Okay kiddies, I gotta warn ya. This chapter is a bit graphic towards the end. In my opinion it does not require an M rating but all the same I felt you should be warned. I'll put stars before it or something. My sister says its nothing, and I could should have gone all VC Andrews graphic with it. I had to remind her that Harry and Sarah weren't cousins…lol. Anyway I hope you guys like this. : )

Hahaha Norma Jean I LUV those movies. The "k-nig-it" part gets me every time…and "Run away Run Away" (can you tell Holy Grail is my favorite? lol)

Sara thanks for the suggestion, I'm heading over to Amazon right now to look for it : )

Liz, a sequel! Oh yeah I love you! I am so going to now: )

Chapter 15

I hurried back to my room where I met Hannah who was there and ready to help me dress for dinner. I let my shawl fall onto the chair and she helped me remove the dress I had been wearing and then began to help me dress in the gown she had laid out for dinner. It was a very elegant two piece dress, a silk ivory dress, with a short sleeved embroidered net lace over dress. It was an empire waist brought together in the front with a pretty gold clasp. The layers of the gown all fell to the ground and met at a round train. It sparkled brightly in the light with the crystal sequins sewn into the overdress. Truly fit for a princess.

She curled my hair for me and then pinned it all up, letting some of the curls fall like cascades to my neck. While she was doing that I put on a diamond necklace with matching tear drop earrings. After we were done she gave me my gloves and I slipped them on carefully.

"Here's your handbag, miss"

"Thank you" I slipped it over my wrist and checked myself in the mirror, I planned on meeting Harry right after dinner, and I wanted to look my best for him. I said good night to Hannah and left the room and headed down towards the dining room.

I met up with Polly, who told me Charles was feeling well and was lying down in their suite.

"Bit of sea sickness I suspect." she replied as we sat down at our table.

"That's awful. Do tell him I hope he feels better."

"I will thank you. Have you spoken with Harry yet?"

I shook my head, placing my napkin in my lap. "I saw him earlier this afternoon but we didn't get a chance to talk…"

She nodded

"…I'm going to after dinner." I added quickly with a tone that only she would understand.

She looked up quickly, her eyes full of question. "Are you sure?"

I nodded confidently.

She smiled at me "Do you need me to do anything for you?"

"Well…" I hesitated. "It's highly doubtful my family is going to want to see me after I tell them…"

"Say no more, you are more than welcome to stay with Charles and me in New York, for as long as you need."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am."

"Polly, really I want you to think about this first…"

She put her hand up to quiet me. "That's my final decision. Besides it will be nice to have you around and…" she leaned over and whispered. "…I understand that you'll require a certain amount of privacy."

I smiled and shook my head at her. Really, that girl only ever had one thing on her mind.

Hors D'Oeuvres were then served and with both us sat up straight and began to eat dinner.

Later…

We had just begun the sixth course at my table when Cal approached me.

"Excuse me everyone." he apologized to the table, then turned to me. "Sarah, may I speak with you for a moment."

"Of course. Excuse me…" the men rose from the table graciously as I got up and followed Cal out of the dining room and over to the staircase.

"You wouldn't happen to know where my fiancée is, would you?"

I looked at him puzzled. "She's not here?"

"Obviously not, why would I ask you if she was?"

He was right. "I'm sorry I haven't seen her since tea this afternoon." That wasn't exactly a lie.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, she mentioned she wasn't feeling well, maybe she went to lie down." All right I'll admit that was a lie. It scared me that I was getting so good at it, but to protect Rose, I would have done anything.

"Maybe. I'll send Lovejoy to look for her." he paused for a moment and looked at me. I felt like he was studying me. "…you look very beautiful this evening.

"Thank you." I replied, feeling slightly uneasy.

He looked at me with another long lingering stare. "You wouldn't do this to your fiancé would you?"

I didn't say anything, what does one say to something like that?

"Of course you wouldn't." he said answering his own question. "You're different. You're perfect…" his voice trailed off and I began to truly feel uncomfortable.

"I should be going back." I said, pushing the musing look off of his face.

"Yes, thank you."

I nodded and hurried back into the dining room.

"What did he want?" Polly asked as I sat back down.

"Nothing, let's just forget about it."

She looked skeptical but said "All right" and we continued our dinner. As soon as the cigars arrived on their carts I excused myself from the table. Polly gave me an encouraging smile as I left and I smiled back at her, starting to feel a bit better as I began to forget what happened with Cal.

It was still quite early and I knew Harry still had a few minutes before his shift ended so I decided to wait for him up by the bridge. I went to my room and got a coat leaving a note for Hannah telling her not to wait up for me and went up onto the boat deck. It was quite cold out, and it made me thankful I had thought to get a coat, but the stars that were shining brightly in the sky made up for it.

I sat down on a bench near the lifeboats where I could see Harry when he came out. An officer did walk by a few moments later but it wasn't Harry.

"Well hello again."

I looked up when he spoke to me; I then realized it was Jimmy. He smiled at me.

"Hello."

"Waiting for Harry?"

I nodded. "Do you know how much longer he'll be?" the cold was starting to go through me and I hoped it would be soon.

"I just relieved him; he went to his cabin to change. You can go and get him if you want?"

"Are you sure that's okay?"

He nodded. "C'mon I'll take you."

He helped me up and led me across the officer's promenade, past the bridge and into the corridor I had been in only the night before. He led me down it and stopped at Harry's door.

