"I assumed it was going to be Italian, Robbie, long before you cremated the ciabatta"

Laura took a final piece of bread and dipped into a small dish of extra virgin olive oil. She watched as the sage green oil soaked wonderfully into the texture of the bread before she popped it into her mouth. The meal had been perfect; all her favourites from salads to delicate air-dried wafer thin meats and delicious cheeses. Robbie had also, along with the Prosecco, opened a light valpolicella which went perfectly with the food and Laura found herself in food heaven, which Robbie was, to his delight, utterly pleased to see. Even so, he was a little stumped as to how she had guessed what he was going to serve for their anniversary meal. He had tried all week to throw her off the scent – mentioning at one time how he might try his hand at samosa making; this had been met with horror from Laura, an expression of derision on her face only topped when he mentioned homemade Sushi. He had known it would cause such consternation and even though Laura knew that some of his suggestions had been a rouse she could never be quite sure of what he would eventually choose to serve, based on past disasters.

"What?! How did you guess Italian?" He said, his voice rising with a touch of exasperation

"The Prosecco gave it away a little"

"Ah, well, yeah, I suppose it would do" Robbie said, conceding to the fact. He frowned to himself but was ultimately comforted by the fact that Laura had without doubt enjoyed the Italian feast he'd set out for them both.

Laura reached across the table and with a cocktail stick speared a big fat leaf green olive from a small bowl. She was comfortably full but couldn't resist one more olive.

Robbie took a swig of his wine, noting with a smile to himself as Laura enjoyed the olive. He could be confident that his meal had gone down a treat, despite the bread catching in the oven. Luckily he'd bought two ciabattas, not being quite sure of how much they'd want. As it turned out, it was just the right amount to perfectly accompany the rest of the food items he'd purchased. Laura had seemed delighted with his offerings and had come down after her bath dressed for dinner in a figure-hugging black dress that she knew he always admired.

"As well as the prosecco I also supposed you might refer to our honeymoon in the eventually of such a task at hand." Laura delicately placed the pit of the olive onto the side of her plate

"Too predictable, me." Robbie said, with a tone of grumpy resignation.

Laura nodded with a smile. "And I love it"


After the meal they relaxed on the sofa for a while with the last of the wine, discussing what they might do on their trip away. Robbie was excited about the fishing and also glad that Laura had something lined up while he was on the river all day. The small hotel was surrounded by countryside and Laura had already worked out a route for a walk on one of the days with a pub lunch halfway.

"It's a smashing present, thanks for booking it all love" Robbie said taking a drink of his wine

"You deserve it" Laura said, gazing at him fondly, also thinking back to his words to the woman at the deli counter

"So do you" Robbie replied softly and he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small box.

"Just a little something else for you" he said, handing her the box. Laura smiled and took it from him,

"Oh, Robbie another surprise?" She said, hoping it didn't sound too unconvincing. She had been wondering when the jewellery would appear.

She opened the box. Inside were a pair of small earrings. Laura saw straight away that they were studs made from gold. She looked closer and in an instant saw that the gold had been crafted into a pair of tiny but detailed whales' tails.

"They reminded me of when we saw those orcas, in New Zealand" Robbie said softly, watching her study the earrings closely. He saw that she was instantly taken by the earrings and he hoped she might realise the significance of why he had chosen them.

Laura smiled and thought back to their holiday in New Zealand. They had hired a motorhome for a couple of weeks and took a tour of the coastline before heading into the mountains. Driving along the coastal route one morning they had stopped to look at the map. Laura was convinced they'd missed a turn off miles before but Robbie was certain they were on the right road and that the turn off was further on. They drove on for several miles during which they'd had a heated debate until finally, to settle it and to check they were on the right route, they had pulled off the road. Laura had been furious at Robbie when a detailed look at the map confirmed they had indeed missed the turn off despite his initial insistence to the contrary. The road was a coastal one that looked out to a huge bay and it had been then that Robbie had spotted the orcas. They were both spellbound as they watched the whales and all of a sudden it didn't matter about being on the wrong route and they had both found themselves lost to the moment and then to the wondrous reality of being in each other's arms to witness such an event.

Robbie looked at Laura as he saw her recall the memory. "It felt such a privilege to see those whales, and I remember thinking how much I loved you and I wanted to ask you to marry me then" Robbie said

"Really?" Laura looked a little stunned

"Yeah" he said, almost shyly

"What stopped you?"

"Well, I knew how you felt about marriage, y' know, that it wasn't your thing, so I thought I'd better not. I didn't want to put my foot in it and spoil the holiday, especially after all the fuss I'd made what with me with me thinking I wasn't going to go before coming to my senses."

