As far as comfort levels went, my previous plane rides weren't horrible, but they paled in comparison to the luxury of Frannie's jet. That didn't mean I was any calmer about flying. Rick laughed about it, Nate was trying every trick he could think of to keep me relaxed, and Frannie decided talking to me nonstop was the way to go.
Gary and Vinnie were doing their best to stay out of my way. I couldn't blame them. If I saw someone on a plane sweating and begging to be let out before the plane even started, I'd want to be somewhere else.
"I still can't get over how much you hate flying," Rick said as I glared at him.
"Just you wait, Freddie, one of these days I'm going to pay you back for you always laughing at me," I said with conviction.
"Oh, I have no doubt about that. I have to get my chuckles in while I can, though. One of these days you're really going to kick my ass, and after that I'm afraid I won't be laughing as much."
"Last time we sparred, I'm pretty sure I did just that, so why are you still laughing?" I asked, remembering our battle a couple of days prior where I ended up pinning him for the first time.
"I may have let you win, just so you'd quit whining about me always beating you," he replied.
"That's crap and you know it. You gave your all and I still beat you."
I was pretty sure that wasn't true, but it felt better to say it. He was supposed to be my protector, so being stronger and able to fight better than me was kind of in his job description.
"One of these days I'll let you see my full strength, and then you can make an educated decision on whether I held back or not."
Sometimes that man was way too cocky for his own good. I really needed to work harder, so I could for sure beat him at a hundred percent. Then we'd see who had the last laugh.
"So what do you think Alaska is like?" Frannie asked, breaking up what could've been a fun demonstration of my fighting skills. We'd been in the air for a while, and I was surprised she'd waited that long to talk about our destination.
"I don't know, but rumor is it tends to be cold. I hope you packed a lot of warm clothes," I replied. She already had her suitcases onboard before we got there, but I expected she had more than all the rest of us combined.
I was still in shock that she was actually even on the plane with us. After Nate informed me that she was coming along, I called her and tried to talk her out of it. It really wasn't a place where Frannie would enjoy herself and I'd like to not have to hear her whine about it for days.
"Of course. I brought things for every possible situation." I didn't doubt that. She probably had a couple evening dresses in case a spontaneous ball broke out. "How big is this town again? Do you think they'll have a place I can do some shopping?"
I started cackling. "Frannie, it's the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. I believe the Bering Sea isn't that far away if you want to check it out, but I'm pretty sure a mall was not high on the list of priorities for the people who live there. Not freezing to death is probably just a little more important. You're lucky they even have Internet access. I think you'll find this group of people live a very different life than you are used to."
I had checked to verify Internet would be available. There were a lot of things I could live without, but a computer capable of answering any questions I had wasn't one of them. Plus, I couldn't see Vinnie functioning without being in constant contact with a search engine.
She gave a little pout. "Well, maybe my arrival will be a good thing for them. I may just have to open up a shopping center for them."
At least the idea would occupy her time a little, but a city with no major roads coming to it didn't really need a big shopping center. I was pretty sure if even a discount chain store opened up there, the residents would go into shock.
"I don't think you'll have enough time to build anything. I'm hoping we can find my cousin quickly and fly back home."
We didn't tell Frannie and Gary that we were phoenixes. That really wasn't something that came up in conversation, so I made Nate tell them an alternate reason for us dropping everything and heading to Alaska.
He didn't think letting them know about the whole phoenix thing would cause any problems, but he didn't know Frannie as well as I did. That kind of information in her hands would be dangerous. I thought it was scary in my mother's hands, and she was a phoenix. Frannie wasn't, so self-preservation didn't factor in.
"I know and I have wedding plans to finish. I'm really glad I brought my satellite phone. The wedding planner had a bit of a fit when I told her I may not be reachable for a few days. I swear, sometimes she acts like this is her wedding," she replied. "How long is this flight anyway?"
"It's your plane, I would have thought you knew all the flight details," I said.
"I just get on the plane and let the pilot worry about any of the details," she retorted back and my head started to hurt a little.
Sometimes I thought she was a little too trusting. What if the pilot wanted to kidnap her for ransom and headed off in the wrong direction? She would never know. I, on the other hand, had learned at an early age to trust no one. The ability to read other's minds made that a little bit easier on me, but I still didn't even trust what they were thinking to be true. In the past few months, I'd had too many guns pointed in my general direction.
"We'll arrive in about twelve hours. We only have to stop for fuel once." Nate informed us as he continued to hold my hand while rubbing my palm.
It was kind of cute how hard he tried to make the experience as peaceful as he could for me. He hadn't found anything that worked yet, but it was still cute.
We'd been in the air for four hours, so only about eight more hours of going crazy. I just had to keep conversation going, so I didn't think about the gremlins working their way up the plane's wings. As long as Nate kept me from looking outside, I wouldn't have to see the little monsters either.
I'd looked out the window quickly before takeoff and I was fairly certain I saw a nest of green little goblins waking up to cause mayhem. Sometimes I had absolutely no imagination and others, well, let's just say my mind was a scary place.
