Ben remained in the ICU for a day after recovering consciousness and had just completed a move to a standard room for three more days of observation before his eventual release. He and Joana worked on Victoria all day to get her to go somewhere where she could get some good sleep. She elected to take a room at the hotel across the street from the hospital while Ben was still an inpatient. She also insisted on being with him at his apartment for the two weeks he was “Sick in Quarters,” what the Coast Guard called sick leave, to complete whatever rehab he needed. Fortunately, Ben still had his Miami apartment—between the shipyard, his training up in Virginia, and Kauai’s relentless shakedown and operational schedule, there wasn’t time to close out his lease and clear out the place.
Ben was delighted but visibly nervous about learning of Victoria’s decision to stick around after his discharge. When she left the room to call her office to give them an update, Ben turned to Joana with a worried look. “Jo, can I use your cell, please?”
“Sure, here you go,” she said as she handed it to him.
Ben hurriedly dialed the number of his apartment management office. “Janie, Ben Wyporek. Well, been better, but OK. Yes, do you have a cleaning service that can do a quick turnaround on my place? Yes, everything from bottom to top. As soon as possible. Tomorrow? Yes! That will be fine. Could you let them in, pleeeeease? Thank you, Ma’am!” After hanging up, he looked at the ceiling and said, “Thank God!”
Joana took her phone back and said, “Are you freaking kidding me? You’re out of a coma one day, and your biggest worry is a dirty apartment?”
“Jo, it may just be because I got my bell rung, but I can’t remember whether I left dirty skivvies on the floor in the bathroom.” He peered hard at the door. “This situation was not on the list of possibilities the last time I left! What? Did you think I was some kind of neatnik?”
Joana shook her head sadly and said, “No, just dreading what I can expect when Robbie hits puberty!”
Victoria returned with a smile a couple of minutes later with the news that they had approved her leave. Sam and Hopkins, both in civilian clothing, came in almost on Victoria’s heels, with Sam drawing a tender hug and passionate kiss from Joana before moving to Ben’s warm handshake. Then Hopkins received a hug and handshake.
“Victoria, this is my CO, Lieutenant Sam Powell,” Ben said as Sam stepped forward to take Victoria’s hand.
“Oh, Lieutenant Powell, Benjamin has told me so much about you!” She turned to Hopkins. “And you are Chief Petty Officer Emilia Hopkins! Benjamin has also told me much about you. I am so glad to meet you!”
“Victoria, we are all on first names off the ship. You can call me Sam if you like.”
“I think she would prefer Samuel, dear,” Joana corrected him.
“Yes, and please call me Emilia,” Hopkins jumped in with a smile. “What a treat to meet you at last.” She turned to Ben. “Here’s your keys and phone, XO,” she said as she handed them to him.
“So, what do you think of driving the Camaro?” Ben asked.
“A bit too much horsepower for a mom like me. And I don’t want one anywhere near Chris when he gets his license in a few years!”
“Aw, MOM!” Ben quipped to a smile from Victoria and laughs from everyone else.
After more laughs and conversation, Sam turned to Joana. “Dear, would you mind giving Emilia a ride over to her place, please? I need to discuss something with Ben.”
“On it, my captain. I’ll see you when you get home.” She turned to Ben, shook her head with a smile, and walked out of the room.
Hopkins walked over and shook his hand again. “I’m thrilled you’re OK, sir. I can’t wait for you to get back and take over the inbox again! Victoria, it was wonderful to meet you, and I hope to see you again soon.”
“Thank you, Emilia!” After Hopkins left, Victoria turned to Sam. “Do you need me to leave, Samuel?”
Sam gave Ben a more sad look, and Ben said, “No, Victoria, please stay. Sam is about to explain that my injury may keep me from coming back to Kauai.”
Victoria’s smile disappeared, and she sat next to Ben and took his hand in hers.
“Well, so much for breaking it to you gently,” Sam began. “I want to emphasize that we will do everything we can to get you back, but the boat is off-limits for you for two weeks, at least. That’s why I had Hoppy bring your stuff. After that, you’ll need a full physical with a special neurological workup. Don’t ask me what that means; it was just what they told me. If that clears you, you’re in.”
