Home > Nine Lives(6)

Nine Lives(6)
Author: Danielle Steel

   “Can’t he do something simple, like play tennis?” Maggie said to Brad unhappily. When she saw him do tricks on his skateboard, he reminded her of Paul Gilmore in high school. She hadn’t heard from him in thirty years, but years before, she’d heard that he had become a legendary Formula One race car driver, which didn’t surprise her. She was grateful that Aden didn’t want to race cars or fly, but he wanted to do just about everything else. Maggie was constantly worried about him.

   They had talked about having another child early in their marriage, but finally decided that one was enough. Aden seemed perfect to them. Maggie didn’t want to take a chance that something might go wrong with a second one, while Brad wanted to be able to provide well for their son, give him a good education and a solid start in life. They didn’t live lavishly, but they were comfortable. Maggie had always been sensible, and since she didn’t bring in an income, she had never been extravagant. They had everything they wanted, and didn’t need more than that. They could have afforded a bigger home, but liked the small, simple one they had. They always felt as though they had enough and weren’t greedy for more, on any front. Brad had always been conservative and financially responsible.

       Aden was going to fill out his college applications during the Christmas vacation, and Brad surprised Maggie two weeks before Christmas with the offer of a quick trip to New York. He was going to an accountants’ convention for three days and invited her to come along. He didn’t like to travel, but he went to a lot of conventions. The prospect of a little Christmas shopping in New York was hard to resist and Maggie loved going on trips with him. She didn’t do it often, because she didn’t like leaving Aden alone. But she called one of the mothers from the hockey team, and she was happy to have him stay with them. Maggie didn’t like leaving him alone at home at seventeen. He was a good kid but not a saint, and the temptation of his parents being out of town might lead to mischief with his friends.

   The day before the trip, Maggie told Brad everything was organized, and she loved the idea of staying at a hotel with him. Their life centered around their son and Brad’s accounting firm, and they rarely took time off together. They had been promising themselves a romantic vacation somewhere when Aden left for college in the fall. Maybe Hawaii. Their life had turned out just the way Maggie had wanted it to. Her brother’s death had affected her deeply. She was never as sure anymore that they were safe from the hand of fate. She was the antithesis of a risk-taker, and wanted to play it safe in all things, particularly when it involved their son. Maggie had seen what losing Tommy had done to her mother. It was even worse than losing her husband, which was bad enough. Harry was still alive at eighty, and had remarried a nice woman he knew from work. He visited Maggie from time to time, but had moved to Florida with his new wife when he retired, and he was slowing down. He rarely came to Chicago anymore, and he and Maggie had never been close. His marriage to her mother had been a sad chapter in his life, which she inevitably reminded him of.

       It felt like a mini-honeymoon when Brad and Maggie left for the airport. Aden had been picked up by his car pool that morning. On the way to the airport, Brad and Maggie chatted about what they were going to do in New York. They were staying at a hotel they both liked and Brad had heard of a new restaurant he wanted to try.

   There was a slight delay when they left O’Hare, but nothing major. The flight was more turbulent than usual, and it started to snow heavily half an hour out of New York. Brad glanced outside and wondered if they’d have trouble landing. He hoped they wouldn’t be diverted to another airport, and as soon as he thought it, the captain came on and told them they’d been asked to stay in a holding pattern over LaGuardia for a short time. Twenty minutes later, they were told they’d be landing in Newark. The snowstorm had gotten much worse in the last half hour, and when they left the holding pattern and headed to New Jersey, they hit even worse turbulence. They dropped altitude, and the passengers could hear the landing gear come down. As soon as it did, the plane started to pitch and roll from side to side, and Maggie took Brad’s hand and held it firmly. They could see that they were over the Hudson River by then, with the skyscrapers of New York on one side and New Jersey on the other, then the plane took a sharp nosedive downward. Maggie could see the river rushing toward them when she looked out the window. She glanced at Brad as the flight attendant made an announcement to take crash positions and told them what to do. The snow was swirling around them, they were going down fast, and passengers started to panic.

       “Brad…” Maggie said, not wanting to say what she was thinking.

   “It’s going to be fine…it’s just a snowstorm.” He squeezed her hand and smiled at her as they took crash positions. Maggie was distantly aware of people screaming, and before she could say anything else to Brad, they hit the river with a bang, and a huge spray of water shot out around them, as the flight attendants shouted at them to follow the floor lighting to the exits. Brad put a life vest over Maggie’s head and pulled her along. She didn’t even have time to panic as passengers jumped down the slides, half crying, some still screaming, a steady stream of humanity sliding out of the plane onto the inflated slides, which detached and became rafts that were hit by waves of icy water, which soaked them. They could see people sliding down the slides into the other rafts. Boats converged on them and the plane sank lower as people continued down the slides into the rafts bobbing on the water. Maggie saw a woman slip overboard on one of the rafts and sink under the waves, pulled down by her heavy winter clothes. Maggie had let go of Brad’s hand and turned to him, but he wasn’t there. He was in the water, clinging desperately to the slippery side of the raft with a frantic expression, as she looked at him and saw him sink. She reached for him but couldn’t grasp his hand as the raft moved away from him. She screamed for someone to help her, but he was pulled by the waves and the currents, and she saw him start to disappear in the water. She screamed again and pointed to him, as someone in another raft tried to grab him. But as she watched, Brad disappeared and she couldn’t see him anywhere, as passengers in both rafts stared at the dark, icy water in horror. There was no sign of him.

 

* * *

 

   —

       All the passengers were out of the plane by then. Some were still in the water. Two of the crew had jumped free of the plane just before it went down, and boats were trying to reach them. Maggie saw one woman in a uniform go down with the plane, and a man was standing next to her. It was the captain who had stayed to see everyone off, and then suddenly she couldn’t see either of them, as the plane slipped under the water, and sank to the bottom of the river. They had died heroes’ deaths, while the helicopters hovered overhead dropping life preservers and ropes, and others shouted at the struggling passengers to grab them. Powerful searchlights swept the area as the desperate rescue missions continued. Maggie kept looking and hoping that Brad had been pulled into another raft, but she didn’t see him. She sat shivering in shock in the life raft as the scene became a blur around her.

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