Katniss grabbed it back and stared at it. “Honestly, I have no idea. My father gave it to my mother so many years ago, and she gave it to me when my father didn’t return home,” Katniss said.
“What happened?” the man asked. “I’m sorry. My name is Connor Delaney.
I want to apologize for my earlier behavior. Some complicated things are happening in my life, and I shouldn’t have acted that way. May I ask what happened to your father?”
“My father was a fighter pilot during World War II.
When America joined the war, he left home but gave this locket to my mother as a promise he would return. They loved each other dearly. I was only four years old at the time, but I remember that day clearly.
He never returned,” Katniss explained. “That’s terrible.”
“It is. War is senseless.
Nothing comes from it. And my mother never recovered from the loss. She was a shell of herself, and we barely scraped by.
But even when things were dire at home, she never thought to sell it. She gave it to me when I was ten years old and told me to keep it. But I never thought to sell it either, although I’ve been through financial difficulties too.
Honestly, its real value is inside,” Katniss revealed and smiled at Connor as she opened it. Two pictures were inside the locket. One was sepia-toned and featured a couple, and the other one showed a baby.
“These are my parents. Look how in love they were,” Katniss said nostalgically. Connor nodded, not saying anything, but looked at the other picture.
“Is that your grandchild?” he wondered suddenly. “No, that’s my son, and actually, he’s the reason I’m on this flight,” the older woman replied. “You’re going to see him?”
“No, this is it.
Do you remember how I said I had financial troubles? Well, I got pregnant many years ago. I was in my 30s, and my boyfriend disappeared.
I had my son for several months, but it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to give him a good life. I didn’t have a support system. My mother had already passed years earlier after suffering from dementia, so I gave him up for adoption,” Katniss revealed.
“You two reconnected later?”
“I tried. I found him thanks to those DNA test things. I asked a neighbor kid to help me email him.
But Newt — that’s his name — replied that he was fine and didn’t need me. I tried several times to contact him and asked for forgiveness, but he never answered my emails again.”
Connor scratched his head in confusion. “I don’t understand what you’re doing on this flight then.
You said you were here for him.”
“He’s the pilot on this flight. I’m here because today is his birthday. He was born on January 22, 1973, and I might not have long on this earth, so I wanted to spend at least one of his birthdays with him.
This is the only way,” Katniss explained and smiled at Connor before turning her eyes to the locket again. She didn’t notice Connor wiping an errant tear off his face or the fact that some flight attendants and several passengers had heard the story. After a few minutes, one stewardess went into the cockpit.
“Anyway, this is one of his longest routes, so I get to spend five hours near my son,” Katniss said, finally closing the locket and placing it in her bag. In her opinion, those five hours passed quickly, and when the pilot’s intercom came on, he announced they would arrive at JFK soon. But instead of turning off the communication, he continued his message.
“In addition, I want everyone to welcome my birth mother, whose flying on my route for the first time. Hey, Mom. Wait for me once the plane lands,” Newt said through the intercom.
Katniss’s eyes watered, and Connor smiled, ashamed that he had behaved so rudely earlier. But at least, he apologized already. When Newt landed the plane, he exited the cockpit, breaking protocol, and went right to Katniss with his arms wide open, hugging her fiercely.
All the passengers and flight attendants cheered and clapped for them. No one heard it, but Newt whispered in Katniss’s ears, thanking her for doing what was best for him all those years ago. After replying to her first email, Newt realized he was not really angry with his mother for giving him up but didn’t know what to say to her.
So he apologized for not answering her other emails and not listening to her before. She told him there was nothing to be sorry for, as she understood why.