"Here you are."

"Thank you."

He gave me a warm smile. "You're Welcome. See you later."

I nodded and watched him walk down the hall before I knocked on Harry's door. I could hear him fumble around for a bit in the room before he opened the door. I obviously interrupted him while he was dressing; he wore only his trousers and undershirt.

"Sarah."

"Sorry, Jimmy brought me up. I'll go outside and wait for you…"I replied, embarrassed beyond belief, I started to walk down the corridor, but he reached out for me.

"No it's all right, come in, I'm almost done."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, "I'm not shy…come on." he opened the door for me and hesitantly and somewhat slow I walked past him and into his room. He cleared some clothes off of his bed and made a spot for me to sit down.

"Sorry about the mess."

"It's all right." I really didn't mind all that much. After he tossed the clothes off to the side he pulled me towards him and kissed me.

"You look beautiful tonight." he replied afterwards.

Those words sounded so much different when they came from him. I could actually feel my heart pound with happiness when he spoke, not apprehension. We smiled at one another and he gave me one more quick kiss before going to the closet and getting a shirt off one of the hangers.

I removed my coat, since it was so warm, and laid it over the chair. He looked back at me and I thought I saw his eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"Is something the matter?" I asked, checking myself to make sure I didn't have a rat attached to my dress or something.

"You look gorgeous."

I sighed and smiled. "Didn't you just tell me that?"

"That was before I saw what you were wearing; now I think you're gorgeous."

I laughed at him, but he came towards me with a very serious expression on his face.

"I'm too lucky." he said in a low voice.

"Harry?"

"You're an angel; you're too beautiful, too good to be mortal. Every time I'm with you I feel like the earth has stopped moving and everyone else is frozen, except for you and me." he spoke with such feeling, I felt the tears begin to fall down my face. He brushed them away with the tips of his fingers and then kissed me.

"You're even beautiful when you cry." he said in the romantic whisper I had ever heard. We kissed again and it seemed like last night all over again. Only this time I dropped my defenses and silenced all of the nagging thoughts in my head.

However, I need to say what I had to before anything else happened. I gently pushed away from him, just far enough to free my lips. "I need to tell you something." I said in my softest voice.

"All right"

His eyes were wide and open and looking straight into mine.

I took a deep breath before I went on. "You told me last night that you loved me."

He nodded. "Glad you remembered." his impish smile appearing.

"No jokes." I said quickly.

"Oh all right." he forced his face to go into a serious expression.

"And I told you I loved you. And later when we were here…in this same spot, you said that to solve all my problems…"

"…You should stay here with me" he finished.

"Yes."

He was silent for a moment, and then an epiphany must have hit him because he looked at me with a huge smile on his face. "…are you…sure?"

"I want to be with you, and there's no way I can't be. So if you'll have me…"

"Of course I will, what are you mad thinking that I won't?"

He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground, hugging me tightly. When my feet were back on the floor he kissed me deeply, "You're really sure about this?"

I nodded. "Nothing in my life is more important to me than you." I kissed him. "Nothing."

"Hold on…here sit down." he pushed me gently down to the bed. He walked over to his desk and began to rummage around in a desk drawer.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

I rolled my eyes; of course he was looking for something, but what?

A minute or so later he found what he was looking for and came over to me and sat down. In his hand was a black velvet drawstring bag. He opened it and pulled out a gold pocket watch and dropped it into my hand.

"It was my grandfather's. I never go anywhere without it."

"It's very elegant." I replied noticing the engraving of a lighthouse near the rocks of an ocean coast.

"Take it."

My eyes went to him. "What? No, I can't you just said that you never go anywhere with out it."

"And I'm not going to, because I'm never going to be without you. I don't have a ring, but the only point of a ring is because it's a symbol of never ending love…a circle. So is the watch. It's the closest thing I have to a ring…will you marry me?"

Oh my god. Oh my god…I was breathing so heavily, my heart was pounding, I looked from him, to the watch, to him again, to the watch, to him…

"Harry…"

"I know I can't give you a mansion or expensive jewelry. I know that your family will probably have me burned at the stake or thrown into the dungeon for this, but you just said you wanted to be with me and I know it isn't right to do that, unless I ask you to be my wife. I promise to give you the best that I can, give you a family; lots of children…no nannies…"

Through the tears that began to fall down my face I managed to a tiny laugh.

"…a house on the beach, so we'll always be reminded of this…"

"Yes!" I interrupted.

"Yes?"

"Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes! I'll say it as many times as you want. Yes…"

the bit graphic part

I was interrupted by a kiss. A strong, passionate one. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him continue, the watch clutched tightly in my hands. He laid me down just like the night before, and I felt nothing pulling me back this time. I let him kiss me, run his hands over me, let him undress me…

Everything about it felt wonderful, even the parts that weren't. I cried and he kissed the tears away, and told me over and over how much he loved me. Other than that we didn't speak, and when it was over he laid down behind me and draped his arm over me, clasping our hands together.

In that small bed we laid together, me in his arms, in just the perfect way. In fact everything about the moment was perfect. The way he tenderly kissed the back on my neck and shoulder, the room; now my room seemed mediocre to it, no first class room or even suite could compare to it.

And Harry. God I loved him. I was so happy I had him in my life and that I had come to the decision that I had. We were going to be happy together, no matter what anyone said or thought.

Nothing was ever going to come between us.