Caroline Walgreen shut off the vacuum cleaner and listened for the
ringing of the telephone. She thought she had heard the chime over the steady
hum of the Dirt Devil she was using. Hearing it again, she sprinted to the
kitchen and snatched the receiver off the wall.
"Hello?" she
said, out of breath.
"Hey, baby; it's me.
Were you busy?" The deep, sexy voice on the other end belonged to
Caroline's fiancée, Kevin Richardson.
"No, I was just
cleaning a little. I couldn't really hear the phone ringing over the vacuum.
Where are you?" She could hear people bustling about noisily in the
background.
"I'm at the airport.
I got an earlier flight out and I can make it home tonight instead of tomorrow
morning. And you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have an extra night
with you."
Kevin had been on tour
over-seas for the past two months and he and
"Great, baby!"
Caroline said enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see you!"
"I know. I can't
wait to have a week just to be with you." A boarding call over the
intercom made Kevin stop short. "Baby, they just announced my flight so I
gotta go. Be waiting for me tonight," he said sexily. "I love you, Cari."
"I will; promise.
Love you too, baby. See you tonight." Caroline hung up the phone and
glanced around the house. Everything was clean so she went upstairs to change
her clothes. She had some shopping to do before Kevin's return.
********************************
As Kevin situated himself on the airplane, his mind drifted to thoughts of Caroline
and their home. She devoted all of her time and energy to making him happy and
she was always so understanding of his schedule. She
was going to make the perfect wife and he couldn't wait until their upcoming
wedding. Leaning his chair back, Kevin dreamed of how he was going to greet
Caroline when he got home.
********************************
When Caroline returned with her bags, she set to work upstairs. She dressed the
bed with the new blue satin sheets she bought and set her scented candles all
around the room. "I can put this away for a while," she thought as
she took the framed picture of Kevin off her bedside table and put it in a
drawer. finally, she spritzed
the pillowcases with her perfume; she knew he loved that.
Looking around to inspect
her handiwork, Caroline was pleased. She could imagine Kevin's reaction when he
walked in to see her asleep (or pretending to sleep) in the midst of satin and
candlelight. He'd slide in beside her, wrap her in his arms, and kiss her all
over. He was still an extreme romantic after three years together.
Flipping off the light,
Caroline walked downstairs and decided to take a nap on the couch. When she
awoke, she'd get ready for that evening.
********************************
Caroline was roused awake by the ringing of the telephone. Gathering her
senses, she reached over and picked it up. "Hello?" she said
sleepily.
"Caroline?" It
was her best friend, Leigh.
"Hey,
Leigh. I was
just taking a nap."
"Caroline, I hate to
be the one to tell you this, but... Listen, go turn on your t.v. I'll be right
over." Leigh hung up the phone without even saying good-bye.
Caroline got up from her
couch and turned her television on. As the picture appeared a feeling of dread,
heavy as cement, settled in her stomach. On the screen, she saw workers rushing
to put out a blazing fire. People were running around to extinguish the blaze
that looked to be started by...
"Oh
my God! It's
an airplane!" Caroline's breath caught in her throat as she realized what
she was looking at. She sank to her knees as her legs gave away. Giant sobs
shook her body and her stomach was in knots. The reporter on the scene gave out
information that Caroline caught bits of. "Flight 113 from
"Please, God, let
this all be just another bad dream." The doorbell rang and Caroline walked
to answer it. Leigh stood on the doorstep with tears running down her cheeks.
Caroline grabbed her and pulled her into the den.
"Leigh, tell me I'm
dreaming," Caroline sobbed. "this isn't
Kevin's plane. They made a mistake and Kevin's still gonna come through the
door tonight and kiss me and tell me he loves me and..." Caroline slumped
down in the chair behind Leigh and her body shook with sobs of pure sadness.
Leigh embraced her best
friend and tried to hold back her own tears. "Baby, calm
down. Nick and the rest of the guys will be back soon. Everything's
gonna be okay."
The phone rang and Leigh
went to answer it. "Hello?" she said, waiting to hear the voice on
the other end.
"Leigh? Where's
Caroline?" Brian asked in a strained voice.
"She's in the den,
Brian, but she really can't talk right now."
