Chapter 8: A new life

Summary:

Camille and Richard's life has changed. Although apparently it only concerns them. All other events remain the same. They already belong on the island. Its a transitional chapter.

Chapter Text

Unlike Richard, Camille has woken up very, very happy. She would almost say that she feels very too happy.

Its clear that they were both so afraid that all they did was to misunderstand each other almost continuously. But she had reason to feel optimistic and happy before. And now she has more reasons, of course.

It's all been so extraordinary. She gets out of bed to shower, get dressed and get ready to go to work at the station to see him.

On the way to the shower, she can't help but look out the window of her room and watch all the men and women who are talking and laughing, others arguing, others simply going about their daily work.

And she has had the immense good fortune to experience something magical.

At this point, Camille thinks as she heads for the shower, shes convinced that it was written that she and Richard were destined to meet, to love each other. And that all the Loas have done is to "modify" the little story of Saint Marie and the lives of Richard and herself in order to accelerate the process.

What changes will it have brought about in the lives of both of them? What is done is done and cannot be undone.

As the water runs down her body, Camille flashes back to the conversation with Erzulie, or the entity that called itself that. But she wants to believe that it was indeed Erzulie, the goddess of love.

"Richard, don't you dare wake up now! Richard! Merde!"

Camille's frustration is palpable. Too late! He woke up and now hes gone. She looks around and is still in the shack...

even though he has disappeared. Why now that they finally seemed to understand each other and agree?

Only the lizard, Richard's Loa, is still there, staring at her. Until something strange happens. He disappears and something or someone speaks to her very tenderly, as if a soft laugh or a smile is reflected in every word addressed to her.

"Camille, don't worry. The hardest thing is already done. You have recognised each other. When you meet him on the temporal plane, it will be as if you have known each other for a long time and not just a few days. The rest will be up to you, although we are already sure that everything will be fine. The same stubbornness that could have spoiled everything will achieve precisely the opposite."

Camille listens to this and is impressed as well as reassured.

"We are all aware that, in a way, we have taken over your lives without asking your permission. But I can assure you that neither of you was particularly happy. I have been allowed to give to both of you a small gift of welcome to the island, as compensation for the great task ahead of you. "

Camille smiles a little slyly. She thinks Erzulie is not too subtle, but she doesn't mind too much. Indeed, no one has asked her permission and, as far as she knows, no one has asked Richard either.

But at this point that is no longer important.

She is convinced that their lives, before they met for the first time on this magical plane, werent exactly happy.

And then Camille found herself in her room waking up in her room above La Kaz.

What in particular was Erzulie thinking? Camille can't help but ask herself.

Richard Poole is working at the Saint Marie Police Station. Dwayne Myers, Fidel Best and Camille Bordey are working diligently to finish the reports relating to poor DI Hulme's case and file them accordingly. Lily Thompson has been transferred to Guadeloupe for her trial.

Mid-morning and, seeing that, for once, everything seems to have gone smoothly, Richard looks up from his neatly tidied desk and he asks as casually as he can as he watches out of the corner of his eye

"Where could I go for a nice cup of tea? I've heard that in the luxury tourist resorts they have a halfway decent tea service."

He'd want Camille to take him, Richard wants to get his own thing on track with her.

"Well, you see, Chief," comments Dwayne, "We tend to prefer something cooler and frothier than tea."

Fidel smiles to himself, Dwayne is obviously dreaming of a cold beer right now.

Camille gets up from the table, perhaps not as neat and tidy as Richard's, and picking up her small bag, comments to him:

"I know a hotel that could serve you, sir. If you like, I'll take you there and we'll see if that tea is any good or not."

She knows that there is none like the tea her Maman serves in La Kaz. But first she wants to talk to Richard. Before she says anything to Catherine about a future with Richard. Her Maman is still quite angry with that rude Englishman.

