Chapter 5 - The Tarmac
Catherine reached the private terminal under a cloudy afternoon sky.
Her daughters walked beside her, each holding a small rolling suitcase. Emma, nine, kept glancing at her mother for reassurance. Grace, six, held a stuffed rabbit tightly under one arm. Noah, nearly two, rested on Catherine’s hip in a white polo shirt and beige shorts, smiling at the aircraft stairs as if the entire world were simply an adventure arranged for him.
The jet waited with its door open.
White fuselage. Polished steps. Crew standing ready. Suitcases being loaded with quiet efficiency.
Catherine paused before boarding.
Not because she doubted her decision.
Because endings deserve to be witnessed by the person who survived them.
A car screeched near the edge of the tarmac.
David stepped out before it fully stopped. His suit jacket was twisted, his hair disheveled, his face stripped of the arrogance he had worn at 10:03 that morning.
“Catherine!”
She turned slightly.
He saw Noah in her arms.
The sound that left him was not a word.
His mother climbed out behind him, one hand over her mouth. Richard stood frozen beside the car. Megan looked from Noah to Catherine, all smugness erased. A second car arrived behind them, and Allison stepped out, crying, no longer the glowing future but a witness to her own collapse.
David walked toward Catherine, then dropped to one knee near the jet stairs.
“Catherine, wait.”
The crew stiffened, but Catherine lifted one hand slightly. They stayed calm.
She did not move closer.
David looked at Noah again. “Is he—”
“Mine,” Catherine said.
His face cracked.
“Our son?”
Catherine adjusted Noah higher on her hip.
“You called my children inconvenient an hour ago.”
David swallowed hard. “I didn’t know.”
Catherine removed her sunglasses slowly.
“No,” she said. “You didn’t care.”
That landed harder than shouting.
Patricia took one trembling step forward. “Please don’t take him away.”
Catherine looked at the woman who had spent years dismissing Emma and Grace because they were girls.
May you like
“Take him away from whom?”
Patricia had no answer.
