PART 10 : The case closes and Remington
surprises Laura with something unexpected.
"OK, it's time to work,"
Remington said, "Laura, stay here, I'm in charge ."
"But, Mr Steele, I can do it."
"No, Miss Holt, you keep watch over the couple and I'll be
back," and without another word, he went towards the exit.
Tony approached Laura and asked her, "Will Mr Steele be returning?
Would you like some coffee Miss Holt?"
"Yes, thank you Tony, Mr Steele will be back," Laura
continued observing the couple, who were preparing to pay their
bill and she thought she would have to follow them and stop them.
As usual, our romantic meal is interrupted by work and we're
apart from one another. While she thought all this she was
surprised by the appearance of Mildred who was making her way
decidedly towards their table.
"Oh, Mildred, by God, what are you doing here?"
"The Boss told me to come to back you up on the case."
"But how did Mr Steele know...?" her question was interrupted
because the couple stood up and at that moment, Tony appeared,
surrounding Laura and Remington's table with three violinists
softly playing `As Time Goes By'. Laura didn't understand, she
felt very confused and wanted to get up to follow the couple but
on the other hand she thought, Oh my God, it's our song!! Remington
had prepared all this for our romantic evening and he's not here.
"Mildred, follow that couple, hurry, I have to stay here
and wait for Mr Steele."
A feeling of peaceful affection began to calm Laura and the couple
left, passing by Remington and Max in the entrance and greeting
them.
Laura rose like a spring, "What is all this?" she said,
her tone of voice rising nervously.
"Calm down, honey," Mildred told her, "You'll understand."
"NO, no, no, I don't want to understand anything, STOP!!"
she shouted at the musicians, who immediately silenced their violins,
"THIS HAS ALL BEEN A LIE?? All this time I was thinking that
there was something strange, something that wouldn't let me be,"
Laura was so upset thinking that they had deceived her but without
knowing why. After this wonderful day, how could Remington
have done something like this? Why is Max here involved in all
of this?
Remington and max approached rapidly to take control of the
situation.
"Laura, my love."
"Love nothing...YOU DECEIVED ME, what is all this?? What
are Mildred and Max doing here?? Why are they playing our song??
Did you want to soften me up?? I'm NEVER going to forgive you
for deceiving me like this today!!!" she said sobbing, with
eyes full of tears.
"Laura please, give me a few minutes to explain and then
you'll understand everything, don't you think that after four
years and then today, that I deserve 5 minutes of your attention
so that I can explain myself?"
"Fine, I'll grant you five minutes of life and then I'm going
to kill you with my bare hands. No tricks and no low blows Mr
Steele," she told him, taking a deep breath.
"All right, we don't have much time, so Laura please sit
down, and you Max, here beside Mildred. Please gentlemen, continue
with the music."
"NO, I said without blows."
"Laura you said these five minutes were mine, so let me use
them in my own way, OK?"
"OK," Laura sat with her arms crossed, an opposing gesture
that Remington knew well.
Mildred and Max were unmoving, thinking that Mr Steele was going
to come out of this badly.
Remington knelt down in front of Laura and with his best smile
said, "My love, if I hadn't invented all of this, we wouldn't
have gotten this far. The last time, you told me it was the most
romantic thing anybody had ever done for you and I needed there
to be just the right atmosphere for me to ask you a question and
I needed Mildred and Max as witnesses so that you would have no
doubts as to my sincerity."
Laura watched him, astonished, What could he ask me in public
and why does he need witnesses?
"So here we are," he said, reaching a hand into
his pocket, drawing out the little box and holding it in the palm
of his left hand, "Laura, I never, never in my life thought
I was going to do this, nor had I ever imagined it until the day
I met you and I knew that the only thing I wanted was to spend
the rest of my life by your side."
He continued, "Laura I love you more than life and the only
thing I want is to spend the rest of my life with you. Laura Holt,
please tell me you accept my proposal and that you also want to
continue your life with me and make me the happiest man on earth??
The proof of my eternal love for you is in this box," he
extended the hand that held the box towards Laura.
Laura burst into unconsolable tears, releasing all of the profound
tension and emotion she had now that he was declaring his love
to her publicly and proposing that they share the rest of their
lives together. OH GOD!! Drying her tears with the back
of her hand, she took the little box without speaking. She opened
it slowly and when she saw the precious ring, her eyes opened
wide in surprise, "But..but, is it them?"
