Chapter EIGHTEEN

By Seb and Anna’s wedding date in April there had still been no news of any kind. Urs was determined not to spoil this special time for his dear friends and so didn’t share much about the talks he had endured with his contacts in Ramstien or with Simon.

Simon had been a rock of support for Urs, always willing to talk or listen at times when Urs resisted upsetting his friends more than necessary. And it seemed that Simon believed, as Urs truly did, that the Swiss man would feel something if Honey was gone. They spent several evenings just hanging out in Simon’s condo, sipping at his excellent brandy and watching the flames in the fireplace. It was the only place that Urs truly could relax.

The wedding was small, elegant and very private. Both Seb and Anna would not have noticed if no one came to bear witness, they were so enamored with each other. Still it was a wonderful occasion, Seb’s Maman was there, looking radiant, a few of their mutual friends from Paris, the Divos and Ladies and Simon with a date, a pretty lawyer named Siobhan. The reception after was held in the small ballroom of the Dorchester Hotel and everyone ate, danced and toasted the happy couple until the wee hours of the morning. Urs actually danced with the bride though he had very little to drink, a new habit he was trying to cultivate.

**

When the wedding was over at the end of April and the happy couple off for a few days, Urs had a great deal of free time and used it to fly to Ramstien to meet with his contact, hoping that a face to face would get him more information than he had been receiving. Only now did he find out where the crash had taken place and the news devastated him.

He was enraged when he learned that they had guilted Honey into a ‘quick’ flight to Afghanistan to fix the problem and that is where the crash took place. He was furious, with Honey, with himself for not being with her, with the Doctors who said she was healthy enough to go, with the Armed forces for allowing a pregnant techie to go into such a wild, dangerous area. He demanded, and eventually received, reports of the search done of the site and went over them with the guys, then with Simon, indicating a number of over-sights.

“The bodies were stripped of warm clothing, boots and weapons before the predators got to them. And one of the enlisted men said that he thought he could see the faint outline of a small sled. That sounds like someone local doing a bit of salvage. Have they followed up on that?”

Simon shook his head. “No. The last I heard from my friend was that there was no further investigation taking place nor planned. I’ll see what I can do Urs, but it’s been almost 4 months since the crash. I don’t think they’re going to be very eager to continue now. And I think the military big shots would rather not dwell on this incident….they never should have pressured her into going. Maybe they felt they had no choice. It’s pretty volatile over there right now.”

“Maybe we should go public with this…I wonder how the Allied forces would feel about having the media ream them out for sending her over there and not doing everything they can to find her?” Urs sat back in the chair. appearing relaxed to anyone else but Simon knew he was on the edge of exploding with frustration.

“We talked about this before, Urs and I don’t think anything has changed yet. If she is alive as you and I believe, then she must be having a difficult time…she doesn’t speak Farsi, would have to disguise herself somehow and if the Taliban fanatics found her she would be killed…or worse. We can’t alert them that she is loose in their country.”

Urs stared at his friend and boss. “How about if the army THINKS we are going to go to the press? Would that give them a nudge, do you think?”

Simon nodded. “I’ll make a few calls and see what happens.”

**

It started as a back ache, a dull throbbing that was more annoying than anything else and Honey ignored it as she puttered about the hut, tidying things a bit, trying to keep busy. The old man had taken the goats that were penned inside at night, out to graze and the old lady had hauled the basket of damp clothing outside to hang on a tree to dry.

She held on to the poles that supported the roof and lowered herself to the thin pallet on the ground where she slept each night, shivering a bit in the ragged slip-like under-dress that was all they allowed her, thinking once again that they must be fairly high in the mountains for the weather to stay this cold. According to the last glimpse she had of her pendant watch, the one time the old lady had forgotten to take it out with her, it was May, now most likely the 13th.

Another twinge hit her back and suddenly she felt a gush of fluid on her legs where they were crossed under her. The scent of ammonia wafted up to her and she remembered what the books had said. Her water had broken and the amniotic fluid that the babies had been floating in was released. It wasn’t an ordinary back ache. She was in labour.

**
Urs glanced at the calendar on Simon’s desk…May 14th…nearly the time when the twins would have been due. Today had been a hard day for him, nightmares in the dark that woke him and left him shaking and now he had to work really hard to appear calm and collected.

As always he called his contact at the base in Germany and learned that though a search of the area had been done once more, now that the good weather had started, still there had been no sign of Honey, dead or alive.

Once more Urs and Simon discussed going public, but agreed that the situation hadn’t changed enough to warrant taking such a chance. It was known that the Taliban monitored foreign news and if they began an intensive search looking for Honey she would have little chance of surviving. The only hope was that somehow she would make it to one of the Allied camps and seek help.

They were doing studio work again, recording tracks for another album, sifting through some things they had already done, doing a couple of soft tracks for Carol and Miles for the Baby Music that was selling as fast as they could be manufactured. They went to Sweden again for a week in late June, then to Ireland for 2 weeks with Steve Mac again, in July.

