"Yeah, me neither," I admitted. "So…what? Should we just leave and let them assume we wanted to start the honeymoon early?"
"They're already assuming that," he said. "Everyone saw me drag you in here. Let them. I just need a minute to clear my head."
"Just one minute?" I smiled. "You might want to wait a little longer than that, to keep up appearances."
He gave me a withering glance.
"Sorry, sorry," I muttered. "Trying to bring a little levity to the situation."
In the end, we did end up going to the reception. My stomach had settled a little, so I ate a few tiny sandwiches and downed a great deal of champagne. I talked and laughed with everyone I knew, and some people I didn't know. I recognized quite a few faces from the office (including Lisa, who I studiously avoided) but Daniel had somehow managed to fully populate the place, and as I worked my way around the room, I learned they were from every imaginable time and location - business connections, former accountants, even one of his business professors. Daniel certainly did a better job of keeping up with people than I did. Either that, or people were much more apt to drop everything and run to the wedding of a billionaire they knew than some girl they barely remembered.
As the night waned and the guests began to stifle yawns, I changed into a more casual dress - a sporty black number I'd ordered after Daniel gave me his card - and got my bags ready. John was waiting outside to drive us to the…airport, probably. Hell if I knew.
Daniel was in much better spirits as we climbed into the backseat of the town car, guests yelling their well-wishes after us. He even smiled when I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss. For appearance's sake, of course.
After a short while on the highway, it became obvious that we were indeed going to the airport. Well, I'd know where we were headed soon enough. He couldn't keep it hidden forever. All he'd told me so far was to pack for warm weather, and that hardly narrowed it down very much.
Then, John bypassed the usual pick up/drop off points, going around through a back road that said "AIRPORT STAFF ONLY." I started to speak, but Daniel shook his head.
"Don't worry," he said. "I've made special arrangements."
I settled back in my seat. Well, then.
The road was narrow and winding, until it finally opened up…right on the tarmac. There was a plane parked in front of us - small, but still commercial-sized.
So that was how he planned to keep the surprise going. A chartered plane. Of course.
The brilliant bastard.
"I don't suppose there's any chance that somebody's going to tell me where we're going," I said, as Daniel and I crossed the tarmac, with John carrying our bags a few feet behind us.
Daniel shook his head, smiling, as John handed the bags off to someone standing by the bottom of the staircase that led up to the plane's entrance.
"Have a good trip, you two," said John, waving.
The inside of the plane was lavish and roomy, with white leather seats and every imaginable amenity. After we'd settled in, a platinum blond attendant took our drink orders, and before long we were soaring in the clouds, headed for an unknown destination.
"Will you at least tell me how long the flight's going to be?"
"Long enough," he said. "You'll want to settle in."
He wasn't kidding. I'd only been on planes a handful of times in my life, but I'd always had trouble sleeping on them. This plane, though, was a different situation entirely. I could lean back as far as I wanted, curled up in the luxurious seat. Before I knew what was happening, Daniel was shaking me awake.
"We're about to land," he whispered, smiling.
When we disembarked, the heat was the first thing I noticed. It was thick and humid. There were palm trees in the distance.
"Welcome to Florida," the captain said, as we left.
Well, then.
"I hope you're taking me to Disney World," I told Daniel as we got into our taxi.
"No," he said. "Better. But first, we're going to the hotel to settle in."
A five-star hotel, naturally. I don't know why I would have expected anything different. We were in the honeymoon suite, on top of everything, so it was massive, and had its own Jacuzzi. I felt like I could get lost just inside our room. It had a dining table, for God's sake.
"What do they think we're going to do, entertain guests?" I wondered aloud, running my hand along the polished wood surface.
"Maybe we're supposed to 'christen' it," Daniel suggested with a half-smile. He'd come a long way - he was actually willing to joke about us hav**g s*x again.
I pulled my hand away quickly.
"Don't worry," he said. "This is a nice hotel. They actually clean all the surfaces."
"That's not what I read once in an email forward," I called after him as he disappeared into one of the other countless rooms.
I had a very welcome shower in the lavish bathroom, which had more water pressure than any other hotel I'd ever been to, combined. And it didn’t even smell like feet. Was this how the other half lived?
When I'd freshened up, I went out to meet Daniel in the main living area. He was flipping through the channels on the massive flat-screen television.
"Anything good on?"
"Is there ever?" he said. "Come on. We've got an appointment with someone I think you'll want to meet."
So he was determined to stay mysterious, then. Fine.
We got into another taxi for a short drive. As we drew closer to what was apparently our destination, I saw a massive white building in the distance. It was almost as wide as it was tall. I thought it looked vaguely familiar, but we were apparently approaching it from the back, so I couldn't see any identifying signs or markings.