It's hot, very hot. Of course, Richard wouldn't feel so hot if he wasn't about to have a cup of boiling tea in the Caribbean. Camille is watching him closely. As soon as she gets a chance, she's going to recommend a good shoemaker on the island. He was walking like a duck on the way to the resort! It's clear that those shoes are hurting him, that that suit is making him stew every minute he spends...

But they are at ease sitting together at the small table in the establishment. Although she's already finishing her gigantic cocktail. This place is very expensive and she can't afford it. And if Richard is paying, so much the better...

"Richard, when did you start remembering me?" she asks him.

He seems to have finally understood that shes happy with him. He even seems to be quite relaxed. But Camille needs to make sure of it.

Richard, who is about to take his first sip of tea, looks at her carefully and answers:

"Even if I didn't know you before, Camille, it's hard not to notice a woman like you. But its true that there is a statue of Venus, a Caribbean Venus, because that's what you are, in a museum exhibition back home that looks just like you. That's what made me notice you when I saw you for the first time on the island."

"I see. It's a pity I missed it. Do you have any photos of the exhibition? There aren't many museums that exhibit my culture." Any excuse is a good one to go to his shack.

Of course, it's him who amazes her now.

"Of course I do, even though it's just a brochure. It's silly of us to pretend now, Camille. You and I already know each other very well. I have no objection to you dropping by my... let's be generous and call it a home. That way we can talk and learn a bit more about each other in day-to-day reality."

Camille takes his hand across the table and she answers him:

"There you will have me. And, since we're going to talk about ourselves, I have to make a few suggestions about your outfit. I'm roasting hot just looking at you!"

"We'll see about that." Richard replies evasively.

"Don't doubt it," she replies, confident that she has achieved her goal.

When he tastes the tea, he can't help but be disappointed. This tea is downright awful! How bitterly he regrets insulting Catherine now!

But then something dreadful happens, Camille and Richard hear a woman's scream and see a white body falling from the top floor of the hotel. As horrified as they feel, this is their job and they must deal with it.

"Camille, can you please...?"

Camille continues for him:

"...call Dwayne and Fidel. Of course."

And they both walk confidently off towards the hotel.

Richard can't help but feel almost guilty. Somehow hes aware that the Loas have brought about certain, one might say almost imperceptible, changes in space-time, in his and Camille's life. He likes science, being rational! But when he signs his name to the end of a tragic case, the mistaken murder of a bride on her wedding day, he cannot help wondering if it couldnt have been avoided. Not to mention the murder of poor Margaret.

With a sigh, he pens his signature and meticulously closes the file as he recalls what happened in those few days with a smile. How he worked with his team, especially with Camille during the solving of the case. With one caveat: she had to teach him to work as a part of a team. He had always worked alone in the past, though not of his own free will. Teamwork is much harder than it looks.

"Great work by everyone," he thinks to himself as he gets up to put the documents away. But he twists his face when he remembers that Camille was almost strangled to death by the killer himself. That will be the only time! He has forbidden her to go that far ever again just to provoke the killer into revealing themselves. She has promised him, but he doesn't trust her very much.

And finally, he remembers when, due to her teasing, he dipped his feet in the sea, but only his feet. It made him feel very good.

Dwayne, Fidel and Camille have gone for a drink in La Kaz, Richard still doesn't feel ready to talk to Catherine after his faux pas over the tea, not yet.

Besides, Camille has promised him that she will come over tonight to talk, to start gettting to know each other and find out how the interference of the Loas from Saint Marie or wherever has changed their lives. He suspects that will be impossible to find out.

But any excuse to spend time with Camille is good enough for him too.

And they certainly have a lot to talk about.

The problem is that when Richard arrives at the cottage to try to tidy it up a bit before Camille arrives, he feels so drowsy that he can't help but stumble to his bed and fall asleep.

In Camille's room above the bar, she had forgotten how uncomfortable it could be to live above a bar with so much noise.

Until, without knowing how, she falls into a deep sleep.

Notes:

Thanks to Sweepeaspatch for being my proofreader and for helping me to make what I want to express much better understood. And for your excellent contributions that help bring the story to life!