Delays (A Short Story)

“Great. Now we’re going to be late.” Ellie sighed after hearing over the airports speakers that their flight was going to have a slight delay. Already close to two o’clock in the morning, she was ready to be at her parents’ house to celebrate Thanksgiving.

“It’ll be alright, honey.” Will, her husband, said.

“Mommy, I’m sleepy.” Their four year old daughter, Josie, tugged on her mom’s sleeve.

“I know, sweetheart.” Ellie sat back down in one of the chairs and pulled Josie up onto the chair beside her. Josie curled up against her and soon fell asleep.

Will sat down beside Ellie, next to their other sleeping child, Henry. Weary, Ellie laid her head on Will’s shoulder. This wasn’t how she had pictured spending her Thanksgiving. Originally they were going to leave yesterday, but Will had an emergency at work – heart surgery – and they had to delay their plans.

Even though she was exhausted, having been up since seven the previous morning, she couldn’t fall asleep as easily as her children could.

“Would you like me to get you some hot chocolate?” Will asked. Surprisingly there was a little coffee shop opened.

“Sure. Thanks.” Ellie smiled.

“Be back in a few.” Placing a light kiss on her forehead, he walked towards the shop. Thankfully most people were sleeping, so the airport lacked the usual hustle and bustle it usually had.

Ellie continued smiling as she looked at her sleeping children, so peaceful. She brushed Henry’s brown locks out of his eyes.

Will returned, two cups in hand. He handed the hot chocolate to her, keeping what was probably coffee for himself.

“You know, this kind of reminds me of the time we first met.” He said, settling into the seat beside her.

Ellie grinned, “Oh does it now?”

Henry stirred beside Will, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “How did you meet Mommy, Daddy?” He asked.

Will turned his attention to the half-awake six year old. “We met in an airport, one similar to this one. We were both traveling on the day before Christmas Eve when our flight got delayed. We ended up sitting next to each other, waiting. We talked for a while. Early the next morning our flight was finally ready and we had seats right next to each other. Your mother here had a connecting flight, so she wasn’t going to the same place as me.”

“Well what happened then?” Henry asked, curious as always.

Ellie picked up the story. “What we didn’t know at the time was that we lived in the same city. We ended up going to the same church together and started to get to know each other. Eventually we started dating and got married.”

Henry nodded thoughtfully before going back to sleep against his dad.

“We don’t seem to have the best record with airports, now do we?” Ellie stated, taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

“On the contrary,” Will answered with a grin, “I think we have a great one.”

~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!