An Unexpected Love

Chapter 18: Shoebox

I feel someone gently shaking my shoulder. My eyes flutter open to see someone starring down at me. Ty. He is smiling down at me and I smile back. The sickly look has left his eyes and most of the color has returned his face and he is only a little pale. His eyes are much brighter and their lively and happy look has returned. He looks like he is feeling much better. A blink a few times and look around the plane. We are the only passengers still on the plane. I sit up, realizing that they are probably waiting for us to leave. I smile to myself, glad that I slept through the landing.

"Good morning, sleaping beauty," Ty says in his smooth voice.

"How long have you been awake?" I ask.

"I woke up when the pilot announced that we had to fasten our seatbelts and stay seated until the plane has landed. I didn't want to wake you up though since you hate landing so I just did up your seat belt for you."

I nod. "So, how are you feeling?" I ask, hoping that he is feeling as good as he looks.

"A lot better." I undo my seatbelt and Ty leans over to kiss me. He pulls away though when he sees a flight attendent standing over us and tapping her foot impatiently. We just smile up at her and she rolls her eyes and walks away. We stand up and Ty grabs our bags out of the overhead compartments. I grab our trash in one hand and roll my suitcase with the other. Ty is rolling his suitcase and carrying our other bags in his other hand. He is walking in front of me and I follow behind him. I am staring down at the floor and stop suddenly when something under a seat. I bend down and pick it up. It is a shoebox. It feels really light and empty. I take off the lid and gasp.

Wow! That is a lot of green! Inside is more money than I have seen in my life! I have frozen in the spot and I'm staring at the cash. Ty turns around to see why I'm not following him anymore. When I don't move he leaves the bags in the aisle and walks toward me. "What's in the box, babe?"

I motion for him to come closer. He does and peers into the box. He gasps and his mouth drops open. "Where did you find this?"

"Under that seat." I point and he follows my finger and stares. "Should we tell a flight attendent?" I ask. He shakes his head. He hurries foward and grabs the bags. I grab my suitcase and close the shoebox. At the door of the plane I throw away the trash and grip the shoebox tightly and roll my suitcase.

We hurry off the plane and Ty starts scanning the terminal for my family. I am staring at the ground not paying attention when I guy comes rushing towards us from the other direction and back onto the plane. It is easy to tell that he is in a hurry. Ty dogdes out of his way. I don't see him soon enough to move so the man runs head on into me sending me flying. I hold on to the shoebox with all my strength to keep the money inside and from flying everywhere. I crash onto the concret ground and my suitcase falls on top of me along with the man. The man quickly scurries up and starts running towards the plane again.

"Hey! Watch out you son of a b*tch!" Ty yells many other words after that at him but I try to block them out. A mom with a five year old walks by and tells him to watch his language. He apologizes and people stare at him. He ignores them and kneels down on the ground next to me. He lifts the suitcase off of me and stares into my eyes. "Babe? Are you okay?"

"Yeah,"Imumble. I am breathing heavily and trying to catch my breath. He lets me lay there for a minute and he ran his hand up and down on my arm, that wasn't under my body, in soothing motions. After a minute he puts his hand under my elbow to help me up. I try to use my other arm to push myself up. The minute Iput pressure on it, pain soars through my arm and I drop back to the ground so I am lying on my back. I wince and Ty crouches back down.

"What hurts, Kaitlin?"

"I think I broke my wrist," I mutter.

"Sh*t. I'm going to kill that man," Ty mutters under his breath so only Ican hear him. "Here, let's get you into a chair." Ty slids an arm around my shoulders and behind my knees and lifts me up bride style. He turns around and sets me in a chair.

"Ty, it's my wrist that is hurt, not my legs,"I tease. He just rolls his eyes and grab the shoebox off the ground and holds it tightly in his arm.

"Okay, is your wrist the only thing that hurts?" he asks in a concerned voice.

"That and my pride." He laughs quietly and moves our bags closer to my chair. He sits down and rubs my good arm with his hand.