“Then I guess I had better study!” Ben said lightheartedly. On the inside, he was quite worried. It was a wait-and-see situation, and there was little he could do to affect the outcome. Victoria turned to him with a tragic expression, and he gently squeezed her hand and said, “It will be alright.” He turned back to Sam. “Will you be able to get someone in there to help, sir? I can’t stand the thought of all my work being dumped on Hoppy and COB.”
“Captain Mercier has put together a slate of candidates for a temp slot, and I’ll be giving her feedback first thing tomorrow.”
“OK, sir. Whoever gets picked, please have them see me before they head over. I’d like to set them up as best I can.”
Sam nodded and said, “I knew you would say something like that. You’re a class act, Ben.”
“I’ve been the understudy for the best, sir.” Ben offered his hand, and Sam shook it briefly, then pulled him into a hug.
He rose again and blinked a few times before continuing. “I need to get back home and administer some hugs. I’ll swing by tomorrow before Hoppy and I head back to the boat. Is there anything I can bring you?”
“I’m good, sir. Please give R & D a hug from Uncle Ben!”
“Will do. Goodbye, Victoria. I wish we could have met on a happier occasion.”
“Thank you, Samuel.”
After he left, Victoria turned to Ben with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Benjamin! I am so sorry! I do not know what to do!”
He caressed her face, wiping away one of her tears. “Hey, I’m not out of the game yet. And what you have done, what you are doing.... When I came to yesterday and saw you sleeping next to me, I thought I was hallucinating. I didn’t want to wake you, but I had to touch you to make sure you were real. When I brushed your hair back, you smiled in your sleep. Then when you woke up, it was finally real; you were really here. Can you even imagine what that meant to me?
“But I’m worried about you. Victoria, I love you so very much, but maybe you need to consider your interests now.”
“What are you saying, Benjamin? I love you.”
“Yes, but look at where we are. I will either be out of a job soon or return to the job that put me here. No matter which way this turns out, what do I have to offer you?” Victoria looked at him, and her face slowly changed into a soft smile. “What?” Ben asked.
“You provide exactly what I need, Benjamin.”
Ben looked back in befuddlement. She is saying this like it has some profound meaning. It is from something.... What? Then he remembered. Oh, THAT! He smiled back and held his arms open. Once she had snuggled in, he said, “Victoria Carpenter, you are a very foolish woman.” She hugged him tightly, and he kissed the top of her head. “We’ll figure this out somehow.”
*******************
Ben was a few days out of the hospital, but still reporting daily for testing and physical therapy. Victoria was doing what she could to help, driving him to and from the clinic, cooking and cleaning up, standing firm against Ben’s resistance to the doctor’s orders prohibiting such activities until they were sure his balance and depth perception were up to it. She had never been so assertive before with another person, which both found surprising and pleasing.
This night, they were headed to Sam and Joana’s for what Joana called a “House Cooling Party”—a celebration of her finally besting the bureaucratic dragon and securing the household goods move to Canaveral. The only other guests were Emilia Hopkins and Fritz Deffler, who was down on leave from Massachusetts. Ben was nervous, despite the small gathering, as this was the first social occasion he had attended with Victoria, and he wasn’t sure how she or they would react.
He needn’t have worried. Joana met them at the door, gave each a warm hug, and then led Victoria to the kitchen, where Emilia was already waiting with wine. As Ben started to follow, Joana turned and said, “Whoa, sailor. We’re going in for girl talk. You can join your mates in the den.”
Ben forced a smile and dutifully joined Sam and Fritz in the friendly technical discussion they were having in the den. After a few minutes, several bursts of raucous laughter, including Victoria’s, were drifting in. Sam and Ben paused, directing puzzled looks at the kitchen. Looking back and forth at the two men, Fritz smiled and said, “Gentlemen, you’re being dished up in there. Em and I haven’t been together long enough for her to have any stories that funny about me.”
