Freed by You (21 page)

We chatted for a few minutes, he told about his work and I told him about my studies – missing out the part about me skipping classes – then, when I was confident that he had no plans for this weekend, I told him I loved him and ended the call. I would surprise him with our visit. I couldn’t wait to see his face when he opened the door and found us on his porch!

Julian returned moments later with a triumphant smile spread widely across his beautiful face.

“All sorted, I’ve got a plane on standby for this afternoon and accommodation has been confirmed.”

“You really want to do this, don’t you?” I asked, grinning like a maniac as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I like to see you happy, Emily.”

“I don’t need extravagant gestures to make me happy, you know.”

“I know. Besides, I’m doing this for me, really. I want to meet your father and there’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit in France but never had reason to before now, so I’ll be killing two birds with one stone.”

“And where might that be?”

“You’ll see.” He pulled me closer and kissed me passionately. “Come on, you want to help me pack? Then we’ll go to your place before we collect Maia. We’ll need to head straight for the airport.” He grinned wildly at me and I saw nothing but excitement behind his widened eyes.

“Hang on, what do you mean you’ve got a plane on standby? What time is the flight?”

“Whatever time we like, Miss Braxton,” he smiled.

“I don’t understand.”

“You’ll see.

Julian’s wardrobe could hardly be described as a wardrobe. It was bigger than my bathroom! His closet, as I more conveniently named it, consisted of rows upon rows of expensive suits and perfectly pressed shirts. Each suit hung next to a crisp shirt, and each shirt hung next to a single tie. I soon worked out that every one of his outfits had already been picked out for him, the colour of each tie complimenting the shirt that hung next to it. I assumed Maria had the joyful task of choosing his clothes for him. There was a small section at the far end of his closet – I say small, what I really mean is smaller than the first section – that housed casual clothes. These, I noticed, hadn’t been arranged into pre-selected outfits. There were two vast piles of neatly folded jeans and a large selection of T-shirts and jumpers hanging above them.

Julian pushed through the first row of suits, scanning each one as he moved it aside, before moving along to the next one.

“How about this one?” he asked, holding out a mid-grey suit with a pale blue shirt.

“Seriously, Julian. How can this be difficult? They’re all matched up for you!” I chuckled quietly, unable to hide my amusement at his pickiness.

“Very observant, Miss Braxton,” he grinned. “But I’d like to look my best when meeting the most important man in your life. I wouldn’t want to make a bad impression, you can tell a lot about a man by his suit.”

My heart sank at his words. He really cared enough to stand and chose his best suit when, let’s be honest, they all looked the same.

“It’s perfect.”

I went inside to collect Maia, leaving Julian speaking to Jason – who was still on strict orders to guard Maia at all times whilst she was at nursery. It was a comfort to have him there but, honestly, I didn’t think he would be needed at all and felt slightly embarrassed by his continual presence there.

When I exited the nursery, Julian’s Bentley was parked at the curb and Ryan was standing beside the back passenger door. Julian was talking to Jason but he stopped abruptly when he saw me.

“You ready to go?” he asked before crouching down to sweep Maia off her feet.

“Yep, all set.”

“Where we going, Mummy?”

“You want to go and see Granddad?”

“Yes! Granddad not far away now, Mummy?” she asked me, her little eyebrows deepened into a confused frown.

“Granddad is far away but how about we go on an aeroplane?”

“Yay!” she squealed causing me to laugh aloud at her enthusiasm.

“Have a nice trip,” Jason said as he gave Julian’s hand a firm shake. “And don’t worry about a thing here, sir, everything is in hand.”

Julian glared at Jason before shaking his head slightly and turning to Ryan.

Ryan opened the car door and I was surprised to see a child seat buckled into the back seat. Of course, we would need it but I honestly hadn’t even thought about it before now. Julian had thought of everything – even down to the portable DVD player, containing Maia’s favourite princess DVD, which he handed to her when he climbed in beside me.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him.

“No problem, baby,” he replied with a single wink.

“We’re here.”

Julian woke me with a gentle hand stroking across my face, removing the loose waves that were covering it. I blinked rapidly as my eyes adjusted and tried to cover my obvious yawn with my hand.

