Death Benefits

Ray glanced at Graham and Willow, sitting across the aisle from Ginger and the two little girls. Steve and Helen Courtney sat across the aisle from Ray, with Larry Bager and Preston Black in front of Graham and Willow. Someone had made a concerted effort to keep the family together. To Ray’s surprise, no one joined him. He had three seats to himself.

A flight attendant handed Lucy and Brittany blankets and pillows. Lucy wrapped herself from head to foot with the blanket, and pushed a pillow beneath her, craning to see out the window as they took off.

Before they had reached cruising altitude, Ray saw Brittany lie across Ginger’s lap, and Ginger’s head lolled sideways. He wanted to nudge her and remind her of the crick she would have in her neck if she stayed that way for long.

He remembered flying with her to Belarus a couple of times, usually overnight flights. He could never understand the logic of traveling at night. It wasn’t as if most people were going to sleep—at least, he never did. Ginger was one of the few people who seemed able to sleep anywhere, anytime. He never could.

Ginger always awakened with a stiff neck. On their second flight to Belarus, he’d given her a pillow to support her neck. She’d taken it with her on every trip after that. But she hadn’t brought it with her this time.

He glanced toward Lucy, and saw her watching him through the crack between her seat and Ginger’s. He grinned and winked at her, and she retreated back into her cocoon, hiding from the world. But why?

He unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over the seat in front of him, pressed the release and gently pushed Ginger’s seat back the two inches the airlines allotted for stretching out. Not generous, but better than nothing.

At the movement, Brittany snuggled closer to Ginger’s shoulder. Ginger’s lips parted slightly.

Ray couldn’t help watching her, moved by the vulnerability that sleep always brought. How he wished—

Her eyes opened. For a quick moment, her gaze remained tender, holding his, warming with the start of a smile.

Then those same eyes chilled, memory obviously returning. The moment ended, and Ray felt a sharp prick of sorrow.

“I didn’t want you to get a crick in your neck,” he explained, suddenly awkward.

She nodded, resettling. “Thank you.” Her tone didn’t invite further conversation.

He returned to his seat, once again saddened by the loss of their former closeness. He rebuked himself for this inability to let the past go, but logic wasn’t a part of this relationship. Had it ever been?

Lucy’s head popped over the top of her seat, and she stared at him, her gaze solemn.

“My name’s Ray,” he whispered.

She nodded, grimacing, as if to say, Of course I knew that. Do you think I’m deaf?

“I believe this must be your first flight,” he said.

She didn’t say anything, but her eyes widened.

“Do you like it so far?” he asked.

She hesitated, then whispered, “Why do you want to know?”

Her question surprised him. Not something he’d have expected an eight-year-old to ask. Then he remembered about her mother. Lucy was behaving like a child whose mother had left her and her sister at home alone at night, careful to avoid talking to strangers, in case someone asked her about her home life.

“I remember my first flight.” Ray continued to whisper. “My uncle took me up when I was ten years old. He had his own airplane, and he knew I was afraid of heights, so he talked me through takeoff. I loved it immediately. He flew me over the whole town of Branson, where I grew up.”

Lucy blinked at him. “Why are you telling me about it?”

Again, her response startled him. “So you won’t be so afraid.”

The blanket she’d worn over her head slid to her shoulders. “I’m not afraid of flying.”

He leaned a little closer. “I can tell you’re afraid of something, though.”

She pulled the blanket back over her head.

“I saw how frightened you were back at the airport,” Ray said a moment later. “You haven’t relaxed since I first saw you in Springfield. Are you afraid to fly over the ocean?”

Lucy shook her head.

“I saw how tightly you held Brittany’s hand as we boarded the plane.”

“Jet. It’s a jet.”

“Oh, excuse me. You’re right, of course.”

“I know why you’re trying to be nice to me,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows.

“You’re talking to me because you like Aunt Ginger, and you want her to like you.”

Ray laughed, hoping his laughter didn’t offend Lucy.

She smiled, as if pleased that she’d caused this kind of reaction.

“Something funny?” came Ginger’s sleep-riddled voice.

“Sorry,” he whispered.

Lucy intrigued Ray. She reminded him of one of the kids at the children’s home he helped support in Columbia—the child with the abusive father. Ray knew Lucy had endured some hardships in her short childhood, as had Brittany.

More reason to do everything in his power to see to it that this experience was a good one for her.

Lucy wasn’t the only one who appeared unable to relax. Graham, Willow, Ginger, Preston, and this unexpected wild card in the mix, Larry Bager, all seemed hyperwatchful of the children, and of the crowds around them at the airport.

Ray studied the reflection of Lucy’s face as she gazed out the window. What was she thinking right now? Was she simply looking at the clouds, enjoying her first chance to observe them from above instead of below?

Or was something darker weighing on her mind?

“Lucy?” he said softly, unwilling to leave well enough alone.

A moment later, her head appeared over the top of the seat. She looked wary of him still. “How do you know our names? You said Brittany’s name, too, when you talked to me awhile ago.”

“Graham is one of my best friends, and he talks about you girls all the time.”

“He does?”

“He sure does. He’s very much looking forward to the adoption.”

Her eyes filled with sudden, surprised interest, and he could tell she was trying not to smile. “If Graham is one of your best friends, then why doesn’t Aunt Ginger like you, too?”

“Oh, well, that’s another story entirely.”

She tilted her head to one side and waited, as if ready to hear the story.

“I’ve got a lot of extra room back here,” he said. “It’s going to be a long flight. Want to spread out a little? I’ll let you have my window seat. That way Ginger and Brittany will have more room to relax and—”

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