Launch (5 page)

Hoping David had made a decision, Claire
accepted a date to go flying with him the next Friday.

In a rented aerobatic airplane with side by side
seating, he did mild aerobatics in the practice area. Then after a slow roll,
he asked if she would like to try it. As Claire made clearing turns to look for
other airplanes, David saw an airplane whose flight path might make take it
near them. While he was distracted, she snap rolled the plane, a much more
violent maneuver than a slow roll.

She was smiling afterward. With surprise in his
voice he said, “You did that on purpose!”

Claire laughed in delight. “I love aerobatics.
My mother started teaching me when I was little.”

David grinned. He snap rolled in the other
direction, and they took turns exploring the aerobatic limits of the plane.

Afterward, they went to an Italian restaurant.

As Claire put her napkin in her lap, she said,
“I’ve got a bone to pick with your friend Michael.”

“Isn’t he your friend too?”

“Yes,” she said. “But right now you’re his
whipping boy.”

“What did we do wrong?”

“My car drives like it’s brand new,” she said.

He said, “It looks new, too.”

“But Michael won’t let me pay him. He won’t even
tell me how much it cost. He’s an upside-down deadbeat.”

David laughed. “I’ll have to tell him that
one.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“You could pay him thirty thousand dollars. That’ll
cover it,” David said.

“How do you know?”

“Because you would have to pay gift taxes if
it’s over thirty thousand, and he would have told you.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s part of the tax law,” David said. “He had
a new top custom made for my car as a Christmas gift. It fits perfectly and it’s
knife proof.” David shook his head. “I don’t know how he got that for only thirty
thousand dollars, but he did. The quality is superb. I love it.”

“Thirty thousand is a lot of money.”

“Don’t worry about it. Thirty thousand dollars
is to Michael what the price of a cup of coffee is to you or me. To him, thank
you is ample repayment.”

▼

As David drove Claire back to her cottage, she
thought about how much she had enjoyed being with him and about how much she
loved him. But he still had not told her he loved her. She knew she could not push
him, but she did plan to pull.

She put her hands behind her back when he
kissed her goodnight, one of the gentle kisses she loved. Then she smiled and
said, “Good night, David.”

Claire did not invite him in, and he did not
ask. But his hurt-puppy expression almost broke her heart.

▼

The next day, David called and invited Claire to
a picnic on the beach the following Friday evening.

She said, “Thank you, no, David. We’ve already
done that bit.”

He called back a half hour later. “Will you
have dinner with me at my place next Friday? . . . Please.”

She could hear the pleading in his voice, and
her heart melted.
Damn!

“Yes,” she said.

Her hopes went up after his call. In the
privacy of his apartment, maybe he would tell her what she wanted to hear.

▼

David again demonstrated his mastery of a
grill. The steak he cooked for her was juicy, tender, and delicious. Claire
honestly told him it was the best she had ever eaten.

They went into the living room after dinner. Patterns
in the carpet revealed he had vacuumed. He kicked his sandals off and she
slipped off her shoes. They sat on the couch, put their feet up on the coffee
table, and relaxed.

“Where did you learn to cook?” she asked.

“My folks taught me. My dad and I helped my mom
in the ranch’s kitchen.”

She smiled when she noticed his toes curling
while he talked. “Did you go barefoot on the ranch, too?” she asked.

“As much as I could,” he said wiggling his
toes. “Toes are greatly under appreciated. They deserve more freedom and to be
treated with respect.”

“They do?”

“Sure. There are many eminent toes in the
world. Tomato, potato, Toledo, Topeka, today, and Toto, Dorothy’s little dog in
The Wizard of Oz
are just a few. Toes just don’t get the respect they
deserve.”

With a grin, Claire asked, “What do you do when
toes get cold?”

“I put on my bunny slippers.”

“You have bunny slippers?” she asked
skeptically.

“I’ll show you,” he said and disappeared into
his bedroom. He came back wearing a pair of Air Force blue bunny slippers with
big ears that wiggled with every step. “My squadron gave me these as a going
away present.”

Claire was consumed with uncontrollable
laughter. Every time she tried to calm down, she would see the wiggly bunny
ears with pink linings, and the side-splitting laughter started again. She had
to turn away from him and lay down facing the back of the couch to regain some
control.

David knelt beside her. Slowly and gently he
kissed her neck and cheek. She forgot about the bunny slippers as her heart and
body responded to his kisses. She turned to kiss him, and their kisses became
passionate.

