An Affair To Remember: Shocked

by tarskeewee08

"Kevin I don't understand I'm sitting her on the runway, why on earth aren't you here?"

Evangeline sat in the back of the limo fuming the plane was scheduled to leave in 10 minutes. Kevin left to go to the office and sent her ahead. Now she was set to board and he wasn't there.

"I have an emergency meeting. Go ahead and take the flight to meet Mr. McBain and I will fly over in the company jet."

"Absolutely not!" she snapped
"Evangeline..."
"Kevin no! I didn't think we should make this trip and I sure as hell am not flying across the world without you…"
"Listen to me…"
"Kevin! Get to the airport I will tell the pilot to wait for you."
"Listen to me…okay. I want this deal. It's my shot to make my grandfather proud and it will forever change the dynamics of my company. I will be flying right behind you. We won't be separated more than an hour, I promise."

Evangeline chewed on her bottom lip and looked out her smoky tint window at the jet waiting for her. The flight attendant stood next to the small ladder in a navy blue uniform with his hands clasped in front of him. The plane was sleek and porcelain white with McBain written in blue calligraphy on the wing tip.

"Kevin I don't like this….I don't want to go to another country by myself."
"It's not like you never been out of the country before Van… "
"What?" Evangeline said frowning. She never told Kevin she left the country before.
"Nothing baby….just go please. Make this happen for me. Have the pilot contact ours with the flight manifestation on where we're to land."
"Fine!" she said closing the phone. Opening the door she stepped out in her gray suit with the morning wind blowing her hair. The attendant immediately walked over to her.

"Ms Buchanan…"
She smiled and put her purse on her shoulders clutching her briefcase close to her. "Can we have your pilot contact ours with the flight manifest? My husband will not be on this flight."

"Yes of course…this way please" the attendant said pointing to the plane.
Evangeline walked over the plane and accepted the outstretched hand of the attendant inside climbing the ladder into the plane.

Walking in she saw the extravagance of the jet. The seats were a peanut butter leather and the paneling a shiny wood grain. The chairs swiveled and sat facing in each other in sets of fours. There was a sofa that lined the wall on the other side with a table to work and eat from. Two TVs were mounted against either side of the wall to toward the front of the plane. It was sleeker than their jet but not too different.

"Ms. Buchanan..."
Evangeline sitting down looked up to the see the pilot. "I was told your husband wouldn't be joining us."

"Yes he will be flying in afterwards..."
"That will be fine I radioed in our manifest, his pilot if leaving within the hour and should arrive shortly after us."

Evangeline blew out a sigh of relief. The pilot tipped his hat and went back up to the front of the plane. Evangeline snapped her belt closed and reached in her briefcase to retrieve the financial contract on the merger. A lot of money was at stake.

Hearing the attendant greeting another passenger she looked up to see John walking in with his hands in his pockets. The shocked look on her face didn't even compare to the utter sense of confusion she felt to see him standing there smiling slyly at her.

"What…what?" she stammered
John looked around the plane "Where's your husband?"
"What are you doing here?"
The pilot announced their departure and John strolled over to the seat in front of her and sat down. Fastening his seatbelt he felt her eyes on him and looked back up to see her glaring.

"I decided to fly with you two to Ireland. It was the least I could do since I missed that meeting."

Looking at her confused he smirked "Is there something wrong? Where's Kevin?"

The plane began to taxi down the runway and Evangeline felt her temper boiling. "You tell me….I mean suddenly he had a business meeting and couldn't make this flight! Did you do this on purpose?"

John stared at her while rocking as the jet picked up speed and began to race toward the sky. "Evangeline, your husband's decision to come or go is one of his own making. I haven't influenced that."

"Somehow I don't believe you"
"I wish you would trust me"
"Well tricking me into a flight to Ireland with you is great start." She hissed
"You think I am trying to keep him from going to Ireland?"
"I do.."
"If I prove to you that your husband is on his way to Ireland will you relax and not treat as the enemy?"

Evangeline looked out of the window at the tiny city of Llanview fading into the distance. She knew this was a bad idea. He had already started his games and she was sick to death of him playing with her like this. The light dinged above them indicating they could remove their seat belts.

Ignoring John she stared out of the window thinking of how long she would have to wait before catching a flight back. She was sure that John didn't give Kevin the flight manifest and he would be left behind. Well she would fix him, as soon as they landed she would take the next thing smoking home. She wasn't putting up with this anymore.

"Ms Buchanan…" Evangeline looked up to see the attendant with a portable phone.
She frowned "Yes"
"We have you husband on the line"
John looked at Evangeline smiling slyly. She looked at John and the attendant and then accepted the phone.

"Kevin?"
"Hey baby…I am so sorry I just missed the flight, I was hoping to catch up with you."
"Oh Kevin you should have called the pilot." Evangeline said cutting her eyes at John
"Well we will have clearance to take off in 10 minutes and I will be right behind you. Wait for me at the airport"

"You will?" Evangeline said shocked
"Of course.."
"But what about your meeting?"
Kevin got quiet and Evangeline could feel John's eyes on her face "He didn't show."
"Okay..."
"I am sorry baby I should be on that plane with you. Just wait for me okay."
"I will"
"Love you"
"I love you too"

Evangeline gave the phone back to the attendant and look back into John's amused eyes. "I know you had something to do with that last minute meeting, but you are right he is on the way so I appreciate that"

"It's nothing sunshine"
"Don't call me that any more" Evangeline said angrily.
"Why are you so hostile with me Evangeline?"
"I don't know John, could it be that you used me years ago and then woke up one morning and decided, hey maybe I will look her up again!"

