Part 5 of 5

Camille swims up from slumber as soon as a sunbeam hits her in the eye. She sits up, rubs her face, then sees Carlton across the room, a big book in his lap. "Mornin'," she gruffs then clears her throat and tries again, "Morning. Did he sleep through the night?"

Carlton nods, "He did. He roused a few times but you snuggled up to him and he settled right back down again. He seems a lot better."

She shrugs self-consciously and straightens the sheet over the sleeping man, "That's good news. Want some coffee?" She remembers the snuggling. She's thought it was just another sweet dream. Then she smiles. Well, maybe my dreams are about to come real!

Carlton sees this tender move and smiles. "Yes, please, I'm off at 8 unless you want me to stay?"

She pauses on her way down to the kitchen, "Um, no, I don't think so. I can give him his pills and pour water down his throat. He's probably going to want a whole pot of tea when he wakes up. I can do that too. You've put in a full night; you should go home and rest."

Carlton stands, "I'll do that. If there's any problem, call Dr. Johnson. If you need me back, here's my card. I should be good to go by 6pm…" he looks down at the quiet man upon the bed "… but I don't think you'll need me. Not tonight." He looks back up with a teasing look in his eye, "Tonight I think you two have a lot to discuss, hmm?"

She ducks her head, clatters down into the kitchen, "Yes, maybe… but only if he admits to everything he said yesterday. He's very English, he might deny it all. The big difference is that I KNOW, I finally know how he feels about me. That ought to speed things up nicely."

She brews the coffee and they sit out on the veranda to watch the day brighten and the waves change colour from mauve to green to blue. They're just finishing when a hesitant call sounds from inside. Camille goes to the door then pauses, looking back as Carlton heads for the steps, bag in hand, calling over his shoulder, "Invite me to the wedding, hmmm?"

Camille frowns then laughs, "I'll do that, if we get that far," and steps through the door.

Inside, she sees Richard sitting up alertly, even a little nervously, and brings him his pill and some water. He takes it with cautious eyes then lies back down still watching her very closely. Finally, she sits at his bedside and he simply can't contain himself any longer, "Was I very ill?"

She nods, "Yes, you were. You owe Perse a beer at La Kaz. If he hadn't called me, you'd still be lying on the stairs there and much sicker."

He fiddles with the sheet, "Oh, um, yes, I will. I seem to remember being rather rude to him yesterday."

She smiles, "He'll forgive you. We always forgive you, don't we? The people who know you?"

He fiddles harder, "Um, yes, you do. God knows why! I'm such a stroppy bugger."

She smiles wider, "Yes, you are."

He jerks and shifts then says in a low voice, "Why do you put up with me, Camille?"

She nods, just the opening she's been waiting for; time to cut through all the clutter and smoke and uncertainty and go right for the heart of the matter, "Because I love you, that's why."

His fidgets crash to a halt and his eyes are frozen on his hands, "I… I… what? I beg your pardon? What did you just say? Did you say 'love'? As in 'you love me'? Me? Are you sure? Please, are you sure?" He can't seem to figure out what he wants to ask so he asks everything all at once.

She leans down, kisses his pale cheek, his cool pale cheek, and is gratified to see it pink up at her touch, "Yes, Richard, yes to all of it. You see, I learned a valuable lesson last night from Carlton. People can't lie when in the grips of a fever. Whatever they say is the plain truth… and you said quite a lot."

He pinks up even more, "I… I did? Did I embarrass myself? Or you? Did Carlton hear any of it?"

She sits back up, takes his hand to stop it picking at the linens, "Yes, he heard some of it, not all of it, but he wasn't surprised. He asked me why we weren't already a couple and… I had no good answer. All I could think was… why AREN'T we already a couple? Why? What's stopping us?"

He jinks careful eyes up to hers, bites his lip, "And… and what did you answer yourself?"

She shrugs and throws up both hands, "I had nothing; except my fear and uncertainty and being timid."

He scoffs with surprise, "You? Timid? Since when?"

She leans back down, looks him right in the eye, "Since I met you. Since I fell in love with you. Since I began to worry myself sick that you didn't return my feelings. Since I began to fear you would go home to England and I'd never see you again. Since then, that's when."

His face takes on a cautious optimism and he whispers, "Oh," his hands back to worrying the sheet.

She waits and watches but he doesn't say anything. Finally she says, "Would you like a shower now? You could probably use one and I need to change these sheets."

He nods, gets out of bed, "Yes, I probably should, but I'll help you change the sheets because…"

She pauses in pulling the damp linens up, "Why? I can do this. You don't need to help."

His blush is spreading to his chest and her eyes are drawn like magnets as he stammers, "Yes, I do, because I have one clear memory about last night… you're in charge of my showers. I promised."

She freezes, her mouth dropping open then she yanks the sheets off in one swift movement and drops them down into the kitchen. "You're right, you DID say that. You DID! How fast can you make a bed?"

He grins then, confidence blooming in his cheeks as well as that lovely rosy hue that suits him so well, "My best time at school was 42 seconds." He walks to the wardrobe, his body shifting hypnotically. He comes back with fresh linens, hands her the fitted sheet, "Let's see if we can't beat that, hmmm?"

She narrows her eyes at him in challenge before she coos, "Yes, let's!"

END