"Okay. Me and A.J. will be there in a little while. Our flight was
delayed and I have no idea how long it takes to get home from
"I will, Bri. Be
careful." Those words had taken on new meaning now.
"Bye, Leigh. Tell
Caroline I'll be praying all the way home."
Leigh hung the phone back
on the wall and walked back into the next room. Caroline was still sitting in
the chair staring absently at the t.v. set. "C'mon, hon," Leigh said
pulling her out of the chair and towards the staricase.
"Let's take you upstairs so you can rest."
As Caroline slid between
the sheets, all of her senses went crazy. She could see, hear, and even smell
Kevin all around her. Before she slept she had to ask, "Leigh, how did you
know that was Kevin's plane?"
Leigh took a deep breath
and answered, "Nick told me that Kevin snagged an earlier flight to
surprise you. When he heard about this he called me and I called to tell
you."
Caroline just shook her
head. The violent sobs from before had been replaced with silent streams of hot
tears that puddled on her pillow, staining the
delicate satin. As she drifted into fitful sleep, she thought about the past.
Her mind flashed back to
the night they met, backstage at one of his shows, then
to the night they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together. She'd
never forget how they had lay in his bed wrapped up in
one another and talked about starting a family as soon as possible. They both
wanted a house full of children and Kevin would've made a wonderful father.
Would've--that was so
definite. As soon as that one word flashed through Caroline's mind she realized
her whole life had changed in the blink of an eye. She would never again see
Kevin perform, never see the look of love and adoration on his face as she
marched down the aisle to meet him at the alter. The chance for her to see him
dressed in hospital scrubs as he held their first screaming child had been
snatched away from her cruelly. But what hurt the most was that never again
would he call just to say 'I love you,' or to hear her voice while he was out
on the road. He wasn't there to protect her now when she needed him to kiss
away her fears more than she ever had before.
Her eyes flew open when
she felt hands on her shoulders. Brian was standing over her. Caroline sat up
and threw her arms around his neck and Brian, who had been like a brother to
her throughout her whole relationship with Kevin, stroked her hair patiently while
she soaked his shoulders with teardrops.
"Brian, I miss him
so much!"
"Me,
too, Cari. Me, too." When
Caroline pulled away, he took her hand. "Aunt Ann called while you were
sleeping. She asked for you but I told her you were taking things pretty bad."
"How's she handling
it?"
"Not too good,"
Brian admitted quietly. "She still can't believe her baby's gone."
"Neither can I," Caroline said in a barely audible whisper. "He
promised he'd take care of me. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed
to be me who went first because he was so much stronger than me..." As
soon as she said that, Caroline had cried herself to sleep again. Brian kissed
her fevered forehead and quietly left the room.
********************************
Caroline felt a kiss
being placed on each eyelid and her eyes fluttered open: Kevin was sitting on
the edge of their bed carressing her cheek.
"Wake up, Boo!"
Caroline looked up at him
in disbelief. "I thought..."
Kevin put his finger to
her lips and spoke again. "I don't have much time. I just had to come tell
you that I'm alright. I'm going to be with daddy now, and grandpa. Thank you, baby, for trying so hard to make me happy.
There's no one on this Earth who loves you like I do and from now on I can
watch over you every second and make sure you're alright."
Kevin kissed the
teardrops from Caroline's cheeks and continued. "Just because I'm gone, Boo, it doesn't mean I don't love you anymore. I'll love you
for eternity. I can promise you that."
Caroline reached out for
him. "Kevin..."
"I gotta go now
sweetheart," he said leaning over her. Kevin kissed her lips tenderly and
whispered, "I love you, Cari," before he
disappeared completely.
Caroline touched her lips
and decided she had been dreaming. She rolled over to face the remainder of the
long, lonely night but something caught her eye. Nestled in the center of
Kevin's pillow was the ring his father had given him so many years ago. Kevin
never took it off his finger and when Caroline saw it she realized she hadn't
been dreaming.
The inscription read
"True love is eternal--Kevin" and as Caroline slipped it on her
finger on over-whelming calm flooded her. Right then, she knew that Kevin was
watching over her, taking away all her pain and fear and protecting her like he
promised he always would.
