Chapter 2: Time and Place
A/N: I am really struggling with this, probably due to the lack of dialogue! As a consequence, I have sort of gone off on a side track at the end.
"Choose a date" was the next item. Surely this was the easiest item on the list?
The next couple of months actually presented two interesting possibilities. Two significant dates were coming up – Camille's birthday and the anniversary of the day that they…that their relationship commenced. Richard had a very good head for dates, he did after all have a history degree. He doubted that he would ever forget any of their anniversaries. However popular culture implied that forgetting anniversaries was something married men were very good at. What if it was some sort of peculiarity of being married that made men forgetful about dates? He couldn't guarantee he wouldn't be immune to this. If it shared a date with another date of importance, surely he would never forget it then?
The ring would be ready at the end of this week, so the first date was a week after that – Camille's birthday. He glanced back down at his checklist, and felt certain that if he put his mind to it he could complete his preparations in time. So, that was decided then.
Location, location, location. Right place, right time. That was his next concern. Where the hell should he actually do the proposing? He supposed one way of narrowing things down would be the idea of witnesses. Did he want to propose to Camille anywhere other people were likely to see, like a restaurant or perhaps at her birthday party? He briefly mused that the fact that other people were there might put more pressure on her to say yes, so as to spare his feelings. But then he immediately felt guilty that he was considering a proposal method that coerced her into saying yes. Besides, he didn't really want other people there, the pressure would increase for him as well. He was bound to be a nervous wreck even if it was just to two of them, God knows what he'd be like with everyone else watching.
No, he would have to pick a location with minimum chance of interruption. Well, there was always at home. But that was hardly romantic, was it? It would look entirely unplanned, but then that might be considered romantic. Except he'd never get away with claiming it was spontaneous because he would have a ring. Nope, home was definitely out of the question.
Ok, he supposed they could go for a nice walk along the beach. Camille loved doing that in the evening, and when he was trying to keep her happy he would join her. Long walks along the beach were never going to be on his list of things he enjoyed. He would of course admit that he loved her company more than he disliked sand, but he'd prefer if he could have her company in the absence of sand. He also had a sudden flashback to the time he got sand in his eye, and imagined that happening as he was trying to propose. He didn't put the beach on his mental 'out of the question' list along with home or Catherine's, instead he created a sub-list called 'only if I can't think of anything more suitable'.
Unable to reach a decision that night, Richard decided he did have enough time to leave it and come back to it. The next day, he found himself assessing nearly every place he saw as a potential location for the proposal. This sadly meant he paid very little attention to Camille on the drive to work, which put her in a bad mood with him. He should have known better really, he was hardly going to spot a nice spot by the side of the road to propose, was he? They were then called out by the fire brigade to have a look at an abandoned, burnt out vehicle on a cliff top. The view was pretty amazing, and it was obviously isolated since somebody was able to set fire to a car and get away with it. He stared at the car, frowning, he knew it would be removed in the next couple of days but the grass and surrounding plants were also singed – would they have grown back in time?
Clearly he had become lost in his thoughts again, because the next thing he knew Camille had punched him in the arm, "Richard? What is wrong with you? I've just asked you the same question three times!" She was clearly really annoyed with him. Ignoring her twice in one day was not good for their relationship.
"I'm sorry Camille, I, uh, have a lot on my mind. What did you ask?" He hoped she wouldn't want him to elaborate on what was distracting him, because he would never come up with a good enough lie in time.
She sighed, "They want to know if we need to collect any more forensic evidence or if they are ok to move the vehicle? I'm pretty sure we've got everything between us but it is your decision."
"Yes, that's fine," he agreed quickly. "I agree there isn't much more we can get from the scene."
She went off to tell the Fire Chief the news. Richard glanced to his right and noticed one of the firefighters had paused to take a drink of water nearby. Richard glanced over his shoulder to check Camille was out of ear shot and then hurried over to the man.
"You know about fire, right?"
The fire fighter paused from drinking his water to give Richard a funny look. Perhaps that was a bit of an odd question. "Yes Sir, certainly enough to do my job, why? Do you have a question about how the fire might have started or how long it lasted?"
"No, I was wondering if you knew how long it would be before the burnt grass and plants grew back."
The look of incredulity was back on the man's face, "I'm not a gardener, Sir."
"No, of course not, stupid question."
"What's a stupid question?" Camille asked from behind him. He should have kept a closer eye on her! He didn't turn around to face her straight away, instead panicking as he tried to come up with a reply. The fire fighter he had been questioning seemed pretty amused now, and decided to answer for him.
"He was asking how long the vegetation damaged in the fire would take to grow back," he informed Camille.
When he did face her, she was looking confused. "Is that relevant?" she asked.
"No, I was, you know, just concerned about the, uh, recovery of the local ecosystem."
She smiled and shook her head fondly at him, "You're always complaining but I know you care about this island more than you let on. Asking questions like that just proves it. Next thing you know you'll be running an environmentally friendly tourism company taking people on tours of the jungle and the volcano."
"Hey, you could run it with Prince Charles!" The fire fighter suggested. "He's into all that environmental stuff, isn't he?"
Richard resisted the urge to roll his eyes, it really did seem like there was nobody on the island left who didn't know he was a bloody Earl. But honestly, being an Earl didn't automatically make him best mates with the Prince of Wales!
"Oh he has been on the phone a lot recently with some mysterious posh sounding man from England! Maybe they are already putting together the business plan!" Great, now he had a stranger and Camille making fun of him.
"It's not Prince Charles," He told her, shaking his head in frustration. For some reason this statement made Camille's face light up like a kid on Christmas morning. "What?" He asked, puzzled as to what part of that statement was so pleasing.
"You said it's not Price Charles," Having his words repeated back at him did not help clear anything up, so he just continued to look at her. She rolled her eyes, "Prince Charles. You put the emphasis on Charles, rather implying it might actually be a prince!"
Whoops, he sort of had actually. Now Camille had caught him out, especially since his continued silence pretty much just acted as confirmation for her. "Oh my God! Which one is it then?"
He sighed, "Prince Edward."
"You're friends with Prince Edward! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"We're not really friends…more associates. We both read History at Jesus College, Cambridge though at different times. He is involved in television production and is considering making a series on the history of various British Overseas Territories, we've simply been discussing logistics," he explained.
"Oh that sounds so exciting!" Camille gushed.
"Which is why I actually didn't tell you. If it gets out they'll be all sorts of pressure put on me to make that series happen by the Commissioner and Governor, but there is a good chance the funding might fall through."
"No, you didn't tell me because you thought I would tease you about knowing Prince Edward. Which I would have, and will now do," She grinned at him, and though Richard knew that had been a major contributing factor, he would never admit it. He would have to prepare himself for a visit from the Commissioner and Governor soon. They would be absolutely delighted by the prospect of a Prince coming to the island to make a whole TV show! He rather hoped it would actually happen, so the attention would be off him. People were bound to find an Earl boring in comparison to a Prince.
As they were heading back to the jeep, Richard came to a sudden dead stop as he remembered something Camille had mentioned. The volcano! Now there was an idea! Ok, he had still never been up there – but that just meant he had a valid excuse for them to go! And he trusted her when she said it was beautiful. Yes, the volcano was the right place!