Lies and Misdemeanours

Her gasp was loud. She leaned backward to look up at him with wide eyes. “You do?” she whispered softly.

“More than anything in the world. Coming to Hemsley was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“How can you say that?” she protested. “I mean, you nearly died.”

“I know,” he replied gently. “But I found the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”

Her heart thundered heavily in her chest. “Oh? What’s that?”

“You. We may have saved your life tonight but, the other day, you most certainly saved mine.”

“We saved each other’s,” she whispered.

He knew she didn’t quite understand him. “You have saved me from the gallows,” he murmured as he gazed tenderly into her eyes. “But you gave me my life back in so many ways. You made me realise what is important in life. It isn’t my work, or my colleagues. It is you. Having someone to come home to; to laugh with; to hold; to love, gives me purpose in life. A reason for being. Nobody can ever replace you.”

Hetty tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but couldn’t get the words out. Tears loomed but she didn’t want them to fall. She would do that later, once they were safely tucked up in bed. Right now, it was more important that she get the words out she really needed to say.

“I know that I couldn’t let you die. Not only were you innocent, but on the night that you appeared on my doorstep, drunk, slurring your words -” She shook her head, momentarily lost for a way to describe the impact he had had on her.

He coughed uncomfortably, and had the good grace to look a little sheepish.

She kissed his chin. “You looked so handsome. I knew that my life would never be the same. You meant so much to me, even then. There is nothing I won’t do to keep you.”

“I love you, Hetty. You saved my life, and in doing so gave me so much more than a chance of a future. You gave us a chance of a future together, and that is something I will never take for granted.”

“We have been given a chance, haven’t we?”

“We have,” he agreed ruefully. “We have had to fight for it, but we have finally managed it. So, I think that that we don’t waste a single moment. I love you Hetty Jones.”

“What about your work with the Star Elite?”

Charlie shared a smile with Hugo over the top of Hetty’s head before he looked deeply into her eyes.

“I am sure that we can come up with something a little closer to home,” he murmured wryly, and caught Hugo’s firm nod before his boss gave them a few minutes of privacy.

He rather suspected that he was going to be leading the new rural branch of the Star Elite in Derbyshire, and quite looked forward to the challenge.

Before Hetty had the chance to say anything else, she was swept off her feet.

Safe and secure in Charlie’s arms, she laughed loud as she was carried toward a wonderful new future – with her husband.

The End.