Post by thankful24 on Jul 20, 2006 21:18:08 GMT -5
Title: My Wish
Author: Carrie
Rating: G
Disclaimer: As much as i wish i own them, i sadly do not.
Note: It's set in december, yeah i know, it's July, but i've been into a christmas music fix lately and this popped into my head. Merry Christmas everyone!! haha.
**MY WISH**
“You have got to be kidding me,” Keira Knightley said, staring at the reservation agent in disbelief.
“I wish I was, Ms. Knightley,” the agent replied in her Brooklyn accent as she cast a nervous glance at the various disgruntled customers gathered near the Delta check-in desk.
Keira leaned forward, speaking in hushed tones. “But I’m in first class.”
“I understand that,” the young lady said, “but both first class and coach are overbooked. And regrettably here was a glitch in our system that allowed agents to book passengers when the flight was already full. There was a lottery done earlier in order to decide who was placed on standby and who was able to get on the flight, and unfortunately, you’re on standby.”
“You don’t understand. I have special plans this year,” Keira almost whined.
“With all due respect, Ms. Knightley, this is Christmas Day. Everyone in this airport has special plans,” the agent tersely told her. “We’re terribly sorry about the overbooking, and we’re doing everything in our power to get the you and the other standby customers onto another flight as soon as possible.”
Keira blinked back the tears of frustration forming in her light brown eyes and adjusted the strap of her carry-on bag, which was already digging into her shoulder. “Well, how soon might that be?”
The agent looked as if she wished she were anywhere else but in that particular terminal of the New York Airport, and Keira felt the exact same way. “The earliest we can expect another flight to be available would be this evening.”
Keira’s whole form slumped at those words. “Thank you,” she softly said to the agent and walked over to the seating area, plopping down into an empty chair. She let her carry-on drop to the floor and curled up in the chair with a discouraged sigh.
She had been in the US for the past month, first to film a couple re-dos from her latest movie, which had just been released in the UK, and then for promotion of it in the US. There had been an even bigger flurry of promotion after she had won an Oscar for her last movie, and her management had wanted her to stay into and past the New Year, but she put her exhausted foot down and refused.
She was going home for Christmas.
To London.
And Orlando Bloom.
She closed her eyes as she listened to the holiday music being piped through the PA system in the waiting area, her heart aching for him, her mind replaying their last night together before she’d had to leave. The soft whispers, the gentle caresses, the lazy kisses, the sound of his voice speaking the syllables of her name in an intimate caress. This last month without him had been pure torture for her, as it always was when they were apart. Only being able to communicate with him by speaking to him on the phone or by dashing off hurried emails between her appearances didn‘t cut it for her, she desperately needed to see him, and hold him, and kiss him for that matter. She’d so been looking forward to going home.
This was supposed to be their first Christmas together as a couple, their first Christmas in their new home, their first Christmas with both their families blended together as one.
And now it was four in the afternoon on Christmas Day, and she was stranded in an airport in New York City.
She swallowed around the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat and dug around in her carry-on for her cell phone. Might as well call and give him the bad news now, she thought, pulling the phone out and hitting the single button that represented their home’s phone number.
It took three rings before he breathlessly answered, “Hello?”
Just the sound of his voice saying that solitary word was enough to send her pulse into overdrive. “What’s got you all out of breath? Fan girls chasing you again?”
He laughed. “Hey, darling.” She could envision that smile like sunshine spreading across his handsome face. “No, I was doing some last-minute cleaning before our families get here later, and I ran to grab the phone in case it was you.”
“You mean you were doing some last-minute throwing-everything-in-the-hallway-closet-and-closing-the-door, don’t you?” she teased with a soft chuckle, knowing Orlando’s idea of cleaning all too well.
He pretended to sound offended. “Don’t make me regret taking this call. I’m sure I could find another girl who would be so happy to be with me that she wouldn’t feel the need to insult me all the time.”
Keira made a noise into the phone. “Yeah, well, all I gotta do to replace you is go out and buy myself a five-dollar stand up Orlando Bloom cut out at the video store. It’d be quieter, neater, and it wouldn’t keep hogging the blankets at night.”
“Ooh, that hurts!” he joked. “So what’s up, Keir? You’re calling to let me know you’re boarding your plane?”
She gripped her cell phone tighter at his words, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.
“That’s the thing…,” she weakly said.
“What’s the matter, darling?”
