‘hello,’ she says.
‘hi! God, you’re wet!’ says Charles. ‘come in!’
‘no, no, I’m fine,’ she replies. ‘I’m so wet that I can’t get any wetter. Do you know what I mean?’ she smiles at him, but she’s also very serious.
‘OK – then I’ll come out,’ Charles says.
‘no, please don’t!’ says Carrie. ‘I just wanted to see if you were all right. I wanted to make sure that you weren’t killing yourself or anything.’
But Charles steps out and joins her in the rain. They stand together on the pavement, and after a few seconds, he is completely wet too.
‘it was wrong of me to come to the church this morning – I’m sorry. I can that you’re OK, so I’d better go now.’
‘no – wait – I’m to blame, not you,’ says Charles. ‘I behaved really badly today. But I’m sure about one thing now – marriage is not right for me at all. And I learnt thing. When I was standing there in the church, I realized for the first time that I totally, completely love one person, with all my heart. And that person wasn’t my bride. It’s the person who’s here with me now, in the rain.’
‘is it still raining?’ asks Carrie. I didn’t notice.’
‘in face, I’ve loved you since the first minute I saw you. You’re not suddenly going away again, are you?’ he asks in alarm.
‘no, I might be washed away by the rain, but I’m not going away again.’
‘OK, OK, we’ll go back in,’ says Charles . ‘but first, can I ask you one thing? Do you think that you could agree not to marry me? After we’ve got dry again, of course. And after we’ve spent lost of time together. Do you think that you could agree not to be married to me, for the rest of your life?’
Carrie looks at him, her eyes very serious now.
‘do you?’ he asks her.
‘I do,’ she answers, in the words of the wedding service.
They kiss – and above, in the stormy skies of London, there is thunder and lightning for Charles too.