The Men of Medicine Ridge - Diana Palmer [98]
The passengers around them noticed Kasie’s terror and her companion’s protective attitude, and suddenly they all started singing the Air Force song. It diverted Kasie with uproarious laughter as the big airplane shot up into the blue sky, leaving her stomach and her fears far behind.
“I’m very grateful,” she told him when they were comfortably leveled off and the flight attendants were getting the refreshment cart ready to take down the aisle. “You can’t imagine how terrified I was to get on this plane.”
“Yes, I can. I’m glad I was here. Where are you staying in Nassau?” he added.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know! I didn’t realize that until just now. My boss will have all the details in hand, and a driver to meet us when we land. I didn’t ask.”
“New Providence is a small island,” he told her. “We’ll see each other again. I’m at the Crystal Palace on Cable Beach. You can phone me if you get a few free minutes and we’ll have lunch.”
“Do you go overseas to do stories?” she asked.
He nodded. “All over the world. It’s a great job, and I actually get paid to do it.” He leaned close to her ear. “And once, I worked for the CIA.”
“You didn’t!” she exclaimed, impressed.
“Just for a year, while I was in South America,” he assured her. “I might have kept it up, but I was married then and she didn’t want me taking chances, especially while she was carrying our son.”
“She doesn’t travel with you?” she asked curiously.
“She died, of a particularly virulent tropical fever,” he said with a sad smile. “My son is six, and I leave him with my parents when I have to go away during his school year. During the summer, he goes places with me. He loves it, too.”
He pulled out his wallet and showed her several photographs of a child who was his mirror image. “His name’s Daniel, but I call him Dano.”
“He really is cute.”
“Thanks.”
The flight attendant was two rows away, with snack meals and drinks. Kasie settled down to lunch with no more reservations. She’d landed on her feet. She wondered what Gil would think if he saw her with this nice young man. Nothing, probably, she thought bitterly, not when he was so wrapped up in Pauline. Well, she wasn’t going to let that spoil her trip.
Nassau was unexpected. Kasie fell in love with it on first sight. She’d seen postcards of the Bahamas, and she’d always assumed that the vivid turquoise and sapphire color of the waters was exaggerated. But it wasn’t. Those vivid, surreal colors were exactly what the water looked like, and the beaches were as white as sugar. She stared out the window of the hired car with her breath catching in her chest. She’d gone overseas with her parents as a child, but to distant and primitive places. She remembered the terror of those places far better than she remembered the scenery, even at so young an age. Even now, it was hard to think about how she’d lost the parents who’d loved her and Kantor so much. It was harder to think of Kantor…
“Do stop pressing your nose against the glass, Kasie. You look about Jenny’s age!” Pauline chided from her seat beside Gil.
“That’s funny,” Bess said with a giggle, not understanding the words were meant to hurt.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Kasie murmured a little shyly. “It really does look like paradise.”
Pauline yawned. Gil ignored her and watched Kasie a little irritably as she and the girls enthused over the beach.
“When can we go swimming in the ocean, Daddy?” Bess asked excitedly.
“We have to check into the hotel first, baby,” Gil told her. “And even then, the beach is dangerous. Kasie doesn’t swim.”
“Oh, we can take them with us,” Pauline said lazily. “I’ll watch them.”
It occurred to Gil that he never trusted Pauline with his children. She wasn’t malicious, she just didn’t pay attention to what they were doing. She’d be involved in putting on sunscreen and lying in the sun, not watching children who could become reckless. Bess was especially good at getting into trouble.
“That’s Kasie’s job,” Gil said, and put a long arm around Pauline just to see the reaction it got from Kasie. It was