“The flight’s been overbooked, and they’ve got me on standby,” she said in a rush, the words tumbling over each other off in her British tongue. “I tried arguing with them, but they chose the standby people by lottery basis in order to be fair to everyone. They’re trying to work us onto another flight, but it might not leave until this evening, if then.” She paused. “I even thought for a minute about throwing a celebrity fit, but then I didn’t want to face my management if I ended up all over the British tabloids for acting like a two-year-old throwing a bloody tantrum.”
“Oh, Keir” was the only thing he whispered, and the disappointment so obvious in his voice brought tears to her eyes again.
“I know,” she whispered back. “Somehow we never seem to catch a break, do we?”
“We did the day we auditioned for Pirates,” he said. “And the day we first admitted we were in love….and the day we moved in together…..”
At his sweet words, the tears Keira had been trying to hold back spilled over, and she hurriedly swiped at her face with the sleeve of her jacket, hoping that no photographers were lurking about and getting shots of her crying on her cell phone. “If I remember right,” she said, “that day we met was when i ran into you coming around the corner because I was late for my audition…the day we first admitted we were in love was when we got stuck in that hotel elevator in the Caribbean for five hours….and the day we moved in together you broke your arm trying to help Caleb and my Dad bring in the sofa.”
He laughed his sweet again, but this time it sounded off, as if he too were in tears. “Yeah, well, I didn’t say they were perfect days. But they were days I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I’ll do the best I can to get there, Or…I swear. I’m camping out here in the airport until another flight opens up.”
“Just be careful, darling,” he said. “And call me when you get that other flight.”
“I will,” she promised. “I love you, Orlando.”
His voice grew soft and husky. “I love you too, darling. ‘Bye.”
“’Bye.”
He hung up, and she hit “end” on her phone, shoving it back into her bag. She pulled herself upright in the chair and tapped her fingers rhythmically against her thigh to keep herself from crying any further.
“Attention passengers, Flight 424 to London will be boarding in 30 minutes at Gate 10. Please have your tickets and boarding passes ready. Again, that’s Flight 424 to London, boarding in 30 minutes at Gate 10.”
Upon hearing those words, Keira immediately lost her battle. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in the protective cocoon of her folded arms, her tears dampening her jeans.
God, she thought, please let me get home to him today….
~*~
Orlando stepped into their huge bedroom and eased the door closed behind him, so that none of the family would notice that he had escaped down the hall. He sank down in the purple flowered loveseat and nursed the glass of red wine he carried. He gazed out the windows, listening to the holiday music playing via the sound system with which he’d outfitted the house.
He couldn’t count how many times he’d found Keira in here, curled up on their couch, either scribbling her thoughts in her tattered journal, reading a novels and scripts, or simply staring out at their beautifully-manicured backyard, as if she still couldn’t believe it was theirs. He usually ended up joining her, either working on something of his own beside her, which he normally ended up cradling her head in his lap, stroking her hair as she daydreamed, with Sparrow, their puppy, stretched out alongside the loveseat.
It was their favorite room in the house, and that was why he was here now, seeking a few minutes of solitude.
He missed her, desperately, and he hoped that by coming in here, to a room that held so many peaceful, loving, and happy memories, he could bring her a little closer to him.
He blinked back the tears that came all too readily to his eyes. Snow had fallen the night before, and their backyard now looked like something out of a painting, white and pristine and glistening. Keira would have been over the moon if she’d been there. She’d loved snow as a child, but the last couple of years, it seemed, she was always away from home when it blanketed the city. He could just imagine her now, yelling “Snow, Orlando, look at the snow!” and tearing outside with no coat or boots on, pelting him with snowballs the second he stepped out after her.
God, he wished she were there.
The only links he’d had to her the whole month were the phone and the computer – and though he tried to pour his feelings out to her in daily emails, nothing was as good as seeing her face to face, being able to touch her and talk to her in person. When they’d moved in together, he’d known that their separations would be hard on both of them, but he was determined that they would make it through, that their relationship would survive despite their independent careers.
And if this had been any other day, he would have been able to get through it.
But it was Christmas.
And she was three thousand miles away in New York, while he was there in London with their families, trying to make the best of the holiday while inside he felt as if he were missing half his heart.
He knew logically that it wasn’t her fault; she hadn’t planned on being stuck in an airport, and that she was probably there with a lot of other people whose families were missing them just as badly. However, that didn’t ease the pain in his heart any as he glanced down at his watch and saw that it was already nearing 5:00 in the afternoon.
