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Kacie had finished a week of daily sessions with Dr. Harmon, and the change in her was nothing short of remarkable. When Peter picked her up from her last 'official' appointment late in the afternoon, Kacie thought he was acting strangely. By the time they reached their apartment, he was fairly dancing with excitement.
"OK, what are you up to?" she asked suspiciously.
"You'll see," he answered smugly. "I have 'plans' for the evening."
"Really? Do these plans have anything to do with me?"
"In a word, yes." Before he opened their door, he told her, "Cover your eyes, and don't open them until I tell you to. And no peeking."
She looked at him dubiously a second, and then obediently covered her eyes with one hand, putting the other trustingly in his as he led her inside the apartment and into the living room.
Positioning himself behind her, he ordered, "OK, you can look now."
When Kacie uncovered her eyes, she saw a hundred candles, or so it seemed, flickering in the otherwise darkened room. There was a table set for two in the dining area, with a crystal candelabra in the center, along with a single red rose lying across one of the plates. "Oh-h-h, Peter," she breathed, the candlelight reflected in her eyes.
"Go and change," he murmured in her ear, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her head. "Put on that gorgeous blue silk dress that I love."
"What about you? Aren't you changing, too?" she asked huskily, leaning back into his embrace.
"I'll wait 'til you're done."
"Where's --"
"Just go get changed. I plan to make this a night you'll never forget. Go on, hurry up."
Peter smiled as she disappeared into their room. He stepped lightly up the stairs to the kitchen and pulled a beer from the refrigerator, sipping at it while picking up the phone and punching in some numbers. "Maxim's?...Yes...This is Peter Caine...I special ordered a dinner for two for this evening...That's right...That's right...I'd like it delivered now...Do you have the address?...Yes, that's right...Yes, I know there's an extra charge...Look, just deliver the meal...Right...Thanks." After he hung up, he took another sip of his beer. "You're lucky I paid in advance, buddy."
He walked back down the stairs and inspected the room. {I want everything perfect.} He smiled and nodded as he looked around approvingly. {Nice job, Pop.} His face took on a contemplative expression. {I wonder if you ever had intimate dinners with my mother like this?} Speaking aloud, he said, "From some of the other things you've told me, I'll just bet you did." {Funny, I never think of Pop that way, as a romantic, as somebody's husband. He's always just been my father.}
He sat down on the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table as he tried to relax. {I'm as nervous and excited as I was on our first 'real' date.} He watched the candle flames dance and throw their shadows on the walls. He sniffed the air, and looked around until he located the incense burner in the corner of the room, over by the stereo. {Nice touch there, Pop.}
He finished his beer and put the empty bottle on the end table. Getting to his feet, he walked over to the table and pulled out a book of matches from his pants pocket. Carefully striking a flame, he lit the candles in the candelabra. He heard the bedroom door open as he was finishing, and caught his breath as he looked up.
Kacie had done up her hair in a French braid that circled her head in a dark halo. A few loose tendrils framed either side of her face, hiding the faint scar above her eye. The blue silk fabric draped and flowed around her slender form, clinging to her curves in a way that made his pulse quicken. The fragrance of her perfume wafted into the room with her, and Peter suddenly wondered if he was really all that hungry for food.
"Be very careful, Detective Caine," Kacie's eyes shone at him with a seductive light. "What your eyes are saying to me now...is that ordering dinner was a complete and total waste of time."
"You are breathtaking." Curbing his impulses, he resisted the temptation to sweep her into his arms. "I, um, better go change, too. Why don't you put on some music while you wait for me?"
"Don't keep me waiting too long."
He shook his head and took a deep breath before leaving the room. He showered and shaved, humming to himself all the while. He was just smoothing his hair and tightening his tie when he heard the doorbell. "Dinner is served." He grinned at himself in the mirror and gave a thumbs-up at his reflection.
Slipping a small jeweler's box into his inside jacket pocket, he grabbed his wallet from the top of the dresser and hurried out the door. Kacie had opened the front door to let in the caterer, and was standing next to the table, her eyes shining with excitement. She had found a CD of classical music, which made the ambiance in the apartment even more like a four-star restaurant.
