In the Arms of the Past

WHEREEVER he looked, everything was nature around him.civilization had disappeared as soon as we left Anchorage."Nothing has changed. Except for me."After so much time, it felt strange to return to a place she'd sworn never to return to. A place where she'd spent the first eighteen years of her life dreaming of leaving. And when she finally did, she'd cried. And it wasn't out of anticipatory nostalgia.
He had done it because his heart had been broken. In a way, it was more or less like putting on an old sweater I no longer wanted. Even though I didn't want it, the familiar touch of the fabric against my skin evoked bittersweet memories I thought I'd forgotten. I didn't want to remember. But was that why he'd come back? Because he couldn't help but remember?Irena Yovich looked out the window and observed Hades, Alaska, a sprawl of 500 people, from one of the charter planes owned by Kevin Quintano and his wife, June.
June Yearling piloted the small passenger plane and was also the best mechanic within a radius of over 300 kilometers. At least, that was when Irena left Hades to study in Seattle. Everyone knew June could fix any engine. And now she was telling Irena that she had also become a businesswoman, a wife, and a mother to two children, soon to be three. June had been her best friend, one of the few who had never betrayed her behind her back.
"Maybe the only one, " she thought cynically as sheremember the abruptness with which he had realized the reality ten years earlier."When I found out you were at the airport, I told Kevin I had to go get you. He thinks I shouldn't be flying in my condition, but I'm not going to back down, " June decided, laughing triumphantly. Her tone of voice turned affectionate as she added, "Kevin's a very good guy.""Well, he must be the last of an endangered species, " Irena said to herself.
When she asked June how far along she was pregnant, answer was:-Three months and four weeks."That's four months, " she said, smiling, "if my calculations are correct."June sighed dramatically.-I know, I know, I just wanted to check if it was really you, or someone with the same name. Irena laughed heartily for the first time since her grandfather had called her the previous morning to tell her Ryan Hayes had taken his own life.
Thanks to June, she was able to relax a little. Temporarily.-How many Irenas Yovich were there going to be?June shrugged."In Alaska, maybe not many, but in Russia. who knows? Maybe one of them had decided to come and see a place that's frozen for six months a year, cut off from the rest of the world. If you don't count our flight service and the doctors', of course. Did I mention that April married a doctor?" June asked, referring to her older sister.
"Jimmy's little brother, " she added quickly. "He came to Hades to see his sister Alison, who works as a nurse here and married Jean-Luc. Max married his sister Lily. They met because she came to visit, too. Come visit, stay forever. We're thinking of making that the town motto."Irena thought everyone had been very busy, getting married and having their own lives. She felt out of touch, even though she knew she'd been more successful professionally than anyone else.
Although lately, work hadn't been as rewarding as it had been in the beginning."Well, it's me, " Irena said. "Was the white lie you told your husband to get you to come here worth it?""Kevin knows how far along I am, he's very good at math, " June assured him, "among other things."Irena could only see her friend's back, but judging by her tone of voice, she must have been smiling with satisfaction."I'm happy for you, " he said sincerely.