Chapter Thirty-Five
Bee
‘Trip has requested our flight today with the powers that be. The crew we need are all available, and he’s just let me know that we should fly sometime today. We’re just waiting for an available slot and that’s just about as much as I know, Kendall.’
I pressed my cell tightly to my ear with one hand and blocked out the sound of the airport with a finger from my other. I heard her repeating what I’d already said back to Nonna.
‘Well, Nonna and I want to say that we both know you couldn’t have done anymore. He knows where to find you. It’s down to Nico now. We also want to say that we love you.’
A loud, unexpected sob left my mouth and I turned away from everyone else in the VIP lounge.
‘Don’t cry, Bee. I am convinced he will come to his senses. You know what men are like. You have to plant the seed and then let them think it was all their idea in the first place.’
Plant a seed.
I pressed a hand to my flat stomach. She wasn’t far wrong.
‘I have other news for you, but I’ll save it until I arrive home.’
‘Yes, Bee, you do that. This is and always will be your home.’ Nonna’s voice filled up my ear and I quickly worked out that her and Kendall had swapped places.
‘BEE.’ I heard Trip shout from the doorway of the lounge and snapped my head around to find him, as did several of the other ladies in the vast area with me.
Despite my melancholy over having to walk away from Nico, like many other females in the room, I could appreciate a handsome and charismatic man in a pilot’s uniform. As I waved my hand to him, he took off his cap and walked quickly towards me.
‘Trip’s here, Nonna,’ I explained to her as I removed the cell from my ear.
He finally arrived at where I was sitting.
‘If we can board in forty-five minutes, they can give us a slot.’ He tipped his forehead to me in question.
‘I can.’ I looked around me. I only had a small bag with me and had gone straight to the airport after leaving Nico, not even going back to Pearl’s to pick up the rest of my stuff. I had made a phone call to her explaining what I was doing and my strong urge to get back to Crete as soon as possible and she’d said she understood completely, and she’d fly over as soon as she could.
‘Is the plane ready?’ I questioned.
Trip put his head to one side and although he didn’t answer my question immediately his face gave me a “wadaya take me for” look.
‘Refuelled, stocked and flight crew are getting ready to board as I’m stood here talking to you.’
I put my cell back to my ear. ‘We should be leaving in about an hour,’ I explained as I lifted my eyebrows to Trip for him to clarify my words.
He nodded his head and bent to pick up the small bag I had at my feet. Then after offering me the crook of his arm, we walked out of the lounge and through to security.
‘Love you both.’ I spoke once again into my cell as Trip shouted out to also be heard, ‘Love ya, Perky… see ya soon.’
Then I disconnected the call and tried to settle myself. With every step I was taking I was walking away from the man I knew I would always love. I was walking away from Vegas, the one place I hated but always thought I would call home. To say I was upset was a complete understatement; I was gutted. I knew what I was doing was the right thing and for all the right reasons, but the finality of it all was breaking my heart. With my emotions threatening to get the better of me, I ran my free hand over my stomach again and used the strength of love I felt for the little being inside of me to drive my feet forward one after the other.
Trip produced our passports and my bag was checked. Then we each took a seat on the awaiting cart that would whisk us through the building to Nico’s private plane. Almost as if Trip could feel my emotions falling off me, he picked up my hand and placed it through his arm and silently he offered me his strength by rubbing my hand with his own.
It was strange being the only one aboard apart from the crew. But in truth, I knew I needed the time to myself. I needed the chance to mourn what I had so briefly had and then I would pick myself up and be happy about the new life that was growing inside of me. I curled myself up like a child into one of the large, leather chairs and with tears pouring down my face, I watched through the small window to the side of me as Trip pulled the plane up high into the sky and circled it just the once over The Strip. I placed my index finger to the window and for a split second I touched the large hotel and casino that was Nico’s, as in my head I said goodbye to him. Then I pulled the blanket one of the stewardesses had given me up and over my head as I feigned sleep.
I let the tears fall down my face, making no attempt to wipe them away. I could hear Trip going through the motions. This was the supreme commander speaking, we would be travelling at a height of such and such feet and it would be approximately so long until we touched down in Heathrow, London for our scheduled stop. I heard it all, somewhere in the background of my pain-filled brain, but registered none of it.
‘Today’s song isn’t going to be sung by me, but by another member of today’s crew… enjoy.’
The first line of the song sung to me by Nico as we’d danced together on the beach back in Crete entered my head, and initially I screwed my eyes tighter.
You’ve got to be joking? Why?
At that minute, I was trying to work out how life could be so damn cruel. Then to put the icing on the cake, it would stick a knife in just a little bit further before it twisted the blade deep in my gut.
Then as the second and third line of “Let It Be Me” by Elvis Presley filtered into my head, slowly I relaxed the white knuckled grip I had on the blanket over my head and let it drop down to my lap.
There, stood in front of the flight deck door, with his hands in his pockets was Nico.
He carried on singing the words and then after walking closer, he held out his hand to me. Without a single hesitation I lifted my hand and placed it into his, where he wrapped his fingers tightly around it.
‘Dance with me, mio angelo.’ His Italian accent had crept into his tone and I knew he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. ‘Dance with me and I beg of you… let it be me.’
Using his hand, I stood up. His arms wrapped around me tightly as he pulled me into his body. I let the smell of his bodywash fill my senses and the black shirt he was still wearing from earlier soak up the tears that were now continuously falling from my eyes.
His voice filled with more and more emotion as he attempted to sing the rest of the song to me and at the same time, he swayed our bodies to the beat of the music that was only audible to the two of us.
When the words to the song came to an end, I removed my face from his chest and looked up and into his eyes. The face that stared back at me was so full of emotion that fresh tears sprang from my eyes and ran rapidly down my cheeks.
‘I’m so sorry, Bee. This isn’t and never has been playacting on my part, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself it was. I want this with you. I want to make our very own family with you. I’ll never walk away again. I’ll love you until the end of forever. This scares the fuck out of me, but it scares me even more to let you go, because I wasn’t really living until you came into my world and I know I can’t live without you in my future.’