Epilogue
OWEN – ONE YEAR LATER
“Are you ready?” Jade’s crackling voice sounds through my aviation headphones.
“Sure.” As I look down at the beach below, my nerves get the better of me when I say, “Are you sure this is safe?”
“Absolutely.” Her voice is excitable and I’m pretty fucking sure she’s enjoying the torture that is yet to begin.
Since we opened the flying school, she’s been desperate to get me into the two-seater stunt plane she teaches extreme aerobatics in. Students and thrill-seekers travel for miles around to fly with Jade.
It draws crowds of spectators; they line the pier most days, turning up in droves at the weekend to watch her perform stunts in the sky above the waters of Castleview.
Our website uses the word “extreme” as a gauge to describe the experience. Now thinking about it, as I’m suited up, headphones and microphone in place, I want to get out as sweat soaks through my clothing and mild panic takes over my body.
Having just taken off and zooming through the skies above Castleview Cove, I’ve never minded flying with Jade before, but the stunts are something that have always scared me and I have never let her perform them with me in the plane until now. She convinced me it’s the best feeling in the world, telling me, “You’ll want to do it over and over again.”
In a moment of weakness, I agreed. Only now am I regretting my decision; I feel sick as hell, so why the hell did I think this was a good idea? However, it’s too late to change my mind as she says, “Here we go.”
The noisy Extra 300 aircraft flips upside down and I can’t control the scream that leaves my throat as the landscape I’m now viewing is upside down. With Jade seated in front of me, I push my arms out to the side as if the edges of the plane will help me, but they won’t.
As Jade flips us back round, I sigh with relief, but it’s short lived as she sends the plane soaring vertically, making me scream again. “Slow down. Oh my God, you’re trying to kill me,” I shout, which makes Jade laugh.
“We are only pulling speeds of two hundred miles an hour. You sound like a girl when you scream.”
“Two hundred? I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Big baby,” she mutters, her tone full of humor. “The next move is brilliant. You’re going to love it,” she informs me through my headset as she keeps the plane in the vertical position.
“Hey, no name calling, Hotshot, and why the fuck are we not flying the right way up?” I shout down the microphone, still bracing myself on either side of the plane.
“Here we go again.” The excitement and joy in her voice makes me feel uneasy.
Her mission in life is to go as fast as possible and to kill me, I’m sure of it.
Jade maneuvers the small plane, which sounds like an angry hive of honeybees, from its soaring position into a nosedive within milliseconds as she flips the plane, making it do a loop, then dive bombs at breakneck speed in a downward position.
I clamber in my seat, my harness and the speed we’re traveling at pinning me in place as I scream to the point I might lose my voice, my eyes bugging out, and I’m pretty sure my bowels might explode. My life flashes before my eyes as we hurtle to the ground, nose first, into the waves of Castleview Cove, seemingly flying faster than before.
“Holy shiitttttttt,” I yell as I imagine fish eating me when we crash and I vanish forever. Then at the last minute, Jade pulls the stick controller up, shifting us from vertical to horizontal at the speed of lightning, and we are skimming the surface of the water.
“Wooooooo hooooooo,” Jade whoops with joy.
Sweat dripping off my entire body, feeling like I am about to vomit, I whisper, “I think I shit myself.”
From the pilot position in front of me, Jade throws her head back with laughter. “You okay?”
As I mop my brow, my stomach lurches and I have to cover my mouth to hold back the vomit that threatens to explode around us.
“Landing now,” Jade says calmly.
“I hate you,” I belch.
“Sick bags are on the left.” The tires of the plane bump a few times as we land, and my stomach muscles spasm as I reach for the sick bag and spew into it, retching and coughing.
“You’ll be fine in an hour,” Jade says calmly as the plane stops and she unbuckles herself once she’s done her safety checks.
Eventually, she coaxes me out of the plane, my legs shaky .
“You look gray.” Lincoln laughs when he sees me, pointing, informing my son, Atlas, I didn’t enjoy the flight.
“More like green. What do you think, Poppy?” Jacob counters, laughing with Poppy by his side.
Before I can reply, their faces become a blur, and I pass out.
“So, no more flying for you then?” Jade sticks a giant piece of halloumi into her mouth, smiling wickedly as she chews, casually leaning back in her chair.
We are having a barbecue with all our friends and family on the airfield. Something we try to do once a month.
I stomp my feet on the ground. “I’ll stay here. Thank you very much.” I hold my stomach from the movement. Three hours have passed, and I still can’t eat anything.
“Your wife is a daredevil.” Lincoln punches me on the shoulder.
“She’s the devil.” I narrow my eyes and stare across at where she is seated, which only makes her stick her tongue out at me. “Mature of you.” I nod and hide a smirk.
This woman will be the death of me.
What a way to go, death by daredevil.
My Hotshot.
Jade pulls herself out of her outdoor chair and makes her way to me. Sitting down on my lap, she cups my face. “Are you okay?” Worry lines her forehead, her lines deepening around the outer edges of her eyes.
“I’m better now.” I move in for a kiss, but she covers my mouth with her hand.
“Did you brush your teeth?”
With her hand still over my mouth, I nod and her lips are on mine in seconds as she gives me a chaste kiss. “I love you.” I will never grow tired of hearing her say those words.
“Are you after my life insurance money? Is that why you tried to kill me today?” I pinch her ass and throw her a wink.
She tilts her head, thinking for a moment before she answers. “Nope. I was genuinely trying to make you vomit.” Her face is serious. I know she’s telling the truth.
Poppy appears by my side. “She did it on purpose, Daddy.” She tattletales, looking a picture of innocence today with her pigtails and rosy cheeks.
I will never grow tired of those words either because I made good on my promise and adopted Poppy.
“She did.” I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Do you think we should get her back for making Daddy turn the color of Shrek?”
Poppy’s eyes light up and at the top of her little voice she shouts, “Water fight!”
Jade leaps off my lap, making everyone jump to their feet, and within minutes, Jade’s mom and aunt are running about screaming and shouting with the water guns we use as part of the adventure events. As are Lincoln and Jacob, with Poppy on backup, as Violet attacks me with the biggest water soaker, the bazooka.
Pregnant with her second child, Skye disappears inside the hangar with the little ones to fetch the smaller water pistols for Aurora and Atlas.
It’s complete mayhem, and I don’t stand a chance against Violet when Jade teams up with her and chases me halfway down the airfield.
Running backward, I look around at my friends, my aunt, uncle, and Gregor, as well as my newfound family, and know that this is how it should always have been .
I created my own legacy; one filled with love, laughter, and my happy ever after.