Della wasted no time in asking, in a tone which brooked no opposition,
"Alright, Perry, what is actually going on?" She squeezed the hand which still clasped hers, and resisted the desire to stroke her employer's jet-black hair as he knelt before the couch. "I may not be a genius criminal defense attorney, but it is plain that something is very, very wrong. You have not spoken a word since I woke up, which is unlike you, and you are acting as if your knees had been glued to the carpet. Dr. Hawley said that I had been asleep for three days, but you look twenty years older than I saw you last. Furthermore, if I was given a strong sedative and was ill, then why am I back in the office, and not in a hospital? Also, I can understand you and Paul Drake sitting up with me, but why are Hamilton Burger and Lieutenant Tragg wasting their Memorial Day here, rather than being home with their families? And if I drank something tainted in my neighbor's apartment, how did you all find out about it, anyway?"
The lawyer finally succeeded in swallowing the lump which had been obstructing his throat, and in a husky voice, asked,
"Della…did you know that Nathan White was trying to create a special potion which would mimic the one that Juliet drank in Shakespeare's famous play?"
"No, but it does not surprise me that he would attempt something like that," Della said lightly. "The man is absolutely obsessed with the Bard." Suddenly, she started. "Wait – you are referring to the draught which made Juliet appear dead?" Perry nodded. Della laughed. "Then Mr. White is more eccentric than I believed. Of course, he never will succeed."
"I wish he hadn't," Perry whispered. "But he did." He tightened his grasp on her fingers. "And he selected you to be one of the first people to drink it."
Della stared at him.
"Do you mean…do you mean that…," she gasped.
"Yes, you appeared to be dead! Deathly pale, pulseless…even Tragg and the medical examiner were convinced that you were gone." He drew in a ragged breath. "Your landlady discovered you in Nathan White's apartment, and a murder investigation ensued. You feel stiff because you have been lying on a metal table in the…in the city's morgue, overnight. It was only when Hamilton questioned your neighbor that he realized that you were still with us."
Della sat dumbfounded. The information itself would have been enough to flabbergast her, but she was even more astounded by the tears which had started to roll down Perry's cheeks.
"I also thought you were dead! Della, my dearest Della, dead!" He lifted the hand he held to his lips and kissed it tenderly. "I thought my own life was ended; my whole world unraveled. Only hope of seeing you again in a different life gave me strength to get out of bed this morning." He straightened his shoulders slightly. "Della, I have been so remiss – I have spoken to you every day for years, but I have failed to tell you the most important thing of all. You must allow me to do so now. My precious girl, I love you. I do not want to spend a single hour without you. I want you as my wife, my better half, my second self."
It was then that he saw that Della was perfectly still and staring at him with unrestrained astonishment. Recollecting that these professions might not be welcome to her, Perry tried valiantly to compose himself, and looked down at the carpet.
"I'm sorry, Della. I know that I have no right to speak to you thus, or to expect anything from you beyond secretarial services. I'm afraid that I have not been my usual rational self during this ordeal. Say just one word, and I will never, ever, broach this subject again. I promise you that on my honor."
Della touched his cheek.
"Perry," she said in the sweetest tone he had ever heard, "why would I silence you, when you have just spoken the words that I dreamed of for so long and prayed to hear?"
Unbelievable joy suffused every fiber of the attorney's being as he cried out,
"Do you mean that…dare I hope that you love me?"
"Yes, Counselor, you should dare to hope," his secretary replied playfully. "Because my love for you happens to be a very strong reality." She finally allowed herself to stroke his hair. "Do you remember, not too long ago, that I told you that every woman was entitled to at least one secret? You asked me what mine was, and I flatly refused to tell you."
"You said that I would never know," Perry replied, smiling broadly for the first time in days.
"Well, it turns out that you will, now. Perry, my secret is that for the past several years I have been deeply, irrevocably, madly in love with you. Even though you never gave me any indication that you felt the same way, I stopped dating other men because none of them could ever meet the bar that you had set. I found that I would rather dig through dumpsters for evidence with you than be wined and dined at the most expensive establishment in town by anyone else."
Delighted, her suitor laughed out loud.
"Considering your penchant for good food, I will take that to be a compliment of the highest order!" he teased. Growing more serious, he added, "Since I'm already on one knee, I think it would be a good a time as any to ask: Della, my darling, will you marry me?"
"Absolutely and without a second thought, yes, I will!" Della cried out, tears of happiness springing into her own eyes.
It was only then that Perry resigned his position on the floor, and seated himself beside her. Drawing his girl into his arms, he pressed a tender, loving kiss upon her warm lips, and this time, had the joy of feeling them respond to his own. After several more kisses, Della rested her head upon his shoulder, and was horrified to feel that Perry was trembling violently from emotion. Realizing again how much he had suffered during the past day, she wrapped her arms around him and began to murmur comfortingly,
"It's alright, Perry. I'm alright. Don't think about what happened anymore, I beg you."
Slowly, the attorney stopped shaking, but continued holding her tightly, as if he never wanted to let go. They sat on the couch for a good quarter of an hour with Perry murmuring sweet nothings into her ear, until they heard the others knocking on the door and announcing that dinner had arrived.
One more chapter to go!
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