She hadn’t called him, which meant that she hadn’t gotten a flight yet.
Even with the time difference, she would have to catch a plane sometime in the next two hours in order to make it home before Christmas was over.
He closed his eyes and envisioned her in his mind: her light dirty blonde, wavy hair just barely brushing her shoulders; her big brown eyes; the sound of her laugh; that smile of hers that made him fall even more in love with her every time he saw it.
Taking a deep breath, he whispered one brief sentence, straight from his heart and soul.
“God, please let her make it home before midnight.”
~*~
Keira read the same sentence in the magazine article for the fifth time in ten minutes and finally gave up, tossing the tabloid aside with a sigh. It had only been fifteen minutes since she’d been informed of her standby position, yet it felt as if it had been much, much longer.
And if it already felt like it had been hours to her….well, then she was in for a very long wait, indeed.
“Excuse me.”
The words came in a southern accent from an elderly lady sitting to her right, wearing a baggy dark blue cardigan over her dress of lighter blue. Her soft grey hair was pulled back into a loose bun with a few tendrils having escaped and hanging around her wrinkled face. Her eyes, however, were what captured Keira’s attention. They were probably the purest blue that she had ever seen and filled with nothing but kindness as they looked back at her.
“Yes?” Keira softly asked.
“Are you finished with that magazine, hon?” The smile on the woman’s face reminded Keira so much of her grandmother, who had passed away before she met Orlando, that she found herself fighting back tears once more.
“Here you go,” Keira said and handed the magazine to the woman, blinking furiously.
However, the woman set the magazine aside and peered more closely at Keira. “What’s the matter, dear?”
Keira’s lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry, ma’am…no offense, but I don’t usually go pouring my heart out to strangers.”
“What’s your name?”
Keira looked down at her hands, twisting almost compulsively in her lap. “Keira,” she finally answered.
“Well, Keira, I’m Jean. And now that we know each other’s names, we’re not strangers anymore, so you can tell me why you’re so upset.”
Keira couldn’t help a small smile at the woman’s persuasiveness, and she began to talk. “I was supposed to be going home for Christmas. My boyfriend and I just moved in together a few months ago…we had kind of a rocky start, but we got all that worked out…and this was going to be our first Christmas together in our new house, with both our families all together under one roof.” A fresh tear slid from her left eye down her cheek, and she brushed at it with her fingertips. “But it doesn’t look like I’ll make it home in time.”
“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” Jean asked.
“Orlando.” A little spark of joy flared up in her just from speaking his name. “Would you like to see a picture of him?”
Jean smiled encouragingly. “I would love to.”
Keira fished her wallet out of her carry-on. A picture of Orlando that she had taken, was tucked into a side pocket, she had taken it over the summer, in their backyard, and it was one of her favorites. He’d been wrestling with Sparrow moments before she’d taken the shot, so his dark curls were in complete disarray and his t-shirt and shorts were rumpled and stained with grass marks. But he was laughing – the warmth of his wonderful smile easily translating through the camera lens – and his brown eyes were sparkling and crinkled up at the corners as he pointed a finger at her, threatening retribution for her taking the picture.
“This is him” She said and handed the picture to Jean.
“He’s a very handsome young man,” The elderly woman said.
“He’s amazing,” Keira said. “Talented, and thoughtful, and smart,…and dorky…” She half-laughed as she took the photo back from Jean and traced her fingers along his image. “And I miss him.” She added, her eyes glazing over with a fresh set of tears for the fourth time today.
“Why won’t you make it home in time?” Jean asked.
“The airline had a glitch in their system, so the flight was overbooked, and a bunch of us were put on standby.” Keira gazed wistfully at Orlando’s face one last time before carefully placing the photo back in her wallet. “They don’t know when they’ll be able to get us another flight…the agent at check-in said that it probably wouldn’t be any sooner than tonight.”
“What flight are you booked on, lovey?”
Keira looked up at Jean, her eyes shining. “The one to London.”
Without hesitating, Jean opened the large white purse sitting on her lap and removed a Delta Airlines envelope, which she held out to Keira. “Here. Take this.”
Keira was confused. “Wh-what is it?”
“It’s a ticket and boarding pass for the London flight.”
Keira’s eyes grew wide as she looked from the envelope to Jean. “I can’t do that…surely you have family you’re going to see….”
