On Wednesday Robbie was in the large home goods store selecting a few things for his flat so it would look nice when Laura came over for dinner. James Hathaway was there picking up a microwave oven needed at the community partnership seminar that afternoon.
Robbie, surprised to see his sergeant out shopping, spoke with James for a few minutes then headed over to the Men's accessories department. James was curious about the rest of Robbie's shopping and turned around to follow him.
Still carrying the microwave, James interrupted Robbie's investigation into a pile of handkerchiefs. Robbie noticed James standing there and confided in him.
"I need to find one with just the right color blue trim."
"What color blue is that, sir?"
"That's the problem. I don't know exactly. I need to find one to match Laura's dress for the opera."
James had heard Robbie on the phone making arrangements for the opera a while back and pried as much information as he could out of his boss at the time.
"Has she already bought a dress?"
"Yes, it's the same one she was going to wear on our trip to Glyndebourne a few years ago. It's been hanging in her front closet all this time." Robbie picked up two handkerchiefs for closer inspection. "There are so many shades of blue; it could be any of them."
"I hate to state the obvious, sir, but couldn't you just look at the dress since you know where it is?"
Robbie gave James one of his best disapproving looks.
"You don't know anything about women, do you? If she wanted me to see the dress, she would have shown it to me, otherwise why would it be all wrapped up in a garment bag?"
James gave Robbie one of his best inquisitive looks.
"Why do you need a handkerchief anyway? You're not planning on making her cry at the opera, are you?
"For your information clever clogs, women sometimes get emotional at performances like that and a gentleman carries a handkerchief in case she needs one."
"Why does it have to match her dress?"
"I'm not sure I understand that myself. I know she and Lyn would agree that it should. Laura's already taken me shopping to get my tux and everything, only she didn't pick out a handkerchief. I figured I could handle that one thing myself."
James looked at the microwave in his arms and remembered he hadn't booked the day off as had Robbie.
"I'd best be off then, sir. And this time if you need help in the kitchen I hope you'll ask me for advice instead of your cat." James started to smirk at him then changed to a more sympathetic expression. "You and Dr. Hobson are good together. Everything will be fine tonight."
"Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck."
"How about a snappy quote then?"
James took a second to select something appropriate and to the point.
"Love conquers all." Aphrodite
"Thanks James." Robbie knew that his sergeant and friend had been really pulling for them since the first time they planned to go to the opera.
Robbie ended up buying six different handkerchiefs hoping that one of them would match her dress. He would let her choose. He headed home to tidy up the flat and get to work on his dinner.
A couple of hours later Laura went home from work to take a bath and change for dinner.
Even though she had a key, Laura rang the doorbell at Robbie's flat. He had invited her as a guest for dinner so she stood waiting at the door with a bag over her shoulder.
Robbie had been in the middle of a consultation with James about the dinner. He heard the doorbell and realized it was too late to start over now. He would have to trust James and go with the chicken the way it was.
Robbie opened the door and smiled as he gazed at Laura standing there in her lovely blue dress with the bits of black.
Laura grinned at the site of Robbie wearing an apron to cover the same dress shirt, pants, and tie he had worn to the fancy dinner at the Oxford Town Hall.
"Please come in", he said as he waved her in with a bow.
Laura touched Robbie's tie.
"You remembered which one to wear."
"Of course I did. You look lovely. Have I told you how much I like that dress?"
"I believe you've mentioned it once or twice."
Robbie didn't want to press up against her and get any of the mess from his apron on her dress so he held her arms and kissed her, keeping some distance between them.
"Dinner is almost ready. I just need a few minutes."
"Am I allowed in the kitchen to put the wine away?" Laura set her bag down and took out two bottles of wine, one red, one white.
"Afraid not." Robbie took the wine from her and motioned her over to the sofa, then picked up her bag.
Laura sat down on the sofa and Robbie set her bag on the floor beside her.
Robbie soon joined her with a glass of wine for each of them.
"I believe white wine will go with our dinner."
"Cheers, Robbie." They clinked their glasses together and sampled the wine.
A timer sounded in the kitchen and Robbie got up.
"It'll be just a minute now, Laura."
Robbie set out his dinner on their plates, organic free-range chicken, wild rice, jumbo carrots, and salad. He bought a loaf of Laura's favorite whole grain bread at the bakery in the morning and he had sliced off six pieces and put them in a bread basket. Laura liked real butter, said it was better for you than margarine, so he added a butter dish to the table. Lastly he lit the sycamore scented candles. Another item on his list was complete.
