Not sure if he were trying to convince Mrs. Muir, the Captain, or perhaps himself, Claymore rattled on. "Naturally we will only have a few tourists – now the Captain couldn't object to that, could he?"

Looking about, waiting for the inevitable reaction from her ghostly partner, Carolyn was unsurprised to see a pie fly through the air and smash into the side of Claymore's face. "One thing about the Captain," she offered, "he'll always give you a direct answer." Unable to hide her amusement, she giggled, as she tried to help him clear the pie from his face. "That's terrible!" she laughed.

"Not SO terrible," the Captain chortled, appearing beside her, "Might have been hot pizza, now that would have been quite awful! That'll teach you a lesson, my lad," the Captain said, shaking his ghostly finger in Claymore's face. "No more mucking about with the quiet charm and peaceful environment to be found in Schooner Bay. Do I have your word?"

"Let me get you a towel," Carolyn offered, and holding her hand over her mouth to quiet her laughter, she scurried off to the kitchen.

Slowly, with great concentration, Claymore wiped the goo from his face and stating directly into the Captain's face, he slowly tasted the pie. "Hmmm, I see Captain; you wanted to save the lemon meringue for someone else, perhaps?"

Claymore was both pleased and astounded at the Captain's reaction. Inwardly he shouted with joy as he watched his nemesis step back with a stunned look on his face and not a word in response. "Ah ha! And I thought I had you before," Claymore crowed, "but this is proof positive I think!"

"Proof of what?" Carolyn asked as she handed the damp washcloth to Claymore. "Proof . . ." Claymore paused, finding it difficult to say aloud to her, what he assumed, well, rather what he guessed to be true. "PROOF, my dear Mrs. Muir, that you and the Captain have a certain, shall we say intimate connection? One, based upon your conversations earlier today, that allows for a, shall we say, shared appreciation of lemon meringue?"

She stood silently, looking first at the Captain, and then to Claymore, who carefully wiped the pie from the rest of his face. "AND you blithering imbecile, what might you assume this imaginary, this scandalous revelation represents to you . . .something to benefit your bank balance, eh?" the Captain asked with a scathing tone to his voice.

Shocked, Claymore turned, the towel hanging limply from his hand, "No, oh heavens no Uncle . . . oh, well, yes perhaps just for a moment, but no!" Carolyn slowly reached out her hand, and found that her Captain quickly grasped it, and held it close to his side. "Out with it, you scurrilous dog! What do you intend?" the Captain demanded. Bending over, and picking up the towel, Claymore took a final wipe at his face and cleaned his fingers again. "I intend," Claymore said slowly, "to tell the two of you that you are fooling NO ONE! Do you think we are all blithering idiots? Wait! Don't answer that," he shouted sensing exactly the response he was likely to get.

"Heavens," Claymore continued, "the soulful looks, the long intense conversations, the apparent belief that we aren't listening or even paying attention when the two of you go off into your own private world. Nearly two years now – do you remember the night you hauled me out in the middle of a comfortable nights sleep to marry that couple with car trouble? There I was, doing one of my very best ceremonies and all you two could do is look goggle-eyed at each other."

Pausing for breath, he smiled at the contrite, but smiling faces of the couple in front of him. "Well there," Claymore continued with a flourish, "my work here is done! I'll go ahead and make sure the next renovation of the town is done with style and grace, and you two continue on doing . . . well whatever it is you two do, all right?"

Exchanging silent looks, the Captain and his Carolyn turned and merely nodded Claymore's direction. "But mind you," the Captain warned, "I'll still be watching!" "You won't be the only one Buddy!" Claymore responded with his own warning wag of a finger as he turned and flounced out the front door.

Standing on the porch, he smiled to hear the rollicking laughter from the two in the parlor. Peeping through the window, just as he expected, the couple were in a close embrace, clearly taken by surprise at his revelations. Turning, he heading down the walk, murmuring "Finally! Couldn't let them go on thinking we didn't know, could we?" as he hopped in his car and drove back to the village.