His Chance

Hailey - Chapter 14

It's beautiful. We are just about to land at Heathrow and the skies are very clear today, for which I'm thankful. I'm sitting by the window and looking out and I can see Buckingham Palace. I can't even believe it but there, right out the window, is Buckingham Palace. I'm so excited. This is a place that I never thought I'd ever get to visit. After all, the only other country that I've ever visited outside of the US is Mexico. I've heard many wonderful things about England and of course, I've seen pictures of the London Tower and the London Eye and Buckingham Palace, but I never imagined that I would get to see them one day for myself. I mean, I never dreamed in a million years that I would fall in love and then marry a man from England. This is crazy, right? This is the stuff of fairy tales. Well, if this is a fairy tale, then I guess that makes me a princess and well, I would have to say that I'm ok with that.

I lean over and give Chance a little shake, "Chance, baby, we're getting ready to land", I say to him as he opens his eyes and lets out a big yawn. I look across the aisle at Felix and he has his earbuds in and appears to be oblivious to our landing. This is so exciting to me but I guess the two of them have probably landed here in London many, many times in their lives.

Chance sits up straight in his seat and then he reaches over and puts his arms around me and we both look out the window together.
"Welcome home, Hailey", he says to me as he kisses me on the cheek. "This is your new home, or well, it will be one day, and, well, I hope you love it as much as I do".

"It's amazing", I tell him. "I can't wait for you to show me around. I know I'm going to love it though because, well, because this is where you're from and its so much a part of you, so, I know I'm going to love it here".

                              **********

It's almost one hour later and we've landed, made it through customs, and are now in a car driving through the streets of London, and on the wrong side of the street I should add. I would laugh about that but well, things have not started out so well since we arrived her in London.

We said our goodbyes to Felix outside the airport and that's when I first came in contact with them.........the English paparazzi. The minute we walked out the doors of the airport, they were there. I was so caught off guard when they started taking pictures.  I actually stopped walking and started looking around to see who they might be taking a picture of.  Chance and Felix had gotten a few steps ahead of me when Chance turned around, walked back to me and grabbed my hand. 

Now all of a sudden they started yelling out comments and questions.

"Welcome home Chance!! Glad to have you back. Are you going to introduce us to your wife, Chance? Hailey, Hailey, how does it feel to bag one of England's most eligible bachelors?". The questions are coming nonstop.

"It's ok, baby. This is what they do. I should have warned you about them", he says as he hurries me towards our awaiting car.

The flashes and shouting continue. "Did ya get big money from West Ham, Chance? Good for you if you did. Give us a comment man".

Chance pulls me over to the car. Felix opens the door and gives me a goodbye hug and then Chance tells me to get in and then closes the door. I watch as the two of them walk over and seem to say a few words to the paparazzi. I open the window a bit to see if I can hear what they're saying.

The shouting of questions continues. "How long have you known, Hailey? How did you two meet?".

I hear Chance say,"There will be a press conference tomorrow at the club offices. I'll answer some of your questions then, ok?".

Just then I hear a female photographer shout, "So, you married an American girl Chance? What's wrong, us English girls aren't good enough for you?".

Chance just looks over at her and stares but says nothing. Felix answers back, "Its always such a pleasure to see you Lorna. You know how very much we love the beautiful women here in England. My good friend Chance here just happened to find the love of his life in America dear, that's all, there's no conspiracy here. Just wish him well, why don't you?", he says with a smirk on his face.

All the other photographers look over at her now in anticipation of her response.

"Congratulations Chance", she says.

"Thank you, Lorna", Chance says back to her and then he and Felix turn to leave.

"Um, I have a few more questions", Lorna shouts as both guys walk back to the waiting cars, "What was the rush? Is she pregnant?".

Chance stops and turns around and just stares at her but again, he says nothing. Felix opens our car door and pushes Chance inside and then closes it.

"Your in poor taste as usual, Lorna", Felix says to her. "Why don't you stop being a bitch for 5 minutes and try being nice?".  We can still hear the conversation from outside the car through the open window.

"I tried that and it didn't get me anywhere so I'm done being nice. I'm just calling things like I see them Felix and I know who you are and I know who Chance is and he doesn't do the whole dating thing let alone marriage.  She must have trapped him. That's how I see it and that's what I'm calling it". 

"Fuck you, Lorna, leave her alone. You couldn't be any more wrong about her", Felix says and then he bangs on the roof of our car twice to signal to the driver to go.

As we drive away I turn and look through the back window of the car at them and it looks like they are still arguing. I look over at Chance and he looks like he's mad.  He's texting something on his phone and he doesn't say anything to me.

What just happened? That was really crazy. That woman accused me of being pregnant and trapping Chance, and the way Felix talked to her. I've never heard him talk to someone like that before. I know she was way out of line but he lost it. They most definitely know each other, and she knows Chance. How does she know Chance?  She's a photographer or reporter or whatever the paparazzi are so maybe that's why she knows him. But why was she so mean?  Why attack me?  Oh, wait. She said something about English women not being good enough for him, and she accused me of trapping him. Oh. That's it. Chance must have been with her.  I wonder how many times they were together. I look over at my husband and he is just staring out the window. He can't even look at me right now. My heart sinks.