Cook Dinner For Her
Nervous as a school boy on his first date, Robbie took off the apron, put on his jacket and went over to the sofa to escort Laura to the table, each of them carrying their glass of wine.
"Robbie, this looks lovely."
"I admit I cheated a bit on the salad. I bought it premade but I added something special."
Laura looked down at the salad.
"Blueberries, what a great idea!"
"I hope you don't mind carrots, I tried cooking asparagus a couple of times and it came out rubbery like."
"Carrots are my new favorite vegetable. They will be even better when you grow your own."
"Our own." He quietly corrected her.
He pulled out her chair for her then went over to his tape player and pushed a button. The music of Gustav Holst's The Planets came on beginning with Mars, the Bringer of War.
"I thought you'd like this. Your orchestra group seems to play it quite a lot."
"It should last us all the way through dinner. Maybe after that we could listen to some of Morse's opera records, to get us in the mood for Glyndebourne."
"Morse would like that, his records getting an audience."
Laura started to eat her salad.
"Robbie, this salad dressing is delicious. What's in it?"
"It's Lavender Salad Dressing made with…" Robbie pulled a paper out of his pocket, "extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lime juice, honey, and lavender blossoms. A nice woman at the market helped me find all that stuff. I made it in my new blender."
"I appreciate all the effort and thought you put into this dinner. No one has ever done something like this for me before."
"After dinner we can look through Morse's records and you can pick something out. I'm afraid he only had Wagner opera records, no Fairy Queen or Don Giovanni."
They talked about Morse for much of dinner while Venus, the Bringer of Peace and Mercury, the Winged Messenger played in the background.
Laura told Robbie about the time she asked Morse to buy her a drink.
"It was one night after a woman about my age had died in a tragic accident at Lonsdale College. Morse suspected murder at first and then an eyewitness was found who cleared the husband. For some reason I let it get to me. I usually only had difficulty if the victim was a child and even then I could force myself to focus on the science of getting the answers, studying the clues and taking care of the body."
"I remember that case."
"I didn't know it right then but you were sitting in Morse's Jag while he was outside talking to me. First I asked Morse if he would buy me a drink, then I realized my mistake and offered to buy him a drink. He actually looked at me with some sympathy and said that there was someone he had to see. Then I saw you in the car, impatient to get home to your family. It's a good thing we didn't go for a drink or you would have ended up paying for all three of us, I'm sure."
"You got that right. I didn't get home for awhile anyway. He went to see Adele Cecil, the last of his many girlfriends. I stayed in the car while he went in and cleared her of murder."
Laura finished her salad and started to eat the rest of her dinner before continuing.
"A week later, Morse called me and said he was free for that drink if I was. He picked me up in the Jag, my only ride in it until you drove us to dinner at The Oxford Town Hall." Laura did not mention her ride in the Jaguar with Mr. Innocent.
While Laura told Robbie about her drink with Morse, the music of the planets continued with Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.
"Morse let me talk about the woman at Lonsdale College until I had worked through it. Then he wanted to ask me about donating his body for medical research."
"You told me about that. Didn't you try to get him to donate his organs to help the living?"
"I did, but as I said before, he didn't want to inflict his organs on anyone. So I told him what he needed to do to make the arrangements." Laura paused for a few minutes while she finished her chicken. "For that one night we abandoned our usual habit of bantering with each other. It was rather meaningful although we reverted back to our usual relationship the next time we saw each other at a crime scene."
"I always enjoyed the two of you sparring with each other. That started the first time you worked together." Robbie finished his the last of his carrots. "How come?"
"I spoke with Grayling Russell before I came to Oxford. She told me that Morse called her 'Dear' the first time they met at a crime scene."
"Ah, enough said. I remember how she took that; I can imagine your reaction to it would be even stronger."
Robbie refilled their wineglasses.
"A couple of years later, Morse called me to say that his solicitor told him his body might not be accepted for medical research, that there was no obligation for the hospital to take it. He wanted to know if anything could be done to insure his wishes would be carried out. I made a few calls and found the right study group who were particularly interested in the cadaver of a person who lived on little food and a lot of alcohol. Morse was grateful that I took care of that for him."
Robbie, initially too nervous to eat, realized that his plate was almost empty. He offered Laura a piece of bread then took one for himself.
"I'm sure he was although it was hard to him to show his appreciation to people. Did he even thank you for your help?"
"Yes, he said, 'Thank-you dear'."
Robbie looked at her with some trepidation.
"How did you respond to that?"
"I merely said, 'you're welcome'. We both knew he was dying."
The music continued with Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age.