The warm afternoon breeze fluttered the curtains behind her, but the sound the wind made in the trees and the crashing of the surf below were both masked by the clattering of the typewriter keys. Clearly, Carolyn Muir was at one with her muse, the words were coming easily, and the story moving along so swiftly, it might have been writing itself. Yet at one moment, she stalled, pushing her chair back, she began to mutter something under her breath. "I do, uh, I wish I could be it is so hard to say, oh, maybe just 'I adore you!"
"Excuse me?" the Captain said with a surprised and intrigued tone; looking up from his book from the corner chair where he had been sitting reading while she had been working away.
Flustered, Carolyn looked at him stunned, "Oh sorry, it was so quiet, I forgot you were there. I was working on some dialog that isn't sounding quite right."
"Oh," he said with an expression that was clearly bemused and perhaps a bit disappointed, "what are you working on now?" Setting the book down, he stood and walked behind her and looked over her shoulder at the typewritten page. Reading he nodded and said, "Ah, I see the dilemma." Walking a step or two away, he perched on the edge of the desk and looked at her carefully. Staring directly into her sparkling green eyes he said softly, "Tricky thing to communicate. Perhaps, 'You are the dearest thing in the world to me.' wouldn't that be true?"
Her expression turned from thoughtful to surprise and then to something more, as she let the full meaning or what she preferred to believe was his full meaning register completely. "It's lovely," she finally responded, "but too long. How about 'You are wonderful'?" "Perhaps," he said with a grin, "but hardly enough emotion, don't you agree?"
"True," she said smiling down for a moment, reveling in the ability, the surprise to finally find a way to say words she had longed to speak to him, "how about, 'I cannot imagine the world without you.'?" "I think that's closer," he said smiling, "but I rather like, 'You complete me, just as the moon and stars complete the night.'?"
Loudly clearing her throat, she noticed the shine in his intensely blue eyes, "Ahem, 'I'm so lucky to have you in my life,' that is true . . . for my character, that is." "Indeed, but hardly enough I think, given the circumstances." He leaned closer to her, his face enticingly close to her own, "Why not, 'I love you.'?"
'I could capture the words of this moment,' she thought, 'but a million years and I'd never be able to capture the feelings.' She let her eyes fix on him, hoping that long look alone would communicate all the rest she knew she couldn't, wouldn't say today. "'I love you,'" she said pausing, looking and reading the complete understanding between them reflected in his face. "That's perfect, just perfect." With a deep breath, she gave him a dazzling smile and began typing again.
Once his back was turned, as he walked back to his book, he murmured just loud enough for her to hear, "Ah yes, perfect, and true as well." Humming he took one quick look at her, as she dropped her gaze back to her page, he turned to his own page and began to read again.