Thankfully, everyone else had left the bottom floor. They knew as they did briefly leave the pantry in a half-hearted attempt to leave for their own beds for the night. Neither of them made it as far as the first stair. He fumbled the key in the door, just in case. Alone now and each other's.

None of their haste was there this time, a sense that there was suddenly all the time in the world seemed to have opened up to them and it was like really seeing the sky for the first time. At first they only kissed, and not fiercely as they had done before: kissed each other for the kisses and not as some twisted formality. That was the last point at which a bolt of lightening could have separated one from the other.

Next they were lying down and they were lost to each other. No going back and no remote need to either. Suddenly this wasn't a scandal any more. Because they were married to one another, in all the ways that possibly mattered. The commitment was paradoxically the most pure freedom either had ever known. Foreheads resting on one another as they kissed. Hooks undone, tie unravelling.

His hands were in her hair.

"Charles."

Kiss on the jaw. He was listening.

"Never leave me."

"Never."

They lay there on the settee, having removed most of their clothes, looking at each other. It occurred to Elsie how shy she felt under his eyes like this; which was ridiculous in itself. But this wasn't like it had been before: it couldn't be if it tried. Perhaps it showed in her face.

"You're so beautiful." he told her.

And she felt it; his words made her feel it. She reached out and brushed his stomach with her hand almost tentatively. In spite of herself, she let out a half-laugh.

"This is the slowest we've ever done this." she pointed out.

"I promised not to ravish you again."

"I'll let you off this once."

He chuckled and raised himself so he was above her. A kiss at the base of her neck. Finger intertwine.

Later, much much later they are still lying together. Much the same as they did before, but, she reminds herself with the twitch of a smile that kisses his ear, so differently. The settee is wider than her bed, for one. The prospect of never being left for a lifetime was rather an inviting one, she found. He had told her again, just in a whisper but it spoke more loudly than if he had bellowed it; it was all he had been capable of at the time. She cradled his head to her chest. She hardly felt his weight although he was lying on top of her.

Not long after he stirred. Fully awake this time, no groggy over-hearings or discussions so truthful but brief that her heartbeat became painful. Only them, holding each other and showing no inclination to let go. Exactly where they both should be.

End.