Flyover Country Ch. 03

I leaned toward her while Sharon was trying to get through to her mother. "Ms. Cunningham...?" I began.

"Please ... I'm Teresa," she returned. She had a nice smile too.

"Then, I'm Matt—Matthew James, to be precise—Singletary," I told her and smiled. "If I may ... could we ... Sharon and I ... somehow get a line of credit or something with the shops down on the lower level? We'll be glad to repay it as soon as we can. Both of us are pretty rank and we desperately need something to wear. We're beginning to offend ourselves, in addition to everyone else we come into contact with."

"I'm sorry ... Matt ... crap! I'm better than this ... just so shocked!" She stood and walked to a small table near the door and picked up the handset on a house phone. "This is Ms. Cunningham!" she said into the mouthpiece when the front desk answered. "Do you know me?"

"Good, do I need to ask for Simon Humphrey, or can you make things happen?"

"Excellent! Please find Mr. Charles and Ms. Reardon ... have them come up to the Penthouse immediately, please. Then ... if you'll arrange to have lunch sent up for three, please ... something substantial—big ... huge servings, okay?" She glanced at me inquiringly.

"Huge servings ... for at least two confirmed carnivores!" I quipped with a grin. "And lots of things to drink ... except water ... we've had all the plain water we'll need for a lifetime!"

She smiled at that and visibly began to loosen up. She relayed the last instructions to whoever she was talking to. "Yes, that'll be all for the moment, thank you," she said, ending her phone conversation. She depressed the switch hook and released it, listened for a second, and then began punching her forefinger at the key pad.

"Donna!" she said shortly when a connection was made. "...Is Cal in?

"Yes, break in on the meeting, please, this is extraordinarily important ... yes, I'll wait." It was only a couple of seconds.

"Yeah ... Cal. If you're not sitting down, SIT! You're not going to believe this—Sharon Kincaid is alive!" she said to the mysterious "Cal" at the other end of the line.

"Absolutely!" Ms. Cunningham said emphatically. "I'm here in Fairbanks, in the Penthouse suite with her ... and her husband, right now! Yes ... husband..." She repeated, flicking her eyes at me and grinning tightly. "I don't know, Cal ... there are a ton of things I don't know about what's happened right now..." She glanced at me again.

"Temporary credit cards ... maybe a cash advance...?" I whispered in her direction." She nodded.

"Cal ... listen, can you get someone to set up a couple of corporate cards for Sharon and her husband Matt Singletary for them to use 'til they get their personal cards reactivated...? Yeah, Singletary ... Matthew Singletary ... great ... and have them brought to them by courier...? That'll take care of it. Oh ... Cal, can you call Mr. Kincaid and give him the news? Great!"

"No ... I think that'll do it for now, thanks a bunch, Cal ... bye!"

"Hi ... Mom?" Sharon asked into Teresa's phone microphone. There was a pregnant pause. "Mom...?" Sharon waited another moment, then held the phone away from her ear. She looked at the display suspiciously. "Mom...?" she asked again, then sighed expressively. "Hello?"

She looked up at me, thoroughly perplexed. "She answered," Sharon explained, "and then ... just ... nothing—HELLO? Yes, Jenny ... it's Sharon ... yeah ... yes, it's me ... we all just walked out of the mountains after the plane crash..."

"She fainted! Mom fainted," Sharon told us in an aside while she listened to the far-away voice.

When I would have said something about her remark, she showed me the palm of her hand as she waved at me and stuck out her tongue with a grin. In just the short time we'd been back in civilization, I'd been getting progressively more peeved when folks described what had happened as a "crash," because that most certainly had not happened. And Sharon knew full well it was beginning to get to me.

I turned my attention back to Teresa Cunningham ... who was studying me right back.

"So, Ms. Cunnin—Teresa...," I corrected myself. "What is it you do for Mr. Kincaid?"

"I'm a ... well, I am a consultant of sorts ... I travel to Mr. Kincaid's various holdings and offer ... management assistance to that activity," she told me. It struck a chord.

I nodded my understanding. "Sounds remarkably like a thing I used to do in another lifetime," I remarked. "My boss referred to me as his 'Paladin', his hired gunslinger sent out to root out the bad guys, and find out who was robbing the till an' ... well, stuff like that." I grinned.

