Till The Clock Strikes Gone

40 | the return

"Don't smile like that at him, it's weird!" Harvey exclaimed at Eliza and she only giggled in return, making William blush.

They were having dinner. Harvey had cooked a nice meal of roasted lemon chicken, shepherd's pie and butterscotch ice-cream for dessert. William's stomach growled as he stared at the food and as soon as Eliza finished her prayers, he began devouring the meal. He ate like a starved animal and that made Eliza laugh but then she began to smile at him. Harvey found that disturbing which made William laugh.

It was the 3rd of January 2012 and William had recently become aware of the fact that he had missed a lot of celebrations with his wife; he even missed New Year and when he introduced Eliza to his thoughts, she only laughed and kissed him, over and over.

"Let me look at him, Papa. He will be gone soon to that bloody wife of his!" Eliza pouted at her father.

"Don't say anything about my wife!" William warned her with a smile and that earned him another grin from her.

Moments passed and not before long, the plates were clean as the delicacies were long swallowed. William cleaned his lips with a napkin while Harvey brought forward the dessert. A beam of pure excitement caught Eliza's face as she leaned forward and hurriedly took the ice-cream bowl making both William and Harvey chuckle.

"What?" Eliza frowned. "Butterscotch is the love of my life!"

William raised an eyebrow at her, making Harvey clear his throat.

"Jesus William! No lover in this world can compare to ice-cream. That's unfair!"

He bursts into peels of laughter and he almost fell off the chair as Eliza threw him a dirty look.

"Kids! Calm down," Harvey said.

William stopped laughing but smiled a little as he waited patiently for Harvey to speak.

"As I was saying before...the time has come and William will be going home tomorrow," Harvey informed.

William felt Eliza tense beside him and turned to look at her as the ice-cream bowl lay still in her hand. She was staring at the bowl and playing with the spoon in a disinterested manner.

"What's wrong?" Willam asked as he lay a hand on her knee. She turned to face him and gave a tiny smile.

"Nothing," she said and went back to playing with the spoon.

"She is worried something bad might happen." Harvey cleared the confusion in William's face and he turned to look at the man.

"Will something happen?"

"Well...I'm not going to lie. Something might happen. However, I believe you will take the chances," Harvey proclaimed calmly, making him gulp.

"I..." he began but stopped when a screech of the chair by his side made him turn his attention back to Eliza and he saw her getting up and walking out of the kitchen, hurriedly. The bowl was placed back on the table with the ice-cream still untouched.

"Eliza!" he called after her but she was gone.

"She is worried," Harvey said. "Go be with her. I give you permission for tonight."

Harvey's words made him smile and he nodded as he looked with appreciation towards the man.

"Thank you, sir," he said, getting up from the chair.

"You can call me Dad."

He was about to leave the room when Harvey's words stopped him. He turned to look at the man and saw him leaning on the chair with his arms crossed.