Laura shook her head a little, half frowning and half smiling, touched by his words and how he had held back on how he felt, understanding her feelings about the institution of marriage. She also knew he would always bring up his shortcomings with regards to how he'd handled his retirement. Her hand went to his chest and she smoothed his shirt and he felt a loving gentleness in her touch

"I would have said yes, Robbie, but I wouldn't change how you did ask me" She said, looking away, for a second, a look almost of regret on her face

"Really? You would have said yes?" now it was Robbie who was a little stunned

"Yes" Laura nodded, watching his reaction

"I might not agree with the notion of marriage, Robbie, but that doesn't mean I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you." She looked at him, her eyes gently insistent, seeking out his understanding, which she knew was there. Even so she had never been presumptuous to feel fully at ease with their slightly different attitudes to marriage. Robbie gazed down at her, knowing and understanding the insecurity she felt and the odd paradox it seemed to present.

"I know what it means to you, I always have done, but at the same time I can still rail against the institution of marriage, even while participating in the very institution." She said, assured at least by her own thoughts on the predicament

"As is your every right" Robbie said, with a smile and a nod of understanding

"It's a good job we eventually ended up on the same page though, eh?" He continued,

"I made my mind up a long time ago that if you ever asked me I would say yes and then I thought that because you knew how I felt that perhaps you actually wouldn't ever ask me and I couldn't bear that"

"Yeah, well it's a good job you dropped all those hints then"

Laura laughed softly. He was right.

"You do know that I love you just as much married as I did when we weren't?" She said, a slight look again on her face of uncertainty.

"Of course I do, love. And that's all I need" He said and he leant in to kiss her "It's all I'll ever need "

"What?" He said after they pulled away from the kiss. There was a look of concern suddenly on Laura's face, it was one he'd come to read over the years, one that showed her insecurities, a face that initially he had been surprised to discern and then ultimately understand that she had emotional vulnerabilities that she hid well.

"You don't mind that I kept my name do you?"

Laura hadn't taken his name when they had married. It was something she felt was important to her but she had also been worried about how Robbie might have felt about it.

"You always ask me this" Robbie said, his voice full of reassurance. "And the answer is always the same - No. It's your name."

Laura laughed softly. He would always say that to her, and he'd never minded about the fact that she kept her name instead of taking on his when they had married.

"Whatever you're called, you're still my wife" and he took her hand in his and kissed her fingers, his thumb gently rubbing her wedding and engagement rings

"And you're my husband. And I love you more and more each day, Robbie" She looked at him, her eyes silvered rimmed with physical evidence of the emotion in her words.

"Come here" he said softly and kissed her

"And I love you more every second" he continued, resting his forehead on hers

"Well it's accumulative, of course, Robbie, seconds into minutes, into hours into days" She said, pulling away slightly, teasing him a little, fully confident of the moment between them.

"You cheeky lass, always have to have the last word, eh?"

She raised her eyebrows with a smirk

"Mmhhmm" she said

"Well as long as I get the last kiss, I don't care" he said as he pulled her towards him again.

Laura was a little taken by surprise by Robbie's gentle but insistent grip on her but she soon felt herself swept away by his kiss

"I got us a nice pudding, by the way" he said, in between more kisses

"I should think so." Laura said with a smirk "I'd have your guts for garters if you hadn't"

A slight frown of puzzlement crossed Robbie's face at her words but it soon disappeared when Laura pulled him in for another kiss, grabbing onto the collars of his shirt

"Robbie, Let's have dessert now, you know how I love my afters" she said between more kisses

"Mmm, I'll get it out of the fridge" Robbie said and he frowned slightly again, there was something about what she said. . .

"I wasn't thinking of that sort of afters" she said, interrupting his train of thought. She pulled him a little closer, "Well, not just yet anyway" Then, to his surprise and delight she swiftly clambered onto his lap, straddling him and, still tugging at his shirt collars, kissed him again and nudged herself closer to him so that they could both feel the contours of their bodies together.

"Oh" Robbie said, there was no mistaking what she was referring to as he felt his body start to answer her gentle and deliciously insistent invitation and within a few minutes he had forgotten all about the odd familiarity of Laura's words and instead succumbed to the wonderful familiarity of her touch.

The afters he had originally planned, he thought, could certainly wait.


I have a theory that at the start of the end of the final series, the writers were toying with Robbie and Laura going on a grand Italian tour of sorts – hence the learning of Italian and the references to Rimini. Of course, Italy is too close to Oxford, relatively speaking, in as much as it wouldn't have caused too much of a problem for Robbie to return to Oxford and back to work after retirement if he wanted to - New Zealand on the other hand is a big commitment which is why, in my opinion it was chosen as a destination for a retirement trip by the writers. I have never been to New Zealand, would love to go, but my knowledge of the place only stretches to vague details, however I can imagine it must be a great place to see whales – especially orcas – by chance on a coastal route.

Thanks again for reading

ML x