I had expected Gatwick or Stansted but this was neither.

“Where are we?” I mumbled, my voice sounding thick with sleep.

Julian ignored my question and simply flashed his dazzling, child-like smile at me. His face glowed with excitement. He kissed my temple before climbing out of the car. He removed our cases from the car boot, with Ryan’s assistance, then returned and opened my door, holding his hand out to mine to assist my exit.

I looked around me. There were rows of low buildings, almost like large garages, to my right, and to my left – nothing. Nothing except grass and Tarmac. Tarmac! Was this what I thought it was?

“Julian, why are we here?” I asked nervously.

“I’ll show you.”

He took my hand and led me towards the buildings while Ryan cradled a sleeping Maia. I noticed a tall man standing in front of one and on closer inspection realised that it was in fact like a giant garage. As we got closer, Julian raised his arm and gave the man a thumbs up and instantly the man crouched and began fumbling around close to the ground, but with his back to us I couldn’t make out what he was doing.

Julian seemed to be almost bursting with excitement. His stunning eyes were wide and his mouth was fixed into a seemingly permanent grin. A loud crashing sound forced my attention back to where the man had stood and my mouth dropped open as I saw what was inside the garage.

“What is that?” I managed to choke out through my quivering state.

“It’s a plane, Miss Braxton.”

“I can see it’s a plane, but whose plane? We’re not seriously flying on that?”

“In answer to your first question, it’s my plane. And to the second, yes, we are seriously flying to France in it.” He hung his arm loosely over my shoulder as he spoke, looking extremely pleased with himself.

“You mean to tell me you have a plane.” I was completely flabbergasted!

“Yes, Emily, I have a plane.”

“Right, of course you have a plane. Please explain to me why you have a plane.”

I was in complete shock. I gawped at the small but luxurious looking plane in absolute astonishment. How could this be his? I mean, didn’t these things cost millions?

“I don’t only conduct business in London, Emily. I have to travel a lot for short stays, you know, meetings, etcetera, so I thought what better investment could there be besides a plane?”

“Right.” I couldn’t form any sensible words.

“And besides, I love flying. It’s my favourite hobby.”

I nodded at his seemingly simple explanation. And then my stomach dropped as a horrifying thought crossed my mind.

“When you say flying, you mean sitting in an aircraft, right?”

“No, Emily. I mean flying an aircraft.” He grinned ridiculously at me before removing his arm from my frozen shoulder and casually strolling towards the man – and the plane.

I watched Julian shake his hand and then they both walked towards the plane and disappeared from sight into the garage.

“Ryan, is he joking?” I was too stunned to even turn to face Ryan as I addressed him.

“No, he’s serious. Don’t worry, Emily, he’s a very experienced pilot.”

“Pilot?” I squeaked.

Ryan looked at me through sympathetic eyes before chuckling quietly to himself and heading for the plane.

“Come on,” he called over his shoulder as he realised I wasn’t following.

I glanced back over my shoulder – just to be sure that the car was still there in case I decided to change my mind and make a run for it – and saw another stranger approaching with our cases, one in each hand. I forced one unsure foot in front of the other and followed Ryan quickly, eager to catch up with him.

Great!
So he had a plane and he was going to fly me to France. I could get my head around this. No, on second thoughts, I couldn’t. We reached the plane and Ryan stopped at the stairs.

“After you,” he smiled, unable to hide his obvious amusement at my distress.

As I entered the plane I was instantly greeted by a very ecstatic Julian.

“Emily, this is James. He’ll be assisting me with the flight. James, this is Emily, my girlfriend.”

So I was his girlfriend now, was I? I raised a single eyebrow at Julian and flashed him my practised seductive smile.

“Hi,” I said as I extended my hand towards James to shake his.

Instead of shaking it though, he pulled it to his mouth and kissed my knuckles.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Emily.”

Julian inhaled deeply and I noticed his fist clenched at his side before he released it and clutched my waist firmly, pulling me against his side.

“Ryan will keep you company,” Julian started, “then once were up in the air he’ll show you to the cockpit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to get this baby started!” He kissed the top of my head and released his hold on me.

