I thought our jobs would be a real barrier to our relationship. I was wrong.
Carl r resigned (if that’s the right word) from the cloak and dagger business and settled down at the University of Auckland as a lecturer in the Environmental Sciences Department.
Maryanne transferred me from the London Office, to which I’d been nominally attached, to the Wellington Office of UNC. The assignments I had allocated were all relatively simple information gathering exercises, in fact, just like a real journalist. I never needed a gun again.
We did a fair bit of travelling in that first year, but then, on our second Christmas together, he proposed to me.
He taken my diamonds and had them mounted by a jeweller friend. The biggest stone he had made into a pendant, the three smallest (still huge) were set in a white gold ring, and the matching remaining two he had made into ear rings.
It may sound a cheat to give me my own diamonds as an engagement ring, but he had paid for the work and the gold.
I adored them and couldn’t say yes quickly enough. (Not because of the ring, please believe me – it might have been the sex, or maybe it was because I simply love the man).
“Do you want to get married in Canada?” he’d asked.
I almost asked why, and then, just in time remembered that I was to all intents and purposes a Canadian.
“No, anywhere you choose.”
We married on a beach in New Zealand.
The local justice of the peace, and personal friend of the family, did the deed, with his brother as best man. Harvey gave me away, while his stunning new Ghanaian bride, Kristi, and Sarah were my maids of honour. A special guest of honour was the current President of Mgombi, Holasu G’ymbai, along with his old friend, my employer, Maryanne.
My life was almost perfect.
Almost.
We were now on way to the airport to fly to the Ukraine. Due to a recent epidemic of a nasty influenza strain, a set of twins, a boy and girl, had lost their mother. Their father, a fireman with the local fire service, couldn’t face with the prospect of dealing with the young children alone, particularly as he had four older children already.
Maryanne had found them and the paperwork was all completed.
I was finally going to be a mother. They tell me its hard work.
I’ll tell you how it pans out, if I get a chance.
The End.