"No, it's not them, read the inside please."
Laura took the ring and looked inside, finding an inscription,
"To L, my eternal love, RS" She couldn't believe
what she was reading.
Remington, impatient, lifted Laura's chin gently with his fingertips,
"Laura, are you going to respond to my question?"
Laura launched herself towards him, kissing him deeply, an action
which caused relief in all who surrounded them and were fearing
a final disaster. He returned her kiss with the same intensity.
Laura looked him straight in the eyes and said, without hesitation
and in a tone of absolute security, "Yes, my love, I too
love you more than my life and what I want most is to share it
with you forever."
Remington took the ring, placed it on her ring finger and kissed
her hand, "Well, Miss Holt, future Mrs Steele, may your future
husband have this dance?"
Laura took him by the hand, helping him up, and nodded her head,
"It would be a pleasure to dance with you Mr Steele,"
and the two began to dance to the sounds of `As Time Goes By'
before the happiness of all who were relieved now after so much
tension.
Max said to Tony, "Some champagne to celebrate, Tony."
While Remington finally had his love Laura in his arms and was
looking deeply into her eyes, Laura, with a cheeky look, said
to him, "This could have ended like Casablanca or worse,
don't you think? You're going to have to explain to me a little,
what all this was about, don't you think Mr Steele?"
"Yes, my love, I promise I'll explain everything to you,
but now I just want to hold you in my arms, the way I've wanted
to all afternoon, and think about the wonderful romantic weekend
ahead of us, and that finally we will be able to see all the wonderful
places there are in San Francisco, where I don't think I'll be
able to stop kissing you for an instant to show to the world how
much I love you. Do you think this would have been possible without
having invented a case?"
"Mmm, I don't know, but will we see?" He kissed her
and Laura responded, tightening her embrace around his neck.
Mildred, Max and Tony watched them, enchanted by having been the
witnesses of what they had been watching for for so long, but
always managing to lend a hand whenever Laura and Remington had
allowed them.
Mildred in her daily task of mediating between the two, frightening
off whatever intrusion tried to bother them and sometimes being
a fairy godmother who tried to compel them to give in to what
they felt for each other.
Max tried to convince Laura, like the father she never had, that
not all men would abandon her and also supporting Remington in
the great affection she inspired in him.
And Tony, helping Remington prepare his endless skirmishes to
finally be able to have their much longed for romantic weekend,
and thinking that they were the perfect couple, much like he was
with his own wife.
"Well," Max interrupted, "Are you two going to
come and toast with us?"
Remington and Laura left their enchanted dance, watching each
other and, thinking that they never could go for very long without
the famous interruption, they both smiled. The musicians stopped
playing and the two of them approached the table where the glasses
were already prepared.
"Well, Miss Holt," Mildred said, "Finally this
something between you and the Boss is really something,
don't you think?"
"Yes Mildred, this something is really something wonderful
and I have all of you here to give me faith that it's not just
a dream. Only Mr Steele could have thought to bring you all here
as witnesses to this proposal, don't you agree? With the help
of a certain special lady, of course."
"Yes," Max said, "I assure you honey, we were worried
that you'd be angry with us, especially with Remington, for all
of this."
"Well, there will be time enough for Mr Steele to explain
all the details to me, so far I haven't forgiven him for deceiving
me but for now, I'll grant him a truce," she said with a
devilish smile while raising her glass to toast, "What are
we going to drink to?"
Mildred answered, "Let's drink to the eternal love present
here today between the two of you."
"Excellent Mildred, that's a very good toast," Remington
agreed.
They all raised their glasses, clinked them together and drank
to the eternal happiness of these two, while Laura and Remington
looked at one another with an intensity which only exists between
two people who love each other profoundly.
"Well," Max began, "It's time for Mildred and I
to leave here and celebrate for our children, who we'll leave
alone, together and in love, FINALLY. This is it kids, no more
game playing. This weekend there are no cases to solve, or interruptions
by anyone or telephones. THERE"S NOTHING BUT THE TWO OF YOU.
You'll do this favor for us, won't you?"
Remington and Laura repeated at the same time, "WE HOPE SO"
"And please no fighting. Please, I know all your little games."
