Robert was already waiting for them, sitting on a bench on the platform when their train arrived. He greeted them with a big smile – Richard thought his father had never smiled as often over all the years of his life as he had smiled during the past year. Camille had had an unbelievable effect on their family. He was happy that his parents liked her – otherwise, they never might have got together.

He realised that he owed it particularly to his mother that Camille had ever come over to visit them… and so he asked Robert to stop at "Lily's Chocolaterie" and got the biggest available gift basket for Margaret. He figured that his mother would appreciate that more than a set of feathered wings, a bow and arrows.

His dad raised his eyebrows as Richard returned to the car with the impressively wrapped basket and said "Good grief, did you get into a fix and need Mum's help? Do you want her to sew or craft anything for you? Or do you feel guilty for… whatever?" Richard just smiled enigmatically and said "No, no, and no. You'll see!"

Margaret was happy to see them and marvelled at the gift basket when Richard handed it to her in the living room. "What on earth… Richard! What is this about? Have you won the lottery?" She stood there, completely gobsmacked, and looked from her son to Camille and back again. Camille shrugged and said "Don't ask me, I have no idea!" Margaret set the basket on the table and had a closer look at the contents.

Robert came in and said teasingly "He's in a fix and wants you to bail him out – my guess. Or he feels guilty for something. He says it's neither, but…" He was interrupted by an exclamation from his wife. Camille had lifted her hand to fix a strand of hair behind her ear, and Margaret had seen her ring… "Did you… Camille! Is that an engagement ring?" Her voice was shaky, she gasped, and then she clapped her hand over her mouth in amazement.

Richard was a bit embarrassed, but pulled himself together. He still wasn't so keen on emotional outbursts and scenes, but well, his mother was excited, and he could understand… in a way. He cleared his throat, looked over to Camille and then said a little stiffly "Yes, it is – and that's why I brought you chocolate. We have to thank you for inviting Camille over last year – without you, this all wouldn't have happened."

If he had been embarrassed by his mother's exclamation already, the subsequent scene didn't make it any better, Richard thought secretly as he felt his mother embracing him before turning to Camille to hug her and admire the ring. Robert patted Richard's shoulder and said "Well done, Richard…" (as if he had successfully caught a fish!).

But despite his cynicism, he quite enjoyed the attention, and Camille obviously loved it.

Then, the inevitable question came "So, have you set a date already?" Camille and Richard exchanged a glance, then Richard spoke. "No, we haven't. We wanted to – er – wait and see how things pan out with commuting between France and the UK, and depending on what happens, we'll make a decision…"

Camille nodded and said "It would be too much to start a new demanding job and plan a wedding at the same time, so we'll just wait what happens. We can be married and work in different countries, I'm sure that's possible, but before we can make any plans, we'll just have to see how it all goes…"

Margaret and Robert accepted that reply – although it was clear that at least Richard's mother would have liked to go ahead and tackle the 'project' already now. However… they understood – Richard and Camille had already enough going on, they didn't need any extra stress at this point.

Dinner was over, and Camille was sitting in the living room by herself, lost in thought… It had been a fun day, and she mused that she couldn't have wished for a better finale to her stay in England. She was getting a little nervous about Monday now – she had no idea what to expect. But then again, she hadn't had a clear idea of what to expect from this detour to the UK, either, and all had turned out really well. Right, that was an understatement – it had turned out wonderful, and she was overflowing with happiness and gratitude.

She remembered how she had looked into the mirror of the airport restroom in Paris and decided to get a new haircut before braving the unknown... Who would have thought she'd have such an exciting time here in the UK – and be engaged before starting her new job!

She listened to Richard and his mother chatting in the kitchen as he dried the dishes after dinner while Margaret put away pots, pans and bowls, and she had to smile about his friendly and patient attempts to fend off her enthusiasm – she made all sorts of suggestions for the perfect wedding, including a reception at a posh venue. Camille had always known Margaret as pragmatic and level-headed, but the news of the engagement revealed a completely different side of her.

Robert came from behind and sat down in an armchair opposite to Camille. She was on the sofa, her feet were pulled up, and she took a sip from her drink as he cleared his throat and asked unceremoniously "Nervous already?"

Camille looked up and said "About France, you mean? I'm not sure… yes, I guess I'm nervous, but then again, I'm not, if you can follow me. I was more nervous when I left Saint Marie. I had absolutely no clue about what would happen then, and now I have already a bit of an idea, so… "

"That's not always a good thing," Robert said thoughtfully.