Panic coursed through me as I finally realised that Julian was actually going to fly this plane. With me and my daughter on it. I slowly released a deep lung full of air and placed a shaking hand on Julian’s shoulder just as he turned away from me. He grasped my hand, quickly turning back to face me. His confident eyes locked on my frightened stare.

“Trust me, Emily,” he said, obviously sensing my unease. “I would never put either one of you in danger; I know what I’m doing.” I nodded in response as I took a steadying breath and before I had the chance to release it again Julian’s lips were against mine.

“You’re perfectly safe with me,” he whispered before straightening himself. “Ryan, please ensure that they’re both belted in before take-off.” He squeezed my hand gently before turning and disappearing.

I sat in one of the plush, cream leather chairs and fastened my belt tightly. Ryan had managed to find me a child-sized belt that fixed onto my own so I sat Maia on my lap and strapped her to myself. I felt happier with her close to me. I had always been extremely nervous about flying but on a plane this small, I couldn’t help but imagine that it couldn’t be as safe as a standard plane. Surely it could come down easier? Wouldn’t a strong gust of wind be able to take down something this small? I shook my head, trying to be rid of my paranoid thoughts, just as the plane began its manoeuvre onto the runway.

Ryan must have noticed my white knuckles as I clutched the arm rest and handed me a glass containing a brown liquid.

“Here, drink this,” he ordered. “It’ll help with the nerves.”

I took the glass and tipped the liquid into my mouth with one fast movement and quickly found that I was going to struggle to swallow it. I held it in my mouth for what seemed like a long time and finally had to swallow it in two gulps. It tasted exactly how I would imagine poison to taste. I felt it swim down my throat, leaving a heated burn in its wake.

“Ugh! What was that?”

“Scotch.” he chuckled. “One of the finest, too.”

And now I knew why I didn’t drink scotch!

“You really needn’t worry, Emily. Julian’s been flying regularly for a long time. He’s held a pilot’s licence since he was just eighteen and he passed with flying colours, excuse the pun. Why do you think he flies his own plane?” I shrugged in response. “Because he knows he’s a far better pilot than most.”

It wasn’t hard to believe that he would be a better pilot than most. He seemed to excel at everything he did, past and present. I often think he’s too good to be real. There must be a flaw in his constant perfection somewhere, surely?

We were up in the air before I knew it and I had relaxed considerably – maybe the scotch had some uses after all. Maia watched out of the window, pointing at everything she saw. There was definitely no sign of any feelings of fear coming from her. She tapped at my arm regularly to show me a new sight or a new cloud.

“You two want to go and see the pilot now?” Ryan asked.

“What’s a pilot?” Maia replied. Ryan smiled warmly at her and crouched down to her level.

“The pilot is the man who flies the plane, like a driver drives a car. He has his own special part of the plane where you can see out of really big windows and he has lots of buttons and lights.”

“Yes, I want to see.” Maia itched to get off my lap and into Ryan’s arms.

Ryan carried Maia, again, and a wave of guilt washed over me at the realisation that I was turning half of Julian’s staff into full time babysitters.

“Hey, baby,” Julian beamed. His face was glowing with sheer joy. I could get used to this side of Julian.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked, trying to contain my own smile in an attempt to look a little less gormless.

“Very well, thank you, Miss Braxton. And how is the little princess enjoying the flight?” he asked, turning his attention to Maia.

Maia looked so deliriously happy that tears threatened my eyes as I watched her with Julian. She and Julian pointed out the clouds to one another as they searched for faces or animals and Julian told her all about flying a plane – which buttons did what and which levers did what – before promising to teach her to fly her own plane one day. That wasn’t likely to happen, not if I had anything to do with it, but it pleased me more than I thought possible to hear him making plans for the distant future – our future together.

When Julian had successfully landed his plane, he left it in the capable hands of James and we stepped out onto a small tarmac runway where a large, dark grey car awaited us. I had expected to feel some warmth when we stepped off the plane, but instead I felt cold. In fact, it didn’t feel any warmer than London had this afternoon. Except, rather than murky grey skies that were filled with thick layers of cloud and smog, we were greeted by a pure blue sky and bright sunshine. I inhaled the fresh air and smiled at the smell of pureness and cleanliness – something else you didn’t experience in London.