"Indeed?" Teresa said politely. "We'll have to sit down and swap stories some time," she joked. She'd clearly accepted me at face value and was seeing me as a kindred soul. That was good; I'd been wondering how I'd fit in with Sharon's crowd. On the other hand, Teresa might still be jittery after the shock of seeing Sharon rise from the dead, and hadn't yet regained control of her emotions. She might still turn out to be a stone cold businesswoman.

* * *

"MOM!" Sharon shouted. "Yeah, it's me ... no, I'm fine, Mom, really ... I ... WE are here in Fairbanks ... at Daddy's hotel ... yeah, they're taking real good care of us." She was becoming irritated, then she brightened. "Yes ... I DO have someone I need to introduce you to..." She grinned. "When you get here, Mom ... you'll like him." she told her mother.

They chatted a while longer before Sharon hung up. She looked around happily.

"Mom's gonna find a flight up here ... she's in Florida ... and she doesn't know when Dad'll get back. What the heck is Dad doing in Tierra del Fuego, 'Resa?" she asked, perplexed.

"Honey, I don't have a clue!" Teresa admitted. "...Just have to ask him when he gets here, I guess, she added.

* * *

The two of them settled in for a long chat, renewing whatever friendship they'd had before Sharon set out on an adventure on the North Slope. I listened for a while.

"Okay!" I announced at length. "I don't know about y'all, but I feel a nice, hot, soapy shower calling me ... and I'm not going to resist any longer, by golly!" I smiled, getting to my feet.

"Oooohh," Sharon crooned happily. "Me, too ... wait for me, babe," she exclaimed. "Teresa...?" she said, addressing Ms. Cunningham. "My husband and I are going to go clean off a few months of grit and grim ... and it's going to take a while, okay?"

She eyed me for a moment before turning back to Teresa. "...And if we find something we like 'neath all those layers of mud, we might even be a little longer, okay?" she said, inviting Teresa to understand things left unsaid.

"I'll call and have lunch delivered in...," Teresa replied, looking at her watch, "how 'bout twelve noon exactly ... that'll give you almost two hours to ... wash off all the dirt and grime a couple of times, how would that be?"

I checked the wall clock and threw an understanding Teresa a quick thumbs up. I was already scrambling to catch up to my wife who was making tracks for the big bathroom. I caught up in time to help stuff clothing we'd never wear again into plastic bags we found in the closet. We'd find a bonfire for them later.

* * *

It was a few minutes past noon when Sharon and I emerged from the bathroom wearing fluffy white robes. We found two enormous trays of food and drink on the table near the balcony door. There were a couple of young interns Ms. Cunningham had summoned standing by.

Sharon and I invited Charles Mallory and Samantha Reardon to join us and in short order, the five of us, including Teresa, were chomping down on thick sandwiches and guzzling down big bottles of soda ... things Sharon and I had only been able to dream about on the trek out of the mountains. Charles and Samantha were interns, not paid any better than any other pair of interns, and they may well have also fantasized about a spread like the one in front of us.

Teresa detailed Charles and Samantha to be our personal assistants, and they did a superb job, in my estimation. In short order, they were able to find out where my parents were, and what their phone number was—because I didn't know it.

"Mom and Dad" was an entry in my old contacts list and all I had to do was tap the little green phone handset icon to get through to them on my now-deactivated phone. Sharon and I—along with all the others in our group of survivors—were dead as far as officialdom was concerned. Once the bureaucracy pronounced us deceased, it was like pulling teeth to be returned to bureaucratic life.

I got to talk to my astounded parents and arranged for them to come up to Anchorage. They had to find a storage facility for their big RV and then they'd be on their way. Teresa Cunningham had their tickets upgraded to first class without me knowing.

Teresa appointed herself Sharon's and my guardian, doing little things like the ticket upgrade for my Mom and Dad. In general, anything Charles and Samantha didn't have the firepower to make happen, Teresa did. She steamrollered many a mid-level manager inside the Kincaid business organization, taking no prisoners. She had a trio of lawyers from the Kincaid headquarters working on getting annotations of all our group's deaths reversed in the system—in whatever system needed to be corrected.

In a day and a half, I had a new phone with all my contacts reloaded from the cloud, I was a pilot in good standing with the Federal government again, my Alaska drivers license was renewed, my bank accounts and credit cards had been reactivated. I was all good to go.