“I do,” Jean said. “I’m going to see my son. But a long time ago, I missed out on spending Christmas with someone who was very dear to my heart, and I vowed back then that if I could, I would prevent it from happening to someone else.” She smiled. “And now it seems that I’ve finally gotten my chance, even though it’s taken over fifty years.”
“Who was it?” Keira asked.
“My fiancé,” Jean answered. “We met at a dance, when he was stationed here during the war. When the war ended, he went back home to London and made arrangements for me to come over and join him at Christmas, so that we could announce our engagement and begin planning our wedding.”
“What happened?”
“He died in a car accident three days before I was due to arrive,” Jean quietly said.
“I’m so sorry,” Keira whispered, her heart aching with sympathy for the older woman.
“I fell in love some years later with another wonderful man from America, and we had three beautiful children together,” Jean said. “But I never forgot that Christmas I missed out on with Charles, and I don’t want you to miss Christmas with your Orlando. So please, take the envelope.”
Keira bit her lower lip, and then slowly reached out, taking it from Jean’s hand. “Thank you,” she emotionally whispered. “I’ll never forget this.”
“You just enjoy your holiday, hon,” Jean said, patting Keira’s leg.
“Attention, passengers. Flight 424 to London is now boarding at Gate 10. Please have your tickets and boarding passes ready. Flight 424 to London, now boarding at Gate 10.”
“Oh my, I gotta go!” Keira jumped up, fumbling with her bag. “Thank you so much!” She bent and hugged Jean tightly, kissing the woman’s soft cheek before running to the gates like a bat out of hell, dodging the slower people in her path and nearly getting hit by the courtesy cart riding across her way.
Running to home and Orlando.
~*~
Orlando closed the door behind his mother and father, who predictably had been the last to leave, and leaned against it with a sigh. He knew it sounded horrible, but he was glad to see everyone gone. Having to maintain a cheerful façade in front of not only his family but Keira’s as well, had been incredibly draining for him, and he was relieved that he could drop the act now that he was alone.
His mother and Mrs. Knightley had done most of the cleaning up and putting away of leftovers before they had left, so the only thing he had left to do was start the dishwasher, which he did. He opened the door to the large refrigerator and stared at the neatly piled and labeled containers of food there – Sparrow sitting near his legs, waiting patiently for the possibility of a treat – before closing it. He’d barely eaten anything at dinner, and he still wasn’t hungry now.
He wandered out into the living room and impulsively turned off all the lamps so that the only light came from the small clear bulbs on the Christmas tree. He sank down onto the large sofa and propped his bare feet up on the coffee table, just gazing at the lights and the beauty of the outdoor winter scene visible through the window behind the tree.
Sparrow jumped up on the sofa beside him and rested his head on Orlando’s knee with a soft whine.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, boy,” Orlando whispered, gently rubbing behind the dog’s ears.
He’d spent every day since she’d left after Thanksgiving working on decorating the house for Christmas – buying a real pine tree for their living room and adorning it with lights and glass ornaments and beads and bows; hanging a fresh wreath on their front door; putting out all the little Christmas statues and knick-knacks he’d been able to find; even hanging mistletoe in every doorway of the house so that every time they took so much as a step, they would be forced to kiss.
He’d wanted everything to look perfect for her return home.
And now here it was, ten p.m. on Christmas Day – he noticed, craning his neck to look at the grandfather clock – and no Keira.
“It’s not her fault,” he reminded himself, those four words having been repeated so often that day that they had practically become a mantra to him, and for the most part, he did understand.
But there was a small part of him that was angry at her for not being able to clear her schedule, for not being able to make the time for him that he had made for her.
“Why the hell did she have to do that stupid promotion stuff anyway?” he grumbled. “It’s just another promotional tool for that movie she insisted on doing.” He froze as he realized what he was saying and put his face in his hands, immediately ashamed of himself. “What is wrong with me?” he whispered moments later, running his fingers through his hair roughly. “What kind of boyfriend am I, Sparrow?” he asked the dog, who just cocked his head and stared back at him. “She misses one holiday because of something that’s totally not her fault, and here I am, acting like a spoiled brat.”
Sparrow bent his head to nudge Orlando's knee with his nose, and Orlando smiled tiredly down at him. “C’mon, boy. There’s no reason to stay up any longer. I’m just gonna depress both of us. Let’s get some sleep.”
With that, Orlando stood up and stretched, then made his down the hall to his and Keira’s bedroom.
And the big, lonely bed.
