Chapter 17 - Gate B22
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The departure board above Gate B22 flashed ORLANDO - ON TIME.
A boarding announcement for another flight echoed down the concourse.
Somewhere behind us, a coffee grinder screamed.
Yet the space between my family and me felt completely silent.
Emma's hand slid into mine.
"Mom."
Her voice was small.
"I see them."
Mom stood first.
Dad remained seated.
Jessica's face tightened before she looked away.
Aaron looked surprised, then tired.
Sophie saw Emma last.
Her reaction was immediate.
"Emma!"
She jumped out of her chair.
Jessica caught her wrist.
Not hard.
Just enough to stop her.
Sophie looked at her mother.
"What?"
Jessica whispered something I could not hear.
Sophie pulled her hand free anyway.
She ran toward us.
Emma looked up at me.
I nodded.
The cousins met in the middle of the concourse and hugged so hard their backpacks bumped together.
For one second, all the adult poison disappeared.
"You're going!"
Sophie sounded genuinely thrilled.
Emma nodded.
"Mom surprised me."
"Are you staying with us?"
Emma's smile faltered.
"No."
"We have our own hotel."
Sophie looked confused.
"Why?"
Before Emma could answer, Jessica arrived.
"Sophie, come back."
Her voice was calm in the way people become calm when they know strangers are listening.
Sophie ignored the order for one more second.
"Maybe we can ride Haunted Mansion together."
Emma looked at me again.
I crouched beside both girls.
"You two can text each other."
"If schedules work, we can talk about meeting somewhere with your parents."
Sophie brightened.
Jessica did not.
"We already have plans."
The sentence came too quickly.
Aaron stood behind her now.
"We can look at the schedule."
Jessica turned toward him.
"We have reservations."
"So does everyone at Disney."
His tone was dry.
Dad approached slowly.
He stopped several feet away from Emma.
"Hi, kiddo."
Emma gave him a careful smile.
"Hi, Grandpa."
He did not try to hug her.
That mattered.
Mom stood behind him.
She looked at Emma, then at me, then back at Emma.
Her eyes filled immediately.
"You look so grown up."
Emma shifted closer to me.
"Thanks."
Mom's hands tightened around the strap of her purse.
"I am glad you are going to Disney."
Emma nodded.
"Me too."
Mom waited as if she expected more.
Nothing came.
Then she looked at me.
"Did you know we were on this flight?"
The question was almost accusing.
"No."
Jessica gave a short laugh.
"Come on."
I turned toward her.
"What?"
"There are three nonstop flights this morning."
"And somehow you picked ours."
"I booked in February."
"So did we."
"Congratulations."
I kept my voice flat.
"We both discovered the internet."
Aaron covered a smile with his hand.
Jessica saw it.
Her expression sharpened.
"You think this is funny?"
"No."
"I think it is an airport."
"People take flights."
Mom stepped in before Jessica could answer.
"Can we please not do this here?"
I looked at her.
"I am not doing anything."
That was the truth.
I had not approached them.
I had not raised Christmas.
I had not mentioned the cruise.
I had not asked for a conversation.
We had simply walked to our gate.
Mom seemed to realize that.
She lowered her eyes.
"Right."
The boarding area was nearly full.
Emma and I found two seats near the windows on the opposite side.
Ben had texted that his flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta was on schedule and he would meet us in Orlando two days later.
I showed Emma.
She smiled.
"Dad says he is bringing German chocolate."
"Tell him importing dessert may be illegal."
She giggled.
The sound loosened something in my chest.
Across the gate, Sophie kept looking toward us.
Eventually Jessica gave up and let her sit beside Emma.
The girls compared ride lists on their tablets.
Matthew joined them.
Then Tyler.
Within five minutes, all four children were sitting on the floor between the seats arguing about whether Pirates of the Caribbean counted as scary.
No one asked the children to choose sides.
For once, the adults had to sit with the discomfort instead.
Dad came over quietly and took the empty seat one row behind me.
"I meant what I said at lunch."
I kept my eyes on Emma.
"I know."
"I am not asking you for anything."
"Okay."
"I just want you to know I am going to keep trying to do better."
I turned slightly.
He looked nervous.
My father was sixty-four years old and looked nervous talking to his own daughter.
That would have made me sad once.
Now it simply felt honest.
"Then do better."
He nodded.
"Fair."
Mom watched us from across the gate.
She did not come over.
For a while, I thought she might actually respect that.
Then boarding began.
Families with small children were called first.
Our boarding group was next.
Emma and I joined the line.
Mom appeared behind us.
"Sarah."
I turned.
"Can I ask one thing?"
Emma looked between us.
"Not if it is about Christmas."
Mom's mouth tightened.
"It is about Emma."
"Then ask me later."
"I would like one picture with all the grandchildren in front of the castle."
