Chapter 3
The following day Neal and Candy arrived in the UK. Since Candy's trip was a secret to Albert, in the UK they're greeted by the Reagan's staff in London. Neal introduced Candy to his staff and gave instructions what to do should something bad happened. He spent a lot of time telling Candy what to do should anything bad happened. He gave her a list of the Reagan and Ardlay phone numbers across the UK too.
Finally, Candy and Neal took a train to the final destination. Neal took his backpack with him. He picked the seats in the last wagon of the train. He was really worried about Candy. He non-stopped debating if he should just take Candy back to America by force. After sometimes in the train, among the loud train sound, Candy could hear a banging noise in the background. She wondered what sound that was. Suddenly Neal got up, grabbed his bag and pulled Candy.
"Come with me, hurry," he said.
He didn't know for sure what sound that was either, but he sensed danger. Candy was so surprised and just followed his hurry move. He pulled her to go outside the train from the back door. As soon as they went outside and Neal finished closing the door, Candy could see people with guns entering their wagon from the front door. She heard people screaming and sound of guns. She was so stunt.
Neal threw away his backpack and told Candy, "Jump!"
Neal pulled Candy to jump with him from the train to the ground. Candy was so horrified. They were rolling on the ground and she felt him pulling her to hide behind the bushes until the train disappeared. They saw no one coming out from the train, it seemed that no one was aware that there were two passengers escaped from the train.
"What was that" asked Candy terrified.
"Probably genocide, I don't know. We're in a war zone anything could happen."
Candy was very afraid and started to cry. Neal was very frightened, too. Here they were in the middle of nowhere left with their own devices. His heart sank and for a moment he was frozen not knowing what to do. But, seeing her beloved cry, he realized how much she's in danger. He regretted he didn't force Candy to go back to America with him instead of letting her go doing her own plan. But now it's too late, what's done is done. He needed to find solutions quickly to bring her beloved woman to safety.
"Candy don't worry, we go to the nearest village and contact the Ardlay office." Neal tried to sound cheerful although deep inside he's so worried.
Neal asked Candy to wait under a tree while he's looking for his bag. Anticipating for the worst, he took some precaution in his bag like blanket, food, knife, matches, and more. Well as he said, he's a trained solder… Then they continued to walk. But bad news kept coming. After a few hours of walking, Candy found her ankle hurt so much that she couldn't walk anymore. It must be from the jump from the train. So Neal carried her to sit under a tree. He made a stretcher using his knife and tree branches with the technique he learned from the army training class. He let Candy sit on it and he pulled it. Candy was so touched by his kindness to her.
They kept moving for a while before taking a rest under a fruit tree.
Candy said, "With fine ankles, I could have climbed this tree easily and we could get the fruit."
"Let me try," Neal said. After some effort, finally he could manage to climb and got some fruits back.
"I didn't know you can climb trees," Candy said genuinely admiring the effort.
"I never cared about outdoor activities other than cars or books until I joined the army. I learned to climb trees in the army." He grinned.
As the night fell, Neal tried to make fire. It took him a lot of effort, but after some difficulties he finally succeeded. Candy was excited and clapped her hands. They sat silently watching the fire, each deeply sank in their own thoughts. Candy started to feel worried and cried again. She regretted to drag both of them in this dangerous mess.
Neal hugged her and comforted her. "We will arrive in one village tomorrow, from there we go to London. Don't worry."
But Candy was still crying. After a while, Neal started to sing.
"Do you remember this song?" he asked. "Sr. Grey used to let us sing this in the school meeting."
Candy laughed right away. She never heard Neal singing and didn't know that he could even sing. She then sang another song. "I like this one, do you remember Mr. Jones taught this for the outdoor gathering?" And so they were singing and chatting about their school time memory until she fell asleep...
After she slept, he hugged and covered her with a blanket to ensure she's not cold. He thought about the plan for tomorrow with occasional sighs regretting he didn't force her to come back to America with him. He caressed her hair gently with determination to take her back to America safely. Then he slept too.
