Where You Are

Pearson Airport

Jesse

I arrived at Heathrow far earlier than I needed to be. I'd hardly been able to sleep the night before, I was too damn excited. Anxious, too. I was terrified I'd forget the ring and had got up twice in the night to make sure it was in my bag.

Maybe I really was mad. Birgitta and I hadn't properly discussed getting married. We'd only talked about it as something we both wanted, though not necessarily with each other. But that was the point of all of this, wasn't it? We couldn't carry on long-distance forever. It was killing me being so far away from her all the time. I'd done my research and knew it was be far easier for me to move to Canada or her to move to England if we were married.

I put my bag on the conveyor belt to get scanned and passed through the metal detector when Tessa, the border officer, waved me through.

Once I was cleared, I went to retrieve my bag, but it wasn't through the scanner yet. I looked over, Gary, another border officer was squinting at the screen.

'You're travelling with more than you usually do, Sterling,' he looked up at me with a grin. 'Special trip, is it?'

'Hopefully,' I grinned back.

'What is it?' Tessa asked.

Gary cleared his throat. 'I think this bag requires an additional screen, Tessa.'

'Oh, come on!' I groaned. 'I've got an airplane to fly!'

But it was too late, Tessa had already made her way over to inspect my bag.

'Oh, my god,' Tessa found the ring box at once. She opened it before I could protest. 'You're right, Gary, this certainly is suspicious.' Then she looked up at me with a wide grin. 'It's gorgeous, Jesse. She's definitely going to say yes. Can I try it on?'

'What? No!' I exclaimed. 'It's not for you!'

'It's so pretty,' she sighed, looking back at the box.

'Okay, can I have it back now?' I held out my hand for it.

'Nothing else suspicious, Gary?' Tessa turned back to Gary.

'Nope,' he grinned and leaned back in his chair.

The shithead.

'Then you're free to go, Officer Sterling,' she nodded curtly and put the ring box in my outstretched hand.

'Good luck!' Gary called as I shouldered my bag and carried on towards the terminal, rolling my eyes as I went. At least no one else had been around to witness that. I was so wound up already, I wasn't sure if I could handle any more ribbing.

As soon as I was out of sight, I opened the box to make very sure the ring was still there before stowing it safely in my bag again.

***

Six hours later, I was grateful more then ever that Jack was my Captain. Not only that, but he had experience with what I was about to do. Gratefully, he didn't think I was mad. It was nice to have someone so calming to speak with while we flew. I knew when we landed that I'd only have an hour until Birgitta arrived.

The thought of seeing her that day both calmed me down and terrified me at the same time. I tried not to think about it, but it was damn hard. Today had the potential to be the biggest day of my life.

Birgitta

I still wasn't quite sure what to think when the plane touched down in Toronto. Jesse had told me there had been a change of plans for his next visit and he needed me to meet him in Toronto instead of Moncton. Apart from that, all he'd said was he had a surprise for me and to bring my passport along with a few days worth of clothes.