─☼☼☼─
"𝙇𝙊𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙀."
She didn't open her eyes but pulled the blankets up over her head at the sound of his voice.
"Lottie."
This time when he spoke, he was closer to her, his voice almost directly in her ear.
"You've gotta get up."
His hand gently reached out, tugging the covers to reveal the slumbering Charlotte who still refused to open her eyes.
"No." She grumbled, blindly reaching out to try and re-cover herself. "It's too early."
Rafe let out a breathy laugh, bending down to press a kiss to her bare shoulder. "The potential dealer is going to be here in an hour. We gotta get ready."
Prying open one of her eyes, Charlotte drank in Rafe's appearance.
He face will still written with sleep, his chest bare, a pair of pajama pants hanging loosely around his waist.
Unwillingly, Charlotte's thoughts strayed to the night before, the way their bodies had been tangled together in the sheets.
It was the first time they had slept together since the day after everything went down on the airstrip.
But even thought everything was different now, it didn't feel like that when they were together like that.
Seeming to mirror Charlotte's thoughts, Rafe took a hold of one of her hands, gently pulling her up and toward him. "Trust me," he murmured, eyes scanning her partially dressed body, "I would much rather stay in bed all day."
Knowing the influence she had on him, Charlotte closed the space between them, their lips instantly finding one another's. Rafe secured his hands on Charlotte's face, his hands cradling her jaw like two puzzle pieces fitting together.
Leaning forward, Charlotte let her hands roam Rafe's bare chest, earning a small grunt from the back of his throat.
"I know what you're doing." He mumbled, their lips still partially pressed together.
Grinning, Charlotte pulled away, giving him puppy-dog eyes. "What am I doing?"
Looking down for a moment, Rafe pursed his lips. "You know what."
"Oh come on!" Charlotte called as Rafe disappeared into the bathroom. "Why are you so worried about selling this damn cross. You already have the gold!"
Silence settled for a moment before Rafe spoke from the bathroom. "Is that what this is about?" He wondered, voice hitching slightly. "You're trying to stop me from selling the cross."
Charlotte exhaled, flopping back down on the pillows, knowing that's exactly what she wanted to do. "It's not yours." She said quietly, afraid of bursting the bubble they had been in for the past few weeks.
When he emerged from the bathroom, Rafe wasn't wearing a look of anger, in fact, he looked almost sympathetic.
A sigh tumbled from his lips as he rounded the bed, crouching down in front of Charlotte. "I know this is hard for you." He said softly, "But this cross is mine, okay? I got took it out of that church, I got it from Limbrey, I saved it from ending up at the bottom of the ocean. Can't you see that?"
Charlotte held his gaze as she chewed on her lip. "You stole it." She argued, almost holding her breath in anticipation of his response.
Faltering for a moment, Rafe dropped his head. "That's the way life works. So stop worrying that you're betraying the Pogues by helping me, alright? It's time to stop thinking about them and to start thinking about yourself."
"How is helping you sell the stolen cross worrying about myself?"
A smile flickered across Rafe's face, "Because, this benefits you...trust me. This cross is our future."
It was quiet between the two of them for a moment as Charlotte mulled over what Rafe had said. Their future.
Something that once seemed so set in stone had slowly fallen apart. But now, now it seemed that there was a glimmer of hope for the two of them once again.
"Fine." Charlotte agreed, forgoing her better judgement. "What am I supposed to wear to this damn meeting?"
The grin that overtook Rafe's face was one that could light up an entire room. "That's my girl." He breathed, quickly leaning forward to press his lips to hers. "Rose picked something out for you." He explained, an almost giddiness overtaking him as he rose to his feet. "Oh, and you'll need to wear these."
Reaching into his pocket, Rafe pulled out three rings, handing two of them to Charlotte before slipping the third one on his own finger.
Looking down, Charlotte examined the pieces of jewellery. One was a gold ring adorning what appeared to be a very expensive diamond, the other was a plain gold band.
