Chapter 5

"Good morning!" a cheery voice called over the intercom. "My name is Jordan, and I'm a friend of Mr. Hart's. I told him I would bring him some paperwork this morning. May I bring them up?"

"I'm sorry, sir, Mr. Hart has already left for the day. Perhaps delivering them to the office would be wise," Claire suggested.

"How soon will he be back? I'd rather not drive downtown."

Claire sighed. He thinks I'm going to tell him where they are, bless his heart. I don't tell people where the Harts are. "It will be a while, sir," she finally answered.

"I'm trying to catch a plane, could I just come up and drop them off? Then I'll be out of your hair and on my way to the airport."

She sighed again. Against her better judgment, Claire pushed the button to open the gate before she answered, "Come on up."

Claire set the duster down on the counter and moved to the front of the house. She knew it would not take long for the man to drive up the lane, and at the last minute decided she wanted to look like she was busy. Claire ran back to the kitchen and picked the duster up again before actually heading to the front door. She arrived just as the mystery man knocked.

Twisting the knob, she determined she would rid herself of this man rather quickly. She spoke as the door swung open, "Thank you for coming, I was just fixin' to…" The barrel of a 9mm pistol slowed her southern accent.

"I think whatever you were 'fixing' to do has changed, my dear. Please, step back into the house." Jordan stepped through the door and shut it behind him.

"Look, I don't know what you want, but the Harts will be back very soon…"

"Oh, don't try to kid me. I know the Harts won't be back anytime soon. See, I knew they were leaving today. I just couldn't figure out where they were going."

"Honey, I'm not telling you anything." The flash of pain seemed to come from out of nowhere, but she saw his hand as it swung back into place, and knew the butt end of the gun had connected with her cheek.

"I don't expect you to tell me straight up." He grinned at her, "Where's the fun in that?" Jordan pulled a rope from his pocket. "No, I expect the coming information may take a while to arrive."

The two ladies boarded the plane and began to situate themselves while Jonathan and Jack loaded the luggage. "So," Ryleigh asked, sitting in a seat by the window, a book in hand. "At what point do I get to know where we are going, Momma?"

Jennifer stored her bag and turned to face her daughter, "That is up to your father, ma chérie. You know how he likes to surprise us."

"Who likes to surprise you?" Jonathan came into the plane, only hearing the last of the conversation.

The light-hearted laugh coming from his wife made Jonathan smile before she even answered. "You do…"

He walked up to the two ladies and wrapped his arms around Jennifer's waist. "Ah, good," he leaned in and kissed her neck before turning to Ryleigh. "I mean, surprising your Mother is my job."

"And you do it so well," she winked at her daughter.

"We're ready for take-off, Mr. Hart," Jack said as the door shut.

"Excellent, Jack. Thank you." He turned to his wife and daughter. "You heard the man. Buckle up, ladies; we are ready to go."

"Does that mean we get to know where we are going, Daddy?" Ryleigh took her seat while looking expectantly towards her father.

Jonathan looked from his wife to his daughter, his upper lip snagged under his lower. The motion of the plane rocked his chair back slightly as he held his daughter in suspense.

The Hart family was officially off for another adventure.

"Your Mom and I looked at several options," he finally answered Ryleigh.

Looking from Jonathan to Jennifer and back again, Ryleigh asked, "When did you have time to do that? I mean, I never saw any travel brochures or anything around the house."

Jennifer winked at Jonathan and smiled, "Oh, we make time."

"Gross, you two."

"What?" Jennifer feigned innocence. "I didn't even kiss him this time."

"We could fix that, you know," Jonathan jumped into the conversation.

"We could, couldn't we?"

"Focus, guys," Ryleigh called out, rolling her eyes at her parents. "The trip… we are on an airplane... where are we going?"

Jonathan turned to face his daughter, "We decided the best thing to do would be to fly into Savannah, Georgia." He smiled as he watched Ryleigh's face light up. "We'll rent a car and spend a few hours looking around Savannah. Then we'll drive to South Carolina, where we'll stay at an inn overlooking a lagoon. This place has activities geared towards kids your age, so we'll probably let you do a few. Plus, they have tennis and golf; we can even arrange horseback riding on the beach."

"The beach?"

"Yes, we will only be a short drive from the ocean," Jennifer answered.

Ryleigh jumped up from her seat and threw her arms around both of her parent's necks. "Thank you! I'm so excited!"