The following day Neal again pulled her. Candy was so touched for his devotion to her. While sitting there she was thinking of his attitude towards her and couldn't appreciate it more. Thinking about their conversation in the ship, his aspiration, and how they did fun things together made her see many fun and serious sides of him. Behind his teasing nature was an undeniable love and devotion for her. Although he looked shabby on the contrary to that night in tuxedo, to her he's the most elegant man ever. For each step he made, it brought her heart a step closer to him. How much he's willing to do for her sake was too much for her to see.
In the afternoon, probably because she didn't move much, or probably she didn't eat enough, she started to feel cold. She was having some light fever. Lucky they had arrived in a village. But, that village was having an evacuation and in a total chaos. It could be because of the event related to yesterday's train shooting. Armies and police officers were everywhere. But the situation was so chaotic, the infra structure broke down, no business was operational. They couldn't make a phone call to London. Neal almost cried with frustration with bad news after bad news that kept coming endlessly. But, seeing Candy's condition made him panic and found no time to distress. He doubted she could survive another day outdoor so he had to have her evacuated.
He went to the evacuation carriage and tried to get Candy evacuated. But the coach said the cart was full and already overweight. Undeterred, he kept trying to get Candy evacuated. So he tried to make a deal with the coach.
"We're newly weds. My wife is sick and pregnant, she couldn't walk because of injury, please help us. Please take her. We can put her there." He pointed to a big luggage next to the man.
"That is my belonging."
"We exchange that with her. I give you all money I have to compensate." Neal bargained and showed him his money. "This is all I have but should be enough to cover the cost of your luggage."
"What's the use of money in this chaos situation, young man?" sneered the man.
"It has no use now, but it will be in London. Please help my wife," begged Neal.
After some negotiations the coach agreed and said, "Ok, but one person only. You can't go with us."
"Thank you," Neal said.
So he ran to Candy. Candy felt so miserable with her fever and headache but she could see Neal coming bringing a piece of wire. He made a ring from it and put it in her finger.
He said, "I told the coach that we are a poor newlywed couple, you are sick, pregnant, and got injured. Be sure to make the story consistent. In London, contact the Ardlay office and go back to the USA right away. Do not wait for me, do you understand?"
"'I'?" she asked. "What about you?"
"Candy they can only take one person. We need to be hurry before it's taken by someone else." He told her briefly about the situation.
"But what about you? I don't want to go without you." She was getting hysterical.
"Look Candy, you always want to get rid of me, why makes it difficult now? Now is the time when you need to go alone without me."
Candy was crying and shouting refusing to go alone. Neal planted a long deep kiss to her lips to silence her.
Then, he looked at her with determination and said calmly, "I love you, Candy. But, you have to go without me. You are sick and you can't walk. We can't run this way. It's very harmful to you. With the carriage, you'll arrive in London tonight or tomorrow. You'll be fine."
"I don't want you to die," she said tearfully caressing his cheek with her hand. "I want to die here with you."
"No one will die. I won't die, you won't die," he said with confidence holding her hand.
Without wasting anymore time, Neal carried Candy and put her in the carriage. Candy grabbed his neck and kissed him until the carriage moved to separate them.
Dreading this would be her last time to see him, she decided to tell him her feeling before it's too late.
"I love you, Neal," she shouted between her tears. "Come back to me quickly, I want to be your wife. I want to be your wife," she cried hopelessly as the carriage moved separating them farther and farther.
Even though the coach had witnessed countless of separation, his hardened heart couldn't help to move hearing Candy's hopeless scream.
Luckily the rest of the journey was peaceful with Candy. She reached the shelter, contacted the Ardlay office and being rescued. The rest was easy, the ankle was fine in a few days, so did the cold. Honoring Neal's request, which she feared was the last, she went back to America. Her heart saddened when she needed to leave the UK without him. In the ship, she cried constantly remembering all nice things he did for her. She regretted so much that she didn't return his love much sooner.