It didn't take a jeweller to identify these as an engagement ring and wedding band.
Furrowing her brows, Charlotte looked up at Rafe. "Uh, I think we skipped a few steps."
A laugh bubbled from Rafe's lips as he examined the band on his left hand. "They're fake, don't worry. But this dude's gonna respect us more if he thinks we're mature enough to be married."
Charlotte let out a low hum. "Lot's of immature people get married."
"Would you just try to think my ideas are good, at least once in your life?" Rafe pleaded in exasperation.
Slipping the rings on, Charlotte stuck her hand out to admire them. "Fine. But the next time we get married I better get a real proposal."
She had barely acknowledged the words before they left her mouth, but once they hung in the air between the two of them she couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up. Rafe watched her with a small smile, a look of almost relief.
"You'll get your proposal." He assured with certainty. "You'll get whatever you want."
"Good." Charlotte mumbled, her cheeks still warm as she dropped her head for a moment, smile overtaking her expression at the prospect of marrying Rafe Cameron.
Nothing from their past had been undone, but something had changed between them. A fresh start, a new country. Once again, Charlotte could picture her life with Rafe by her side and that made her happier than she cared to admit.
─☼☼☼─
"They're here!" Rose called from the front of the house, her voice meeting Rafe and Charlotte who were running over their business proposal.
"I'll do most of the talking about the cross." Rafe reminded as the two of them made for the front door. "Be personable, make them like us."
"Well it won't be hard to make them like me." Charlotte muttered, "You on the other hand..."
Rafe shot her a quick glare which was met with a grin from Charlotte as they arrived in front of the door.
"Okay," He muttered, shaking his hands out at his sides. "Let's do this."
The door was pulled open, revealing a well-put together man with an equally well-put together woman who Charlotte assumed was his personal translator. Both of them wore small smiles as they nodded their heads in greeting.
"Welcome." Rafe declared, sticking out his hand, first to the man and then to the woman. "I'm Rafe Cameron, this is my wife Charlotte."
The woman recited Rafe's greeting in French to the man, meanwhile Charlotte gave them a small smile and a greeting of her own. "Bonjour. Enchanté."
The man smiled at Charlotte, pleased to hear her speaking French. "Merci." He nodded. "Je m'appelle Michel." He turned toward the woman. "C'est Julia, mon traducteur."
Julia looked to Charlotte, giving her a small smile as a greeting.
Deciding they had stood at the door long enough, Charlotte nudged Rafe, the two of them stepping aside. "Come in." She welcomed, allowing the pair to step into the villa.
As their two guests took a moment to take in their surroundings, Rafe and Charlotte shared a quick look. He was regarding her with a small smile, the look of love, the look of pride.
"Let's sit." Rafe proposed, gesturing toward the dining room table that had four glasses of water set out.
Michel and Julia nodded, taking their seats will still examining the space around them, as if they were skeptical.
Taking his hand in hers, Charlotte gave it a soft squeeze as the two of them took their seats across from the other two.
"Again, thank you both for coming. I know it was a long way to travel." Rafe became, no hint of nerves in his voice. He was always good at putting on a show when he had to. "But I think what we have is.." he trailed off for a moment, meeting gazes with Charlotte, "I think it's pretty worthwhile."
Charlotte nodded, smile spreading across her lips as she looked to Michel and Julia. "Très utile."
"Yes, well Michel is the most prominent antiquities dealer of the West Indies." Julia explained as Michel continued to watch the younger couple with a curious smile. "It is a shame that he only speaks French, I'm sure he would love to have had a more in depth conversation about this artifact."
"Right." Rafe nodded, "What is...what is French for priceless?"
Julia let out a small laugh as the French rolled off of her tongue, "Inestimable."
Smiling, Rafe repeated the word, attempting his best French accent.
