Picture Perfect

Melchy

Rating: G

These characters do not belong to me but do let me take them out once in a while and then put them back. They belong to 20th Century Fox.

My thanks to Mary and Maria for all their help.


Carolyn stood by the water's edge, watching the hypnotic lure of the sea before her. Never stopping, the waves rolled onto the sand and back again as they had for thousands of years. A gull cried out in the distance, another followed. The stars hung heavy in the sky, a sky made of black velvet.

"It's rather late, isn't it?" The Captain's voice pulled Carolyn from her thoughts.

She turned to face him, noticing again how he looked like a Greek god in the moonlight, his hair blowing away from his forehead, his stance noble even in relaxation.

"Yes, I suppose it is," she smiled. "But I told Martha I was coming for a walk. Is everything okay at the house?"

"Oh yes. Everything is fine. Martha is sitting in the front room with a book, more asleep than anything else. Candy is fast asleep with and a look of pure contentment on her face and Jonathan has kicked off his covers again."

"He always has, ever since he was a baby."

"I recovered him," the seaman informed her. "Can't have one of my crew catching cold or anything."

"Thank-you, Captain." She smiled again. He took such good care of the children, even if he did tend to disguise it as his duty.

"Daniel," he said rather abruptly. "You can call me Daniel – Carolyn. I think it's time that we moved along to that." He tried to remain gruff. "If you wish."

She looked away from him rather quickly so he wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Daniel." She repeated his name like a prayer. Turning back around, she resolved to change the subject. "Did anyone ever call you Danny?" she asked, fighting the temptation to push the curls off his forehead.

"Not if they wished to live to tell about it," he grunted. "Except for my mother, of course. She called my Danny – her little Danny." His eyes were fond with the memory. "What about you, My Dear – any nicknames?"

"My father calls me Lynnie or little girl. My mother usually just calls me Darling if she doesn't use my name. My friends called me Carey. And Bobby always called me Elly."

"Elly?" The Captain was clearly confused.

"My middle name is Elisabeth. He wanted something special just between us."

"I don't like it." The spirit crossed his arms over his chest, the look on his face saying 'that settled it.'

Carolyn couldn't help but laugh. He looked so authoritative. "Did I ever tell you about Bobby and this beach?" She was not sure why she was telling him this now.

"Your late husband was here? On my beach? When?" His curiosity was stronger than his anger.

"Nineteen fifty-six. Two years before I met him. He and a friend were on a fishing trip up through New England and he said they came across the most beautiful cove he had ever seen. Bobby had always wanted to be a photographer and he took a camera with him everywhere he went. He was very good. He could have been professional. But when he saw this spot, he fell in love with it and took several pictures. And then he said the strangest thing happened. The weather turned for the worst, rain, thunder, lighting, just horrible. He and Scott were getting soaked and they left in a great hurry, left leaving their fishing equipment behind. But the strange thing was that after they got on the road going down to the village, they noticed it wasn't raining and it hadn't rained, not one drop."

"Well, do not blame me," he said, so surly it made her laugh.

"When I met him, he had three pictures taken at different angles of the most beautiful, peaceful-looking piece of ocean I had ever seen. I liked them so much he gave me one for a wedding present, putting it in a silver frame. I could sit and look at that picture forever. But you know, there was one thing that bothered me about it, until now."

"What was that?" he had to ask, moving closer to her, looking down into her emerald eyes.

"I always pictured myself there, but alone. Always. Never with my husband. He always said he wanted to take me there, but for some reason I was hesitant. When I moved into Gull Cottage and realized where I was, I thought it was ironic because I was on my beach that I loved and by myself. And it still bothered me. And now I've just found out why – here, tonight."

"What is it, My Dear?" His voice was low and silky, arousing more in Carolyn then her sense of him standing so near.

"It's because I couldn't see the whole picture . . ." she moved closer to him. " . . .until now. I wasn't alone. You were here all the time. I just didn't realize it until this moment. You've been standing on the side, waiting for me, just me." Her face turned warm as she said the words out loud.

Knowing he could take her in his arms had been about the only thing that had kept him sane these last couple of years. The fact that he had resisted to do so, until this moment, even when he knew she was aware he could, made him wonder at his claim to sanity. He drew her into his embrace as he had longed to do for so long, she felt warm and so alive in his arms, just as he had imagined. Holding her against him, her hair brushing his cheek, he too felt alive.

"I remember that day," he said softly. "Two young pups daring to fish on my beach. I was livid, and was determined to chase them off, straightaway. The one lad did have a camera and he said several times it was the most beautiful spot he had ever seen, so I allowed him to take his photographs before the rain began to fall. And now, I'm very glad I did."

Carolyn tilted her head to look up into his eyes, their lips were tantalizingly close.

"I, too, often wondered why this spot didn't hold the serenity it should for me. Many times I would come down here and sit, watching the waves run along the shore and wonder why I wasn't satisfied just to have this piece of property as my own. It wasn't complete. It needed you."

Her eyes filled with tears that he wiped away with his thumb, her skin like silk under his well-worn hands. "I needed you," he whispered.

"Would you say our picture is complete?" she smiled.

He shook his head at her bad attempt at humor.

'"Indeed," he said in a low voice. His lips sought hers and she gave them eagerly to his care. And the world went on unnoticed around them.