"No, Mildred, calm down, there won't be any fights, isn't
that right, my love?" Remington asked Laura with a certain
pleading tone.
Laura's smile was somewhere between sly and evil, she understood
Remington's preoccupation, and she said to him, "We'll see.
We'll see what will be best, Mr Steele, in order to compensate
me for this little adventure." She said all this thinking
that it was already going a long way to alleviate it with the
kisses and caresses they were already bestowing upon one another.
Mildred and Max hugged the, affectionately and bid them goodbye
until Monday, but not without one final gesture of reprimanding
parents towards their capricious children. Then they left them
alone.
"Well, Miss Holt, we still can't say `alone at last' but
we could say that finally we have that weekend we've been wanting
for so long. I really want there to be NO CASE to interrupt us,
I think our fairy godmother has done everything possible so that
that doesn't occur."
"Yes, Mr Steele, but we're still missing something, don't
you think?"
"What, my love?" Remington asked her, pretending not
to understand what she was talking about.
"Come on, Remington, don't give me that, you know very well
what I'm talking about!!"
"Ah, yes, I know you're going to torment me now to explain
all of this to you, no? This will be my punishment instead of
leaving me so I can still hug you and kiss you and we can go back
to the hotel as soon as possible??"
"No, no, just some questions, a few questions to see whether
it will be necessary for me to hang you right now or to leave
it for a few hours."
"All right, very well My Lady, I'm yours to interrogate."
"OK, that's better. Now, DO YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHEN
YOU ORGANIZED ALL THIS??"
"What are you referring to, the ring, the commitment or the
case?"
"Start wherever you like Mr Steele!!"
"All right, let's see, ahem," he cleared his throat
and said, trying to appear serene, although on the inside his
heart was anxious, "The case was the only thing I could think
of that would manage to get us here, you know I never repeat myself
but I thought that for a special occasion like this, it had to
be here, so finally, I prepared it with Mildred this morning while
you were preparing our OH SO WONDERFUL Jacuzzi!!" he said
while looking deep into her eyes, trying to engage her understanding.
"But how? Over the phone?"
"No, my love, Mildred was so worried when she couldn't get
in tough with us that she came to the hotel, specifically to your
room, and when I opened the door, well, imagine the look on Mildred's
face when she saw me in a bathrobe and in your room," and
he laughed, remembering the moment, causing Laura also to laugh
imagining it.
"So, I quickly gave her all the instructions and Mildred,
our fairy godmother, did the rest, then we finalized some details
when we spoke on the phone."
"Ah, you two, what a duo for acting! It seems you've found
a great disciple for your films!! And the rest?"
"The rest I would rather explain in a more quiet place, without
interruptions, don't you think?"
"All right, but what would have happened if I had discovered
all this deceit beforehand?? Because there was something that
was bothering me and you know me."
"Yes, well we were all very worried about that and for that
reason we had to do our best acting interpretations. I think we
could all be nominated for Oscars, it's far from easy to deceive
Miss Laura Holt!!"
"But you managed it, despite my doubts, you managed to keep
my mind so focused on other things and you continued to confuse
me. So, Mr Steele, you've passed the first question but you're
still in debt to me, OK?"
"Yes Laura, I promise you'll be pleased with everything,"
he said with his best smile and with a sly look, "but now,
let's get out of here, for each moment that passes we're exposed
her to something that could cut into our plans and besides, I
don't see a moment to be able to take you in my arms and..."
"Yes, we are lacking that."
"They both stood up, Remington slid an arm around Laura's
waist while she looked at her precious ring and gave him a tender
kiss on the cheek which made him blush.
Laura said goodbye to Tony and thanked him for everything. Tony
kissed her hand and told her, "The only thing I want for
you two is that you be as happy as my wife and I have been for
30 years, and I know that's how it will be."
"Thank you Tony," they said together, left the restaurant
and got into the limousine that was waiting for them at the door.
When they got in, Remington took Laura in his arms and kissed
her passionately and Laura responded in kind.
When they broke off the kiss so that they could breathe, Laura
said, "Mmm, this isn't very professional, what do you say
Mr Steele?"
Remington immediately responded, "There is nothing professional
from now on, this is the end of professionalism for the weekend,
now we are just you and I, two lovers."
"Mmm, that sounds good," and they continued to kiss,
mindless of the chauffeur who watched them through the window.
To Be Continued---