Michel looked between the two of them before speaking. He spoke too fast for Charlotte to fully understand what he was saying.
Julia was quick to translate given Charlotte's slightly furrowed brow. "He wants to know why you two have decided to sell the artifact."
Given the fact that Charlotte and Rafe had never let go of one another's hands, he gave a quick squeeze to let her know that he would take point on answering this question...coming up with this lie.
And he was quick to do so.
"We just had our first child." He answered, a gleeful smile on his face. "We want it off our hands so we have more time to spend with our daughter. So we can provide for her."
Charlotte almost choked on the water she had been taking a sip of as the words left Rafe's mouth.
Julia's head swivelled toward Charlotte, who was doing her best to wipe the shock from her face. "You look great for just having a baby."
The lie slipped from Charlotte's mouth before she could even think about what she was going to say. What left her mouth was extremely stupid, but it was the best she could come up with at the time. "It's the Mediterranean Diet. It's really something else."
A tight smile sat on her lips as she pulled her hand away from Rafe, folding it in her lap to avoid the trembling, a result of the lies that her and Rafe were far too deep in now.
Julia looked between the young parents. "Is your daughter here?"
"She's sleeping." Charlotte lied, a regretful smile overtaking the strained one. "We just put her down for a nap shortly before you two arrived."
Sensing the train wreck that this was about to turn into, Rafe interjected. "Should we go look at the cross? Little Daisy will be awake soon, so we better get this taken care of."
Charlotte wanted to reach over and hit him, but all she could do was suppress an eye roll. He had ever-so affectionately named their pretend child after the bouquet of daisies that was sitting on the table. She just hoped Julia and Michel were too oblivious to notice that.
"Yes." Michel nodded, his accent thick as he rose to his feet. "Allons-y."
"Just through here." Rafe motioned, allowing their guests to enter the living room first. That gave Charlotte time to grab onto him, pulling him toward her.
"I'm literally going to kill you." She muttered through gritted teeth.
"You're doing great, sweetheart." Rafe winked, reaching back to tap her butt.
Charlotte shoved his hand away, "Stop it." She hissed, plastering a fake smile on her lips when Julia and Michel looked toward the two of them.
Rafe was grinning as he moved toward the cross that was covered by a large sheet. It sat in the middle of the living room, extremely out of place.
Grabbing onto the sheet, he looked to Michel before pulling it free, revealing the artifact in all its glory.
It had been over a month since the last time Charlotte has seen the Cross of Santo Domingo, but it still brought her the same dark feeling it had all those weeks ago. This damn lump of gold had been nothing but trouble.
But while Charlotte Carrera looked slightly unnerved at the sight of it, Michel Arnaud looked absolutely awe-struck.
Taking a small step forward, he pulled a pair of eye-glasses from his suit pocket, slipping them on before examining the cross at a closer angle. "Je peut toucher?"
"May he touch it?" Julia translated.
Rafe nodded, keeping his composure. "Knock yourself out, Michel."
Michel reached out, his hands roaming the cross as if looking for any discrepancies or imperfections. He mumbled to himself in French as he rounded the back of the artifact, examining every part of it.
"He wants to know where you found it." Julia translated one of Michel's mumbled sentences. She had passed him a tablet at one point, one in which contained a drawing of the cross, similar to the one Charlotte and Kiara had pulled up on Google in the early days of the quest for the item.
Something ticked in Charlotte's jaw at the question, knowing exactly where it had come from.
Rafe avoided her gaze, not skipping a beat as he responded. "Tell him not to worry about it. We got it. That's all he needs to know. It's here. It's for sale. So who can we get to buy it?"
Michel regarded Rafe for a moment before removing his glasses, beginning to speak. Julia nodded along as he spoke, Charlotte taking special care to do her best to translate what he was saying in her own mind.
Once Michel had finished, Julia translated. "Uh, for a piece of this value, there are very limited buyers. Uh, like an institution, a museum."
