Outside the cockpit door, Keane and Daisy traded looks.
Keane leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, and—catching Daisy’s bewildered, shocked stare—explained with a low laugh:
“No need to look so surprised. They used to be married. They’re divorced now.”
Daisy’s mouth fell open. “What?”
Realizing her voice was too loud, she clapped a hand over it, stepped closer to Keane, and asked again, disbelieving: “You’re telling me they’re married?!”
“Ex-married,” Keane corrected.
“Then why did they divorce? Even an outsider like me can feel it—there’s something between them, something not normal.”
Daisy pressed on.
Keane shrugged. He had no idea either.
Just then the door was suddenly pulled open from inside; Keane straightened at once, and Daisy guiltily took a step back.
She looked at Luna coming out, went up to her, and inspected her freshly bandaged arm:
“Luna, is your arm okay? Does it still hurt?”
Luna smiled and shook her head. Daisy’s eyes suddenly lifted to her face, and she pulled her aside.
By then Keane had gone back into the cockpit, leaving the two of them alone in the galley.
Daisy leaned in, all mystery, close to Luna’s ear, and whispered: “Luna, I was watching very carefully just now.”
“The captain still has feelings for you. Absolutely.”
Luna blinked, surprised she’d say that. “You…”
“First Officer Keane just told me—you and Captain Victor are… ex-husband and wife.”
Daisy blurted it out.
Luna was silent for a few seconds, then smiled, brows easing, and said in a low voice: “That’s all in the past.”
The tangled, conflicted emotions in her eyes were plain to see—but Daisy saw them and didn’t poke through.
The plane landed in New York at six in the evening; from that moment, the crew would be on seventy-two hours of leave.
Daisy and Luna came off the plane together. The moment they stepped out of the arrivals exit, Luna’s sharp eyes found Charlotte in her grandmother’s arms—and her instinct was to look behind her.
Daisy caught her flustered reaction and grabbed her. “Luna? What’s wrong?”
By then little three-year-old Charlotte had already slid down from her grandmother’s arms to the ground, waving at Luna as she came tottering toward them on unsteady little legs, calling “Mommy!” in her milky little voice.
The child was so soft and pretty, like a little princess out of a fairy tale, that passing strangers couldn’t help turning to look.
Daisy stared, slack-jawed, at the little girl running toward her and Luna. “Mommy? Who is she calling Mommy?”
She murmured it, studying the little girl’s face—then immediately turned to look at Luna beside her, and understanding dawned in an instant, her eyes going wide.
In that moment Luna had no room in her head for anything else. She bent down, scooped up the little girl who’d reached her, and pressed a kiss to her soft little cheek.
“Mommy, it’s a surprise!” the girl said—and smacked a kiss onto Luna’s cheek in return.
Then her eyes darted, and she caught Luna’s hand and brought it to her mouth, blowing on it: “Mommy, what happened to your hand?”
“Does it hurt? Blow blow!” She puffed big breaths at the bandaged wound, brow furrowed, terribly serious about it.
“Luna… this is your daughter?” Daisy asked, eyes huge with curiosity.
Luna stroked Charlotte’s head and nodded with a gentle smile. “That’s right. Her name is Charlotte. She’s my daughter.”
Charlotte was a little imp; at Daisy’s voice she turned her head, eyes curving into a smile, and chirped “Auntie!”
At that tiny voice, Daisy felt her heart melt on the spot. Beaming, she crouched closer and tentatively stroked Charlotte’s cheek.
So soft and smooth, that milky white skin. Wonderful to the touch.
“Hello there, little one. I’m Daisy.”
Then she looked at Luna, thrilled: “Luna! You had a whole soft, adorable baby hidden away, and I never knew!”
She looked back down at Charlotte: “Little Charlotte, next time we meet, Auntie will definitely bring you a present!”
Charlotte tilted her little head, the tuft of hair on top standing up in the breeze, apparently thinking Daisy’s words over.
Then she smiled sweetly: “Auntie Daisy, what’s a present?”
“Should Charlotte bring Auntie a present too?”
Daisy and Luna froze for a beat, then laughed at each other.
Meanwhile Luna’s mother, Lynne, had come up beside the three of them.
“This is my mother, Lynne.”
“Mama, this is my colleague, Daisy.”
Luna introduced Lynne and Daisy to each other, and the two exchanged greetings.
Just then Charlotte, her little head resting on Luna’s shoulder, let out a puzzled little sound.
“Hm?”
“Captain Daddy? Is that Daddy!”
All three of them turned to Charlotte at once—she was already pointing past them, at something behind, calling “Daddy!”
Luna looked where she was pointing—and collided head-on with Victor’s gaze.
She snatched her eyes away on instinct, shoved the suitcase handle into Lynne’s hand, and ran, Charlotte in her arms.
“Luna?!” Daisy stared, stunned, at her fleeing figure, frozen in place, unsure how to react.
The moment she came back to herself and was about to lift her suitcase and chase, a figure shot past her, already sprinting in Luna’s direction.
…It was Captain Victor.
Daisy hurried after them both.
Meanwhile, in Luna’s arms, Charlotte kept her eyes fixed on the man chasing behind them, murmuring: “Mommy, that uncle who looks like Daddy is chasing us.”
Luna patted her back gently. They had reached the airport curb by then.
Lynne’s car stood at the roadside. Luna opened the door and settled Charlotte quickly and carefully into the child seat—and just as she was about to close the door, a hand caught it.
Luna turned. Victor stood behind her, eyes grave and fixed on her.
“Why did you run?” he said in a low voice—then his gaze slid to the little girl sitting in the car.
The moment his eyes touched that soft little face, his pupils contracted and his whole body went rigid.
“She… she is…”
Luna pried his hand off and shut the door, glancing at her mother to signal her to get in first.
Then she stepped a few paces away. Through the window Victor took one more look at Charlotte in the back seat, then lifted his eyes to Lynne, just getting into the car.
He inclined his head to her politely. Lynne said nothing, only nodded in greeting.
Luna was still waiting where she stood. He pressed his lips together, walked over, and stopped in front of her.
“The child… how old is she?”
His voice was shaking in spite of itself.
Luna glanced at him, then looked away and answered in a low voice: “Three.”
“Three… so she was conceived the year we separated. Isn’t that right?”
“Luna. You hid her from me for three years. You disappeared for three years.”
His voice was hoarse past all hoarseness, accusation and hurt and heartbreak all tangled in it.
“And that divorce agreement. Your signature was on it.”
Her voice was shaking too, her throat tight and choking. She drew a breath and went on: “You signed without a single question. Of course I respected your choice.”
“I thought you didn’t want me anymore!” Victor shot back at once.
For the first time, he showed her his vulnerable side. “The day you handed me those papers, I thought there was someone else. I thought you truly wanted to end it.”
“I signed it because you wouldn’t even give me a reason.”
“You were the one who abandoned me first, Luna.”
His voice cracked with the accusation, sorrow staining his eyes.
Behind them, at the airport doors, Keane and Daisy pulled up short in mid-chase. Daisy pressed her lips together; the two were fighting fiercely, and she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to step in.
Keane held her back, voice low: “Leave it. Let them fight it out.”