“I love you, Claire.”

The fragile dam holding Claire’s emotions in
check burst, and she was flooded with love and joy. “Oh Buni, I’ve been aching
to hear you say that. I love you, too.”

Their kisses washed them away on waves of
overwhelming desire. He picked her up and carried her in his arms into the
bedroom with her head on his shoulder. She imagined the bunny ears wiggling on
his feet beneath her and laughed softly.

▼

The sun was up when David came back from his
turn in the bathroom to find Claire smiling at him from the bed. He joined her
there and kissed her.

“Good morning, my love,” he said.

“Good morning, darling.”

“I’ve worked hard for a chance to fly
Origin
since it was first announced, years ago,” he said. “But I can’t imagine going
without you. I love you more than my starship dream. I love you more than
flying. I love you more than anything. I want to marry you, to build a home and
family with you, to be with you forever.”

“You don’t have to give up your dream, Buni.
I’ll marry you and apply to go with you on the starship.”

“You will? What happened to having a family
now?”

“As you said, our children will probably have a
better future in the future. It would be selfish of me to sacrifice what’s best
for them, and what we could do for others, just so we can have a family
sooner.”

He shook his head slowly. “You are amazing.” He
kissed her, “and beautiful.” Another kiss, “and sexy . . . .”

They sealed their covenant of love with love.

On the way to Joanne and Michael’s for lunch the
next morning, Claire and David decided not to tell anybody that they planned to
apply to NASA. They might not be accepted, and there was no point in needlessly
upsetting anybody.

▼

Joanne and Michael were reading the paper on
the patio when a chime sounded and the gate camera showed David’s MG coming
through. Michael glanced at the monitor and said, “By the way, there was no gate
record of Claire coming home last night. She probably spent the night with
David.”

Without looking up from her paper, Joanne said,
“It’s about time.”

David was cheerful and Claire seemed to glow as they joined Joanne and
Michael on the patio. Claire held out her left hand to show Joanne a ring. “David
gave me his mother’s ring until we can pick one out.”

Joanne exclaimed, “Outstanding!” as she jumped up and hugged Claire. “I’m
so happy for you!”

After congratulations all around Michael asked, “Have you set a date
yet?”

Claire said, “We thought we’d get married in
Las Vegas on June sixth.
We don’t have much time for planning, so our
wedding will be simple, but I would be honored if you would give me away.”

Michael smiled. “I’ll be glad to do it.”

Joanne said, “I have time to be a wedding planner. You can just show up.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Claire asked.

“Sure I’m sure. The only thing I’ll need is for you and David to email me
copies of your personal address books minus those you don’t want to invite.
I’ll reserve the chapel. Invitations will go out next week.”

“Many of my friends are out of the state or out of the country. They
probably won’t be able to make it,” David said.

Claire said, “My friends are scattered all over everywhere, too.”

“No matter. At least they’ll get an invitation and know you’re getting
married.”

David said, “Sounds good to me.”

“Me, too,” Claire agreed.

▼

That night, Michael was reading when Joanne got into bed beside him. She
kissed him and said, “I’m going to give their wedding guests first class airline
tickets to and from Vegas. I’m also going to give them hotel rooms for two
weeks and three weekends. That and the wedding should motivate their friends to
make the trip.”

Michael put his open book down on his chest. “When David gets his Ph.D.
next year, the Air Force will send him somewhere else. Claire will go with him.
We’re just going to have to enjoy the time we have with them and suck it up
when they leave.”

She pushed his book off of his chest and rolled half over him with one
leg over one of his. “I can suck it up with the best of them as long as I have
you,” she said. “But if you die or leave me, I’ll kill you.”

Then she kissed him.

The book remained where it had fallen on the floor. It might as well have
been on another planet.

Joanne and David flew to Las Vegas the day before the wedding. He went so
he would not see the bride before the ceremony. She went so she could get
everything ready.

Claire and Michael flew up on the wedding day. He escorted her to the
changing room at the chapel. A bellhop accompanied them with their luggage and
the dress she planned to wear, the same dress she had worn at the reception.

When Michael opened the door, Claire was surprised to see Joanne smiling
and standing beside a gorgeous wedding dress. A hairdresser and a cosmetologist
were also in the room.

▼

Claire felt like a princess standing arm in arm with Michael before the
chapel doors, a very nervous princess. There had been no rehearsal, and she
wasn’t quite sure what to do. Then she remembered she was with an Academy Award
winning actor. All she had to do was follow his lead.

