Randa (21 page)

Three goddesses controlled human destiny

They were called The Fates

And they foretold everyone’s dates.

Clotho spins the thread of life

And we are born

Lachesis chooses our lot in life

And measures off how long each of us live

Atropos cuts our thread of life

With her shears and we die

Randa realized that she was dreaming about The Fates.
Why did it seem so real
she asked herself and she paused as her mind started to wander. She knew that she must seize the moment and keep writing. If she doesn’t do it now, she might not remember it in the morning.

They appear before my eyes

And I know why

It’s already been determined

The Fates chime in

You can’t choose your destiny

We Fates will never give in

God chose my birth I declare

And my spirit and my soul predict my worth

I thread my own life

Without any strife

Spinning my thread with bright pink ribbons overhead

Once again they have come

Claiming that they have won

The thread of life

Is spun upon Clotho’s spindle

Measured by Lachesis’ rod

And snipped by Atropos’ shears

The Fates have spoken

Randa read what she had written and it’s disturbing. She put her pen to paper, but no more words came, nothing. She knew there must be more, but after ten minutes, she turned out the light and fell back into a deep sleep.

Randa woke up feeling groggy the next morning. She listened to the message from Taylor telling her to call Fox for help getting to the North Slope. Randa called Taylor and didn’t get an answer, so she left a message, “Hi Taylor, I got your message. I made it to Anchorage last night and I’m taking a plane to the North Slope in a little while. So tell Fox thank you anyway, but everything should be okay. I am so excited about seeing John. I just can’t tell you! Anyway, I love you girl and I’ll talk to you soon. Just FYI, I’ll be on flight #543.” Randa ended the call and got ready for her flight. She almost couldn’t control her giddiness. She was assigned a seat in the back of the plane, since she had just made her reservation yesterday. Getting buckled into her seat, Randa was glad that the flight would be less than two hours long. Once in the air, Randa opened her pink notebook and reread the lyrics that she had written down in the middle of the night.
The dream felt so real.

The plane took off and more than halfway into the flight it began shaking a little bit. We must be experiencing turbulence, Randa thought to herself. A flight attendant announced that all passengers must return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts immediately. Randa hastily checked to make sure that she was strapped in and she returned her attention to the lyrics. Suddenly the rest of the lyrics come to her. Quickly grabbing her pen, she writes them down, though she doesn’t understand what they mean while having an eerie feeling that she does know what they mean…

But wait I plea

Can’t you see?

He and I are forever meant to be

I turn to my true love saying

You be the King

And I’ll be the Queen

We’ll reign over our path

And ignore the Fates deadly wrath

While our joy always lasts

My eyes glisten with tears

As I listen

Oh no, you can’t be together

The Fates chime in

Suddenly the plane lost power and Randa looked up immediately. One of the flight attendants yelled, “Prepare for an emergency landing.” Randa reached into her pocket and grasped the moon rock. It has always brought her good luck and she is thankful to have it. If there is anything that she needs right now it is phenomenal luck. Randa began to pray silently for their safety, while continuing to write the lyrics as fast as possible…

My soul comes roaring back

We will no longer merely exist

So go and disappear into the fine mist

Don’t resist because you are all only a myth

It gets quiet. The engines have stopped running. The plane is descending at a fast speed Randa realized as a lady screamed in fear.
I can’t believe this is happening. I’m so close to seeing John and being swept away in his arms, being kissed by his sweet lips, and having him tilt my chin up and look deeply into me with his amazing blue eyes.
Randa said aloud in a confident voice, “I never stopped loving you John. One way or another you will come to know that. I love you Mom, Dad, and Taylor.” One more verse beckoned her. Everyone around her is yelling as she finished the song lyrics.

Our love is so strong

We will never go wrong

We’re taking control, so just let go

Happily Ever After is all we’ll ever know

“Put your hands over your head and pull it down and forward,” the flight attendant yelled one last time.

Totally unaware of the words that she wrote, everything went dark and Randa lost consciousness.

It was the end of the dream that was haunting him. He could only see the back of her head. He couldn’t see her face. He was yelling at her to wake up, but she wouldn’t.

John got up, walked into the bathroom, leaned over the sink, and splashed cold water on his face. Grabbing the towel, he blotted his face dry. Looking at the reflection in the mirror staring back at him, he studied his eyes. Suddenly he remembered….. He sees that she has grown in a magnificent woman and he has grown into a strong, handsome man. He is giving her a bath and washing her hair. He massages her head and shampoo bubbles fall onto her nose. They laugh as he gently wipes it off with a towel. The water feels very warm against her skin as her soft silky long hair glides between his thick calloused fingers. He turns off the water and begins to blot her hair with the thick plush towel. Unable to wait, he bends down and lovingly kisses her wet hair as she looks up at him beaming.

That’s why I always called Randa, ‘Baby Doll.’ She just had to be the little girl that I had encountered in the airport all of those years ago. Wait a minute…shortly after Randa and I met at Noel and Wade’s party, she told me about a little boy that she had once met and how she always thought that one day she would meet him again. She said that she held his hand and she would recall that feeling in her mind when she needed comfort as a little girl. Therefore, she must have the other half of the Thunderegg. She said that the little boy had given her something and she called it a ‘moon rock.’

John now remembered what the shopkeeper had told him and his parents all those years ago when they bought the broken Thunderegg
. If the two pieces are ever separated, the paths of the two people possessing the halves will be locked and the spirit of love will unite them once again in a bond that will never be broken
.

Why hadn’t I made the connection before? He asked himself. I must have been so taken by her beauty and her charm that I didn’t put two and two together, he surmised.

