The Conversation That Never Was

Part 3 Perry & Della

The last in my trilogy of chapters that hopefully brings this tale full circle to it's natural conclusion. Thank you for reading & reviewing, I hoped you enjoyed it.

'What on earth is all this for?' Della stood in her kitchen doorway and surveyed the scene set before her.

Perry grinned like a schoolboy. 'Dinner,' he answered simply setting the last knife in its place.

'I can see it's dinner but what's the occasion?'

'Do I need a reason to make you dinner?'

'Nooooo, but this?' Della waved her hand across the sight before her. The kitchen table was covered in a pristine white tablecloth, place settings for two complete with both glasses for water and flutes for something sparkling, fresh red roses as the centre piece and a bottle of her favourite champagne chilling in the ice bucket. The smells coming from the stove spoke of perfectly cooked steak and fresh greens with a side order of a sauce that suspiciously smelt like it had garlic in it.

'I'm spoiling you. Madam?' He pulled a chair back and invited her to take her seat. Almost reluctantly Della took her seat and as Perry gently assisted her to pull it closer to the table, he let his hand brush her bare shoulder. Della trapped his hand there and looked up in silent question.

'Perry what's going on with you? You haven't been yourself since we came back from Denver last week. I'm sorry about Laura but in the end her downfall was her own fault, not yours.' Della brought the hand she captured to her lips and kissed the fingers. In turn Perry flipped over his hand in hers and rest it gently against her jaw circling his thumb across her cheek.

'I'm alright,' he reassured. Coming back into the moment, he added, 'We need to get eating before the food spoils.'

When the last of the dishes were tucked away in the new dishwasher, Perry wiped the kitchen worksurface down once more whilst Della poured the cognac and finished brewing the coffee.

'That was amazing Counsellor as always.' Della sat back at the table, Perry followed.

'Thank you. You deserve it.' Perry swirled his cognac thoughtfully. 'I was a real pain to be around on Laura's case, I'm sorry.'

'Is that what's been bothering you this last week? Oh Perry, you can be a bear most times on a case, I'm used to it because I know what a generous and beautiful man you really are. Always a little intense on a case, but that's who you are.'

'No this was more than that.' He stopped staring at the amber liquid to look directly into Della's eyes. 'I acted like I was still in love with her, when I wasn't. I made life very uncomfortable for you, almost rubbing it in about what we shared all those years ago. That was wrong of me to do that.'

Della studied the deep blue eyes for long moments before answering. 'You have nothing to apologise for. What you and Laura had, she played on that. You can't help how you feel about someone, no matter what time has elapsed.'

'No,' Perry shook his head vehemently. 'I was trying to hurt you by trying to make you jealous of the feelings I had for her, and that needs an apology and a request for forgiveness.'

Della sat back in her chair with a look of consternation on her face. 'Why? Why do you think you were doing that?'

'I don't think I was doing it, I know I was doing it. Because I've hated not being with you for the last forty years.'

'What?' Della shook her head. 'No, we've been together all that time, I don't understand.'

Perry took a deep breath and reached for her hand. Della let him take it. 'I know we worked together but I've been goddamned jealous of every night Nick and Tom got to take you to bed and then wake up with you.' Della opened her mouth to make a comment but Perry held up his free hand in a silent request for her to hold back her observations for a moment. 'Please, it's taken me many years to gather the courage to say this, and I never thought I'd get the opportunity, but I need to finish this. I know you loved those guys and they were good to you, thankfully, but there was hardly a day when I didn't want them to disappear out of your life. That's sounds awful I know and I certainly didn't mean that I wanted them dead, but that night we had, I've never gotten over it. It made me want you even more. I wanted to marry you then,' he paused and drew in another deep breath, 'And I still want to marry you now.'

Della sat open mouthed at the revelation her best friend had just made. Her mind became a jumble of thoughts and her emotions began doing the tango as Perry held onto her hand and gently caressed it. The silence stretched for what seemed like an eternity until Perry withdrew his hands and made to stand up.

'I'm sorry, I should go,' he said sadly.

'Wait! Please,' Della pushed herself from the chair and grabbed his arm. 'Perry what's happened on this case that's brought all this to the surface?'

'Believe it or not Laura. I tried to rekindle something that was never there in the first place and then in the holding room after she confessed on the stand, she pointed out a few things and she gave me some advice.'

'Which was?'

'I've loved you a long, long time Della Street and Laura told me….no encouraged me to tell you how I feel before it was too late. For once she was right about something. Now I've told you, now I've embarrassed myself, I'll get out of here and let you decide if I'm an old fool you still want to work with or is what I've said just too humiliating to make you come back to the office.' He ran a hand over his beard and rubbed his ear, a sure sign he was uncomfortable now. Della chuckled.

'Oh you silly boy,' Della brought the arm she was still holding and brought it around her waist so she could lay her head against his chest. 'You shouldn't feel embarrassed and there's nothing humiliating about what you said. I think it was both brave and sweet.' Perry grimaced.

'Sweet?' He unconsciously tightened his grip on her waist.

'Yes,' she looked up into his face and ran a hand across his beard. 'Sweet. I've loved you since the moment I met you, but we would never have worked out, well not in the early days. Deep down you know that. Work was all consuming and neither of us were the marrying kind. Marriage would have ruined us. An intimate relationship would have gnawed away at who were are and you did have a wandering eye. I know you and Paul, well let's just say had fun with various women when you needed to. Besides you might have become bored with me.'

'Never Miss Street, never!'

'You don't know that.'

'Well, my eyes stopped wandering many years ago and I'm still not bored with you, so what do you say now? Do we stay best friends or see how it goes?' The hope in his voice came though confidently and he planted a firm kiss in her curls, squeezing her even closer to him.

'Well, let's see how it goes.' Della pulled Perry's head towards hers and they met in a kiss that was soft at first but quickly flamed into something more intense. 'So Mister Mason, do you still remember and know how to do…erm…'it''

'Cheeky!' The laugh rumbled in Perry's chest and his hands began to roam. 'I think it'll all come back to me very, very quickly Miss Street.' As he ducked in for another kiss, Della placed her fingers to his lips halting his progress.

'Ah, ah, ah,' she admonished teasingly, 'If this was a first date, I might as well let you know as impressive as it was, I don't jump into bed with men first time. I'm not that kind of girl.'

In the early hours of the morning when the daylight was just breaking through the curtains in Della's bedroom, Perry lay wide awake staring at the ceiling gently tracing a path with his fingers up and down the spine of the woman sprawled across him as she toyed with his chest hair.

'Are you happy?' The soft feminine voice enquired.

'I've never been as happy as I am at this moment,' his fingers went further down to caress her waist then hips.

'Can we make this work at our age?'

'I recall a wise secretary once telling me that age is only a number but then she stopped counting hers at 39. If we can't make it work now, we never will.' His belly shook slightly as he chuckled. Della shifted her position slightly do she could rest her chin on his chest and look up into his face.

'Then may I strongly suggest we waste no more time. Laura gave you some sound advice this time, but don't you ever tell her I said so.'

Fin