"Okay, I'm going to go find your family that way we can get you to a doctor," he says standing up. "Wait here and I'll be-" He stops when the man that crashed into me comes running back off the plane and right past us, almost crashing into Ty. "Hey! Come back here! You need to apologize to her for running into her!" he calls after the man. The man doesn't turn around but just flips Ty off. Ty takes a step forward but I grab his arm gently. He glances down at me, an angry expression on his face. Typical guy. Wants to fight to solve something.

"He's not worth it, Ty." He glances after the man but he is gone now. He sighs and steps closer to me in a protective motion. I make a mental note of the man in my head. He looked about middle aged, between 30 and 40 years old. He has brown hair that is starting to gray at the roots. He is pretty heavily built and kinda scary looking.

"Okay, I'm not leaving you now. I would call someone but my phone is dead," Ty thinks out loud. Right then my phone starts vibrating in pocket. Is is physic or something? I would grab it but I am holding my wrist with my hand and pain soars through my whole body if I move my hand because then my wrist isn't supported.

"Ty?" He looks at me questionly. "My phone is vibrating. I might be Matt or somebody. You wanna grab it for me?" I ask. He nods and reaches into my front pocket gently. He slowly pulls out my phone and glances at the number before answering. He has a short conversation to explain that I am hurt and where we are sitting. He says good-bye and then hangs up.

"That was Matt. They were wondering where we are since they new our plane hadn't been delayed. They are coming over here right now. Then, we can get you to a doctor," Ty explains. I nod and we watch for their familar faces. Finally, I see them walking quickly towards us. Matt jogs over and kneels down in front of me and Ty stands up.

"Kaitlin, are you alright?" Matt asks in a concerned voice. He looks me over, making sure that only my wrist is hurt. I nod and Mom and George reach us.

"Honey! What happened?" Mom asks worridely.

"We'll explain in the car. I think we should hurry and get her to a doctor. Her wrist is broken," Ty suggests. Everyone else nods in agreement. Matt and George grab Ty's and my bags. George reaches for the shoebox but I shoot Ty a glance telling him to get it first. George looks at him questionly and Ty says that he'll carry it. George shrugs and he starts to walk forward with Matt.

Mom stays behind to make sure that I'm okay. I assure her that I'm fine but she doesn't move. Ty bends down and slids his arm around my waist to pull me to my feet. I steady myself and keep my hand on my arm. Mom, Ty, and I start following Matt and George. Ty slids his arm around me and pulls me close to him but he is careful not to bump my right arm at all. I can tell that he is feeling very protective of me right now. I am grateful for his arm around me when the man comes running by us again. I glance up to see if Ty sees him. Ty is glaring at him and him and when the man looks at me Ty tightens his arm around me. I press myself closer to him and we hurry out of the airport.

Once I am inside George's truck, I start to relax. My wrist is burning none stop and it is causing my whole arm to ache with pain. Ty sets the shoebox down at his by his feet as he slides in. George and Matt throw our bags in the truck and then climb in. Matt sits in the front with Mom and George so we aren't as squished back here and don't have to worry about my arm getting bumped. Of course, Ty sits on the edge seat instead of the middle so that I will have a lot of room. I pat the middle though and he sighs but scoots by me.

Mom turns around to make sure I am okay. I smile and she faces back to the front. I lay my head on Ty's chest and he carefully puts his arm around me. I grab his hand with my left hand lace my fingers with his. He squeezes my hand gently and kisses the top of my head. Another sharp pain shoots through my wrist and I cringe. Ty holds me tighter. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mutter.

"Don't worry. Soon you will be at the doctor and then you will feel perfectly fine," he soothes. I nod and he changes the subject. "So, when are you going to tell your parents about the shoebox?" he whispers so only I can hear.

"As soon as I talk to you about it alone," I whisper back. I have a few suspictions that Ty might like to hear. He nods and I close my eyes.