Camille laughed and said "Yes, that's right – certainty isn't always necessarily a positive thing! But I'm optmistic about the whole thing. I mean, the job will be totally different from what I've ever done before… and when I applied, I was under the impression it would be covert policing – which it isn't, after all. I'll do teaching, mostly, but besides that, there'll be administrative and organisational work – also for the training in undercover work, so there is a connection, albeit a somewhat far-fetched one."

She laughed again and then explained "I don't care much for the admin part, but organising projects will be lots of fun, and I'll learn something new. I can see now why they used the covert policing pretext – they wanted me for the international department, but I probably wouldn't have considered a teaching job. At the end of the day, nothing is set in stone, though, and I've never avoided accepting a challenge in my life."

Robert smiled and said "I can well believe that. It's a good thing that women can have their own careers these days. At least they have a choice. And employers are more supportive of families nowadays, I think. It still can be challenging, but at least many of them come up with benefits like organised childcare and such. And going part time is easier, too. It was much harder back when we were young. Margaret had to give up her work fairly soon after we got married because we had to move due to my work, and it was simply expected of spouses back then to tag along. Fortunately, finding a house never was an issue – we got help from my employer there. Then Richard came along, and Margaret was happy to stay at home… when he was six, we moved again, and it was clear that we'd move again after two or three years… So, that's how we ended up putting him into boarding school…" He sounded a little regretful.

Camille waited, and he continued "Margaret never had any issues with getting settled in new places, and she found things to do, people to meet, and hobbies to tend to. Mostly it was stuff that she could do by herself as well as with others – like sewing, or quilting or whatever you call all those handicrafts. When we moved, she just found a new quilting group, you know. And Richard was in boarding school – he had a stable environment, and I thought he had his friends there. I had no idea that he hated it. He never let on how much he suffered. Well, not constantly, but overall, I know now that he wasn't happy."

He sighed and said "But I didn't know back then. We were strangers… in hindsight, I can see that. I thought we'd spend more time together later on when he's grown up. And before I knew it, he had indeed grown up, gone to university, joined the police… and we hardly ever saw him any more. Margaret seemed to take it well, and I always thought she's happy, but when Richard was assigned to Saint Marie, she cried and said that now he's gone for good…"

He blinked, and Camille noticed that he had the habit of "staring into nothingness" in emotionally 'difficult situations' – just like his son.

He laughed a bit abruptly and said "I don't know why I'm telling you all this, but well…"

Camille said softly "It's okay, Robert. Don't worry too much. As it is, Richard felt inadequate for a long, long time and thought you'd believe him to be a loser. But he doesn't see it that way any more. I think it was mainly a matter of miscommunication, and I'm just glad you got this sorted out before it's too late. You did what you thought was right at the time, and I think he understands that now. Let's just be grateful that you can enjoy being together now – and leave the past behind. I mean, it's always there, isn't it, but it doesn't have to define you and your relationship with Richard."

"You're very wise…" Robert smiled faintly.

"Oh, I'm not. It's something that Richard and I have worked out together. I've had my share of grief as well over the years, and I've often felt rejected and hurt… I liked to think of myself as 'steeled' because of all these experiences, but well… the truth is that we all carry our past inside, and we must make peace with it – instead of just ignoring it. Or dwelling on it constantly – you know, to heal a wound you need to stop touching it – obviously most of us like to wallow in self pity for a while, but it's vital not to get stuck on that level, but move beyond. I think that once we've acknowledged that our past is a part of us – a part that we cannot change, but that we can learn from… without giving it too much power… - then we can move on and enjoy the present again. Sounds a bit new age-y, doesn't it, but well, maybe you know what I'm trying to say…"

Robert nodded, but before he could say anything else, Margaret entered the room, laughing about something that Richard had said, and the conversation was over. They went on to play a few board games, and their little tête-à-tête was never mentioned again. But Camille felt that Robert was relieved that he had talked to her. It had obviously bothered him for a while already that his son's girlfriend might think badly of him. And it made her happy that he felt comfortable to talk to her about these things. Considering how reserved he usually was when it came to emotions and expressing them, this was a big compliment.

