Chapter 26
"What are you doing here?" I ask in breathless amazement when she breaks the kiss I began within seconds of having her in my arms again. I wipe the traces of my tears that I had cried and kissed all over her face as she smiles up at me, a little mischievous gleam in her eye.
"You know how you used to get updates on me from Georgie? Well, it works both ways, and I am way better at getting the important details out of that girl than she is at getting them out of me. She told me weeks ago what you did for Lydia. She was guilty at having broken her promise to you, but relieved to be able to talk about it." I was about to protest that I hadn't wanted her to feel obliged to me, but she shushed me with a finger to my lips, "Fitz, my dearest, ridiculous Fitz. Gratitude is not why I said yes. Love is."
"But how can I be sure? I want you to come to me with no strings attached, no obligations." She groans and rubs her face against my chest before sighing heavily. When she looks up at me, her face is composed, mouth set in a firm line. "Do you make a habit of using the full force of your wealth, connections and security apparatus to rescue random girls from creeps?"
"Well, actually I have intervened a few times in George's case, in the past. Before Georgie. Probably why he went after her. It feels like my responsibility, Elizabeth." She deflates slightly, when it appears her argument is moot.
"But this time, Fitz, was the obligation entirely for her own sake, or out of a mistaken sense of responsibility? Or was it because you had strings attached? To me, Fitz?" When I look doubtful, she presses her point. "It's undeniable, Fitz. You did what you did because of the strings attached. Because you love me. And that's ok. I am grateful, but any obligation I feel for you has more to do with the strings that tie me to you. I love you. You are perfect for me. Every way I look at it, we fit. We fill up each other's spaces. And, yeah, I know we could get on with life apart. And when grief comes for us, because it will one day, we will survive, but I want us to figure out life's puzzle together, while we can. I want to be obliged to you. I want you and all the strings you come with. I want all our strings knotted up together, ok!" She rolls her eyes. "I think I've stretched the metaphor long enough! Do you believe me?"
How could I not? I crush her to me, kissing her with abandon, feeling her melt beneath me. I spin her around and pull her onto my lap as we sink together to the banana lounge. We spend the rest of the night on the balcony. She refuses to let me spend the night with her in bed, and I refuse to let her go, so we snuggle together, alternately dozing and talking, wrapped in a soft blanket and watch dawn break in the east, filling the sky with that yellow-blue light, fresh as if this was the first dawn, and filling the world with the sounds of life as though it was all new. It felt like a profound moment.
"Dawn breaks on the first day of the rest of our life, Elizabeth." I press a kiss to her hair, and she sleepily looks up to me, mid yawn, "Every dawn breaks on the first day of the rest of our lives, Llewellyn." At my half-suppressed plaintive groan, she amends, "Yeah, ok. You're not a Llewellyn. And I totally get where you're coming from. I'm just beginning to feel kind of stupid sitting here, bone tired, when there are several perfectly serviceable beds just behind that door. I'm too old for many more of these awkward adolescent displays of undying love, Fitz."
I attempt to pick her up with me as I rise and end up collapsing back down on muscles that have seized from hours of inactivity. She pushes herself off my lap, gingerly, and then bends to pull me to my feet, laughing. "Clearly you are way too old for these sorts of shenanigans too, my dear. Come on, let's get you to bed." I attempt to kiss her, and she shies away from me, covering her mouth. "Ew! Please! Morning breath still happens, even if you haven't slept much. I'm supposed to be heading over to the youth camp for lunch today, so I am going to bed. You go and have a cold shower and I will move to the master suite, Frisky." She's pushing me back through the door and straight into the ensuite and I am too tired to think about anything other than a quick rinse off and hitting the sack. Which is lucky for her, because after I manage to find a clean pair of boxers, I slip into my bed to find a snoring Elizabeth curled around a pillow, where she must have collapsed. All I can do is curl around her, tucking her back into my chest and fall asleep in deep exhaustion and contentment.
I wake up groggy and disoriented at the touch of gentle fingers tracing the lines and planes of my face. "Sorry, Fitzy. I have to get up and I selfishly want you to join me for lunch. Do you mind? I know it's harder for you older gents to pull up after an all-nighter…" Her smirk turns into a shriek when I drag her beneath me and tickle her into submission. "Stop it! Stop it!" I cover her with kisses instead, which she generously allows me, morning breath notwithstanding, until my wandering hands wander a little too far for her comfort. I pull away, trying to control my desire and feel like a jerk when she follows me, an apology in her eyes.
She cuddles into my bare chest and then draws back, "Fitz, I'm sorry, I'm not making this easy on you. I'll be moving back to the campsite and sharing a room with Jane. It's the right thing to do, but I wanted some time alone with you, and G told me you were coming yesterday. I had fallen asleep waiting for you in the lounge room, so I decided to go to bed, assuming you had a last-minute change of plans you hadn't told Georgie about." I pull her back close to me and tuck her into my side. "I hope it's hard for you too, baby, at least a little?" She blushes and laughs, ducking her head lower, "You know it is!" I lift up her chin and drop a kiss to her nose. "I need to take this slow too, Elizabeth. I want to do this all with you, every step together. I need you to keep me in check, and maybe you need me to push ahead every now and then. I'm going to ask you another question someday soon, that also only needs a one-word answer, but I want to do it better this time."
"Maybe you should just let me ask you then, hmm?" She yawns and stretches luxuriously like a cat as she speaks and then rolls out of bed heading to the shower. It takes all of my will power not to follow her. Or beg her to marry me today.
