on as before. . . and then one day a man walked into the shop who changed everything.

Charlotte knew immediately that that they were destined to be together. She knew that there had to be a bond between them, it was clear to her that they were meant to be together. Philip already had a married life and simply did not feel the same attraction towards Charlotte, but she knew that she could not let him out of her life, such was her attraction to him.

After Charlotte has a chance meeting one day with Philip, she encounters a strange woman, who she assumes to be some kind of gypsy. The gypsy woman seems to see Charlotte’s fate, not just in this life but in a past life where a similar fate had already been lived. The woman tells Charlotte that she can see the turmoil in her heart, and that this desire she has for the man she longs for has already been played out by her in an earlier existence. The strange woman tells Charlotte that she must choose a difficult path in order to avoid the similar fate in an earlier life. But Charlotte knows what she must do to get what she wants, yet can she see that the path she has chosen could not lead to the happiness and fulfillment that she is convinced should be hers?

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