Author: Carrie
Rating: G
Disclaimer: As much as i wish i own them, i sadly do not.
Note: It's set in december, yeah i know, it's July, but i've been into a christmas music fix lately and this popped into my head. Merry Christmas everyone!! haha.
**MY WISH**
“You have got to be kidding me,” Keira Knightley said, staring at the reservation agent in disbelief.
“I wish I was, Ms. Knightley,” the agent replied in her Brooklyn accent as she cast a nervous glance at the various disgruntled customers gathered near the Delta check-in desk.
Keira leaned forward, speaking in hushed tones. “But I’m in first class.”
“I understand that,” the young lady said, “but both first class and coach are overbooked. And regrettably here was a glitch in our system that allowed agents to book passengers when the flight was already full. There was a lottery done earlier in order to decide who was placed on standby and who was able to get on the flight, and unfortunately, you’re on standby.”
“You don’t understand. I have special plans this year,” Keira almost whined.
“With all due respect, Ms. Knightley, this is Christmas Day. Everyone in this airport has special plans,” the agent tersely told her. “We’re terribly sorry about the overbooking, and we’re doing everything in our power to get the you and the other standby customers onto another flight as soon as possible.”
Keira blinked back the tears of frustration forming in her light brown eyes and adjusted the strap of her carry-on bag, which was already digging into her shoulder. “Well, how soon might that be?”
The agent looked as if she wished she were anywhere else but in that particular terminal of the New York Airport, and Keira felt the exact same way. “The earliest we can expect another flight to be available would be this evening.”
Keira’s whole form slumped at those words. “Thank you,” she softly said to the agent and walked over to the seating area, plopping down into an empty chair. She let her carry-on drop to the floor and curled up in the chair with a discouraged sigh.
She had been in the US for the past month, first to film a couple re-dos from her latest movie, which had just been released in the UK, and then for promotion of it in the US. There had been an even bigger flurry of promotion after she had won an Oscar for her last movie, and her management had wanted her to stay into and past the New Year, but she put her exhausted foot down and refused.
She was going home for Christmas.
To London.
And Orlando Bloom.
She closed her eyes as she listened to the holiday music being piped through the PA system in the waiting area, her heart aching for him, her mind replaying their last night together before she’d had to leave. The soft whispers, the gentle caresses, the lazy kisses, the sound of his voice speaking the syllables of her name in an intimate caress. This last month without him had been pure torture for her, as it always was when they were apart. Only being able to communicate with him by speaking to him on the phone or by dashing off hurried emails between her appearances didn‘t cut it for her, she desperately needed to see him, and hold him, and kiss him for that matter. She’d so been looking forward to going home.
This was supposed to be their first Christmas together as a couple, their first Christmas in their new home, their first Christmas with both their families blended together as one.
And now it was four in the afternoon on Christmas Day, and she was stranded in an airport in New York City.
She swallowed around the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat and dug around in her carry-on for her cell phone. Might as well call and give him the bad news now, she thought, pulling the phone out and hitting the single button that represented their home’s phone number.
It took three rings before he breathlessly answered, “Hello?”
Just the sound of his voice saying that solitary word was enough to send her pulse into overdrive. “What’s got you all out of breath? Fan girls chasing you again?”
He laughed. “Hey, darling.” She could envision that smile like sunshine spreading across his handsome face. “No, I was doing some last-minute cleaning before our families get here later, and I ran to grab the phone in case it was you.”
“You mean you were doing some last-minute throwing-everything-in-the-hallway-closet-and-closing-the-door, don’t you?” she teased with a soft chuckle, knowing Orlando’s idea of cleaning all too well.
He pretended to sound offended. “Don’t make me regret taking this call. I’m sure I could find another girl who would be so happy to be with me that she wouldn’t feel the need to insult me all the time.”
Keira made a noise into the phone. “Yeah, well, all I gotta do to replace you is go out and buy myself a five-dollar stand up Orlando Bloom cut out at the video store. It’d be quieter, neater, and it wouldn’t keep hogging the blankets at night.”
“Ooh, that hurts!” he joked. “So what’s up, Keir? You’re calling to let me know you’re boarding your plane?”
She gripped her cell phone tighter at his words, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.
“That’s the thing…,” she weakly said.
“What’s the matter, darling?”
