This is the second update in the last 24 hours, so you might want to check you've read chapter 7 before reading this one. x

Lucien made careful plans for the next Friday evening, doing his best to make sure his date with Jean would be as uninterrupted and private as possible. To achieve this he needed the help of Alice, Frank, Charlie and Cec, and he also needed to swear them to secrecy, so that Jean would not guess what he had planned.

To Jean, he said merely that he was taking her to dinner on Friday, and that she did not need to worry about feeding Charlie that evening either.

He had tried to think of a way of taking Jean out to a restaurant for dinner that would not involve being seen together by any acquaintances. He had considered taking her out of town, but that seemed rather as if he was ashamed of being with her. In the end, he decided they would eat out, but at home. He just hoped she wouldn't feel cheated out of the occasion. And he needed to make sure the phone wouldn't ring.

Lucien spent the afternoon at the police station, finishing the paperwork from the most recent case. As he left he checked with Frank that he would call on Alice if a police surgeon were needed that evening, and then went round to the morgue to thank Alice for being on call for him. Driving home he found himself both excited and a little nervous about the evening to come. This was no casual date with a woman he happened to find attractive. This was his first date with his best friend, with the woman who knew him better than anyone else on earth, and who had said she would marry him. He had hurt her so much recently that he was just anxious to get this right.

Arriving home, he hung up his hat and coat and went to find Jean in the kitchen, kissing her on the lips, and tucking a loose wisp of hair behind her ear. As he drew back to look at her, he reflected that this now everyday part of their lives was the wrong way round too. They had been greeting each other every evening for two years now, minus the kiss of course, and it felt normal, commonplace, even cosy, as if they had been married for years. Not many couples lived together as friends for so long before realising they loved each other, not in a town like Ballarat at least.

"What sort of place are we going to, Lucien?" Jean asked. "I'm not sure what to wear tonight."

Lucien knew what he wanted her to wear, at least. "It's rather an exclusive sort of place; do you still have that green dress? The one you wore..." He didn't really want to mention it but Jean finished the sentence for him.

"The one I wore when I went out with Richard? Yes, I could wear that, if you liked it."

"That dress made me see for the first time how beautiful you are. I was jealous of him that evening, you know," he admitted.

"Yes, I could see that you were. You still gave me your blessing though, if I remember rightly." Jean's reply was rather flirtatious.

"Yes, well, I was just being polite." Lucien had spent more hours than he would care to admit remembering her wearing that gorgeous green dress that showed off the curve of her hips, yet also how slim she was. And he'd loved the way she had put up her hair, taming all the curls that he loved on her usually, for something different, more elegant.

Charlie called in at home to get changed, and also slipped unnoticed by Jean into the studio to rearrange things on Blake's instructions. He was then going out for the evening, having persuaded Rose to go to the pictures with him.

By seven o'clock Jean was ready and waiting in the hall, when Lucien appeared rather hastily, still tying his tie. What on earth could he have been doing for so long, Jean wondered? He helped her on with her coat and took her hand, leading her out to the car and opening the door for her.

"So will you tell me where we are going, now?" she asked.

Lucien just replied, "Wait and see," and drove away, admiring Jean with a sideways glance as he did so.