Flight to Freedom (Flight Trilogy, Book 3) (7 page)

“Funny.”

What
a
jerk
.
Why
didn’t
I
see
this
before
?

“I’m going to contact her. If she’ll have me, I’m going to ask her to marry me,” Ryan said.

“Man, what am I going to do with you? Really, dude, I think you’re headed for the rocks.”

“Rex, you have no clue.”

“Remember, the Rexter tried to warn you.” Rex picked up the TV remote, and started surfing. “Dude, you got a picture of this high-school hottie? Should I get my harpoon?”

“Not a current one.”

“Hey, buddy, it’s just one chick. Don’t get bogged down over a memory when hundreds of gorgeous babes are out there waiting for us. I’m begging you to give them a chance.” His tone lifted with enthusiasm. “Listen, let me take you to my favorite beach. It's a magical place. Dude, you won’t
believe
the babes!” He smiled. “Your good buddy, Rex, is gonna take care of you. Trust me. Before the sun sets, you’ll have forgotten all about Keri. She’s no good for you. Dude, look at me.” He stepped back and pointed at himself with both hands. “The Rexter knows.”

Ryan stared at Rex.

It’s
a
dream
.
It’s
happening
again
.
If
I
go
to
that
beach
with
Rex
,
I
will
meet
Emily
Anderson
.
That
is
where
the
trouble
starts
.
If
I
stay
home
,
I
have
a
chance
to
change
my
entire
future
.

“Forget it, Rex! I’m sticking with what I know. You go without me this time.”

“Dude! Have you lost your mind?”

“No. I think for once I’m going to make the right decision.”

Once Ryan made his decision, Rex didn’t seem to care. “Have it your way, dude.”

Ryan retreated to his bedroom and stretched out on the bed. He remembered the note Keri stuffed in his pocket that night—their last night together.

He
had
kept
it
…
but
where
?
His
Bible
!

He sprung up, trying to remember where he might have put his Bible. He seldom read it, but his mother had given it to him when he was in high school. He kept it for sentimental reasons.

He rummaged through a box of books in his closet and found it. He fanned the thin pages releasing several pieces of paper to the floor. It only took a glance to spot the note, folded just as Keri had done before slipping it into his pocket that night. The sight of it flooded him with memories—good and bad.

June
23
,
1974

Dear
Ryan
,

I
believe
if
we
are
meant
to
be
together
,
nothing
can
keep
us
apart
.
As
long
as
I
live
,
I
will
patiently
wait
on
each
sunrise
and
follow
each
sunset
into
tomorrow
,
for
I
believe
it
is
the
path
of
the
sun
that
will
lead
us
to
our
hopes
and
dreams
.
Promise
me
that
you
will
never
lose
hope
in
tomorrow
.

I
love
you
,

Keri

He reread:
As
long
as
I
live
,
I
will
patiently
wait
on
each
sunrise
and
follow
each
sunset
into
tomorrow
,
for
I
believe
it
is
the
path
of
the
sun
that
will
lead
us
to
our
hopes
and
dreams
…

His mother’s words echoed in his head, “Two souls that are meant to be together can never be separated.”

* * *

Ryan opened his eyes when Keri touched his arm. Not fully transitioned to reality, he looked around the room. It was confusingly different but somehow familiar at the same time.

“Wake up, sleepyhead, I don’t want you to miss church,” she said.

“How long did I sleep?”

“About eight hours.”

“Did you say eight hours?”

“Maybe a little more.”

That
means
she
won’t
remember
the
allergic
reaction
—
just
like
she
didn’t
yesterday
morning
.

He tested her. “So, I slept all night and didn’t wake up?”

“Like a dead man in a lumber yard—snoring away.”

With his thoughts planted firmly in reality, he recalled his dream: He did not go to the beach with Rex, therefore, he did not meet Emily Anderson. He mailed his letter to Keri before Rex changed it. Shortly after she moved to California he married her—not Emily. Keri never married Rex.

CHAPTER 9

Southern
California

Sunday
Morning
—
April
2003

Ryan’s eyes widened with excitement. “Keri, it works! The perfume is magical!”

“Calm down. What perfume are you talking about?”

That’s
right
…
she
won’t
remember
anything
that
happened
before
I
went
to
sleep
—
Starbucks
;
the
perfume
;
the
sneezing
—
none
of
it
.

The choices he had made in his dream had changed everything. He was no longer in Georgia, but instead, back in California. It was as if they had never moved. It was April 2003.

He sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

She
probably
won’t
understand
,
but
here
goes
…

“In my dream, I was in Rex’s condo in Del Mar, back in 1983, when we were flight instructors at Miramar. I had just come home from work and I called my mom to wish her happy birthday. She started telling me about you and how you had sent her a birthday card. And then…I realized it was all a dream…a very clear, lucid dream. It was so weird!”

“It’s not unusual to be lucid in your dreams. That has been very thoroughly documented.”

