“Ellie couldn’t Transform, could she?” Cadence asked, not truly able to wrap her mind around the idea that Jamie could look like he did right now, in his early twenties, and have an elderly wife at home.
“No, she was completely human.” He was quiet for a moment, reflective, before he said, “I always knew I’d lose her someday; I just had no idea it would be so soon. She died before she’d even had a chance to live. Ellie wanted nothing more than to be a schoolteacher, to be a mother. I hadn’t gotten around to asking her yet, but I think she would’ve agreed to be my wife.” A tear formed in the corner of his eye, but it didn’t fall. “All of that was stolen from us.”
“At Pearl Harbor?”
“Yes.” Quiet hung between them as Cadence tried to remember everything she could from history class, which probably wasn’t as much as it should’ve been. “I think part of the reason I’ve had so much trouble moving on from it is that I never really found out what happened to her. I think… she was coming to check on me. She never made it to the hospital where I was stationed.” He ran a hand through his hair, which didn’t really move, the spikes mostly staying in place. “If I had told her what I was before… she might not have left home that morning. She might not have been worried about me.”
“Jame, you can’t blame yourself,” Cadence reminded him, leaning up a bit so she could catch his eyes. “You know she wouldn’t want you to do that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he shrugged. “I’ve been reminding myself of that for the last… half a century. It just… sucks, you know?”
She didn’t know, not really, although she’d thought Aaron was dead for a few hours once, and that had certainly sucked. Losing Elliott had sucked, though. She could understand it from that perspective. And then there was Jack…. Cadence tried to force thoughts of everyone she’d loved aside. She rested her head on Jamie’s shoulder for a moment, the closest thing to a hug she could manage in the restraints of the airplane seats. “Thank you for telling me about her.” It had been a long time since she had first asked. At least now, she knew a little bit more about him.
“Thanks for asking,” he replied, and she thought he meant it. “Do you want to see a picture?”
Cadence sat up. “Of course I do,” she replied. She half expected him to pull out his wallet, but since none of them really carried anything like that, she wasn’t shocked when it came through her IAC a second later. He was right; she was stunning. The photo was black and white, but Ellie’s smile radiated through. They were standing in front of a Christmas tree, her arm wrapped around his shoulders, perhaps in mid-laugh. Jamie wasn’t looking at the camera. He was looking at her, his eyes saying everything. His hair was flat, but other than that, he looked nearly the same, though his suit went out of style several decades before Cadence was born. Ellie was wearing a stylish polka-dot dress with heels, her hair in Victory rolls. “She was gorgeous, Jamie.”
“I know. She loved that dress. We went to a dance that night, and she was so excited it was almost Christmas. She wore that red and white polka-dot dress because she said it was just a touch of the holidays without being overbearing since it was still early December.”
“You look very handsome, too,” Cadence smiled. She tipped her head to the side. “You look the same.”
“Except happier?”
“Yeah.” She had to agree. Not that she ever thought of him as a particularly gloomy person, but she’d never seen that sort of twinkle in his eyes. “Who took the picture?”
“Aaron.”
She’d never really asked too much about Aaron’s time in Hawaii, but now she thought she might just have to get him to tell her about it. She zoomed in a little closer on Ellie’s face as a flicker of recognition caught her attention. She looked sort of familiar for some reason. And then it dawned on her. “Jamie,” she said, still looking at the picture but turning to face him, too. “Do you know who kinda looks like Ellie?”
His expression told her the resemblance hadn’t escaped him, but he asked, “Who?” possibly to see if they were on the same page.
“Ashley… don’t you think?”
Jamie nodded. “Yeah, I do. Aaron does, too. I think that’s one of the reasons why we like her so much. But… there are definitely differences.”
Cadence pulled up a picture of the Hunter just for comparison’s sake. “Yeah, they certainly don’t look exactly the same, but they look similar. For sure. Have you ever thought about….”
“I haven’t really seen the point since it was pretty obvious she was more into Aaron than anyone else,” he said dismissively.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve set her straight on that one.” Cadence hoped so, anyway. The fact that Ashley had asked to leave the team probably meant the picture was clear.
“I don’t know. Maybe.” His eyes didn’t match his words, though, and Cadence held out hope that he might consider asking the beautiful Hunter out, or at least seeing if she was interested. She’d love to see Jamie happy, and as angry as she’d been at Ashley for inadvertently—or was it purposely—flirting with Aaron, Cadence would be relieved to see her with a boyfriend sooner rather than later.
“Anyway… I guess you’ll get to meet my sister when we get there, too. Margie is a firecracker, so be forewarned.”
“Good!” Cadence had spoken to the Guardian on the IAC before, but they’d never met. “I’m really sorry I didn’t realize she was your sister.”
“It’s okay. We’ve never really gotten along, so it’s not like I talk about her all the time.”
“But you do have a picture of her in your living room.” Cadence remembered seeing the photo after it had been mentioned to her.
“Margie will be a big help. I’m really glad Aaron decided to bring her in.”
She noticed he was letting her off of the hook way to easily, so she decided not to press her luck. “Yes, and I think moving other Guardians from the untargeted areas is also a smart move. There’s just one more thing I wish he’d consider, but I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
“What’s that?” Jamie asked, his forehead crinkling slightly.
“What about the colony, the one where Dr. Morrow is perfecting the serum? It’s ready now, pretty much, right?”
“Yes. He just has a few trials to run. But what about them?”
“Why not call them in for one more mission before we turn them back into people? There are thousands of them, right? We could… fly them in, too. Make it one last test to make sure that this is what they really want to do.”
“Cadence, some of those people have been in retirement for hundreds of years. I’m not sure they’d want to leave the beach to go back to their old lives, especially when things have changed so drastically.”
“Maybe not all of them, but some of them might want to. Why not ask?”
Her question lingered for a moment before he shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask. But I think you need to be the one to bring it up. If anything, Aaron’s a little pissed that you’re not willing to bring these matters to him yourself anymore.”
“That’s because the last time I did, it started World War Three.” She hoped that wasn’t insensitive, since she was speaking to a World War Two vet, but he didn’t flinch. “I guess I could talk to him, but… do you think it’s a good idea?”
“You talking to him? Yes, that’s why I brought it up.” He had that mischievous twinkle in his eye that was rare but always made her laugh. “I think it’s not a bad idea. I would definitely want to talk to Levi about it and get his take first.” Cadence did remember that Levi was Dr. Morrow’s first name.
“So, talk to Aaron first, though, right?”
“Last I checked, I was not the boss of you.”
“I’m looking for advice,” she assured him, her eyes imploring him for help.
“That’s what I would do. If I were you. Which I am not.”
Cadence groaned. “Okay. I will. How much longer until we land?”
“About six hours.”
It seemed like she’d been on this plane forever, and she’d only been awake for about an hour. “Ugh. Okay. Plenty of time then.”
“Yeah, but you should probably do it now before you chicken out.”
“He’s busy talking to Mr. Entertainment right now.” Elliott’s story was silent but his expression was still adamant, and she sort of wished she was listening in on it.
“Let him know you want to talk to him, or else he’ll never break free. Elliott can talk for days.”
It was solid advice. “Okay. I’ll let him know. Thanks, Jame. I appreciate you sharing Ellie with me. I promise I won’t forget her.”
Jamie just smiled, probably because he didn’t know what to say, but she could tell by the look in his eyes he believed her when she said she wouldn’t forget the girl he’d loved so well so many years ago.