Then, finally, something came into view.
A giant American flag.
And, on the other side, the NASA logo.
"You're not actually taking me to the moon, are you?" I said, staring.
"Sadly, that's not possible yet," he said. "Not even for me. But I got you the closest thing I could."
As the car pulled up to a door on the side of the building, I saw a woman walk out. She came towards the car with purpose.
After I climbed out, she offered me her hand.
"Hi," she said. "You must be Maddy. I'm Sam - I'm an astronaut."
"That's…that's cool," I said, dumbly.
She grinned. "A few years ago, I was the first woman to walk on the moon," she said. "I hear you're something of a moon enthusiast."
"I wouldn’t say that," I replied, a little stunned. "But I guess…I guess I always did kind of want to go there. It just looks so cool."
"It's pretty cool," she said, grinning. "If I could really take you there, I would. But since I can't, I'm going to give you the next best thing. Over the next three days, I'm going to put you two through a simulated astronaut training. Everything you'd do if you really were going to the moon. At the end, we'll do a simulated landing and moon walk. It's a new attraction - not open to the public yet, but when Daniel here wrote to use and told us about how he wanted to give you your dream vacation, we couldn't resist the opportunity. We wanted you to be the first to try it out."
I didn't know what to say.
"Are you pumped?" she asked, sounding pretty pumped herself.
"Yeah," I said. "I just…yeah. This isn't what I expected at all." I could feel myself grinning from ear to ear.
"That's a good thing, right?" said Sam. "The unexpected things are always the most fun."
"Oh, absolutely." I glanced at Daniel. He was beaming.
We walked inside then, slowly. I had to drink everything in. This had honestly been the last thing I'd ever expected - that he would remember what I said about wanting to go to the moon, and that he'd make an attempt to fulfill my impossible childhood dream. How much thought had he put into this? How much time had he spent? The money, I knew, was nothing to him. He could have given me any lavish gift in the world, any generic multi-million dollar vacation. But this was something else.
This was the sort of gift you give to someone that you truly care about.
The training, Sam informed me, wasn't to start until tomorrow. Today, we'd just take a tour of the astronaut hall of fame, taking in all the exhibits - the old space suits, the models, the photographs. Sam told us about her personal experiences as we went.
"When I heard they were doing another manned moon landing, I was one of the first to put my name in," she said. "A woman had never walked on the moon before. I couldn't resist the opportunity. Of course, every other female astronaut had the same idea. But of all the names, they picked mine." She took a deep breath, her eyes distant for a moment. "I'll never forget, as long as I live, how it felt to put my foot down on that rock. Some people told me I was crazy for even caring about it - just a pebble floating in space, nothing really special about it. I can't really explain why I wanted to go, but it was the most breathtaking experience. To see the earth like that. The stars. To be in space. It was my dream come true."
Briefly, I wondered if I was turning green.
"But enough about me!" Sam said, suddenly. "Come on. Let's show you the rest of the facility. There are some pretty amazing things that don't get shown on the regular tours, but I'd be happy to take you there."
With every step, I felt more and more like I must be dreaming. What kind of fake husband would go to this kind of trouble? There was an answer of course, in the back of my mind, quiet but persistent; I had to shut it down. No, no, no. He pushed you away. He doesn't want you to get attached. He doesn't have feelings for you; he just wants you to be happy so you don't try to get out of the deal.
We passed through the touristy areas, and soon Sam was taking us through doors that said "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." I held my breath as we stopped to look at instrument panels and control rooms, while Sam rattled off things that only halfway made sense to me.
When the tour was over, Sam handed us each a schedule for the next few days, detailing what we'd be doing for the next few days for our "astronaut training." Reading over it in the back of the cab on the way back to the hotel, I felt giddy. So maybe this wasn't quite what I would have imagined - but it really was the best of all possible honeymoons.
Chapter Eleven
Somehow, in my absence, I'd almost forgotten how beautiful our suite was. I was struck again as we walked in and Daniel hit a switch, lighting up the chandelier in the center of the room.
"This is really nice," I said, stupidly.
He smiled. "I'm glad you think so."
I stood in the center of the room for a moment, hugging my arms across my chest. I needed to say something. I needed to tell him what was running through my head, even if it didn't make any sense.
I needed him.
I couldn’t even look at the massive bed, covered in overstuffed pillows, without imagining him pressing me down into it.
"Daniel," I said.
He turned to look at me. I didn't know what I was planning on saying, exactly, but every word that came to mind just stuck in my throat. I swallowed and tried again, and to my absolute mortification I realized tears were leaking out of the corners of my eyes. I tried to look away, but he came over to me, swiftly, gently taking my face in his hands and lifting it up towards his. I tried to smile, but it wavered.