The waiter making the delivery was dressed in traditional black and white garb, and efficiently placed their meal on the table, leaving the coverings on the dishes.
Peter took the receipt from the waiter, and handed the man a wad of bills. The waiter started to inform them, "The plates and the cart are due back at the restaurant by ten a.m. tomorrow." Peter ushered the man out the door and closed it firmly behind him before the lecture was finished.
"That was kinda rude, Honey," Kacie chided him.
Peter held her chair for her to sit down, and responded, "Three's a crowd."
Sitting down in his own chair, he picked up the rose from her plate, and handed it to her. "The beauty of this flower is as nothing, when compared to yours."
She took it from him, their hands brushing briefly, and sniffed at its delicate fragrance. Gazing deeply into his eyes, Kacie repeated herself, "Like I told you before, Peter, I'm thinking that dinner is a complete and total waste of time." She kicked off a shoe and started sliding her bare toes up under his pant leg. "Seems to me, we've played this scene before, and this time...there's no one else around."
"Whoa there, Sweetheart. Slow down. I have this whole evening planned out, and there's plenty of time for...everything."
She set aside her flower and reached for his hand. "Then let's get dinner over with," she said in a voice deep with emotion.
Neither of them tasted much of their meal, not could they have told anyone what they had been served. The candles glimmered all around them, and the music throbbed gently in the background.
They finished their meal and sat momentarily, just drinking in the sight of one another. Peter reached for her hand and kissed it tenderly. "This remind you of anything, Sweetheart?"
"I remember every moment of that night, Peter. That's when you gave me my --" She touched a hand to her throat. "Oh, my God! How could I have forgotten my necklace? Oh, Honey, where is it? Oh, no, I've lost it! I don't have any idea what happened to it. Oh --" She stopped short and her face paled. "Oh. The last time I remember having it was when --" She bit her lip as her chin trembled.
Peter swiftly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the box, handing it to Kacie. "Open it."
She flipped open the box and whispered with pleasure. "Oh-h-h. I should have known you would have it." She took the necklace from the box with shaking fingers. "It looks different from before."
"I took it to the jeweler's and had a longer chain put onto it. I know you don't like wearing anything -- tight - around your neck."
Her eyes glowed like stars. "Put it on me? Like the first time?"
Placing the necklace around her throat, he fastened the latch, kissing the nape of her neck as he did so.
"It fits perfectly now," she said tearfully. "Thank you for being so thoughtful, Hon."
Peter went over to the stereo and put in a new CD. "Dance with me?" he asked simply, pulling her to her feet. "I wanted to give you back your necklace and hold you in my arms while this song played for you, for us. It says everything I want to tell you so much better than I could."
She entered his waiting arms as the words of the song started:
"I am so free...from so many things that haunted me
for so long...since I found you. I just can't find the words
to tell you what you mean to me." Peter suddenly found
himself choked with emotion. {And I almost lost this.
Oh, God. I would have died, too. I know it.}
Tears of happiness shimmered in Kacie's eyes as she told him, "I think you are doing just fine with the words, Sweetheart." She blinked, and two tears slid down her cheeks as she kissed him. The strains of 'Endless Love' began, and she whispered, "Seems to me you owe me a...dance?...to this song." They kissed again -- a long, lingering kiss, that left them both breathless at its conclusion.
"You said that you wanted to make tonight last forever, Peter. I am going to hold you to that." She started to lead him to their bedroom, but stopped suddenly with a frustrated groan. "Oh, Honey! It will take forever to get all these candles blown out!"
Peter looked about the room and raised his hand. Taking a deep breath, he frowned in concentration and made a sudden sweeping motion with his palm. The candles were instantly extinguished, as though by a large gust of wind.
Kacie looked at him in open-mouthed astonishment. "How did you DO that?"
"Just a little trick my Pop taught me."
She pulled at his arm once more. "Now you can show me what other magic things you can do with your hands." They disappeared into the bedroom.