Tried to continue this dialogue only but had to succumb to a couple of lines of descriptive stuff! Hope it still all works.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"Interesting choice."
"Well, it seems to work in Paris, Ruth."
"I'm not sure cruising along the Thames having dinner is quite the same as the Seine."
"For the moment I'm afraid it's the best that I can do."
"I'm sure it'll be lovely, Harry."
"I hope so."
"That was delicious, though I'm not sure I could possibly face a dessert."
"Good then we'll have a pause, Ruth."
"And watch the world go by."
"Yes, let's do that. Shall we step outside?"
"It's quite relaxing really, watching the lights and the landmarks slide by."
"I thought for a while, during the Inquiry, that I'd have to leave here, the service, the city… everything I cared about."
"But you don't, Harry."
"No. I don't. But it made me realise how it must have been for you."
"You persuade yourself that you'll be fine, that you'll soon adapt to another life, another place but there are always things that you never forget."
"What did you miss most, Ruth? People or places?"
"… People."
"I think I would have missed … people most, too."
"Thanks to somebody on the Inquiry you don't have to."
"I think it was the HS."
"Yes, I suspect you're right Harry."
"He said you had testified."
"Yes."
"He said it had helped."
"I hope so."
"He said you loved me."
"He what?"
"You love me, Ruth."
"Well, I …I…"
"Do you love me, Ruth?"
She turns away, startled, unprepared and then she realises.
"That's why you picked dinner here."
He looks across at the shore.
"I thought it might help if you had nowhere to run to and we could finally sort this out."
"Sort this out!"
"You know what I…"
"What am I, some kind of problem, something that needs resolving?"
"Yes, Ruth, yes actually, you are a problem. My problem. And we need resolving. You love me. You told the whole bloody committee, so why, Ruth, why can't you tell me?"
"It's possible to love somebody without doing anything about it, especially when it's so complicated."
"It's not complicated!"
"But there's so much in the past, Harry…."
"There is no past. There is here and now. There's a man standing before you who adores you, who wants nothing more from his life, than you. How simple can it be, Ruth?"
"I know but…"
"When you sailed away, did you love me?"
"Yes."
"Standing here now, do you love me?"
"Yes."
"Marry me, Ruth…say yes, come on, you're on a roll. It's easy. Here under the stars, on the river, say yes."
"I…."
"A thousand times you said you'd say yes and I picked the one time it was a 'no'. This time say 'yes', Ruth."
"Yes."
"What?"
"Yes."
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes, Harry, I mean it."
"You're not just trying to shut me up, get back to your dessert and then disembark as soon as possible?"
"No, though the sweet is suddenly very tempting."
"More tempting than me?"
"Errmm…."
"I'll show you tempting Ruth. How's this for tempting...or this…..or does this, right here…. tempt you more."
"Harry, please stop."
"Ruth, I'm sorry…I thought…"
"You thought right and it is tempting, far too tempting for a public place, now could we go back inside, finish our dinner and then you can continue your powers of persuasion somewhere a little more private?"
"Only if you tell me you love me."
"Later, Harry. I promise that I'll tell you and I'll show you…but later."
"Ruth."
"Yes."
"You don't need to tell me, showing me will be fine."
