A Kiss of a Different Color

by Bettye Griffin

  When the violent episode finally ended after what seemed like an eternity but in fact had only been a few minutes, the captain—or maybe it was the first officer, she didn’t know for certain—as well as the flight attendants, walked down the aisles to calm passengers and assess their injuries. Jon immediately checked the side of Miranda’s forehead that had slammed into the wall, finding no broken skin but declaring that she would need to apply ice to it for the swelling that was already forming. Then, in spite of his painful shoulder, he got up and assisted with the treatment of cuts some of the people sustained from flying objects or from hitting their heads. The captain assured them that anyone who needed medical attention would be met at the terminal and taken to the hospital if necessary.

  Satisfied he had done what he could, Jon returned to his seat.

  “Is anyone badly hurt?” Miranda asked, her eyes wide with concern.

  “A woman whose head hit the ceiling has a pretty bloody scalp wound, although I think it’s more messy than anything else. The worst of it was a man who was using the washroom when we flew into that pocket. He got tossed around pretty badly and probably has some fractures. A woman who flew across the aisle has a swollen face with a black eye and a bad cut, and then there’s a man whose head hit the wall so hard it cracked.”

  “His head?”

  “No, the wall. He seems all right, but head injuries aren’t always apparent right away, so he’ll probably be admitted overnight for observation and a CT scan.”

  “You’ll need to get your shoulder x-rayed.”

  “I don’t think it’s broken, just bruised, but I suppose it could be a hairline fracture.”

  “Yeah. That’s fine for you, but I’ve still got to get to Milwaukee.” Miranda closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Jon. Maybe rent a car and drive to Racine. I can’t get on another plane after what just happened, I just can’t.” She was practically crying. “I’ve never been so frightened my entire life. I was sure we were going to die.” Her body still shook uncontrollably.

  “It was the scariest three minutes of my life, that’s for damn sure, as well as the longest,” he agreed. “I can understand how you feel, but I think I have a solution for you.” He reached for her hand. “Legs…come home with me.”

  Chapter 20

  “Go home with you? Jon, that’s crazy! I want to see my own family.”

  “I know that, but after what just happened you’re too shaken up to fly. Not only that, but I can’t stand the thought of your being on a plane, terrified and shaking like you just were. Come home with me, and I’ll drive you to Racine in time for Christmas.”

  She raised fingertips to the already rising bump on the side of her forehead. “Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought. I thought you said—”

  “I did say it. Listen, Miranda,” he said, his earnestness reflected in his face as well as in his use of her given name. “Today is the twenty-second. I’ll rent a car tomorrow, and we’ll spend Christmas Eve with my family. You can stay in my sister’s old room. We can leave before dawn on Christmas morning and be in Racine by ten or eleven, or earlier if you want to go to church services. It’s only about a six-hour drive. Then on the twenty-seventh we can drive back to Minneapolis and…catch the flight back to Bismarck. Together.”

  She winced at the thought. Jon was right; the thought of getting on another airplane terrified her.

  “So whattaya say, Legs?” he asked. His use of the now-familiar nickname he’d given her brought a smile to her lips. “I know you’ll have less time with your family than you originally planned, but under the circumstances it’s not a bad plan.”

  “Jon…I don’t know what to say. I can’t take you away from your family.”

  “I’ll survive, and so will they. You’re clearly unable to get on another plane, and I’m not letting you drive from Eden Prairie to Racine by yourself. What if it snows?”

  “Snow I can handle.” His generous offer touched her heart, and she wanted to make certain he was really willing to do that. Twelve hours of driving within a forty-eight-hour period in winter weather required more effort than saying he wouldn’t tolerate anyone speaking to her rudely.

  But he backed that claim up as well, she reminded herself. In that situation he’d actually shown her first and declared it afterward.

  Still, she wanted to give him an out. “Jon, that’s an awful lot of driving in a short period of time. And if it snows it can really be a miserable trip.”

  “What’re you doing, trying to get me to change my mind? If I don’t go along, it’ll make for twice as much driving for you. This way we both get to spend an equal amount of time with our families.” He looked at her knowingly. “Unless you don’t want to introduce me to your parents because I’m—”

  “Oh, stop,” she interrupted. But in the back of her mind she was already trying to figure out how she would describe Jon to her parents. How could she explain their relationship when she didn’t understand it herself? We dance together, bowl together, and as soon as we get back home we’re going to burn up the sheets together. Yeah, right.

  She also had to be concerned about how Jon’s family would react to her. Suburban Minneapolis probably had a greater black population than Bismarck, but just because African-Americans weren’t a rarity in the area didn’t mean Jon’s mother and grandmother would be happy to see her with him.