Ushers opened the doors, and Claire was again surprised. Many of her
friends were seated on the left side of the chapel, and there were just as many
she did not know on the right side. Three of her friends in identical
bridesmaid’s dresses were on the left side of the altar, and David was on the
right side in his mess dress uniform. With him, as his best man, was another
major whose dress uniform identified him as a pilot with the Air Force Thunderbirds.

Claire held Michael’s arm and quickly gained confidence as she followed
his lead down the aisle. Then she saw an elderly woman in an expensive looking
pink and gray suit in the aisle seat in the front row on the groom’s side
looking at her with David’s eyes. She almost lost her step before she realized
that the woman must be David’s grandmother. Claire smiled at her, and Karen
Sands returned her smile.

Michael gave Claire away and took his seat beside Joanne who became a puddle
as Claire and David exchanged wedding vows.

▼

At the wedding reception, Mr. and Ms. Archer were introduced to each
other’s friends, and Claire was introduced to David’s grandmother.

Karen gave Claire a warm hug and said, “You are more beautiful than your
pictures. I think my grandson got lucky.”

“I feel like the luckiest woman in the world,” Claire said, “especially
as has he has your eyes. I hope our children will have them.”

“Oh my dear, nothing would make me happier, but I hope your beautiful
eyes are passed on as well.”

The party was long and exhausting. When they got to their hotel room at
three in the morning, Claire and David fell asleep in each other’s arms, too
tired to make love. But their marriage was properly consummated the next night
when they got back to David’s apartment. That would be their home for the next
year.

▼

Three days later, they flew to Tahiti for a ten-day honeymoon cruise in French Polynesia, from Tahiti to Bora Bora and back with stops at other islands.

Before the wedding, Joanne had given
Claire a
wrapped present and said, “Open it in private on your honeymoon.”

Claire opened it in their cabin on the ship.
“Oh my,” she said.

David looked over her shoulder. It was an
instructive sex manual. A statement on the dust jacket said, “You only have one
sex life. Make it fantastic.”

“We have a lot to learn,” David said and kissed
her neck. “Better get started.”

Claire and David studied the manual together every day of their honeymoon
and afterward as time permitted. What they learned did indeed make their sex
life fantastic. It enhanced their marriage and helped them in ways they could
not have imagined.

▼

Claire began her internship when they got back
to Los Angeles, and David buckled down to finish his dissertation. Her hours
were weird and long. His hours were just plain long. But their hard work was
rewarded. By their first wedding anniversary, June 6, 2047, Claire was a
licensed M.D. in the State of California, and David had a Ph.D. in
astrophysics.

They completed applications to be astronauts in
NASA’s Quad Fusion Thunder Program. Where the applications asked for call
signs, he honestly answered, “Buni.” Claire had never been given a call sign
and asked David, “What do I put here?”

“Put down Cougar,” David said. “Somebody’s
going to give you a call sign. Who should have more right than your husband?”

As she typed the name in, Claire asked, “Do I
have to grow fangs and big muscles now?”

David shook his head. “You have the heart of a
tiger and the touch of a feather. You’re tough enough already.”

She grinned. “How long have you been rehearsing
that line?”

“Since I started looking for you.”

“When was that?”

“The day the Quad Fusion Thunder Program was
announced.”

▼

The Air Force gave Cougar and Buni leave for
the rest of June. They flew to New York and then flew by Green Spacelines to
London. The company was very appropriately named because it made its own hydrogen
and oxygen fuel from seawater using energy from solar cells, wind turbines, and
ocean turbines driven by tides.

Green Spacelines developed a very fast
turnaround procedure that helped keep its ticket prices competitive. Mother ships
with four turbo-ramjet engines were towed into position and attached to
passenger planes while they were being unloaded and loaded between flights.

The two ships took off as one unit. As they climbed
to 80,000 feet, the mother ship pumped fuel into the passenger plane. It was
full when the planes leveled off and accelerated to 2,000 miles per hour. Then
the passenger plane fired its rocket engine, flew away from the mother ship,
and climbed into space. After reentering the atmosphere, the passenger plane
restarted its two turbo-ramjet engines and made a normal landing, one and one-half
hours after takeoff.

After their short suborbital flight to London, Claire
asked David, “Do you think we’re qualified astronauts yet?”

He grinned. “That was a fun flight,
but I doubt it.