Don't Leave Her – Epilogue
As Caroline and Kate lay together quietly together on the sofa, each absorbing the wonderful news, Caroline began to laugh quietly to herself.
"What's so amusing?" Kate wanted to know.
Embarrassed, Caroline said nothing. She could feel herself start to blush.
"Come on, Caroline, share."
Caroline rolled her eyes in surrender. "I….." Caroline didn't know what to say and how Kate would react.
"You're going to have to say it," Kate insisted.
"At the Board meeting when I first told them about you…us…I got a bit carried away and told them that I was going to marry you."
Caroline could feel her face hot with embarrassment now. "I don't know where the idea came from. I just said it in a moment of madness…..I hadn't consciously thought about it."
"Married?" Kate repeated quite stunned.
Caroline had put her off balance once again, coming out with the totally unexpected.
"You told the Board we were getting married?" Kate repeated thinking that she had possibly misunderstood, " Do you want us to get married?"
"I told the Board that I intended to marry you and...well…yes…no….not now but maybe sometime in the future…perhaps."
"Dr Elliot, is that a proposal?" Kate asked light-heartedly.
"Sort of…..not now….I do love you, Kate, and I want to grow old with you…maybe sometime down the track we could….if all goes well….we could perhaps.."
Kate broke into laughter. "That's the worst proposal ever. Maybe you should work on it and ask me again in the future."
Caroline joined in Kate's laughter, relieved that she didn't take it too seriously.
"Would you say 'yes' if I asked you properly?" Caroline asked.
After a moment's thought, Kate replied, "Quite possibly."
"So that's a 'definite maybe' then. I'm glad we got that sorted."