Chapter 1: The Airport Reunion
I arrived at the airport nearly an hour early. I bought a coffee—which I barely touched—and kept checking the arrivals board, even though I had the flight details pulled up on my phone. When the word “landed” finally appeared, I took my place near the gate.
Other people were already waiting with flowers and balloons. A little boy standing next to me kept asking his grandmother if every man who walked through the doors was his dad. I smiled at him. Then, I checked my reflection in my phone screen and tucked my hair behind my ears.
That was when I noticed the sign.
A white sign. Big, black letters.
Jeremy Collins.
I looked at it, looked away, then looked back again. My heart skipped a beat. Who was this woman, and why was she holding a sign with my husband’s name on it? I tried to tell myself it was just a coincidence, but the more I looked, the more my mind raced.
As the crowd began to thin, I saw him. Jeremy, with his familiar smile and tired eyes. He was walking toward the woman with the sign, and she was beaming at him. My legs felt like jelly, and I couldn’t move. What was happening?
Jeremy’s eyes scanned the crowd, and for a moment, they met mine. His smile faltered, and he stopped in his tracks. The woman with the sign looked confused, then turned to see me.
“Jeremy,” she said, but he was already walking toward me, his face a mixture of shock and something I couldn’t quite read.
Chapter 2: The Unspoken Questions
Jeremy reached me, and I could see the tension in his jaw. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice low.
“I wanted to surprise you,” I replied, my voice trembling. “But it looks like someone else got here first.” I nodded toward the woman with the sign, who was now standing awkwardly a few feet away.
Jeremy’s eyes darted to her, then back to me. “Ella, this is—”
“It’s okay,” I interrupted, my voice breaking. “I don’t need to know her name.”
Jeremy sighed heavily. “Let’s just go home, okay? We can talk there.”
The drive home was silent, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. I glanced at Jeremy, who was staring straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and questions, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
When we finally pulled into the driveway, I saw the banner my kids had made hanging in the kitchen window. “Welcome Home, Daddy!” It was a stark reminder of what we were supposed to be celebrating.
Jeremy turned off the car and turned to me. “Ella, I—”
“Not now,” I said, my voice firm. “Let’s get the kids first.”
Chapter 3: The Family’s Disappointment
My sister was waiting at the door with the kids, both of them holding handmade cards. Their faces lit up when they saw Jeremy, and they ran to hug him. I watched from the doorway, feeling like an outsider in my own home.
“Daddy!” my daughter, Lily, exclaimed, hugging him tightly. “We missed you so much!”
“I missed you too, my little pumpkin,” Jeremy said, his voice choked with emotion. He turned to my son, Max, who was holding up a drawing of a family portrait. “Look, Dad, I drew us!”