They arranged for tailors to come to the suite and take measurements for a full set of clothing. I grumbled a little. First off, I could pay for what we needed. Second, even if I wasn't allowed to buy things, I just didn't see much use for tailored blue jeans and shirts. Besides, Sharon and I were both going to start putting back on a few pounds, now that we weren't burning up a ton of calories every day hiking up one side of a mountain and down the other. No one paid me any particular attention, but they didn't pay me any attention very politely.

Teresa even arranged for the whole group of survivors to have a complete—underscore the word "complete"—physical exam. We spent all of our second day in civilization in a hospital getting every part of our bodies poked at, measured, classified, examined and analyzed. At the end of the day, we were pronounced extremely fit and healthy, which we kind of already knew. That was the last time our group was together. From there, all everyone else went home to return to their normal lives. I went home with Sharon.

* * *

Sharon and I were waiting in two of those hard-shell plastic airport seats holding hands, talking quietly, and rubbing shoulders comfortably. I'm sure no one could tell we were in love—okay, maybe it was a little obvious. On the other hand, we seriously did not care what anyone else thought.

We were in the Anchorage International Airport, having taken a chartered flight there from Fairbanks, and we were waiting for Sharon's mother to arrive. Judith Kincaid had had a horrible time getting to Anchorage. Her husband's corporate jet was loaned out to a European businessman; it was therefore unavailable, and every danged flight in this direction had been booked solid.

She finally procured a standby ticket in Miami and had gone to everyone in the waiting area with a confirmed ticket for a flight to Seattle, offering ten thousand dollars plus tickets to anywhere in the world to anyone who would exchange tickets with her. A family of six from Galveston took her up on her offer and, after a short family conference, were booked on a plane for California and Disneyland instead of Seattle, en route to Alaska. Good choice, in my opinion.

* * *

My new mother-in-law's plane was here, out on the tarmac, at least. The arrival was documented on the overhead bank of monitors showing flight numbers and gate assignments. I couldn't wait—this was going to be so joyful. I was trying hard not to be nauseous.

Sharon was busy, whispering in my ear how I was going to love her mom, and her sisters and her brother too. I saw a tall, attractive woman with gray hair descending the escalator and looking all around. She was looking all around, searching. I watched as her eyes fastened on Sharon—and me.

I gave Sharon a quick peck on the cheek, just to get her attention, and nodded in the direction of the woman nearing the ground floor. Sharon looked and erupted from her seat, racing quickly across the airport arrival lobby. She threw her arms around the woman who I could see favored Sharon quite a bit.

I followed slowly, giving them time to get reacquainted. Judith Kincaid watched me, every step of the way, over her daughter's shoulder. Sharon had already told her mother on the phone she had a husband so it wasn't a complete surprise, but this was our first meeting.

I put my hand gently in the small of Sharon's back and she slipped out of her mother's embrace. She half-turned so she was between me and her mom as Judith and I faced each other. "Mom ... this is my husband, Matt ... Matt, this is my Mom, Judith ... she likes to be called Judy."

"Mrs. Kincaid," I said in what I hoped was a friendly, sincere voice. I was sure she had several—well, several million—questions as to how and why her daughter came home with a thoroughly unknown husband.

"Judy! Please," she corrected me with a nice smile. I was grateful for that smile—at least she wasn't scowling and grumbling.

"I'm gonna keep him around, Mom," Sharon explained, "...I might run into another one of those and need someone to kill it for me!" She pointed at the enormous stuffed and mounted polar bear in the center of the lobby. Technically, a polar bear isn't a grizzly, but I thought Sharon could be forgiven for babbling just a bit. The introduction of a surprise husband to her mother was stressful for her too.

Judy glanced at the huge bear and then back at her daughter questioningly. She relaxed. "I'm guessing there's a story in there somewhere?" she asked. Then she held up her hand. "There's our ride," she remarked as a uniformed driver walked up. "Can we continue this at home?" She slipped past Sharon and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Score one for my side! Mom-in-law was not hostile. I really appreciated that.

* * *

"...So I gather Matt is the greatest knight in shining armor in history, and he killed the dragon and saved you from being eaten and everything?" Judy asked her daughter. We were sitting in the biggest family room I could ever have imagined, if I was given to imagining such things, that is.

Sharon and I were together on a sofa and "Mom" Kincaid had her feet tucked up under her on another one nearby. Judy was enthralled by the story Sharon and I were telling. I think I even scored another point or two when I accepted tea instead of coffee. Of course, I wanted it in a big "manly mug" instead of a dainty cup, but Judy even liked that.

