Taylor was going over their plans for the millionth time.
"Are all secret agents so overly prepared?"
"Yes. It is how we stay alive. I am sure Darren is in this situation because of an unprepared partner."
Jill swallowed hard and turned bright red.
"Understood. Go over it once more."
Their first stop would be on the African continent. It was going to be an eleven hour flight with someone she did not know. She was definitely taking some sleep aids with her.
Her mother had called and begged them to come to the main house before they left.
Jill was a nervous wreck while Taylor found amusement in everything. All she could think about was how in the world would she survive all of this.
She had developed a mantra for these moments.
"This is for Darren." She would close her eyes and breathe in deeply, hold the breath for half a minute then say the short sentence when she exhaled. Often times she was so annoyed with Taylor She barely breathed as she said the words over and over again through clenched teeth.
Taylor had on a comfortable cream colored linen casual suit. Jill was wearing a feminine version in a light brown. When they arrived in her grandmother's favorite sitting room both her mother and grandmother were smiling at them intensely.
Jill was a bit nervous and she just stood in the door looking at them. It wasn't until Taylor gently touched his hand to her lower back and even more gently guided her forward. She wanted to say it was a push but she knew she would be lying.
With his action her grandmother's eyes lit up with a emotion. Was that excitement?
"Sit down sit down!"
Definitely excitement. She was so excited that Jill was actually confused and all she could meet her energy with was a deep frown.
Taylor on the other hand met them fierce smile for fierce smile and Jill found herself working very hard not to fold her arms over her chest.
"We wanted to speak to both of you about your wedding rings."
Jill's frown deepened as she touched the ring that she had never really paid any attention to. Had she bought it with her own money? She looked to Taylor and as if he were reading her mind he answered her question.
"I do not have the resources that Jill has so I told her to except this set for now and I will save for another That is more appropriate."
Jill just stared at him for a second and then down at the rings on her finger.
"That's not necessary. This is perfectly fine."
"I know. You already told me that but it is important to me. I already have a design in my head and I know blue is your favorite color so I want to use sapphires."
Jill smiled broadly and he suddenly stopped speaking. She was confused when he stopped and just stared at her. At this point they had turned to each other and had been speaking as if her mother and grandmother were not even there.
And to be honest they both had forgotten about them. He looked at her seriously.
"You are truly the most beautiful woman I have ever known. How exactly did I get so lucky?"
Jill was stunned. She finally remembered that this was all a charade. Why did he look so honest and serious? His cover should have been as an actor. She slowly turned her head to look at her mother and grandmother. Her face turning violently red as she remembered where exactly she was.
She would have still been speaking to Taylor if her horrid grandmother had not lightly cleared her throat. She was now smiling her mischievous smile at them. A seemingly all knowing mischievous smile.
Taylor squeezed her hand and her body calmed. She had not realized that her shoulders had been so tense that they had risen up to her ears.
Her mother wiped a tear and Jill's stomach knotted. She was doing this for her brother but it seemed it was all at her mother's expense.
Her mother looked at her grandmother.
"Maybe we should not give them to them."
"Don't be silly. You can never have too much jewelry and these are family heirlooms."
Her mother looked at them with worry on her face. Taylor smiled his disarming smile.
"What is it Mrs. Simms. We are family do not worry."
Her mother's face went stern.
"If we are family then you need to call me "mom" somehow. It can be "momma Simms" if need be."
"Not for me. You can only call me "gran". I don't go in for any of that modern stuff." She pulled out an old red ring box and handed it to Taylor.
"This was my father's and I believe it would make you a very good wedding ring. It will also match the one we will give Jill.
As if on cue Jill's mother handed her a blue ring box.
They looked at each other and opened the boxes at the same time. They each looked at their ring then looked back at each other and turned as one to say no when Jill's grandmother raised a hand.
"This is not a democracy. Put those rings on and go catch your plane."
They did as they were told. Taylor gave her his box and took hers into his hand. And they each placed the other's ring on his or her finger. Jill was again caught off guard when she looked up at his smile.
Why did he have to be so damned handsome!?
"We are going to be on the plane for ten hours. I won't be able to sleep ten hours."
Taylor laughed. "More like eleven and a half and I am pretty sure you will try your best."
He looked over at her fiddling with her ring set. They were truly beautiful. He looked down at his and couldn't help but smile.
"Were you serious about having one made for me."
He looked up at her and he was again caught in the depth of those eyes. Why was she so beautiful and why was she his best friend's sister? This was going to be harder than he first thought.
He cleared his throat. "Yes and no. It is already made. I designed it and made it myself when your brother first came up with this." He shrugged. "I like to be prepared."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Darren might not have gone missing."
He shook his head. "For him to come up with such an elaborate mess and pull you into it he knew something would happen. And I have grown to trust his instincts implicitly.
She looked at him for a long moment. The honesty in his eyes were breath taking. She would not be here if it were not for that honesty that she could see so clearly.
Their luggage had already been checked and placed on the plane. For their honeymoon the company had offered to allow them to use one of the company jets.
Jill had refused for two reasons. One she did not use company resources in that way. And two she no longer knew who to trust. She knew her mother and grandmother were not trying to harm her so the only other way into the penthouse was the key that used to be kept at the company so that visiting clients or associates had a place stay.
She already took that key back and told them to use the townhouse until a more suitable location was found.
She actually traveled a lot for her business and already had a jet of her own. A rather expensive one at that.
Taylor looked at the luxurious jet appraisingly and she knew he had seen more extravagance than he let on so she waited patiently for his reaction and became very disappointed when he merely nodded and took a seat.
She pursed her lips and sat across from him, a small table between them. Taylor looked at her with one of his unnerving smiles and she lost her train of thought for a moment.
The flight was uneventful and she did actually try to sleep the entire time, and almost succeeded.
They had decided ahead of time not to talk about anything while on the plane. Her brother had a mission that was taking him to several different countries. He did not say which, incase the message to Taylor was somehow intercepted.
The plan was that he would leave clues at the locations he actually went to that would lead them to the next country and the next clue. The problem was trying to figure out where to look first.
He gave them a list of twenty cities, which Jill thought was insane but then she listened to his video several times and he had said "this is about me and not all things about me are of me" four times throughout the video.
This was when she understood why he told Taylor to bring her in on this. It was a message for her and the reason why they were starting with the African countries first.