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o, over the last few weeks we’ve shared breakfast often. There’s a more important question I remember, as I down my second glass. “Where are we going and why are we going in the dead of night?”
Alice laughs, “Have fun, dear.”
Grant pulls me up. “It’s a surprise and it’s only the dead of night to you.”
I want to say I don’t like surprises, but he knows I do. Giving up, content to wait for my surprise. I’m even more surprised when we pull up to a small commuter airport outside of Chicago. Then we are driven to a jet that’s huge. “What is this? It’s huge.”
“It’s a G7, I bought it last week.”
“You bought this last week? Why?”
Grant hands over my passport and I wonder again where we are going, as we go through the very polite preflight preliminaries. “Because you said you wanted to travel. One of the things I’ve always hated about traveling was being on someone else’s timetable and sitting on the tarmac. I figured if we were going to be traveling we should do it in the most comfortable way possible.”
As we board, I’m blown away by the gleaming wood and new leather smell. “Wow.”
“You like it? I had them fit it for a family, not business travel. We have a full bedroom with a queen bed and a full bathroom, with a shower, though no bathtub.”
“It’s gorgeous. This huge jet just for us?”
“Well, we aren’t going to stop traveling when the baby comes, and I’ve heard they require a lot of room and accessories.”
The casual way he refers to the future has me pulling him to me for a kiss that takes us back to the bedroom. A little smaller than our king bed at home, but extremely comfortable. I fall asleep with Grant still inside me.
This time I wake up in a much better mood. I’m alone and with a sigh I go in to take a quick shower before getting dressed again. Leaving our room, I find Grant with his laptop out but in deep thought, the laptop forgotten. It isn’t something he’s done before, then again neither is this trip. I let it go. “Do I get to know where we are going now?”
He looks up in surprise, huh, he hadn’t heard me. “Not yet. When we land is soon enough.”
“When will we be landing?”
Checking his watch he smiles. “You slept quite a while, we still have almost six hours though. Can you think of what we can do to pass the time?”
Ignoring his hint, I jump up from my seat. “Harry Potter movie time! There are all the discs in the tv room. Come on!”
We spend the next few hours in the tv room, cuddled together on the comfy long couch bolted to the floor. The flight attendant is a very nice, very pretty woman who isn’t the slightest bit interested in Grant, so I like her. She’s quick to assure us the galley was fully stocked. As the flight goes on, everything we ask for we get. Including the burgers and french fries Grant asks for.
The third movie is ending as a voice comes over a loudspeaker. “We are now approaching our destination city of Rome and will be making our final descent for Ciampino airport. Please take a seat in the forward cabin and fasten your seatbelts.
“Mr. Dexter your car is waiting. Local time is nine-thirty pm, if you turn your phones off then on again they will adjust to the new time. I hope you both enjoy your time in Rome.”
I squeal, unable to hold it inside. “Grant!”
“Good surprise?” He asks, as he fastens my seatbelt.
“Oh, my god, this is amazing. You are amazing, I can’t believe this. How long are we staying? Where are we staying?”
“Well, since this is last minute I couldn’t get us quite ten days here in Rome. We’ll be at the Hotel De Russie for eight nights then we’ll do a short hop to Florence for six nights then on to Venice where we stay for two weeks.”
I’m in a puddle of mush by the time he’s done. I have no words to express my happiness. The cities he’s listed are ones I’ve fantasized about, to know I’ll be walking through them, sharing it all with Grant, leaves me feeling overwhelmed with emotions. “Oh.”
Grant laughs, “I have learned that’s a good ‘oh,’ so I will take that as you’re happy.”
I nod fast, then burst into tears, surprising the both of us and the flight attendant. The flight attendant is the first to move, quick to hand me a box of tissues. “I’m sorry.”
His hand wraps around mine. “If you don’t dry your eyes soon you’ll miss seeing Rome as we descend.”
As a way of stopping tears, it works. I wipe my eyes as I press against the glass to see the city below. It’s beautiful.
I’m in awe and stay that way over the next hour, for the drive through the city to check in at one of the most famous hotels I’ve ever heard of. I’m shocked to hear Grant introduce me as his wife, then start speaking Italian in a rapid fire stream. My awe stays with me all the way up to the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen. Then Grant walks me out to the rooftop terrace and I’m crying again.