“The flight’s been overbooked, and they’ve got me on standby,” she said in a rush, the words tumbling over each other off in her British tongue. “I tried arguing with them, but they chose the standby people by lottery basis in order to be fair to everyone. They’re trying to work us onto another flight, but it might not leave until this evening, if then.” She paused. “I even thought for a minute about throwing a celebrity fit, but then I didn’t want to face my management if I ended up all over the British tabloids for acting like a two-year-old throwing a bloody tantrum.”
“Oh, Keir” was the only thing he whispered, and the disappointment so obvious in his voice brought tears to her eyes again.
“I know,” she whispered back. “Somehow we never seem to catch a break, do we?”
“We did the day we auditioned for Pirates,” he said. “And the day we first admitted we were in love….and the day we moved in together…..”
At his sweet words, the tears Keira had been trying to hold back spilled over, and she hurriedly swiped at her face with the sleeve of her jacket, hoping that no photographers were lurking about and getting shots of her crying on her cell phone. “If I remember right,” she said, “that day we met was when i ran into you coming around the corner because I was late for my audition…the day we first admitted we were in love was when we got stuck in that hotel elevator in the Caribbean for five hours….and the day we moved in together you broke your arm trying to help Caleb and my Dad bring in the sofa.”
He laughed his sweet again, but this time it sounded off, as if he too were in tears. “Yeah, well, I didn’t say they were perfect days. But they were days I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I’ll do the best I can to get there, Or…I swear. I’m camping out here in the airport until another flight opens up.”
“Just be careful, darling,” he said. “And call me when you get that other flight.”
“I will,” she promised. “I love you, Orlando.”
His voice grew soft and husky. “I love you too, darling. ‘Bye.”
“’Bye.”
He hung up, and she hit “end” on her phone, shoving it back into her bag. She pulled herself upright in the chair and tapped her fingers rhythmically against her thigh to keep herself from crying any further.
“Attention passengers, Flight 424 to London will be boarding in 30 minutes at Gate 10. Please have your tickets and boarding passes ready. Again, that’s Flight 424 to London, boarding in 30 minutes at Gate 10.”
Upon hearing those words, Keira immediately lost her battle. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in the protective cocoon of her folded arms, her tears dampening her jeans.
God, she thought, please let me get home to him today….
~*~
Orlando stepped into their huge bedroom and eased the door closed behind him, so that none of the family would notice that he had escaped down the hall. He sank down in the purple flowered loveseat and nursed the glass of red wine he carried. He gazed out the windows, listening to the holiday music playing via the sound system with which he’d outfitted the house.
He couldn’t count how many times he’d found Keira in here, curled up on their couch, either scribbling her thoughts in her tattered journal, reading a novels and scripts, or simply staring out at their beautifully-manicured backyard, as if she still couldn’t believe it was theirs. He usually ended up joining her, either working on something of his own beside her, which he normally ended up cradling her head in his lap, stroking her hair as she daydreamed, with Sparrow, their puppy, stretched out alongside the loveseat.
It was their favorite room in the house, and that was why he was here now, seeking a few minutes of solitude.
He missed her, desperately, and he hoped that by coming in here, to a room that held so many peaceful, loving, and happy memories, he could bring her a little closer to him.
He blinked back the tears that came all too readily to his eyes. Snow had fallen the night before, and their backyard now looked like something out of a painting, white and pristine and glistening. Keira would have been over the moon if she’d been there. She’d loved snow as a child, but the last couple of years, it seemed, she was always away from home when it blanketed the city. He could just imagine her now, yelling “Snow, Orlando, look at the snow!” and tearing outside with no coat or boots on, pelting him with snowballs the second he stepped out after her.
God, he wished she were there.
The only links he’d had to her the whole month were the phone and the computer – and though he tried to pour his feelings out to her in daily emails, nothing was as good as seeing her face to face, being able to touch her and talk to her in person. When they’d moved in together, he’d known that their separations would be hard on both of them, but he was determined that they would make it through, that their relationship would survive despite their independent careers.
And if this had been any other day, he would have been able to get through it.
But it was Christmas.
And she was three thousand miles away in New York, while he was there in London with their families, trying to make the best of the holiday while inside he felt as if he were missing half his heart.
He knew logically that it wasn’t her fault; she hadn’t planned on being stuck in an airport, and that she was probably there with a lot of other people whose families were missing them just as badly. However, that didn’t ease the pain in his heart any as he glanced down at his watch and saw that it was already nearing 5:00 in the afternoon.
She hadn’t called him, which meant that she hadn’t gotten a flight yet.
