Broken Lantern

Chapter Thirty-Three

The airport is packed when we arrive. We park and grab our things, running for the door, hoping to make it through security checks in time to make our flight. We pass blurry faces as we run through the terminal, only stopping once we reach security. They go through our bags, painstakingly slow, making me happy with our decision to bring as little as possible.

They try to give me a hard time abut bringing Darry's urn onto the plane, but I am somehow able to talk them into giving me a pass; maybe they felt sorry for the too young to be a widow girl standing in front of them, who knows? I'm not one to question their reasoning, I thank them, and we walk on through.

We make it to the boarding area right as they're starting to close the door. Kevin hollers for her to hold the door and she stops, opening the door to allow us through, only stopping us long enough to take out tickets.

We get to the plane and take our seats. Thankfully we're in seats that sit next to a window. Last time I was on a plane, Darry let me have the window seat and it really helped to calm my nerves about flying. I look to Kevin, questioning him with my eyes, and he moves aside allowing me to take the seat that I prefer.

We begin to roll down the runway and Kevin looks over at me, smiling. "Nervous?" He asks, taking my hand in his and kissing it. I hadn't even noticed I was grasping the arm of the seat so hard, until he pried my fingers from it. "I don't like the "whoosh" feeling in my belly when we take off, that's all", I tell him, trying to give him my best possible smile.

He nods in understanding and puts his arm around my shoulder, allowing me to lay my head on his chest as we take off into the clouds. Once the plane steadies, I look out the window and see the tiny terminal beginning to get smaller and smaller until I can't see it anymore. There is nothing but blue sky and clouds around us now; it's incredibly beautiful and calming actually. Kevin leans over me, looking out the window, taking it all in, his green eyes getting bigger and then smaller as he tries to make out anything on the ground below us. Unable to see anything really, he sits back and settles into his seat, closing his eyes.

We sleep through some of the flight, exhausted from the night before and the lack of real sleep that came from nerves over leaving Dally.

I wake up sometime before we land and find Kevin awake, holding his phone in front of him, headphones in. I peer over at the small screen and see that he's watching a broadcast of Pastor Rainey's sermon from this morning. He looks over at me and smiles but doesn't stop the broadcast.

When we land in Oregon, we collect our things and head off to our hotel. I booked a different hotel than the one Darry and I had stayed in because it just felt awkward to even think of staying in our honeymoon hotel with my new fiancé.

The hotel we're staying in isn't far from the other one, but it's not as nice; it's still a great place, and still right on the beach, thankfully. I wanted to be right there again, so we could spend some time enjoying the sounds of the waves and the seagulls.

It's been almost a full year since I was here with Darry, but it feels more like years. So much has happened, so much has changed; I'm not even the same person that I was then.

We put our things in our room and call to let Joel know we made it safely, and to check on Dally. When we are satisfied that she's ok, we head down to the water. This side of the beach is much more crowded than the side that I was on last time. We manage to find a spot to sit down and begin to watch the people around us. They're playing in the water, splashing and laughing; every now and then you'll hear someone scream out in shock as they're pulled into the cool water, but it's immediately followed by happy squeals and joyful chatter.

I look to my right when I hear a baby begin to coo and feel a sudden pang of regret grow in my belly. "Maybe we should have brought Dally", I tell Kevin, still watching the chubby baby play happily on the blanket next to her mommy and daddy. I look back at Kevin as he sees why I am wishing we had our daughter with us. "I miss her too, but I think we were right by not bringing her on the plane." He tells me, asking if I want to go put my toes in the water.

We leave our tiny little spot on the sand and walk toward the water. We're not too far from their pier and when I look down to see it, I notice there's a lot of commotion with a bunch of people standing around. They're filming. "Oh! Look, Kevin!" I say, excitedly, while I'm hitting his arm. He rubs his arm and looks at me and then to the pier.

"What is it?" He asks, squinting his eyes, trying to see what's going on.

"They're filming a movie or something. Look at the cameras and lifts, and the two people standing at the end of the pier." I tell him, trying to get him as excited as I am.

But he isn't impressed, he's more interested in getting me into the water. He comes over to me, sweeps me into his arms and walks into the cold water. I squeal when the water hits my warm flesh, raising goosebumps all over my body.

Kevin laughs and locks his arms around me, pulling me into him. He's in a kind of sitting, kind of not sitting position, squatted down in the water, allowing me to sit on his knees as he walks us around.

"I'd really like to kiss you right now, but there are too many people around; too many kids. Including the one that hasn't stopped watching you since we came into the water." He says, laughing and nodding toward a little blonde-haired boy sitting on the beach with his feet in the water. He's sitting at the water's edge, allowing the waves to come up and cover his feet and then pull back out into the ocean surrounding us. But he's also staring at me, a small smile across his face. He can't be more than 9 years old, and he looks so sweet.

I turn to look at Kevin and smile at him, "Jealous, are we?" I tease him. I put my arms around the back of his neck and lock my fingers into each other, then pull back and drop my head back into the water. When I come back up, he asks me, "I don't know, do I have competition?" He winks at me and looks over at the little boy, but he's not there anymore.

I'm just about to lean in to kiss Kevin when I feel a small, gentle tap on my shoulder. "Excuse me", a tiny little voice says. I turn around quickly and come face to face with the adorable little blonde-haired boy from the beach.

"Yes?" I ask, intrigued and surprised that he came out into the water alone.

"Are you an angel?" The little boy asks me, a small smile starting to crinkle up on the corners of his mouth. I know exactly where this is going but I have to admit, I'm impressed, so I answer him, playing along.

"No, why do you ask sweetie?"

"Because Heaven just called and reported one missing", the little boy said, and turned to swim back to the shore. Me and Kevin look at each other and burst out laughing.

"That little player has got a lot of nerve coming out here to hit on my woman, and with you locked around me too!"

Still laughing I look at the shore and see that he has taken his place right back where he was earlier. Only now he's got an older man sitting with him, that must be his dad. When the little boy sees me looking, he smiles and winks at me. Sending me and Kevin back into hysterics.

"Oh, his dad is gonna have to watch him closely, that one's gonna be trouble!" I tell Kev, as he swings me around, taking my attention from the boy and putting it right back on him. I start to say something, and he locks his lips to mine, kissing me without hesitation, without reason, he pulls me close to him, as if he's reminding me that I belong to only him.