“But that’s not all. I knew everything that had happened or was going to happen in that dream. It was like I had already lived it. My life was being replayed like a movie—a movie I had already seen. The only difference was I had the opportunity to make decisions that I knew were going to alter my future. For example, do you remember the letter you received from me while you were a flight attendant in Fort Lauderdale?”

“Of course I do. That letter was the reason we got back together and were eventually married. When I received that letter, I called you and we talked for two hours. I told you about my upcoming transfer to California in July and how excited I was about seeing you and reconnecting with you. You practically asked me to marry you on the phone. Just so you know, if you had asked me, I would have said yes. After that conversation, I knew we would be married soon.”

She
doesn’t
know
.
The
only
letter
she
received
was
the
unaltered
one
…
she
is
not
aware
that
there
ever
was
another
letter
.

Everything Keri said he knew to be true, but his mind struggled to understand his
other
life—the life he knew before he went to sleep.

Was
it
really
only
a
dream
?

In the midst of his dream it was impossible for him to know how his new choices would affect his future, but seeing that Keri had no recollection of the altered letter was proof that his new reality was definitely different. For her, his new reality was her
only
reality, and there was no
other
life. He wanted Keri to understand what was happening.

“Do you have
any
recollection, at all, of Rex changing the letter I sent you?”

“I’m not sure what you mean. You talked about Rex all the time, but the first time I met him was at our wedding, remember?”

That’s
right
!
She
never
married
Rex
.
The
first
time
she
met
him
was
at
our
wedding
.

He examined the room more carefully. It was definitely not the same room in the Buckhead condo where he had fallen asleep. He played along, knowing she was not going to believe anything he told her about the
other
life—at least not now.

“That’s right,” he said, “I forgot. It wasn’t until you moved to California that you had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful Rex Dean.”

Like a fog burning off with the rising sun, the more distance he put between his dream and reality, the more aware he was of his life. He desperately wanted to see if she recalled anything from the
other
life, but he had to be careful how he worded his questions.

“Looking back, what would you say were some of the highlights that were special to you in the years that followed your move to California?” he said.

She squeezed his hand. “Being with you was all I cared about…and still do.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

He put his arm around her and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead. “You know it is. I feel the same way. But I was just wondering what special times or events stand out in your memory.”

“Well…obviously our wedding at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel was
the
highlight. It was any girl’s dream wedding. I loved how you timed the ceremony perfectly with a beautiful sunset over Monarch Bay. High atop the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it was the perfect balance of elegance, serenity, and grace. And then there was the icing on the cake with a dream vacation to Hawaii.”

He faked a puzzled look and said, “How long had you been in California before we were married…five months…six months?”

“Hmm…my transfer to L.A. was in July 1983, and we were married on Saturday, May 12, 1984, so that would make it nine months…no, ten months.”

The fog in his mind had completely burned off. He was fully synced with the present. Even for him the details of their
other
life were slowly becoming a distant memory—a dream of what might have been.

In his current reality, he and Keri had been married for nineteen years, and he was an airline pilot living in California, not Georgia They had escaped the nightmare of the
other
life where he had once been married to the man-eater, Emily Anderson, and Keri to the womanizer, Rex Dean..

He said, “If you had to name one other event that stands out, what would it be?”

“That’s easy, but it’s actually not just
one
event, it’s two.” She smiled. “David and Martha, of course…the day they were born, August 31, 1988.”

He laughed. “I guess you could call it two events. I agree, the greatest day in our life, other than our wedding day, was the birth of the twins.”

When she mentioned the children, his mind ricocheted off his
other
life—a life replete with pain and struggle—where their deaf son, David, had been conceived in New York before they were married. But worse was the horrid night when Keri and the kids were held hostage, while the lunatic, Samael Janus, sent Ryan on a mission of death.

His body grew hot. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His heart began to race, pounding in his chest.

Oh
no
!
If
this
is
April
2003
,
then
the
night
Keri
and
the
children
are
taken
hostage
has
not
happened
yet
.
That
didn’t
happen
until
May
29th
.
That’s
next
month
!

“Honey, are you alright? Your face is beet red.” Keri put her palm on his forehead. “You are sweating.” She turned his wrist over and measured his pulse. “You’d better lie down.”

As he put his head on the pillow he said, “I’m fine.”

She got a damp bath cloth from the bathroom and placed it on his forehead. She took another pulse reading. “Almost normal now.”

But
wait
!
If
this
is
April
2003
,
then
the
crash
that
occurred
on
July
11
,
2002
should
have
already
happened
.
If
so
,
Rex
Dean’s
wife
,
Emily
,
should
be
dead
.
Samael
Janus
murdered
her
that
night
.

In the
other
life, Rex Dean’s jet was shot down on July 11, 2002. He knew for a fact that never happened. There had not been a major air disaster since 9/11. If that were the case, perhaps the horror of May 29, 2003 would never happen. But how could he be certain? He couldn’t.