I stared at her.
After everything, a photograph.
Of course.
"That is up to Emma."
Mom looked relieved.
She immediately turned to my daughter.
"Would you do that for Grandma?"
The wording bothered me.
Not would you like to.
Would you do that for Grandma.
Emma looked at me.
I refused to answer for her.
She looked back at Mom.
"Maybe."
Mom smiled too quickly.
"That would mean so much to me."
Emma shifted her backpack.
"I said maybe."
The gate agent scanned the family ahead of us.
Mom's smile froze.
Then she nodded.
"Of course."
We boarded.
Emma had the window seat.
I sat beside her.
My parents and Jessica's family were several rows behind us.
I thought the physical separation would end the tension.
I was wrong.
Before the cabin door closed, a flight attendant leaned toward me.
"Ma'am, another passenger asked whether you would be willing to switch seats so your daughter can sit with her cousins."
I stared at her.
"Which passenger?"
She gestured discreetly toward the back.
Mom.
I closed my eyes for one second.
"No, thank you."
"No problem at all."
The flight attendant moved on.
Emma whispered, "Was that Grandma?"
"Yes."
"Did she ask me?"
"No."
Emma looked out the window.
"I want to sit with you."
"Then you are sitting exactly where you should be."
The plane pushed back from the gate.
As we lifted over Columbus, Emma pressed her forehead to the window.
Clouds swallowed the city.
She smiled.
"We are really going."
"We are really going."
For the first hour, the flight was peaceful.
Emma watched a movie.
I read thirty pages of a book without absorbing most of them.
Then Sophie appeared beside our row.
"Can I sit here for a minute?"
I looked toward the back.
Aaron stood in the aisle and nodded.
"Five minutes."
Emma lifted the armrest and squeezed toward the window.
Sophie perched beside her.
"Grandma says we are all meeting at the castle tomorrow at ten."
Emma glanced at me.
"We have breakfast."
"Where?"
"At the castle."
My stomach tightened.
I had booked Cinderella's Royal Table for 9:20.
Of course my family might have a similar plan.
Mom had promised Sophie a princess breakfast on Christmas morning.
The overlap was not suspicious.
It was predictable.
Sophie brightened.
"Us too!"
Jessica called her name from behind us.
Sophie lowered her voice.
"Mom says we are not supposed to change plans for you."
Emma frowned.
"I did not ask."
"I know."
Sophie picked at the zipper on her hoodie.
"Mom and Dad keep fighting."
Emma looked uncomfortable.
"About us?"
"About money."
"And Grandma."
"And Aunt Sarah."
I felt a familiar anger rise.
The children still knew too much.
"Sophie."
I kept my voice gentle.
"You do not have to carry the grown-up stuff."
She looked at me.
"Mom says you tell Emma that because you do not want her to know the truth."
My heart sank.
"What truth?"
Sophie shrugged.
"That you hate our family."
Emma's head snapped toward me.
I answered Sophie carefully.
"I do not hate your family."
"Your mom and I are angry with each other."
"That is adult business."
"It is not your job or Emma's job to fix it."
Sophie looked almost relieved.
"Okay."
Aaron appeared in the aisle.
"Time to come back."
Sophie climbed out.
Aaron mouthed thank you.
I nodded.
Emma waited until they were gone.
"Do you hate them?"
"No."
"Not even Aunt Jessica?"
I considered lying.
Then I smiled faintly.
"I am very angry with Aunt Jessica."
"That is different from hate."
Emma nodded.
"Good."
"Because Sophie is still my cousin."
"Always."
When the plane landed in Orlando, the children cheered.
Warm air hit us as soon as the jet bridge opened.
Emma grabbed my hand and practically dragged me through the terminal.
We rode the airport train to baggage claim.
For a few minutes, our family disappeared into the crowd behind us.
I thought we had finally separated.
Then I heard Jessica shouting.
"Matthew!"
I turned.
Their family had reached the baggage carousel.
Matthew stood beside Aaron.
Jessica was not looking at him.
She was staring at Tyler.
Or rather, at the place where Tyler had been.
"Where is Tyler?"
Aaron's face changed.
Sophie looked around.
"He was right here."
Mom grabbed Dad's arm.
"What do you mean he was right here?"
Jessica spun toward the escalators.
"Tyler!"
The crowd kept moving around them.
Suitcases rolled past.
Children shouted.
Announcements echoed overhead.
Aaron told Matthew and Sophie to stay with Dad.
Jessica began running toward the airport train.
I looked down at Emma.
Her eyes were wide.
"Mom, Tyler is gone."
Whatever had happened between the adults disappeared instantly.
A missing six-year-old was not family politics.
It was an emergency.
I handed my suitcase claim ticket to Emma.
May you like
"Stay with Grandpa."
Then I ran after Jessica.