When Robert and Margaret retired, Richard and Camille stayed on for a little while – they hadn't finished their wine yet. Richard sat on the sofa, and Camille stretched out, her head was in his lap, and she looked up to him.

It was semi-dark in the room, so she couldn't see his face, but she felt the slight melancholy as he stroked her hair and said nothing.

She waited. Finally he spoke… "Strange to think that you'll be gone tomorrow," he said pensively.

"Yes, I know," she said. Then she added "They've booked me into a hotel, so at least I know where I'll be going. And I'll be on the move, on Monday I'll have to show up and meet Leblanc and Dubois, and there will be meetings and talks and what-not… plus I'll move into that interim flat… that will make it easier for me as I won't have the time to think too much. By the same token, you'll have your everyday routines and all that… but please, Richard, try not to worry too much. It'll be okay. And we'll manage. We've managed for so long, compared to what we've gone through already, this is a walk in the park. Come on, weren't you the one yesterday who said we'd pull it through?"

He laughed softly and said "You're right. And when I saw that you needed some cheering up, I came up with the ring – I don't have anything up my sleeve like that tonight, I'm afraid…"

She sat up and put her arms around his neck – fortunately, his glass was empty and securely placed on the table already. Just before she kissed him, she whispered "You might want to try and cheer me up in another way… in the guest room, I mean… and then you can recover from all the stress later on when I'm gone…"

When they got ready to go upstairs, he took her in his arms once again and said softly "Mind you, Camille – it might be a good thing that you'll swan off to Paris tomorrow… it's getting a little challenging to keep up with you, you know!"

She grinned and retorted "Are you complaining now?" He shook his head and nuzzled her neck. His voice made a tingle run down her spine when he whispered in her ear "Certainly not… I've missed you over that past half year, you know!" "Same here," she said softly.

With that, they made their way upstairs into the guest room. They had one more night.

On the next morning, they had a nice extended breakfast. Margaret had calmed down a little, and Camille was secretly relieved. She didn't really want to discuss wedding traditions and ceremonies at this point. It was way too early, anyway. She wanted to get settled in her job and in her new place in France first, and then they could perhaps start to think about what they wanted. She knew that Maman would be happy for her, and she hoped she'd let her find her own way in regard to how, where and when she'd get married.

Catherine had got married in the Caribbean, her parents had been far, far away, and although it had seemed to be the right thing to do at the time, she had sometimes mentioned that she regretted not having had her parents around for the ceremony.

"Maybe they'd have accepted him more if they had known him better," she had said sometimes, and "maybe we'd have had more of a relationship, and you'd have had real grandparents…" Camille knew that this was the one big regret in Catherine's life – that she had alienated herself from her parents and that she – Camille – had never met her grandparents due to all that.

"Oh well, we'll see…" she said to herself when she had reached that point in her musings.

Before she knew it, it was time to get into the car and drive off to the airport. "You've got everything, Camille?" Richard asked once more when they buckled up and were about to leave the driveway. Margaret – who was sitting in the front – turned around and counted out "Passport, tickets, mobile phone, dossier for your workplace, toiletries, vouchers for hotel? Most importantly: Engagement ring? If you have all that, you'll survive. If you have forgotten anything, it will wait for you to come and pick it up next time, and you can always buy a substitute in France, so… "

Camille confirmed that she was all set, and they left.

Richard held her hand all the way to the airport, and she looked at him from time to time, wondering what he might think. They didn't speak much, though. At the airport, everything went very swiftly. There wasn't much of a queue for check-in, and they reached passport control quickly.

It was time for goodbye once again… her heart sank. Robert and Margaret hugged her briefly, then Richard took her in his arms and kissed her one last time. It was a long, sweet and tender kiss, and her lips were melting under his… then he pulled away, caressed her cheek and said encouragingly, "All will be well, Camille! Have a good start, and we'll be together again soon…"

She nodded, felt how the tears welled up in her eyes, and whispered "Thank you, Richard. I love you…"

With that, she turned around and went through passport control.

This time, she couldn't look back – she didn't want him to see the tears - but when she was inside the hall and turned around, she saw him standing there, waving, and his mouth formed the words "I love you"…

Her eyes lit up, and now she smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Her curls bobbed, then she formed the "Victory" sign with her right hand, and he laughed.

Suddenly she knew: They'd manage.

Hey, they were engaged, she'd see him again really soon, and she had an adventure to look forward to – life was good!