Even with the time difference, she would have to catch a plane sometime in the next two hours in order to make it home before Christmas was over.
He closed his eyes and envisioned her in his mind: her light dirty blonde, wavy hair just barely brushing her shoulders; her big brown eyes; the sound of her laugh; that smile of hers that made him fall even more in love with her every time he saw it.
Taking a deep breath, he whispered one brief sentence, straight from his heart and soul.
“God, please let her make it home before midnight.”
~*~
Keira read the same sentence in the magazine article for the fifth time in ten minutes and finally gave up, tossing the tabloid aside with a sigh. It had only been fifteen minutes since she’d been informed of her standby position, yet it felt as if it had been much, much longer.
And if it already felt like it had been hours to her….well, then she was in for a very long wait, indeed.
“Excuse me.”
The words came in a southern accent from an elderly lady sitting to her right, wearing a baggy dark blue cardigan over her dress of lighter blue. Her soft grey hair was pulled back into a loose bun with a few tendrils having escaped and hanging around her wrinkled face. Her eyes, however, were what captured Keira’s attention. They were probably the purest blue that she had ever seen and filled with nothing but kindness as they looked back at her.
“Yes?” Keira softly asked.
“Are you finished with that magazine, hon?” The smile on the woman’s face reminded Keira so much of her grandmother, who had passed away before she met Orlando, that she found herself fighting back tears once more.
“Here you go,” Keira said and handed the magazine to the woman, blinking furiously.
However, the woman set the magazine aside and peered more closely at Keira. “What’s the matter, dear?”
Keira’s lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry, ma’am…no offense, but I don’t usually go pouring my heart out to strangers.”
“What’s your name?”
Keira looked down at her hands, twisting almost compulsively in her lap. “Keira,” she finally answered.
“Well, Keira, I’m Jean. And now that we know each other’s names, we’re not strangers anymore, so you can tell me why you’re so upset.”
Keira couldn’t help a small smile at the woman’s persuasiveness, and she began to talk. “I was supposed to be going home for Christmas. My boyfriend and I just moved in together a few months ago…we had kind of a rocky start, but we got all that worked out…and this was going to be our first Christmas together in our new house, with both our families all together under one roof.” A fresh tear slid from her left eye down her cheek, and she brushed at it with her fingertips. “But it doesn’t look like I’ll make it home in time.”
“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” Jean asked.
“Orlando.” A little spark of joy flared up in her just from speaking his name. “Would you like to see a picture of him?”
Jean smiled encouragingly. “I would love to.”
Keira fished her wallet out of her carry-on. A picture of Orlando that she had taken, was tucked into a side pocket, she had taken it over the summer, in their backyard, and it was one of her favorites. He’d been wrestling with Sparrow moments before she’d taken the shot, so his dark curls were in complete disarray and his t-shirt and shorts were rumpled and stained with grass marks. But he was laughing – the warmth of his wonderful smile easily translating through the camera lens – and his brown eyes were sparkling and crinkled up at the corners as he pointed a finger at her, threatening retribution for her taking the picture.
“This is him” She said and handed the picture to Jean.
“He’s a very handsome young man,” The elderly woman said.
“He’s amazing,” Keira said. “Talented, and thoughtful, and smart,…and dorky…” She half-laughed as she took the photo back from Jean and traced her fingers along his image. “And I miss him.” She added, her eyes glazing over with a fresh set of tears for the fourth time today.
“Why won’t you make it home in time?” Jean asked.
“The airline had a glitch in their system, so the flight was overbooked, and a bunch of us were put on standby.” Keira gazed wistfully at Orlando’s face one last time before carefully placing the photo back in her wallet. “They don’t know when they’ll be able to get us another flight…the agent at check-in said that it probably wouldn’t be any sooner than tonight.”
“What flight are you booked on, lovey?”
Keira looked up at Jean, her eyes shining. “The one to London.”
Without hesitating, Jean opened the large white purse sitting on her lap and removed a Delta Airlines envelope, which she held out to Keira. “Here. Take this.”
Keira was confused. “Wh-what is it?”
“It’s a ticket and boarding pass for the London flight.”
Keira’s eyes grew wide as she looked from the envelope to Jean. “I can’t do that…surely you have family you’re going to see….”
“I do,” Jean said. “I’m going to see my son. But a long time ago, I missed out on spending Christmas with someone who was very dear to my heart, and I vowed back then that if I could, I would prevent it from happening to someone else.” She smiled. “And now it seems that I’ve finally gotten my chance, even though it’s taken over fifty years.”