  Miranda decided it would be foolish to decline his offer. The idea of driving to Racine alone held nearly as little appeal as getting on another plane. And the only way she could face the return flight from Minneapolis to Bismarck would be because Jon would be with her. If she got bad vibes from Jon’s mother and grandmother she’d just check into a hotel.

  She reminded herself of that fleeting thought she’d had when she feared the plane would crash…

  Please don’t let me die before I have another chance to make love to Jon one more time.

  After a safe landing, their disembarkation was delayed while emergency medical technicians came on board to retrieve the man who’d been seriously injured in the restroom. Then airline employees brought on wheelchairs and escorted passengers who’d been banged up during the turbulence. Inside the terminal more EMTs were waiting to provide triage services or transportation to the hospital for anyone wanting it. The local news had also sent crews out, and they were filming footage as the more severely injured were carried on stretchers and as passengers able to walk filed out. De-planing was a slow process, as each person was asked if they were injured. Both Miranda and Jon were recommended to be checked out in an emergency room. Jon’s shoulder was still painful, and an egg had already begun to form on the left side of Miranda’s forehead.

  “Yes, yes, we’ll do that this evening, or maybe first thing tomorrow morning,” Jon said. He took Miranda’s hand. “C’mon, let’s get to the baggage claim.”

  A reporter promptly asked if he was the nurse who’d helped treat passenger’s injuries on the plane, and when Jon confirmed this, the man asked if they could talk for a minute. “In a minute,” Jon said.

  He went with Miranda to the desk, where she informed the ticket agent that she wouldn’t be taking her scheduled continuing flight to Milwaukee. After the agent arranged for Miranda’s bag to be taken off rather than sent on to Milwaukee, Jon and Miranda joined the reporter in a quiet corner, and while the cameras rolled, he and Miranda described what they had seen and felt during the turbulence, the camera zoomed in on Miranda’s swollen forehead, and when asked if this was their destination, Miranda replied, “This is his destination, but I’m going to rent a car and drive on to Wisconsin,” adding, “I can’t fly right now.” After acknowledging that it would be emotionally difficult to board their return flight, they moved on.

  “I’ll have to call my parents and let them know what happened,” Miranda said. “God forbid they hear about it on the news.” She decided to wait until after she determined whether or not she’d feel comfortable staying at Jon’s mother’s home. She wante
d to be able to give her parents her definite plan so they wouldn’t worry.

  “Yeah, that’s one reason why I’m in a hurry get to the baggage claim. I’m not sure if Mor and Mormor know about the trouble on our flight, and if they do know they’re going to be worried.”

  She was undeniably curious about something. “Jon, how are you going to explain my being with you?”

  “Easy. I’ll just tell them the truth.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that. What was the truth?

  When they reached the baggage claim Jon began running toward a tall blond woman who, at least from this distance, didn’t look old enough to have a thirty-two-year-old son.

  After his long embrace of his mother, he moved to his grandmother, and his mother gave Miranda a warm smile, which made her look even more youthful. “Hello.”

  “Hi. I’m Miranda Rhett.”

  Jon released his grandmother and performed introductions.”Miranda, my mother, Nina Lindbergh, and my grandmother, Birgitta Lund.”

  She shook hands with both women. “Mrs. Lindbergh…Mrs. Lund. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Neither his mother nor his grandmother seemed shocked or even particularly surprised to see her, although Miranda knew they had to be wondering who she was and where she’d come from.

  “Miranda’s my dance partner,” Jon explained.

  She forced herself not to look his way. Well, that’s the truth.

  “Did you hear anything about the trouble on our flight?” he asked.

  The anxiety Nina must have felt could be heard in her voice. “Yes. They said the plane landed but that there would be a delay getting passengers off because a few of the passengers needed medical attention.” She breathed deeply, and her voice cracked with emotion. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you walking toward me.”

  Jon embraced her as she wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s all right, Mor.”

  “What happened, Jon?” Birgitta glanced at Miranda, as if she were making a connection between her disheveled appearance and some sort of trouble on the plane.

  “We hit some brutal turbulence about midway into the flight. It was the type of thing you see on the news. Three minutes of pure terror.”

  “Is that where you got that bump on the side of your head, Miranda?” Nina asked.

  She was pretty enough to have been a model in her youth, Miranda noted. She wondered how old Nina was. She remembered how she’d put Monthani Sanya’s age in her late forties, obviously a wrong guess for a woman with a thirty-six-year-old son. “Yes. My head slammed into the wall.” She pointed to the red splotch on the front of her sweater. “But don’t worry. This isn’t blood, it’s just tomato juice.”

  They all laughed, and Miranda added, “And Jon was hit by a flying laptop computer.”

  “Oh, no!” Nina did a quick assessment of her son. “Where did it hit you, Jon?”

  “In my shoulder. Believe me, I’m very grateful it didn’t hit me in my neck, where it could have done some real damage.”

