***
Copyright: I don't own the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and I do
not intend to infridge upon any copyright. But the idea for the story was mine…
:-)
***
Roxton awoke from the smell of fresh coffee and slowly opened his eyes.
One look sidewards showed him that the other half of the bed was empty. He
didn't really want to get up, but the
very thought of a cup of hot coffee convinced him.
As the sun hadn't risen yet, he was quite sure that his friends were still
asleep. Nevertheless he put on trousers and a shirt, then headed for the main
room. He wasn't surprised to come across Marguerite there. She stood at the
sideboard, her back turned to him and lowly humming along some imaginary
melody.
Roxton smiled and approached her, put his arms around her and rested his head
on her shoulder. "Good morning, darling… That smells wonderful!"
He noticed Marguerite smiled when she answered:
"So it got you out of bed, but shouldn't you first ask me if we slept well?"
"Did you two sleep well?", he asked and stroke her belly, which had become more
and more thick within the last eight months.
"Very well.", she replied and turned to him. "Would you now like a cup…?"
Roxton nodded and let off her, so she could fetch two cups. He sat down at the
table with his eyes set on Marguerite, admiring. The pregnancy suited her well,
very well. Her cheeks were rosy and above all she had become more gentle, a
fact that everybody appreciated.
When she now reached for the table, he pulled her on his leap and kissed her.
Her lips were soft and he hold her tight. He'd like to…
He lifted her and headed for their bedroom.
"Hey!", Marguerite protested with a smile, "What about the coffee?"
"Can wait… What's up, Marguerite – are you afraid of getting pregnant?"
About an hour later, Veronica was the first to enter the main room for
breakfast and noticed, that someone had already made coffee. 'Must have been
Marguerite', she thought and fetched plated and cups. 'Since she's
pregnant, she cares more about those things.'
After having placed everything on the table, Veronica sat down, settled back
and soon she was engaged in thoughts about her and Ned.
It had taken quite a while until they had realized what they really felt for
each other, but now they had been a couple for almost a year, and there was no
end in sight.
A smile spread over Veronica's face.
She was absolutely sure – no, she knew – she had found the man she
wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When she was with him, she felt
safe, comfortable and above all she felt loved by the most honest man she'd
ever known. There was just one thing…
As she heard somebody enter the room she looked up. It was Challenger.
"Good morning", she said and put her thoughts aside. She'd talk to Marguerite
later on. Sometime.
"Good morning, Veronica.", Challenger replied and took place on the chair on
her left. "Everything OK with you?"
Veronica nodded. "Couldn't be any better."
A few minutes later Roxton and Marguerite came in – so Ned was the last one
missing. Veronica just thought about looking for him when he entered the room.
His eyes met hers and Veronica felt glad. 'He's
the best that ever happened to me', she thought.
"Good morning everybody", Ned called, surrounded the table, reached her, leaned
forward and placed a long loving kiss on her lips.
Then he sat down and started to breakfast.
Soon the topic of the usual talks was the activities they planned for the day.
She noticed Roxton ask: "Where will you go today?" and Challenger answer: "I'll
check the south-western area. I should be able to manage ten kilometres." He
was obsessed with the idea of finding a way off the plateau.
Veronica didn't appreciate these struggles. Why should she? 'Everything shall stay the way it is',
she thought. She didn't want to lose any of her friends – she had been alone
long enough. She never wanted to be again.
***
to be continued…
***