Where You Are

Paradise Island

Birgitta

'Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We are just beginning our descent towards Nassau where the local time is six twenty-five PM and the outside temperature is twenty-six degrees.'

There was a big cheer at this bit of information. I couldn't help my own smile. It was still early winter in Canada, but sunshine and warmth sounded really nice at the moment.

'I would like to take this opportunity to wish your First Officer Jesse Sterling a hearty congratulations on his recent wedding. We all owe him a huge thank you for filling in last minute to get us all here tonight and for interrupting his honeymoon. So, be sure to wish the lovely new Mrs Sterling, seated in seat 1A, all the best as you leave the aircraft. And if you're staying on Paradise Island, be sure to give the honeymoon suite a wide berth!'

There was a second, more rowdy cheer with some laughter as well. I wanted to melt into my seat, my face was burning with embarrassment.

'I wondered if those were new!' The older woman seated beside me reached for my left hand without asking to examine the rings on it. 'They are pretty, aren't they? Congratulations, dear.'

She discreetly shoved a bill in my left hand. It was a US note, I wasn't too familiar with them, Canadian money was coloured and easy to tell what each bill was worth from a quick glance.

The little 100 in the corner made my red face go pale.

'Oh, no, no!' I told her, trying to shove it hack to her.

'I insist,' she pressed the money back. 'After all, if it weren't for your lovely new husband, none of us would be about to land in The Bahamas, wouldn't we?'

Still bewildered, I folded the note up and slipped it in my pocket. I guess people got money when they got married. For wedding gifts. Jesse and I had skipped past all of that but we didn't need it. We were both established. All we really needed was my visa. But I also wasn't going to turn my nose up at free money if people wanted me to have it.

We landed twenty minutes later. I waited in my seat for Jesse to come out, I wasn't about to leave this plane without him. But to my dismay, more people stopped to offer congratulations and shake my hand, some even gave me hugs, mostly older women, or drunken women. Soon, my pockets were stuffed with plain US notes and colourful Bahamian and Canadian notes. Was this normal? Did Jesse know this was going to happen? Almost all of the other passengers had left the plane and the door to the cockpit was still shut tight.

Finally, when it was just me and a few other passengers who needed assistance, he came out.

'How did we do?' He asked with a barely contained smirk.

'Jesse!' I pulled a wad of cash out of my pocket to show him, some of it coming loose and fluttering to the floor. 'Did you know this was going to happen?'

'I figured it would,' he shrugged. 'It's the least any of them can do, without me, we'd all still be in Toronto. It is my honeymoon, after all.'

'Well, it's my honeymoon, too!' I stuck my tongue out at him.

'What a coincidence,' he winked and then placed his hands on my waist and hoisted me up over his shoulder.

'Hey!' I shouted, but only half-heartedly. I think he knew I loved it when he did things like this to me. Especially when he was still in his uniform.

'Come on, I want to get to at least three by tonight,' he smacked me playfully on the butt.

I groaned, but then we were both laughing as he carried me off the airplane and into the airport.