  “You need to go to the hospital,” Birgitta ordered.

  “I will, Mormor. Probably tomorrow morning. Right now I just want to eat something and have a stiff drink.”

  “Miranda, do you live in the Twin Cities?” Birgitta asked.

  She glanced at Jon before answering. “No, actually, I—”

  “Miranda lives in Racine, just south of Milwaukee,” he supplied. “We got on the same flight, but she was supposed to get a connection. She’s too shaken up to fly, so she’s going to rent a car here in Minneapolis.”

  “And drive all the way to Milwaukee?” Birgitta sounded horrified. “Alone, on these winter roads? Jon, you should go with her.”

  “I am, Mormor.”

  “Won’t you be able to spend Christmas with us?” Nina asked, sounding mildly distressed.

  “Only Christmas Eve. We’ll drive to Racine overnight and get there Christmas morning. We’ll be back in Minnesota on the twenty-seventh.”

  Nina recovered quickly. “We’ll miss you Christmas Day, but that seems like a fair compromise.” She turned to Miranda. “You’ll stay with us, of course. My daughter’s room is always made up.”

  “That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Lindbergh, but I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

  Nina laughed. “I’m afraid you don’t know my son, Miranda. I know that I always need to be prepared for company when Jon is involved, or last-minute responsibilities. All through his school years he would volunteer me for duty. In grammar school he’d say I could make a sheet cake for his class’s celebration. In high school he’d call at the last minute and say he was bringing his track buddies home for dinner because they won the meet.” She laughed at the memory. “In college he’d show up at Thanksgiving with his friend who couldn’t get home. And even after he started work but still lived at home, he’d invite some of his fellow runners over to have pre-marathon pasta and tell me about it the night before.”

  “Jon!” Miranda exclaimed. “That’s so inconsiderate.”

  “It’s not like I didn’t help,” he said with a shrug.

  “You go get your luggage,” Birgitta said. “I’m going outside for a smoke.”

  She shuffled off, and Jon looked after her with resignation. “She’s still smoking, I see.”

  “I’m afraid she’ll never quit,” Nina replied dejectedly.

  She walked with them to the carousel, her arm around her son until Jon spotted their luggage and reached to take it from the carousel. As he set it down he leaned over to Miranda and whispered, “I guess it’s safe now for you to call your parents and tell them where you’ll be staying the next two nights, huh?”

  Heat rushed to her face at the knowledge that he’d figured out why she hadn’t yet contacted her family about her change in plans.

  Nina went to bring the car around, and Miranda slipped away from Jon and his grandmother long enough to call her parents and explain what happened.

  As she expected, her mother had plenty of questions. “He’s willing to drive you all the way to Racine, and he’s just someone you bowl with?”

  Miranda had chosen not to mention that she was taking ballroom dancing lessons, and she also didn’t want her parents to know that Jon was white. “He’s a very nice man, Mama. He didn’t want me to miss Christmas with my family, so he cut his own holiday short. I don’t want him to regret it.”

  “Miranda, you know that everyone who enters this house is treated with hospitality. He can stay in Travis’s old room.”

  “Good. Please don’t worry about me, Mama. I’ve met his mother and grandmother, and they’re very nice people. We’ll be there sometime Christmas morning, before noon.”

  “I can’t wait to meet this big-hearted man. Maybe you two should be more than just bowling teammates.”

  “Mama—”

  “Yes, I know. He’s probably not attractive, and you can’t see past the physical.”

  Miranda was glad her mother wasn’t present to see the big smile that lit up her face. She didn’t know about Jon’s good looks any more than she knew about the physical traits of his ethnicity. “We’ll talk after I get there. And, Mama…thanks.”

  Jon said apologetically, “If my shoulder weren’t hurting me so bad, Mor, I’d take the wheel.”

  “Nonsense. You just get in.”

  Jon climbed in the back seat of the roomy Volvo sedan next to Miranda.

  Nina drove to the suburb of Eden Prairie, southwest of Minneapolis, pulling up in front of a small two-story colonial house. They went inside and enjoyed a dinner of meat loaf and gravy, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. After dinner, Jon made a makeshift ice pack with a locking quart-size plastic bag and gently pressed it to the knot on her forehead while she sipped an eggnog laced with brandy. The drink calmed her nerves but made her quite sleepy, and in the end she sat with her head tipped to the right to help hold the bag in place. Then Jon stripped down to his t-shirt, a short-sleeved V-neck style, and first slipped a heat pack under his s
leeve, then an ice pack. Miranda’s eyes noted how snugly the shirt fit over his chest and back muscles, and at the dark blond hair that peeked out at the bottom of the V of his shirt. It was weird to think that she and Jon had been intimate but hadn’t actually clearly seen each other naked because that hotel room in Bottineau had been so dark…and because of her change of heart the morning after.