I’ve got to go to her John told himself. I have loved Randa my entire life and if she will take me back, I will never fail her again, or I will die trying not to. I spent more than three miserable years without her as I let fear eat away at my heart. It tried to destroy me, but no longer. My soul is alive and I now know clearly, what I must have. It’s Randa’s love, nothing more, nothing less. Every cell in my body has ached for that woman. I have never slept alone because she was always in my thoughts. I just haven’t been able to reach out and touch her.

John burst into laughter feeling absolutely giddy with joy! He had finally overcome his fear and now he felt so free!
I can marry Randa and have a family and live happily ever after with her and not worry about our marriage failing or having to go through a divorce.
Nothing would stop him this time, not even another man. John picked up his phone and tried to call her. There was no answer, only the option to leave a message, which he didn’t want to do. He had to hear her voice. He called Taylor also, to no avail. He found Fox’s name and pressed his number.

“Hello Fox, how are you?”

“Hi Johnny Boy. I’m fine. How are you? How’s everything?”

“Do you know if Randa has something special going on?”

“Nothing that Taylor has mentioned, why?” Fox asked.

“I’ve been trying to call her, but there’s no answer. And Taylor didn’t answer her phone either.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you trying to get in touch with Randa?” Fox asked.

“Well, I was so wrong about everything. I never should have broken off our relationship. I have been so miserable without her. I have to get her back no matter what.”

“Oh John. I always knew that you were still in love with her and she with you.”

“She with me?” John asked.

“Yes, it’s a long story that you’ll find out sooner or later. Just trust me that she is. There’s something much more important that we have to talk about.”

“Okay, it can’t be that bad, unless she got married.”

Fox was silent.

“Did she Fox?” John yelled.

“No, of course not.”

“What is it then? You’ve got to tell me.”

“I was really hoping that it wouldn’t come to this.”

“Fox!”

“Okay. Randa just found out last week about your trip to Nashville to see her. Someone erased the message that you left on her phone, so she never heard it. Finally, the culprit confessed. So, two days ago, unbeknownst to Taylor and me, Randa took off for Alaska to go and see you. She was boarding a connecting flight in Houston before we even knew what she was doing. This morning she called Taylor from Anchorage and left a message stating that she was catching a flight to the Prudhoe Bay today to come see you.”

“Are you kidding me?” John asked. He couldn’t believe it! Randa was coming to the North Slope to see him!

“Of course not.”

“Woo Hoo! I can’t wait to see her! When I get her back in my arms, I’m never letting her go.”

“I am very happy for you and Randa. If there were ever two people who deserve this happiness, it’s the both of you. There’s only one thing though.”

“What’s that?”

“It was very important to Randa that she surprise you. She made us promise that we wouldn’t say a word. I hate that I spoiled it. Taylor will be mad at me.”

“Don’t worry about it Fox. I am so glad that you told me! Now I can meet her at the airport and it will be just like old times, like the airport reunions that we used to have.”

“After she arrives and everything gets squared away, give me a call and let Taylor and I know that she’s arrived safely and that everything is okay.”

“We will! Thanks for everything and we’ll talk to you soon.”

“Congratulations on getting your girl back Johnny Boy.”

“Thank you Foxy! Goodbye.”

A smile slowly began to spread across Fox’s face. John hadn’t called him ‘Foxy’ since Buck and Claire had broken up.

John got dressed quickly and called Pete to let him know that he would need to come to Prudhoe Bay and pick up Randa and himself and take them to Anchorage. John was pleased that Randa would finally get to see the North Slope where he worked, but the accommodations weren’t made for lovers, so returning to Anchorage would give them privacy and comfortable surroundings in which to rediscover each other and plan their future. John was wishing that the engagement ring that he bought for her in Nashville wasn’t in his dresser drawer on the ranch in Oklahoma since he was ready to fall to his knees and ask Randa to be his wife.

John jumped into his truck and sped to the Deadhorse Airport. Entering the small building that was considered the terminal, he looked at the screens and saw that there were three incoming flights. He made a note of the times. Since he didn’t know which flight Randa would be on, John planned to show up each time a plane landed to try to keep some of the element of surprise that was so important to Randa.

The first flight would be landing in fifteen minutes, so John took a seat and waited, barely able to contain his excitement. Even though the last time he had seen Randa there was a man putting his arm around her, John’s love for her didn’t diminish or disappear, he had simply accepted that she was the love of this life and that he had made a huge mistake by leaving her.

Passengers began to walk through the arrivals area. John stood up in anticipation of greeting Randa. John’s heart was beating heavily. The last of the passengers emerged and she wasn’t among them, so John left knowing that he had a couple of hours until the next plane would land.

Two hours later, John pulled into the airport parking lot and once again entered the building. He was running a few minutes late, but a quick glance told him that the plane hadn’t landed yet. He checked the screen and it said that the flight was delayed. John approached the counter. Offering his hand, he greeted the airport representative who he already knew, “Hello Scott.”

“Hi John, I saw you here earlier. Are picking up someone?”

“Yes.”

Scott looked at him, but didn’t speak.

John questioned the strange look on his face. “Scott?”

A worrisome look crossed his face. “John, I’m only telling you this in complete confidence. Understand that.”

“Scott, there could be someone very important to me on that flight. Tell me.”

“The plane was having some type of problem and now all communication with it has been lost.”

“Do you have a list of passengers?”

“No, but I will try to get one.”

“I can probably find out if she’s on it.”

John called Taylor. “Hi Taylor, this is John.”

“Hi John! Fox called me and I’m so happy to hear that you and Randa will be getting back together.”

“Thank you Taylor. I’m wondering if she happened to tell you which flight she would be on today.”

“Yes she did. Flight #543, but it’s supposed to be a surprise. Why do you ask? Is something wrong?”

“I just need to know. If anything is the matter, I will call you or Fox.”