In My Life

Chapter 25:

From the window of the Gulfstream aeroplane, the wing engine was semi illuminated as the upper half was several shades darker. As the plane dips, the line between the light and shadow moves all while Olivia listened to the hum of the rotors.

Olivia rested her chin onto the palm of her hand as her eyes seemed to be searching the skies for something. As the wings sliced through the clouds, she tried to see the remaining pieces of the land beneath her. Clouds pooled around the vast and broad area, slightly changing from pearl white to a calm yellow, warmly glowing in the summer sunshine.

She drew in a deep breath and peered at the man sitting adjacent to her, who was in a deep sleep. A slight smile came from her lips as she watched Don in his sleep, wondering how things were going to go today. It was a big and nerve-racking day for Olivia; she was on her way to meet Don's parents.

The past month and a half had been rough on Olivia as she desperately did her best to mend things with her career as well as getting Don to trust her once again. She felt awful for not keeping in touch with John since Julia's funeral, but she understood their lives were in entirely different places. After John had sent daisies to her on her birthday, she seemed convinced Don was going to end their engagement, but after a few weeks of misery, she decided to move on and continue things with Don.

According to Phil, this was going to be a big deal since she was the first girl Don had ever brought home to meet his parents. Also, his relatives from Kentucky were coming to Tennessee to meet her and also have their yearly reunion. She was sure his parents were going to be charming as well as stern since that's the impression she had about Don and Phil. But still, she wasn't used to big family gatherings. Both her parents were only children, and by the time she was born, both of her grandparents had already passed, so she never experienced a big family gathering.

Perhaps this would be good for her; she has never been part of a huge family. The only 'family' that she knew and had spent a lot of time with was John's family. Every time there was a birthday party of one of his cousin's, he would always drag her with him so he had someone to cause mischief with and wouldn't be the only one that would get in trouble.

She chuckled as a few memories of wrecking birthday parties with John had entered her mind.

"What's so funny?"

The voice of her Southern fiancé had startled her, "Oh, just thinkin' of how I'm 'bout to wreck this gatherin' of yours," she lied. She could never talk to Don about John any longer; that was the rule that he made with her, which she despised and was nervous to question or argue.

He gradually sat back up in his chair, placing his hand onto her lap and gave it a small pat, "You don't have anything to worry about. I think Mom and Dad should be worrying about you. You are a little intimidating at first."

She made a face at him and laughed, "Me? Intimidating? How?"

"You're beautiful first off," he exchanged a smile to her, "And then when you speak, you're well... witty, blunt, and.., British."

She smirked his way, not sure if he was complimenting her or at least trying to, "Hmm, not sure 'bout the witty and blunt remark but I'll stick with it I suppose," her eyes glanced down and firmly grasped his hand, "I just want things to go smoothly."

His eyes stared into hers, squeezing her hand back, "Things will be fine, you'll see."

All the sudden, Phil popped up from his seat in front of them and turned around to face them, "Did ya bring the daffodils?"

His presence startled her and relaxed after seeing it was only Phil, "Daffodils? What?"

He curiously looked at Don then back her way, "Oh, Don didn't tell you? It's a sign of respect when you meet a future spouse's mother for the first time and... well.. you didn't bring them so.."