Elizabeth's heart pounded as the phone rang. She couldn't believe she'd let Laurent talk her into this. What if Todd wasn't home? What if he'd written her a letter because he didn't want to talk to her? Finally the phone stopped ringing and Todd's voice came down the line.
"Hello?"
"Hello Todd? It's Elizabeth." There was silence on the other end for a minute then Todd's voice came back strained,
"Elizabeth. Hi, um… how are you?"
"I'm alright. How has your summer been?"
"Not too bad. I assume you've been rather busy."
"Well I guess you could say that." An awkward silence again then Todd's voice broke it.
"Did you get my letter?"
"Actually that's what I'm calling about. You see, I only just found out about it. I'm afraid Jess got to it before I could and she burnt it."
"Oh."
"I was just wondering what it was about."
"Well I… I just wanted to say I was sorry for hurting you. I know I was horrible that last night at Lila's. I should have handled it differently but I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say without hurting you. I still want to be friends with you Liz."
"I'm glad of that Todd. I want to be friends with you too and I forgive you for hurting me. I know it probably wasn't an easy thing to do."
"You're right there," Todd said, his voice becoming friendlier now that the ice was broken, "So anyway, how has your summer been? How are the kids?"
"Oh they're great. They're so gorgeous, even Jessica enjoys baby-sitting them. They're so cute when they try to speak English, Pierre's very good."
"They must be cute if Jessica enjoys looking after them. How are you finding it living with the Royal Family?"
"It's not too bad. The Countess and her daughter have gone back to Italy thank goodness. The Prince and Princess have been really welcoming," Liz said, conveniently forgetting the fact that they locked her and Jessica up for stealing the Countess' jewellery, "Well Todd, I should go. I'm using Laurent's phone."
"Who's Laurent?" Todd asked in a friendly yet probing voice.
"Haha, not jealous are you?" Liz laughed, "I'll tell you when I get back home. We'll be back in a week or so."
"Alright. See you then."
"Say hi to everyone for me. See you when I get home." Elizabeth hung up and called out to Laurent.
"So what did he say?" Laurent asked apprehensively, sitting in his chair in front of the fire. Elizabeth felt as light as a feather now that everything with Todd had been sorted out and sat down on Laurent's lap, running her hand through his hair.
"He wanted to say he was sorry for hurting me. He said he still wants to be friends." Laurent broke into a smile.
"So does that mean there's nothing stopping you from saying yes?" Liz trailed a finger down the side of his face then kissed him with as much passion as she could. As they pulled apart she whispered quietly,
"Yes"