"So, have you decided where the honeymoon is going to be?" I asked Frannie. Anything that had to do with her wedding should keep her talking for hours.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Gary has planned out two weeks for us at the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador. He wanted to show me the rainforest and has promised me I'll see pink dolphins. How awesome does that sound?"
"That actually sounds really cool. I thought a trip to Italy, France or somewhere else known for its 'romantic' places would have been your pick."
"My initial thought was to go to Venice, but since I'm getting everything I want for the wedding, I thought the honeymoon should be up to Gary. I'm glad I came to that decision, because it's so different," she said as she blew Gary a kiss. He was taking the staying out of my way literally and sitting across the cabin from me. "Have you guys made any more plans for your wedding?"
I looked down at the beautiful ring on my finger. I glanced at it often, hoping that something about it would bring back some of my memories. It had connections to Nate and my eldest daughter, but for some reason it didn't trigger any scenes of my old life.
"No. We haven't moved past the 'officially engaged' stage. At least I haven't. Nate probably has everything already reserved and is just waiting to tell me when I should show up."
"You guys have been engaged for a month, how can you not have at least talked about a date. If not a date, at least pick out a season."
As far as I was concerned, I had centuries to pick a date, so there was no need for me to rush into anything. "I'm thinking winter sounds good," I said out loud to appease Frannie. Mentally, I thought, "Yeah, when hell freezes over." Nate and Rick both laughed, obviously getting the message.
I got a little upset talking about a wedding between Nate and me because if I did wait the years I was planning, Frannie wouldn't be around to be my maid of honor. Since she'd already be married,
it would technically be matron of honor. Either way, it was sad to think about the day when she wouldn't be around. ?
"That would be really pretty. You could look like an ice princess with your pale skin and the snow around you. We should start thinking about locations that would work for an outdoor winter wedding. How about Chamonix?"
"Stop right there, Frannie," I said, terrified of just the thought of her planning my wedding. "It might be years before I decide I'm ready to get married. Any location you find might not be in business by then. When the time comes you'll be the first to know, even before Nate.
"At that time, I will gladly accept any help you can give me for making the actual plans. Remember, though, it isn't going to be as grand as your wedding. I want something small and simple, so I'm pretty sure Chamonix is out. Just the way your voice changed made me think it's probably in France somewhere."
"You clearly aren't up on your Olympic history. The first winter Olympics was held in Chamonix. As far as your wedding goes, I just know one of these days you're going to wake up and decide that today is the day and nothing is going to be prepared. You'll end up going to the courthouse and not even wearing that pretty dress you picked out." Frannie's lower lip hadn't retreated. For effect, she even pushed it out a little further.
"Don't worry. My mother would probably kill me if I didn't include her, so we'd have at least three hours to throw something together in order for her to make it. If anyone can accomplish a dazzling wedding in just hours, I'm sure you two can. I don't understand what the big deal about having the wedding at the courthouse is. People get married there every day."
The look I received let me know that if I ever mentioned the word courthouse again, my life was at risk. I still found it funny that ever since I'd become engaged, everyone else was in a hurry to get me down the aisle. I'd figured out that I wasn't going to escape Nate, and once I got my full memory back, I was sure there'd be no reason for them to worry about me being a runaway bride.
Frannie continued to talk for a while, making me sleepy. I wanted to be wedding supportive, but it was topic that was almost better left as a bedtime story for me. Nate noticed and had me snuggle up next to him, so I could take a nap.
There were certain times that it was nice when the people around you could read your mind and fulfill your needs without having to speak. Other times it was extremely annoying, and caused me to launch things across the room at them. I tended to get a lecture anytime I used that particular power against Nate.
When I woke up, we were landing at a very small airport in Eek. I determined it was Eek by the snow I saw in every direction. Okay, maybe not every direction, but there was snow.
I was starting to think Nate's idea about knocking me out before flights was a pretty good one. Things went a lot smoother when I didn't have to picture all the ways the plane could fall out of the sky.
We made our way off the plane to greet the one person waiting at the airport. He was a very tall, burly man. He had long hair so blonde it actually looked white. With piercing blue eyes, he looked like a Viking. I was surprised to see him in just a t-shirt and jeans. The air temperature had to be below zero and I was already freezing.
"Hi, I'm Kyle. We saw an unexpected plane coming in, so I ran over to meet the new arrivals," the man said as he reached his hand out to Nate.
As he waited for Nate to shake, he took in the rest of us, winking at me after he'd gotten his fill of looking. I didn't think much about it, because I was taking in his features just as intently. That didn't mean he wasn't barking up the wrong tree when it came to his little wink.
Before Nate could raise his hand, Rick quickly moved to stand between them and took a protective stance. I knew the other guy looked big, but I knew without a doubt that Nate was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
"Crap, did you know Elizabeth was living in a town of uniques?" Rick asked.
No one else made any noise of confusion. I technically didn't either, but my brain was trying to figure out what in the world Rick was talking about.
CHAPTER 3
If you want to win anything, you have to go a little berserk