We headed off towards the east coast, stopping in St. John's Newfoundland to refuel and to see if we would have any problems getting Sarah and Kimberly into England. My contact in Interpol told me that the database had been updated, and everything should be good, but just in case he gave me a contact number that I could give to the border customs officers in England.
Since everything was now cool, I told the girls the good news and they were ecstatic. We all got onto the plane and headed towards the English coastline. We were in a fast jet, but the trip still took a few hours, and since we were heading against the clock, the sun disappeared mid flight, which did nothing for our morale. We were all quite happy to land several hours later in London at Biggin Hill Airport. Sean got off and accompanied us to the terminal building, but told Guido to get ready to fly him back. And with that said, Guido closed up the jet and headed to the taxiing area to refuel.
We all walked to the terminal building to pass through customs. Since we were a special flight we had to wait for a customs officer to come and meet with us. Or rather we normally would have had to; however Sean had a little more pull than I predicted and made a call while we waited; the next thing we knew the airport's rep returned and apologized for making us wait and cleared us himself. I later learnt that Sean had called the CEO of the airport and asked him to expedite our arrival, seems they were friends.
At that point Sean told us he had to head back out, but he promised us that Guido would be back tomorrow with a bigger jet to pick us up. But before he left he told that he had a little surprise waiting at the front of the airport. We got there and found a young man holding a sign that said: "Vinny, Maya, Candy and Company."
We approached the man and introduced ourselves. He told us his name was William, and that Sean had asked him to act as our guide during our stay. We thanked him, and then followed him outside where we were shown to the stretch limo Sean had ordered him to use to drive us around. It was getting late, so we told the driver to head over to my mother's dorm so we could drop her off because she had to get ready for tomorrow; Mandy stayed with her, I would have, but men were not allowed to spend the night in that dorm. The rest of us left to find a place to stay for the remainder of our visit.
That's when William told us that Sean had arranged for us to have a suite at a local hotel; of course Sean had paid for everything. So reluctantly I agreed and we were taken to the hotel. When we got there we were treated like gods, fresh flowers for each girl and a nice bottle of aged rum for me. We were shown to our room; it was magnificent, with an upper and lower floor, and three large bedrooms. We offered to tip the bellhop, but William refused to let us and tipped him himself. He gave him five hundred Pounds.
William gave me a cell phone with his number programmed into it, and said: "If you need anything just call me, night or day and I will make certain you get it." With that said he left.
Maya and Candy quickly began exploring the room, while Sarah and Kimberly just hugged me and snuggled up to me. Lynn and Amber were busy calling room service to order a little something to eat and of course drink. I was happy to back in England again, it had been some time since my last visit, and I realised just how much my life had changed as I held Sarah and her sister lovingly.
Eventually all the girls gathered around me and thanked me for taking them with me. I told them it was my pleasure, and suggested we decide the sleeping arrangements for the evening. Just as they started to discuss who would sleep with me there was a knock at the door.
I opened it; a young looking girl was trying not to look me in the eyes as she said: "Room service, I have a large order here and need to make certain that it is the correct room as per hotel policy." She opened a little binder and pulled out a bill and began to read it. At the top in huge read print was written: "Do not verify this order, it's a VIP request." She turned crimson as she read that. Her eyes had not looked at my face once, however she blushed so brightly that even her snow white hands turned red.
She tried to speak but her voice failed her and she covered her face with the book as she crumpled to a ball on the floor, and tears began to drip down below the little binder covering her face as she began to sob softly.
She was still in the hall, and she looked so vulnerable, luckily we were alone in the hall, so I softly said: "Don't worry about it. By the way, what's your name honey?"
She never removed her face from the little black cover as she cried: "Jillian sir."
I softly stroked her hair as I said: "Are you able to stand?" She just sobbed, so I tenderly said: "I'll be right back just stay here a second." I quickly got up and rolled the cart she was pushing into our room as I said to the girls: "The foods here, but I need to take care of the girl who delivered it, she is very upset."
The girls barely acknowledged my words, and just kept on talking as they tried to decide my fate for the night, normally I would have repeated myself but given the circumstances I was perfectly happy letting them continue their conversation. I walked back into the hall where Jillian was still sobbing on the floor. I bent down and, placing a hand on her back and one behind her knees, lifted her effortlessly into my arms.
She gave out a soft yelp as she felt herself being picked up, but didn't try to stop me, so I walked back into the room with her cradled in my arms. She had finally removed the book from her face enough to see, but she still blocked my view of her face, however the girls noticed her, and upon seeing her face they all said: "Hi!" Then they went back to their conversation. I saw Jillian wave weakly as I walked passed them.
I stopped by a large sofa and gently set her down. As she slid out of my arms I finally got to see her face, she had the face of a twelve year old. Her eyes locked with mine, and I could see the fear in her eyes, she was also shaking, so I tenderly said: "You're not in trouble little girl."
She looked a little miffed as she said: "I'm a woman, today's my eighteenth birthday." As the words escaped her mouth she raised her hand to try and block them, but it was too late and she started to bawl again and quickly buried her face into the soft cushions of the couch.
I realised that this was not the way I wanted any woman to remember her eighteenth birthday, and that it would be tough to change that. I sat beside her and eased her head off the sofa, and when it was high enough I hugged her tiny frame to mine. She was still trying to avoid me as she buried her face into my chest. She tried to pull away once she realised what she was crying on, but I held close so she wouldn't let go.
Realising she was trapped, she finally raised her head and looked into my face dumbfounded. I place my free hand against her tear soaked cheek as I tenderly said: "Well it's nice to see you again Jillian." She was still scared, but this time didn't try to pull away, so I continued: "My name is Vinny, and I would really appreciate it if you would stop crying long enough for me ask you a few questions."
She looked at me incredulously and weakly said: "What do you want to know Mr. Vinny?"
I replied: "First of all call me Vinny." She nodded softly. So I continued: "And as for my questions, let's start with an easy one. How long have you been working here?"
She was puzzled as she said, with a huge effort: "A few months, but this is my first week delivering room service, Vinny."
I rubbed my hand slowly against her cheek, trying to comfort her. She relaxed a little so I weakened my hold on her torso as I asked my second question: "Why are you working on your birthday?"
She sniffled a little as she said: "I was asked if I could, and since I have no family close by and I caught my boyfriend cheating two days ago, I really didn't want to be alone in my tiny flat."
She was more relaxed so I let her sit back into the sofa beside me as I asked her my third question: "You're not having a really good day, are you?"
She shook her head.
"Jillian I have one more question for you. I understand you're having a bad day, and since it's your birthday you don't have to answer this, but why did you react so strongly when you noticed that you had made that error earlier?"
Jillian was a little hesitant as she answered: "I don't know you well enough to answer that question right now. Maybe I'll tell you a little later." She looked at me expectantly.
I smiled as I said: "That sounds fair; after all we just met. But can I at least offer you something to eat? Actually if you want to join us for dinner I'd be honoured."
