I remembered his words when we were at Pensacola High School about the Air Force being the only legal way to kill someone. Now I understood. Without thinking my hand trailed softly up the intricate colored tattoo covering his right forearm.
“Yeah, I got it after dad died. Mom still hates it and I really can’t say I blame her. I-I wish I hadn’t done it, but it’s too late to change it now.”
I thought about Micah’s tattoo. I broke down sobbing so hard, I couldn’t get a breath. I kept hearing Ryan saying it was going to be okay as his hand warmly rubbed my back.
“You didn’t have a choice, Leese. You made the right decision, hard as it was, it’s the only way.”
“But why?” I sobbed into my palms. “All we wanted was to be together. Why did it have to end this way?” I pulled away from my hands and stared at the beautiful diamond wedding set on my finger. I had pledged my life to Micah Gavarreen for better or worse; I just had no concept at the time how bad the worst could become.
We hit I-95 and he kept our speed around ninety miles an hour until we pulled off into West Palm and made it to his house. I hadn’t met Ryan’s mother, and I certainly wasn’t in any condition to see her at the moment, but I could tell he didn’t expect me to come inside.
He was gone about ten minutes when he emerged carrying another duffle, with his mother following close behind. She was a petite blonde with eyes the same shocking shade of blue as her son’s. She looked toward me and I could see the worry hit her. She knew who I was. Actually, there weren’t many people who didn’t look at me and remember my face from the news, but this was a different kind of look. She knew I married a few days ago and now her son was getting ready to fly away with the bride. He paused to embrace her, as she looked at me once again and nodded. It was as if she was letting me know, for whatever the reason, she was okay with him leaving with me.
We pulled into the Palm Beach International Airport, through the guarded areas as Ryan displayed his identification, and up to an area where numerous small aircraft waited.
“Which one is yours?” I asked, glad to finally have something to say since we had been silent from his house to here.
He pointed toward a sleek looking small plane with a silver bottom and a black stripe. “That’s mine. It’s a Cessna Corvalis 400, but what we’re flying out in is that one.” He pulled near a small jet that appear to be big enough for at least six. “It’s a Cessna Citation Mustang and belongs to a good friend of my family. That’s him there,” he said, as an older gentleman with a military crew-cut came around the plane. He was smiling as we approached.
“Does he know you want to use his plane?”
“Yeah, I called him when I was at the house. He’s a great guy and he flew with my dad back when my dad was learning how to be a pilot.”
Ryan grabbed both of his duffle bags from the trunk as he waved to the man. “Harvey, I really appreciate the loaner,” he shouted over the drone of a small plane taxiing away from the hanger.
“No problem, Ryan. I’ve told you before all you have to do is ask. I know I can trust you to take care of her.”
The man winked at me and I was wondering if he was discussing the airplane or me.
“Harvey Pinchon, this is Annalisa…” He evidently didn’t know what last name he should give me, but Harvey didn’t appear fazed that I had no last name at the moment.
“Annalisa, nice to meet you.”
I reached out to shake his hand and watched his eyes snap immediately to the wedding ring on my finger.
“So,” he said, quickly looking away from my hand, “I need a flight plan for you, Ryan. The FAA frowns on people without them. Where were you planning on stopping?”
“Well, I was kind of hoping you might let me take her to Heaven’s Landing. I can leave her there in your hanger and then we’ll just get a taxi over to Greenville and rent something else from there.”
“Bullshit!” Harvey snapped.
That shook me from the comatose feeling that had been creeping into my system.
Ryan’s eyebrows rose, but he apparently couldn’t come up with a response.
“I told you all you had to do is ask. If you’re flying out from there it’ll be in my plane. Rent something? Ryan, I can’t even believe you’d insult me that way.”
“But I didn’t want you to have to fly across country to get her back.”
Harvey was fishing in the pocket of his slacks and pulling out a wad of keys. “Here,” he offered, pulling two keys off the ring. “Here are the keys to my house and my truck in case you need to go anywhere when you get to the Landing. But, when you take off from there it better be in my plane or I’ll be pissed. It doesn’t matter how long you need it, either. Heck, if I want to go anywhere, I’ll use yours.”
Ryan handed him the keys to the Trans Am, “One more thing, Harvey. I have a feeling you’re going to have a really big, angry guy coming around here asking questions and wanting to know if my plane is here. I know I’ve got to file a flight plan, but he can’t know I flew out of here with Annalisa-it’s really important. Can I use your name on it? And, I need you to take my car back to your house as soon as possible.”
Harvey’s eyes cut back to the wedding ring on my finger and then back to Ryan, “Your mom’s okay with you doing this, right? I don’t want her mad at me.”
“She knows what I’m doing and she’s cool with it.”
“Load your gear in the plane,” he stated. “Annalisa, I think it’s best if you go ahead and get in the plane and sit down, honey. You look like you’ve had a rough morning.”
I nodded numbly as he took my arm and led me to the open cabin door. It was very plush inside and I gratefully sank into one of the deep comfortable chairs as Ryan loaded his duffle bags and went through a preflight check. He paused to talk with Harvey and, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I could see the serious expression on both of their faces. Harvey finally clapped the back of Ryan’s shoulder and then shook his hand.
Ryan came aboard and closed the door. He was smiling at me and asked if I was tired.
“No, I don’t know exactly what I am right now. I just can’t believe I’m really leaving.”
“How about a flying lesson then?” he asked, the smile getting broader. “Would you like to sit in the co-pilot’s seat?”
I finally found my ability to react positively as I grinned. I knew what he was doing; he was going to try to take my mind off my problems for a little while. “Why not,” I stated and then moved up to the nose of the plane.
He put on his headset and instructed me to do the same as he began talking with the tower. “Okay, Leese, I’m going to let you start her. See the start button? Okay push and release it. Now take the throttle and pinch the trigger. That’s good. Push it forward over the gate, now release the trigger and pull it back down to idle.”
The engine began to whine to life as he explained what was occurring by showing me on the big display in the center of the console. He began to explain about the pedals and the yoke, but then he got the approval from the tower and the airplane began to move forward. Next thing I knew, we were moving smoothly down the runway as Ryan pulled back slightly on the yoke and I could tell that we were no longer on the ground, but had become airborne. He made a large arc and turned the plane north as I watched Florida shrink smaller below us.
“Okay, Leese, take your yoke very gently. I want you to slowly pull back until the altitude indicates 35,000 feet.” He pointed out where the altimeter was among the controls and as I gripped the black instrument, he released his side and showed me that I had control of the plane. “Hey baby, you’re flying!”
I smiled outwardly, but having him call me baby caused a pang of regret that I was here with him. I knew I had made the right choice, but my heart was still screaming full volume to turn around and go back, to find another way, any other way, other than to leave Micah behind. I brought the plane to 35,000 feet and stopped.
“Now you want to know something really cool? You like to drive fast, but right now you are flying at 390 miles per hour-pretty awesome, huh?” he was beaming behind those blue eyes.
“Yeah, pretty cool,” I said, trying to have enthusiasm in my voice. “How long will it take to reach this place- Heaven’s Landing?”
“It’s in the mountains in the very northern part of Georgia. My mom and I vacationed there with Harvey and his family last Christmas. It should only take us about two hours in this plane.”
“So, what’s after Georgia?”
“Well, this is your escape, but I was thinking we could fly out to Colorado after a couple days at Harvey’s place. I know some people out there and I think we’ll be pretty safe.” He reached over and gently touched my arm as I held the controls, “You can relax, Leese. We’re going to be fine.”