John smiled "I didn't come after you on a whim…"
"That's right you waited until after you tired of your playboy lifestyle."
"Is there anything I can say to you right now in this moment to explain that it's been you that I desired all along?"

Evangeline ran her hands through her hair. She wasn't in the mood for this…It was too early in the morning. The attendant appeared with coffee and asked what she wanted for breakfast. She ordered a fruit plate and accepted the coffee. John accepted his coffee and the TV popped on in the plane showing CNN.

Evangeline's chair had a release to it to swivel toward the TV and she did so trying to give into a distraction other than the pointed questions he kept throwing at her.

John taking the hint made several calls about the meetings that Kevin was to attend and where he was to be directed too when they landed. She looked at him frowning noticing he never mentioned her to his people. Mildly insulted she rolled her eyes and ate her breakfast and watched the world news.

When he finished he asked her some questions about their profit margin in the last 5 years and how often they made their budget projections. She was happy to talk about BE and the things they've accomplished under Kevin's leadership. She was quite proud of her husband and John listened attentively as she spoke of him. Easing the conversation in another direction he asked when they met.

"After graduating I took a job with BE. Kevin was in the same executive training program, the only difference was it was his families company."

"Interesting that they would bring him in that way."
"Some of us aren't born into aristocracy"
John laughed at her light insult. "True, but don't pretend that your husbands blood isn't as blue as mine. He didn't exactly discover his fortune the old fashion way lassie."

Evangeline laughed "Fair enough"
"There's that smile I've missed for so long."
"So did you love her?" Evangeline asked bluntly
"Caitlyn?"
"Yes, Caitlyn did you love her?"

John titled his head and sucked in his bottom lip giving her a pensive look. "I did, in a way"
"In a way?"
"I was set to marry her before I met her. Needless to say the wedding night was quite awkward. I was somewhat embittered about our union and somewhat of a bloody cad to her the first year of our marriage."

Evangeline saw the guilt on his face "What changed for you two?"
"Caitlyn was a wonderful woman. I told her of you shortly after our marriage. She was very patient with me."
"You told her about me?"

"I sure did. I couldn't get over the way I hurt you. After reading that letter you wrote the guilt over my behavior made me extremely hostile. I'm not proud of how I treated her."

Evangeline studied his face and saw that he was telling the truth "Why marry her? What is it that made this union mandatory? I mean my god you were in your mid-twenties and it wasn't the dark ages. I don't understand."

John sighed and looked away "My world is different from yours. The things expected of me have been ingrained in me since I could walk or speak. I had obligations and principles that I had to abide by"

Evangeline burst into laughter and John looked at her frowning. "What is so honorable about you hiding out in Cambridge to screw local college girls before getting married?"

John shook his head "Evangeline…"
"No! I feel sorry for Caitlyn…to be saddled with someone as selfish and self serving as you. You didn't appreciate her and her feelings just as you didn't respect mine. Then you want to sit here like I was some long lost love of your life! Well I'm not buying it!"

"You were there those two weeks we shared Evangeline, in the fourteen years since have you felt anything even close to as fulfilling as what he had?'

Evangeline shakes her head and accepts a martini from the attendant. It was now past lunch and they still had 3 hours left to the flight. Drinking her martini she looked back at the screen.

"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"Do what?"
"Close off when I ask a probing question?"
"I don't want to fight with you John" she said avoiding his eyes

"Well to answer your question. I wasn't deserving of you or Caitlyn but I grew to appreciate the gift she was and unfortunately as I grew to love her she was ripped from my life."

Evangeline looked over at him and saw the pain on his face "I'm sorry John."
"Don't be sunshine…it wasn't meant to be, and for being a bloody idiot those years the good lord taught me a valuable lesson. I punished myself after she died, I didn't want love or anything close to it. It seems every time I got near to something real I destroyed it or it was snatched from me. So I turned to the shallowest of pairings. I became the bloke that my dad was. But through the help of friends I gained focus. I gained perspective."

Evangeline frowned "Friends?"

He looked away refusing to explain further. They spent the rest of the flight making small talk and Evangeline eventually drifted to sleep. Feeling the plane touch down she bounced awake and saw that John was staring at her. "You still look like an Angel when you sleep" he said softly

She sat up and looked out the window. "Are we here?"
"Yes, we're here"
Working the tension from her neck she stretched and fixed her clothes. John watched her every move and she tried to ignore his constant stares. Finally he spoke "Your husband has already landed a half hour ago and is on his way to the hotel.

"He wouldn't leave without me...you're lying."
John shook his head and called for the phone. Evangeline was able to call the limo that Kevin was in and he told her that he was taken immediately to his car to head to the hotel. They refused to wait. Evangeline frowned and told him she would see him soon at the hotel.

Hanging up the phone "What are you doing John?"
John flashed her sweet smile. "Just taking care of you sunshine."

Shaking her head at his insistence on calling her by his pet name for her she knew that something was up. She had to admit she wanted to know how he was going to pull this off. When the plane taxied up to their car she collected her briefcase and purse and debarked with John close behind. He quickly whisked her into the back of the limo without any security checks or anything.

Riding in the limo she heard him call to confirm that Kevin was checked in secure. He asked her if she wanted to speak to him again and Evangeline said no. She couldn't get over the scenery, it was oddly familiar.

Sitting back in her seat she relaxed comforted by the fact that whatever happened with Kevin by her side would see her through it.

"Evangeline, I'm in love with you and what I've done….I've done for us"

Evangeline frowned and looked at him confused "What have you done?"
Feeling the car veer off the road she looks out of the window and gasped. Seeing him on the plane this morning was shocking but what she saw out of her window left her dumbstruck.

She looked at John and couldn't breathe. He smiled at her and winked.