Chapter Sixteen

During my first airplane flight, I felt like it was the last day of my life. Of course I did my best not to display that, but after Mike showed the marks from my nails, which I dug into his hand every time we hit an air pocket, it would be foolish to persuade him I was brave and courageous. Moreover I was reassuring myself that everyone was scared the first time. But honestly speaking, I was very happy when the plane landed at the airport of Hurghada, where a guide, an unkempt Egyptian with a face only a mother could love, was waiting for us with his taxi.

He drove us to an unusually clean and beautiful five-star Hilton hotel. For me, an ordinary Ukrainian woman, struggling to make ends meet, strongly determined there was no way I could fall in love, not to mention get married, such a difference from my everyday life seemed like a miracle. Or maybe it was a miracle. My life was turning into a fairy tale. And I felt like beautiful Belle from my favorite American Walt Disney cartoon movie, Beauty and the Beast. Mike, however, didn’t really fit the Beast’s part, but for the Prince, transformed from that Beast, it fit him perfectly.

That evening we were standing on the balcony of the hotel and enjoying a starry sky.

“Do you know the name of constellation, looking like the Big Dipper?”

“Yeah, it’s the Ursa Major.”

“And do you know where the Minor one is?”

“Over there, the little dipper? And then, further the handle of the Big Dipper is the North Star. It must be very well visible in Alaska.”

Mike was standing behind me and I could feel his warm breath. He gently took me by my shoulder, turned my face to him and hugged me. I clung to his strong body and felt that no one in this world could make us apart. Then he gently kissed me on the forehead, temple, lips.

“You know, lady, I love you...”