by Mike Crowson
Chapter 21
Later that night, when Gill and Steve were on their own, Gill pursued the subject of his rather public proposal.
"Did you really mean it?" she asked.
"The money?" he asked, knowing full well what she was referring to, "Of course I meant it. I can't go to Spain myself and I couldn't do much good there without you anyway."
"Well I am touched you trust me with the fare like that, but I meant the proposal."
"Why? Are you having second thoughts about accepting?"
"Look," she said, earnestly and not very logically, "You made a remark about sharing. It was me that took it as a proposal. With everybody listening it's just possible you felt trapped into agreeing."
"If I'd asked you when we were alone and making love, you might have doubted that I meant it afterwards. I wouldn't have asked you yet if you weren't about to go away for a while." He paused, "I'll ask you again - and notice I did say again. I know we haven't known each other for long but we've both turned over a new page in our lives and I like the person you've chosen to become, very much. Will you marry me, Gill?"
There was a silence in the darkness as she snuggled even closer. She had also, without conscious choice, become very psychic. Changes in her make up might have been triggered by her experiences of past lives, but they told her that Steve was someone on whom she could depend. She knew that she was still demanding sexually and emotionally, but that Steve could meet her needs. She was also aware that Steve trusted her growing psychism more than she did herself.
"Yes, " she whispered, "I like the inner strength of the person you've chosen to be as well. I really think we can build a new life together."
For a while they were too busy to talk.
Later they gave some thought as to how the bookings might all be done.
"I could do all the bookings from Stromness, but I’d better get a bank there to clear all these large transactions with my bank in Brum especially as I’ll have to draw out a lot of cash. If I book all the tickets myself, Alan and Manjy could do a bank transfer if they can contribute a bit. I’ll even book the hire car from Stromness. If there’s a travel agent in Stromness – and there will be - we ought to be able to arrange it all on the spot. You could fly to London and from there to southern Spain. The travel agent can arrange car hire so that you can get around. All you need is cash for food, accommodation and petrol."
"I've never driven in Spain."
"Always a first time."
"Do you think Manjy and Alan can drive?" asked Gill.
"I've no idea really. I should say it's possible but we'll have to ask them in the morning."
"It could be useful to have several drivers," said Gill. "It's going to take us the best part of a day to Heathrow from here, isn't it?" she continued, thinking out loud. "Couldn't we take an extra day and go by train to save some money? I wonder if we could get a night flight to Spain or will we have to wait until the next day?"
"It might be a good idea to fly from Kirkwall. The professor said he'd flown from Aberdeen to Kirkwall. You could get a flight from there to Heathrow.
"Is time so important?" asked Gill. "I don't want to waste 'our' money."
Steve considered this. "I don't know," he said, "The bird watcher and his wife left Hoy by car today in a hurry. If they caught the ferry to Mainland straight away and from Stromness to Scrabster and they took turns at driving they could be in Warwick by early afternoon tomorrow. They might just have wanted to make a getaway but, with the booking of their house made through the University and the exact travel time fixed by the ferry, they couldn't, as you might say, 'escape without trace', if the police started asking questions. We don't know that they'll try and get the rings back, but we don't know that they won't either and it would explain their rush. I think you should all fly to be on the safe side."
"Besides," he went on, "rail and ferry fares aren't that much cheaper than air fares. Air's less than double the cost of sea and rail and, on top of fares, you'd have other expenses like accommodation and tube fares, so I'm probably not wasting our money on your holiday!"
"You really have chosen to be a kind and generous person."
"It's easy to be generous to you," he said, and they made love again.