Waiting for the lift to go up to their room seemed to take forever, but once they stepped inside and the doors closed behind them, Robbie could feel Laura breathe a sigh of relief. He sought to further ease the tension. "That's quite a dress, love." The dress was an iridescent grey that made her seem to shimmer in silver.
"The dress?" Laura had forgotten all about her plans to surprise Robbie. "Right. The dress was for you, Robbie. I didn't know he'd be there, I swear. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? You've nothing to apologize for. I'm not one to take the ramblings of a drunken lonely old man seriously. I'm just glad that the drunken lonely old man isn't me. I'm quite lucky too, if that dress is intended for me to behold."
He saw her lip quiver. She looked haunted and lost in the present; he might as well be gazing into a mirror of his own past. "Tell you what, love. When we're back up to the room we'll order room service. You need a bite to eat and then you can tell me all about your conference." Laura too realized that he was treating her exactly as she had taken care of him all those years ago- with food, drink, and sympathetic conversation to distract him from his troubles.
Laura consented to this plan, more or less. "That sounds good, Robbie. But I'd like a few minutes to myself if that's OK." When they entered the room, she made her way to the balcony. Robbie let her go with a small kiss on the hand.
Half an hour later, he joined her out in the night air. Coming behind her, he wrapped a sweater around her shoulders. "Time to come in, love. The food is here, and I ordered you one of those exotic salads you are fond of." She took his hand and returned inside.
As Laura poked at her salad, Robbie asked, "So, any good panel discussions at your conference?"
"Robbie Lewis, you couldn't care less about the panel discussions."
"Sure I do," he said facetiously. "I bet they had some fascinating topics. 'Corpses: Are they trying to tell you something?' No, wait, 'Proper Laboratory Procedures: Putting the Rigor Back in Rigor Mortis.' "
Laura's face did register Robbie's bad jokes. "Cheeky sod. I take my job seriously." So did Robbie, and like a good detective, he had done his job of breaking the ice to get her to talk. "All right then, let's address the elephant in the room. Robbie, now that you have a frame of reference for all of this, I think it's time I told you why my marriage collapsed."
"You don't have to."
"I want to. Malcolm just tossed my adultery at your feet, and I would like to set the record straight once and for all."
"You can tell me anything you need to, Laura. I promise not to be upset for things that happened twenty-five years ago."
"I loved him very much once, Robbie." She checked Robbie's face for signs of distress, but found him unmoved. "But despite that, well, you know I have a flirtatious side, and I'll admit that it's gotten me into trouble more than once. I was working on attachment to the Met. Malcolm was a press liaison for an MP whose star was on the rise, but he was facing a difficult re-election. Malcolm wanted to see his man succeed at any cost. He encouraged me to be nice to a certain high-ranking police official that he wanted in his pocket."
Laura stopped when she noticed that Robbie had a vague grin on his face. "What?"
"I used to impose on Val a bit too, bringing Morse home for dinner unannounced so many times. She was a little put out, I guess…"
Laura met his eyes with a weary gaze. "Unless," she bit her tongue to stop herself from finishing that thought aloud. Unless you asked Val to give Morse a blow job, I hardly think you can draw a comparison, Robbie. She shook her head sadly. "You have no idea, Robbie."
"You'll have to tell me then, love."
"It started innocently enough. I was just flirting as is my nature, but the policeman in question eventually took this to mean that he could proposition me for certain sexual favours. I refused as politely as I could, and ran home to Malcolm, expecting that he would be furious with the man and that he would defend my honour. But no, to my horror, he encouraged me to proceed as suggested by this philandering bastard. Malcolm, my husband, actually wanted me to trade sexual favours for information that he could then hypothetically use to slander his opponent in the re-election campaign."
Laura could still hear Malcolm's voice in her head.
'It's not love, Laura, just sex.'
'That's not just sex, it's prostitution! You're my husband, not my bloody pimp!'
"I was devastated to realize that the one person I had vowed to love the rest of my life was so easily willing to use me as a pawn. I packed a bag and went to a hotel; as far as I was concerned, the marriage was over. I was hurt and angry. I decided to give Malcolm exactly what he wanted: I called the policeman, told him that I had reconsidered his indecent proposal and that I was waiting for him in the hotel. So, yes. I went to bed with a man who was not my husband. I nodded off, and when I awoke, he was on the phone with his wife, telling her he loved her. He'd said that he had to work late. I have never been more ashamed in my life. I hope that you can understand that, Robbie."
Robbie took her hand across the table and gave it a squeeze. "I'm still here with you, Laura."
"I went home and told Malcolm what I'd done- and that I was leaving. I'd found a friend who was willing to sublet a room in her flat. He was furious. The ensuing row..." She shook her head as her voice trailed off.
"I can only imagine, pet."
"A month later, Malcolm came to me and swore that he had reformed and that he couldn't live without me. We tried to reconcile, but it was never the same. He was always jealous. And I overheard him all too often on the phone, berating, bullying, and even threatening his associates. Each time, I was reminded that people are just pawns to him, that I too had been a pawn in his power struggle. I knew I could never raise children with a man who was so cruel to others. His career was really taking off, but I saw no future there."
"I didn't know that you wanted children."
"I don't know. Maybe I did when I was young. Not later. I never trusted another man after Malcolm, not completely. Not until you, Robbie, and it took us years to get there, didn't it?"
"That's OK. I like the scenic route, love."
"So do I, Robbie. So do I."
Bleary-eyed Laura Hobson woke up in a hotel room lying next to a man. He was on his mobile talking softly with another woman; he told her he loved her and promised to ring her back soon. Laura listened intently as she inhaled her lover's musk. She had a sense of déjà vu, but this time, instead of feeling the shame of her affair, her heart was brimming with joy. The man rolled over to face Laura.
"Our Lyn is sorry to have called so early; she wanted to get to me before her shift at the hospital. I forgot to ring her last night to say I'd made it to London. She still worries about her old man, you know."
Laura put her head on his chest. "Robbie Lewis, you have single-handedly restored my faith in mankind."
Robbie snorted at her exaggeration. "That might be the most cynical thing I've ever heard, and coming from someone who shared an office with Hathaway for years, that is really saying something."
"No, really, Robbie. I had always wondered what it would be like to be with one of the good ones. A man who was home every night, devoted to his family. And now I know. It's nothing short of wonderful."
Author note: I was going to end it here, but KLSWhite insisted that Malcolm have a happy ending too. So, tune in tomorrow when the plot thickens! (Wait, there's a plot? OK fine, a plot develops!)