The dinner and the rest of the evening went swimmingly. Emilia and Fritz announced that he had been given orders to the new UAV unit standing up at the Coast Guard aviation deployment center in Jacksonville with a promotion to chief petty officer. They all celebrated that Fritz and Emilia’s separation distance had shrunk from a two-and-a-half-day drive to one of two-and-a-half hours. Not cohabitation, but an improvement. The evening came to a pleasant end, with Victoria sharing warm, tearful hugs with Joana and Emilia as she and Ben left. The drive home was quiet—Ben did not want to distract Victoria as she drove home at night in a strange place and car. However, even back at the apartment, she was pensive, and Ben finally had to say something. “Are you alright, Victoria? Did someone say something to upset you?”
“No, Benjamin. On the contrary, I am very sad I will have to leave. Joana and Emilia are so wonderful and welcoming. I know I am very different from everyone else in the way I think and talk, but they made me feel like I belong. I have never felt that way before tonight. Between them, the pictures you sent me, and stories you told about your shipmates and their families, I long to be a part of this world.”
“Why don’t you then?”
She gave Ben a puzzled look. “I do not understand.”
Ben swallowed hard. “Why don’t you become part of this world? Assuming I pass the physical and get back in the game, why don’t you move down here?”
“Benjamin, are you suggesting we live together?” Victoria replied in astonishment.
“Yes, I am. I love you, Victoria. I’m probably not the easiest guy to live with, but I want to be with you.”
“Benjamin, I....” She looked down. “I have issues that would be difficult for you to deal with, things you do not know about that do not come out in phone conversations or sporadic dates. It is not as easy as you think.”
“Victoria, with respect, I think you are selling me short. Do you love me?”
She looked up into his eyes. “You know I do.”
“I probably have quirks you haven’t seen or thought of. Would you discard me without at least trying to accommodate them?”
“No, certainly not.”
He took her hands. “I can’t imagine anything about you that would make me not want to be with you. On my honor, I promise you I would not give up on us without the fight of my life. I know this is a big decision, and I don’t expect you to answer right now, not until this medical thing sorts itself out, but please consider living with me.”
Victoria blinked away tears, put her arms around Ben’s neck, and pulled him into the most passionate kiss either had experienced. When she pulled back, she cupped his face in her hands, looked into his eyes, and said, “I will live with you, medical issues notwithstanding.” She broke into a playful smile. “You are a very foolish man, Benjamin Wyporek.” Then she hugged him tightly. “We will figure this out somehow.”
Victoria sat anxiously in the waiting room of the Patrick Air Force Base Medical Center. In the two weeks since his discharge from Dadeland, Benjamin had completed his week of physical therapy and several consults, culminating in a cranial MRI. This final consult with the neurologist was the last step in determining whether Benjamin would return to duty on Kauai or begin processing out of the Coast Guard with a medical discharge.
They had spent the last week at a local hotel with Benjamin meeting with medical professionals, Victoria interviewing with local scientific consulting firms, and looking at apartments together. Victoria was confident that Benjamin would be cleared for duty, but increasingly discouraged by what she felt was a series of failed interviews. Benjamin had the opposite view. While he was worried about his medical issue, he confidently expected Victoria would connect with a company that could see past her abbreviated people skills and leverage her genius with data science.
Every time Victoria had left Benjamin to go inside for an interview, he had given her a passionate kiss “for luck.” When his name had been called in the waiting area, she stood with him and gave him an equally passionate kiss. “For luck,” she said.
“Hopefully, you are better at passing it on than I seem to be,” he said with a rueful smile.
That had been almost an hour ago. Victoria was flipping through apartment photos on the Internet to get her mind off the current situation, trying to find one that optimized their combined travel time to Port Canaveral for Ben and Melbourne, where the firms she interviewed with were located. Her decision to leave the DIA was not an easy one—it was the only job she had ever held, and she knew she would miss Debbie and Peter. She was surprised when Peter encouraged her decision to leave, given how he had always been so protective of her, and wondered if it had something to do with his new special assignment to the Director of National Intelligence’s staff. Regardless, he expressed his delight that she was getting together with Benjamin and giving living together a test before they took things further.
Victoria was still pondering this and the many things she had to take care of starting her new life when the door opened and Benjamin emerged. She almost jumped out of her chair to go to him. He was smiling, an excellent sign. “Benjamin, please tell me!” she pleaded.