That 2 weeks was the hardest for all of them but especially Urs. Everything reminded him of Honey. The girls hadn’t come over this time, busy they said but all of the Divos thought they would just have found it too sad.

All the notions of sobriety vanished from Urs mind when they arrived in Ireland. They found a different Irish Pub to go to and spent nearly every evening having to hold each other up to get back to the Hotel, then all day working as hard as they could so they could leave. It was only because of Steve and the fact that all four of the guys were perfectionists that the tracks turned out to be amazing, especially the sad or heartbreaking ones.

**

When they arrived back in London, all three of the Divos with ladies were excited to be back with their partners again, but David most of all. Holly could barely contain herself and met him at the airport, threw herself into his arms and before even “Hello” blurted out “DAVID WE’RE PREGNANT!!!” so that everyone within 50 feet heard and cheered.

David didn’t care who heard. He was ecstatic, picked her up and twirled her around, kissing her face, her eyes, her mouth. Of course they got congratulations from Seb, Anna, Carlos and Geraldine but Urs had already gone through the gates, a little sad since there was no loving partner to meet him. It did dampen the joy somewhat but they thought that knowing about David and Holly’s baby might cause Urs pain so after the others promised to keep it their secret for a while, they went on to the transport.

**

Finally, in early August Simon gave them time off. There were a few interviews and signings to do in late December and on into January but the rest of the time he told them to rest up, get ready for another big push.

Urs went to Switzerland, stayed home for a couple of days then went to der Musik Hof. Katja and Jonas were happy to meet him at last. They had kept the house immaculate hoping for Honey to return and Urs had kept them informed of the appalling lack of news. Katja, like Urs, was not yet ready to give up.

**

Honey stood for a moment looking at the shack as it went up in flames, the goats running madly as the roar of the fire frightened them. The shaggy, small horse shied a bit but she had a firm grip on the halter and he could go no where.

With a sigh she glanced into the cart, saw that she had everything and steeled herself to begin what she knew would be a long and dangerous journey. She led the horse and began to walk along the rutted trail that wound back and forth down the mountain side.

She twitched the uncomfortable chadur or burka as some of them called it, the traditional Muslim garment which covered women from head to feet, meant to protect their modesty, their hajib. For her it was a disguise, the only hope she had of blending with the people she would meet. She dropped the veil over her face, hiding even her eyes from view, put her head and one arm through the sling that would carry what she couldn’t risk losing if the horse bolted and started her journey to freedom, to Urs if he still wanted her when he learned what she had done.

**

Everyone came to Kussnacht am Riggi when Urs sent them an e.mail invitation to come spend some quality time in the pure Swiss air. He had moved his motorcycles to the garage and spent some time working on them with Jonas. The rest of his holiday they had put up or repaired the fencing around the property and started building a barn and stables behind the garage. It wouldn’t be finished enough to use this year but he hoped that in the spring when it was finished they might get a couple of horses. And a family of goats if Jonas had his way.

David and Holly arrived first, both nearly bursting with the news they had decided to give Uncle Urs. He was thrilled for them and immediately offered David all the books he had purchased right after he found out that Honey was expecting.

He showed them around the place, quite proud of the way he had completed Honey’s initial furnishing plans, something that she hadn’t had a lot of time to finalize. Katja had helped…she had gone over the drawings Honey had done and made suggestions of where to purchase items but before they could go further Honey was gone.

They had kept the coziness of the Kitchen, adding only a few things, like a more modern refrigerator and a separate freezer in the utility room, Lagostina cookware, a whole set of copper bottomed pans, and the amazing set of ceramic knives Urs had brought home from Japan. The long old table was moved into the large area for dining, more antique chairs and a sideboard added while an island had been put in that place in the kitchen with stools on the side and a lovely marble top for making pastries. The bedrooms had all needed new mattresses and draperies, so they went all out and bought matching duvets and linens as well.

The ‘piece de resistance’ was the lounge, a huge room, easily divided into three areas that could be combined or not as the number of guests required.

Urs had divided it into what Honey had planned, an intimate seating area fronting the massive stone fireplace, a more spacious conversation or media area with an enclosed cabinet for the TV, and another large area for music.

And through out, soft overstuffed chairs and sofas in shades of rust and brown that begged someone to curl up on them and snuggle into the multi colored cushions and throws scattered about, bringing a splash of color to the warm stone and wood paneled room.

All through the space squat shaded lamps created pools of light that picked up the color of the cushions and the jackets of the many books in the shelving units beside the TV cabinet.

Holly sat on Urs lap as they sat in the lounge in front of the fireplace recovering from the gigantic meal Katja had made for them before she went home for the night.

“How you doing, really, Urs? You look better than last month but …older somehow.”

****