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"So, when are you leaving for Italy?" Intertwining her hand with his, Elizabeth smiled up at Tom as they walked slowly along the river bank and past the London Eye. It was early evening and while the sun bathed the city on the northern side of the Thames into an array of gold and orange and bronze, white collars from Westminster and the City filled the bars and restaurants on the southern side of London’s aorta.
"I am leaving after we finish in Madrid at the end of July. Why? Have you finally decided to come with me?" Tom grinned at his wife, his blonde curls shimmering in the evening light. Ellie could only barely resist the urge to let her hands run through them.
"Maybe I have," she breathed, bringing him to a halt. Tom licked his lips as she looked up to him, her arms wrapped around his waist and her hands slowly finding their way into the pockets of his jeans at the back.
"Could we leave out the ‘maybe’?," he whispered with a hopeful smile while he buried his hand in her dark, long locks. He had felt bad enough about not being able to offer her a proper honeymoon after they had gotten married in between shows of ‘Cymbeline’ in Iceland and the UK. Now he’d leave for the shoot of ‘Unrelated’ soon and the subsequent rehearsals for ‘Othello’ would not leave them with enough time to actually go somewhere nice and remote and perfect. Her joining him in Italy would be the perfect solution.
"I hope we can. I’m still waiting for the ok from Joanna, though," Ellie smiled apologetically before she stood on her tiptoes and breathed a kiss onto his lips.
"I’ll beg if necessary," Tom mumbled in between kisses and hungry for her touch, he pulled her closer to his lean body.
***
"We need to go back up soon, the tide is coming," Tom mumbled against her hair while they stood on the beach below the OXO Tower. Ellie nodded against his chest and cuddled up closer to him. The small waves rolled up on the river bank and listening to it, she felt entirely at ease. Seagulls circled the sky above them and music echoed from one of the restaurants.
"I love you," she whispered into their silence and lifted her head to look at him.
"I love you, too," Tom whispered back, his blue eyes meeting her grey ones. He thought back of the moment when he had seen her in her wedding dress for the very first time, how beautiful she had looked as she had walked up the aisle by her father’s side. He could not quite believe that she was his now, his companion, his wife, for the rest of their lives.
Gently, he lifted her left hand to his mouth and breathed a kiss onto it before his eyes fell onto the thin, silver ring. This was it, proof that she was indeed his now just as much as he was hers. A tingle went up his spine when they kissed once more and it wasn’t until their feet got wet because the tide had finally caught up with them that they ran back up the stairs, laughing and elated after having escaped the mucky water of the Thames after all.