“Who was it?” Keira asked.
“My fiancé,” Jean answered. “We met at a dance, when he was stationed here during the war. When the war ended, he went back home to London and made arrangements for me to come over and join him at Christmas, so that we could announce our engagement and begin planning our wedding.”
“What happened?”
“He died in a car accident three days before I was due to arrive,” Jean quietly said.
“I’m so sorry,” Keira whispered, her heart aching with sympathy for the older woman.
“I fell in love some years later with another wonderful man from America, and we had three beautiful children together,” Jean said. “But I never forgot that Christmas I missed out on with Charles, and I don’t want you to miss Christmas with your Orlando. So please, take the envelope.”
Keira bit her lower lip, and then slowly reached out, taking it from Jean’s hand. “Thank you,” she emotionally whispered. “I’ll never forget this.”
“You just enjoy your holiday, hon,” Jean said, patting Keira’s leg.
“Attention, passengers. Flight 424 to London is now boarding at Gate 10. Please have your tickets and boarding passes ready. Flight 424 to London, now boarding at Gate 10.”
“Oh my, I gotta go!” Keira jumped up, fumbling with her bag. “Thank you so much!” She bent and hugged Jean tightly, kissing the woman’s soft cheek before running to the gates like a bat out of hell, dodging the slower people in her path and nearly getting hit by the courtesy cart riding across her way.
Running to home and Orlando.
~*~
Orlando closed the door behind his mother and father, who predictably had been the last to leave, and leaned against it with a sigh. He knew it sounded horrible, but he was glad to see everyone gone. Having to maintain a cheerful façade in front of not only his family but Keira’s as well, had been incredibly draining for him, and he was relieved that he could drop the act now that he was alone.
His mother and Mrs. Knightley had done most of the cleaning up and putting away of leftovers before they had left, so the only thing he had left to do was start the dishwasher, which he did. He opened the door to the large refrigerator and stared at the neatly piled and labeled containers of food there – Sparrow sitting near his legs, waiting patiently for the possibility of a treat – before closing it. He’d barely eaten anything at dinner, and he still wasn’t hungry now.
He wandered out into the living room and impulsively turned off all the lamps so that the only light came from the small clear bulbs on the Christmas tree. He sank down onto the large sofa and propped his bare feet up on the coffee table, just gazing at the lights and the beauty of the outdoor winter scene visible through the window behind the tree.
Sparrow jumped up on the sofa beside him and rested his head on Orlando’s knee with a soft whine.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, boy,” Orlando whispered, gently rubbing behind the dog’s ears.
He’d spent every day since she’d left after Thanksgiving working on decorating the house for Christmas – buying a real pine tree for their living room and adorning it with lights and glass ornaments and beads and bows; hanging a fresh wreath on their front door; putting out all the little Christmas statues and knick-knacks he’d been able to find; even hanging mistletoe in every doorway of the house so that every time they took so much as a step, they would be forced to kiss.
He’d wanted everything to look perfect for her return home.
And now here it was, ten p.m. on Christmas Day – he noticed, craning his neck to look at the grandfather clock – and no Keira.
“It’s not her fault,” he reminded himself, those four words having been repeated so often that day that they had practically become a mantra to him, and for the most part, he did understand.
But there was a small part of him that was angry at her for not being able to clear her schedule, for not being able to make the time for him that he had made for her.
“Why the hell did she have to do that stupid promotion stuff anyway?” he grumbled. “It’s just another promotional tool for that movie she insisted on doing.” He froze as he realized what he was saying and put his face in his hands, immediately ashamed of himself. “What is wrong with me?” he whispered moments later, running his fingers through his hair roughly. “What kind of boyfriend am I, Sparrow?” he asked the dog, who just cocked his head and stared back at him. “She misses one holiday because of something that’s totally not her fault, and here I am, acting like a spoiled brat.”
Sparrow bent his head to nudge Orlando's knee with his nose, and Orlando smiled tiredly down at him. “C’mon, boy. There’s no reason to stay up any longer. I’m just gonna depress both of us. Let’s get some sleep.”
With that, Orlando stood up and stretched, then made his down the hall to his and Keira’s bedroom.
And the big, lonely bed.
, just what I needed! ;D
and yes, i plan to write more in the future, i have an idea brewing around in m head, haha. thanks again for the supoort!!