“Fit for Duty!” he exclaimed happily. “They will monitor me for a while, and I am to avoid....” He opened the folder and read, “‘Elective activities associated with a high risk of head injury.’ So, no skydiving, boxing, or other contact sports for me.”
“Oh, Benjamin, I am so happy for you!”
“Thank you, Victoria, for being here. I don’t know how I could have gotten through it without you. Now let’s get lunch, and then we’ll get you to that next interview. I’m feeling very lucky right now, and I’m sure some will rub off on you!”
They had just returned to the hotel room from the last interview. Like the others, Victoria was convinced that she had bombed, based on the interviewers’ questions and her perceived reactions, and she was inconsolable. Ben was frustrated with himself for not finding something to say or do that could help her. He was about to suggest they go out, perhaps to the Space Center Visitor’s Complex, anything to get her mind off it, when her cellphone rang.
“It is them! It is them!” Victoria said after checking the caller ID.
“OK. Do you want me to leave while you talk to them?”
“No! No, no, no. Please stay and hold my hand.”
“Alright, I’m here for you.” He took her left hand with his right and held up crossed fingers on his left as she answered the phone.
Victoria took a deep breath to control her voice, then answered the phone. “Hello? Yes, it is. Yes, I have time to talk now.” The conversation lasted for about ten minutes, but Ben could tell it was excellent news after two. “Yes, that would be acceptable. That is correct. Very good. I look forward to receiving them. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone and squealed, which stunned Ben, given her voice’s typically low pitch. “I have the job!” They both jumped up, hugged, and then kissed.
“Congratulations, my love!” Ben gushed. “I knew it was just a matter of finding the company that had brains. When do you start?”
“It will be in the package they are sending me, but I have so much to do!”
“I’ll be there to help. I guess we really do need to pick out an apartment,” Ben finished with a smile.
“Not yet! I have something else in mind right now!” Victoria said with a mischievous grin that surprised Ben.
“By all means, lead on, My Lady!”
The Queen’s Birthday Honors list published yesterday included the award of the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air to each of the six crewmembers of the Pan-Commonwealth Airways flight downed by adverse weather over the North Atlantic Ocean last March.
PCA Flight 403, originating from London Heathrow to Nassau Lynden Pindling International via Bermuda on March 26th, encountered unforecast severe thunderstorms with hail on approach to the Bahamas, resulting in complete loss of power. Unable to reach land, the Airbus A321LR was forced down in the open Atlantic Ocean over 100 miles (169 km) from Nassau. The crew managed what was described in official reports as “an extraordinarily difficult power-off open sea landing of the crippled aircraft and subsequent evacuation of the 120 passengers on board without loss of life or serious injury.” A U.S. Coast Guard Cutter rescued the passengers and crew within hours.
The flight crew, Captain Emma Taylor, 42, Pilot; First Officer Samesh Patel, 36, Co-pilot; Chief Steward Richard Burgess, 53, Senior Flight Attendant; Ms. Nancy Hamilton, 43, Flight Attendant; Ms. Bryony Weaver, 33, Flight Attendant; Mr. Naveen Ashkani, 24, Flight Attendant, were cited for exceptional skill, judgement, and perseverance in the award. The crew’s noteworthy performance had been previously mentioned in the official Department of Transport, Air Accidents Investigation Branch report on the incident released on May 13th.
Asked for comment, PCA Chief Executive Officer Ralph Desmond said, “We are, of course, proud, pleased, and extremely grateful to Her Majesty for her recognition of this magnificent crew. A ‘dead stick’ landing of a large airliner at sea and evacuation of its passengers afterward is one of the worst situations imaginable. Captain Taylor and her crew provided a shining example of how skill, professionalism, and teamwork can overcome this most daunting challenge. It is a great privilege to include people of this calibre among the PCA family.”
Captain Taylor was characteristically modest, commenting simply, “I was serving with the best crew in the world and did what PCA trained me to do. We were lucky in the end, with both a benign sea and rescue close at hand. I want to extend my most sincere gratitude to the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kauai, who plucked us from the sea and storm at substantial risk to themselves and carried us safely to Nassau.”