Looking to Charlotte, Rafe verified that Julia was translating correctly. When she gave him a small nod, Rafe tilted his head back slightly, a look of exasperation covering his features.
Michel spoke again, prompting Julia to do so in turn. "But, he has a client in Barbados who will be interested. This client will have lots of questions. He will want to meet with you in person." Michel handed a business card to Rafe, "Call this number to arrange everything."
"You...phone." Michel spoke to Rafe directly. "Very important." He emphasized.
Rafe nodded, a smile on his lips. "Yes. Very important. Very good."
"Oui." Julia nodded, a smile on her lips as well.
"Let's make a deal?" Rafe proposed, extending his hand to Michel.
Nodding, the older man took his hand. "Let's make a deal."
Unable to hide it, Charlotte face fell slightly, something not entirely sitting right with her. She needed to get out of there.
"Excuse me," She declared, nodding over her shoulder. "I think our daughter is awake. I should go check on her."
Michel and Julia both smiled at her. "It was very nice to meet you." Julia announced. "All the best to you and your family."
Charlotte gave her a small smile, feeling slightly bad for lying to them. "Thank you very much. Safe travels."
She couldn't get away from that situation and that damn cross fast enough. By the time she made it up to her and Rafe's room, her chest felt like it was going to explode. She feared that if she had stayed in that living room any longer, she would have let their facade slip, ruining the deal for Rafe.
Which, she knew she shouldn't care about, right? It was Pope's cross, so why should Rafe get to sell it.
But selfishly, deep down, Charlotte actually wanted the cross gone, out of all of their lives. Things would be easier that way, no matter how much it might hurt Pope. She knew that made her a shitty person, but maybe that was just a side effect of loving someone like Rafe Cameron.
When Rafe entered the bedroom, he was smiling ear-to-ear, instantly striding toward Charlotte and pulling her into a hug. "Baby, you did so good." He praised, peppering her with kisses.
Charlotte shoved him off, "Rafe, I'm literally going to kill you." She snapped, glaring at him with a look so strong it could kill.
He shook his head, oblivious to her rage. "Why? What did I do."
"Seriously?" Charlotte balked. "Next time I have a whole ass child, maybe tell me before hand."
A small smile flickered across Rafe's lips. "Ah, that. That was my bad I'll admit that. But you played the part...had me sold."
Trying to stay mad at him, Charlotte folded her arms across her chest. "And Daisy, really? Do I look like I would name my child Daisy?"
A laugh fell from Rafe's lips, "Sorry, Lottie. Didn't mean to do you dirty like that."
Finally, the smile broke across Charlotte's face, her entire demeanour changing. "You did amazing out there." She complimented. "And as much as I still don't entirely agree with what you're doing, it's pretty impressive."
Rafe grinned, pulling her back toward him. He had his hands looped around her lower waist, holding them close together. "We make a pretty great pair."
Charlotte hummed, looking up at him with affection. "We do."
"I want you to come to Barbados with me. To meet the buyer."
Leaning back slightly, Charlotte studied his expression. "Really?"
"Yeah." Rafe nodded. "I'm sure Michel will tell his client all about my super hot, super smart wife. He'll want to meet you."
Even though he was kidding, hearing Rafe called her his wife sparked something in Charlotte. Grabbing onto his suit jacket, she smiled. "I'll be there then."
Rafe's face lit up, "Good."
Tugging at his jacket slightly, Charlotte moved onto her tip toes to press a kiss to his lips. Hungrily, Rafe pulled her even closer than she already was.
"I love you." He mumbled, words slightly muffled by Charlotte's lips.
Faltering for only a moment, Charlotte responded. "I love you too."
-an-
stockholm syndrome, am i right?
but honestly, i just wanted these two to have some happiness, even after all the bad shit rafe has done.
i need therapy, that's all i can say.
hope you're all enjoying!!
-maddy xoxo