Marie's Path

Chapter 51

The three of them leaned against the trunk of Jay's car. Arms crossed, a sandal clad foot tapping the concrete, Marie focused on the sky. Standing next to her, chewing on her thumb nail, Mindy's eyes were glued to the horizon. 

"It shouldn't be long now," Jay said looking at his watch. Shaking his head at the two nervous women, he chuckled. "I'll go inside the office and see if the planes going to be on time."

They were somewhere outside of Charleston. Where, Marie hadn't a clue. The airstrip was in an open space surrounded by woods. The place was fairly hidden and she was turned around in her directions. If anyone ever wondered where the middle of nowhere was, this was it, she thought.

It seemed to take forever, as Jay drove along the winding country roads. Or it could have been her being so anxious, that it just seemed to take forever.

Once Jay turned off the road and the automatic gates opened for them at the Academy owned airstrip, her breath caught. Both Brandon and Kevin's SUVs were sitting near a hangar, along with Marc's truck and a couple other cars. A light coating of dust covered the windshields.

It seemed like a lifetime ago when she had watched their tail lights fade away the night they left. Jay pulled into the parking space next to Brandon's SUV. Just seeing their vehicles made her ache for them even more.

"Is that way west?" Marie asked, after Jay had walked off.

"Yeah, but I think they'll be coming in from the north," Mindy said. "They need to line up with the runway."

Marie nervously twisted her wedding ring on her finger as she scanned the area. "I don't see an ambulance anywhere. Maybe that means he's not hurt that bad and he really can come home. He said he was coming home. I mean, he asked for fruit." Marie rolled her eyes, realising how stupid she sounded, like fruit meant anything.

"The man does like his fruit." Mindy shrugged. "Kevin didn't act like there was a problem with Raven coming home. Trust me, if he was in bad condition they wouldn't have let him leave the St.Louis hospital."

"How do you stand it?" Marie asked. "Seeing Kevin go off and never knowing if he's going to come home in one piece?" She bit her lip watching for the plane. "I feel like I've been in a fairy tale, but real life just smacked me in the face. How do you do it?"

Mindy played with a necklace she was wearing deciding how to answer her. "It doesn't help him if I fall apart," she finally said. "I'm not going to lie, its hard sometimes. This team gets involved in things that regular teams don't. But I just have to trust that they know what they're doing and he'll come home safe. I swear this is the first time any of them were ever hurt like this. When Kevin called, I couldn't believe it . . . "

She leveled her eyes on Marie and reached out placing her hand on her arm. "Sometimes a woman has to bury her fears and be strong for the guy she loves." Mindy snickered and nudged Marie. "Or in your case, guys she loves."

Marie blew out a deep breath. "Then I guess we're gonna see what kind of woman I'm made of."

"They're ahead of schedule," Jay said walking back over to them. "Only two minutes out."

They turned to the north watching the sky.

When she got her first glimpse of the business jet in the distance, Marie bounced on her feet. The closer the jet got, the more anxious she became. At one point, Jay pulled her in front of him holding onto her shoulders, to keep her in place.

She could see the jet tilt slightly after making a slow turn lining up with the runway. She bit her bottom lip when the landing gear descended from the plane. Within seconds the plane's main wheels touched the tarmac and skipped.