"He IS my knight in shining armor and he did kill the monster!" Sharon replied happily, clutching my arm at the elbow and holding it tight against her body. We were sitting comfortably with some music playing softly in the background and having a great conversation.

"Whoa, there!" I interjected. "Judy ... you need to know your lovely daughter was standing right there beside me while that darn bear was coming at us. I was plinking away at him with my revolver, Sharon found the rifle and she brought it to me ... walking straight at the bear. And when I fired all six rounds in my gun, she gave me the rifle and started to work reloading, the pistol.

"By the time I used up all the ammunition in the rifle, she had the revolver reloaded. She gave it back to me and slapped another magazine in the rifle. I put three more rounds into the bear, and your wonderful daughter was standing there, aiming the rifle at that son of a gun when he finally consented to die—so, if there was a bumbling knight in this story, then there surely was a warrior princess there, also!"

Sharon brought her left hand up to my right cheek and turned my face to hers and gave me a long kiss. She turned back to her mother with a contented look. "My husband!" Sharon told her mother in an utterly satisfied tone. She patted my left thigh affectionately.

We talked for hours, telling Judy about the trek—how many mountain slopes we'd climbed—how many rivers we'd crossed on rafts or waded across if they were shallow enough—and how we were married early one beautiful morning while the wilderness woke up around us.

Judy had to blot tears from her eyes when Sharon told her that. She had to come to our sofa and throw her arms around her daughter. Both of them had a good cry.

"Thank you ... son," Judy said at length. "Thank you so much!" Then she worked her way around Sharon and took me in her arms and hugged me tightly. "Thank you for bringing my daughter home, Matt."

"Well ... we kinda brought each other home," I said gruffly.

Judy patted my hand. "I see .. I know ... you two are a team ... and you fit so darned well together. You obviously love each other and no one in the world will ever mistake what you feel for each other."

"I do ... I love him, mother ... I love him so much!" Sharon was bawling and that set her mother off again.

"Well ... hell!" I protested, as the mist in my eyes began to flow all over the place. "You guys know if you ever tell anyone about me blubbering like this, you're going to ruin my reputation as a dragon slayer all over this town, right?" I asked, hoping to throw a little humor into the mix so we could back down from all this.

Sharon and Judy laughed a little and we began to unwind from our three way embrace, so I guess I was successful.

"I hope you two know everyone I know is going to hear about your romantic trip ... and about you killing that horrible bear ... and how you two love each other. The whole state is gonna know about it, before I'm done talking!" Judy vowed.

"Awwwww, Judy...," I began.

"Mom!" she interrupted with a beautiful smile on her lips.

"Awwwww, Mom...," I said. I stopped.

Both women looked at me expectantly.

I had to shrug. "I have no idea what I was going to say," I admitted, sighing. "...Lost my train of thought entirely."

They laughed at me. I was only a man, after all. We hugged again, then settled down for more tea and stories from our journey.

* * *

My mom and dad arrived the next afternoon and Mr. Kincaid was due shortly. Sharon, I, and Judy met them at the airport and brought them back to the Kincaid home/mansion/castle and settled my parents in one of the Kincaid's guest rooms. Sharon and I were staying in what had been her bedroom before she left home.

We spent about an hour, getting comfortable with each other and sharing a couple of stories. Judy couldn't wait to tell of the grizzly encounter and she had the room rocking as she told it. I had to interrupt a couple of times when Judy embellished the facts just a little too much—but she told the story a lot better than Sharon or I could, so we let her ramble on. Judy and my mom, Lea, bonded immediately and Sharon had my Dad charmed out of his socks within seconds.

Mom shot a glance my way when she was first introduced to Sharon and I knew what she was thinking. The last she knew, I was breaking up with a woman named Mercedes—and this clearly wasn't her. I was sure I'd have to clear that up later.

* * *

When Bruce Kincaid came into the room where we were all sitting, I half-expected to hear the sound of trumpets playing ruffles and flourishes. I could practically hear the 21-gun salute being fired in their ten-acre backyard.

Mr. Kincaid sent all his gofers away on errands and shed his coat before looking me in the eye. He shook my hand, then did the same with my parents and hugged Sharon tightly. It was only then that he even came close to a smile. So at least he did love her. I'd been wondering.