Not Fade Away

Matthew appeared at her door at the appointed time with a bag of Indian take away. When Mary opened the door he reached up and gently touched her on the cheek. She leaned into his touch.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine, come on in, I'm famished."

This time he joined her the meal. She ate most of it. She had some more of the Chianti and he had some unsweetened ice tea. They talked about his day at the hospital.

"Your eye looks better today. You should be able to go walkabout tomorrow or the next day." He paused and then said "I want to show you something" and he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and put it on the table in front of her. He kept his voice as neutral as he could. "This is the results of a full STD screen, including HIV, I had run on .. that person. This column of Ns means he was clean." She touched the paper but did not pick it up. She pushed the paper back at him and he picked it up and put it back in his pocket.

She got up and went out on her balcony and looked out at the city. Empress of London she thought. All hail me now. She had to get away from here.

She turned and could see that Matthew was by the entrance door. She hurried back into the flat. "Please don't leave. I'm OK, really." She went over the couch and sat down. She patted the spot beside her "Come tell me the rest of the story about the spell".

He sat down beside her and again she sidled over until their sides were touching. When he didn't put his arm around her she picked it up and snuggled underneath it.

"When did you fall asleep?"

"The part when you were going to tell how the spell worked."

"OK let's see. I'm not sure I can remember ..."she poked him in the ribs "oh I remember now. After a suitable candidate was chosen, which must be done very carefully because it is forever, although the captain forgot and chose rather hastily, perhaps even rashly. Anyway the candidate was chosen, such as she was. Now the spell was embedded in an app on the Captain's iPhone"

She raised her head and looked him "This old crone seems very high tech"

"Even old crones must keep up with the times. Anyway she had a kid who actually did the tech stuff"

"I'd like to see this app"

"Promise you won't tell anyone"

"Promise"

He pulled out his iPhone and showed her a little heart shaped icon. He clicked it. Up came an outline of a heart on a black background, the bottom quarter was filled in with red. Superimposed over the heart was a digital stopwatch display in white letters. It showed hours, minutes and seconds.. It was running and as she looked it changed to 18:43:00. Matthew put the iPhone away.

She pulled away from him. "What is it doing?"

"The way the spell works is that if M invites the captain into her presence, which is a very important step, he can't just barge in on her, say with a bunch of burly men from the rescue squad, she has to invite him in, and he has to touch her, that is the second important step, then the clock starts running. It stops when he goes out of her presence, not just out of the room, but when he goes past hailing distance. When the clock reaches 72 hours, which don't have to be all in a row, then the lady will be totally in love with the captain. And he will be stuck with her forever."

"And that clock is almost at 19 hours?"

"Yes, lot's of time yet"

"I don't believe it"

"I'm not saying it's true. It's just a story. What do you want to talk about?"

Mary would not let it go. "I can't say I'm in love with you".

"Not totally. The question is whether you are a quarter in love with me".

"You can't be a quarter in love with someone".

"Yes you can. Sure there's love at first sight. But people can gradually fall in love. How fast did John and Anna fall in love?" Mary had to concede that point.

"Don't call it love. Call it something else if you want. Call it regard. Do you have some small regard for me, am I more than a mere stranger on the street to you?" She nodded. "Do you trust me absolutely?" She had to concede this, after all he had spent the night in her flat. He looked intently at her. "Did you come to me when you were hurt?". Yes she thought oh yes.

"I know you don't love me fully. I can tell you have reservations. But there is plenty of time to deal with that. Let's talk about something else. Tell me about Downton Abbey the place."

As she talked about he came to realize what a magical, what a sacred place it was to her. He liked the small house where he grew up in Egham but when his mother finally sold it he would not shed any tears. But she truly loved Downton Abbey, he was surprised she even lived in London for part of the year. He only wished she could love him half as much. He could see that if she ever lost Downton Abbey it would kill her.

It was late by the time he had teased every last detail from her.

"Time for me to go. I've got to work tomorrow." he made to get up.

She pulled him back. "Can't you stay?"

"Do you need a sitter?"

"Tonight I need a friend".

"Well go get ready for bed and I'll tuck you in."

When she called his name he went into her bedroom. When she saw him she pulled the covers back from the side. He could see her bare leg. She smiled at him. He walked to her, bent down, took the covers from her and tucked her in.

"You know what would happen"

"It is my choice"

"Not mine" he sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached up and pushed one of her bangs off her forehead. "I'll make love to you when you love me. Not when you need a warm body. I should go"

"Lay beside me." she patted the top of the covers. "I promise I won't do anything".

He lay down and she slid over to him "Hold me". They fell asleep like that.

The next morning he was gone when she awoke. There was a note for her.

'Call me at 6 with your dinner order. M."