When we finally arrived at the airport, I was glad to check in and head straight toward the security gate. Once we got in, we were golden. I wouldn’t even have to sit on these things any more. The cab ride over had been a bit miserable. Diamonds are great, except when sewn in the lining of your dress and they dig into your backside. Then, they’re literally and figuratively a pain in the butt.

The airport was crowded and we had roughly an hour to get to our international flight. It was cutting it close. Yet luck seemed to be on our side. It wasn’t extremely crowded, but as we got to the security line, my heart thudded.

There, bold and big in the middle of the security line was one of the new airport scanners. Shit. Shit. More shit. Those scanners would see the diamonds. Metal detectors wouldn’t. The airports here still used the old technology, or were supposed to. Mumbai airports had a few of the scanners, but I hadn’t expected one here.

I whispered in Ryan’s ear. “We’re going to get caught. We can’t go through that scanner.”

He didn’t respond, just looked straight ahead. We walked with the line a little bit, watching as people went through and you could see the outlines of their bodies on the screen. One man had forgotten to take something out of his pocket and was sent aside for a search.

I couldn’t be searched. I couldn’t be touched. They’d find it. I was starting to panic. We had to go to another gate, a regular gate and wind our way back to the International terminal through the other areas. Though, I didn’t know if the security areas for international and national flights connected in this airport. If it was separate, we’d just waste time.

We were moving forward slowly as people went through security. That’s when Ryan turned to me and said. “Wait here. I have an idea.”

With that, he walked off, down a corridor. As I watched his backside disappear from view, I tried not to panic. An idea. What kind of idea? I wish he’d said more. And while he’d held it together at the factory, and had rolled with every obstacle in our path today, without complaint, a little part of me worried he was panicking now. What if he didn’t come back? What if he was just leaving me? The way he’d walked off when I met with Chandran on the bench in the market. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I was being silly. Ryan said he had an idea. I’m sure it was fine. Maybe he was thinking the same thing I was, that there’s another terminal to go through, one with a metal detector. Maybe he just went to look around. Though, I’d fair better since I actually spoke the language.

As the line continued to move, and I neared the security guards and the scanner machine, my gut clenched. He was not coming back. He had abandoned me. I tried to appear unfazed, take deep breaths, figure out a backup plan. I’d just step out of line, saying I thought my boyfriend had gotten sick in the bathroom, and I had to look for him. Then, I’d have to figure out how to get these diamonds back to the US.

There were two sets of people in front of me. One was a couple, and the other was a family: a mother and father and three small children, all seeming to be under the age of 5. That would take a minute. I turned to look for Ryan, and that’s when I saw him, walking back toward me with an airport security guard at his side.

I was curious what was going on. Why would he have security. He pointed the security guard out to me, and they walked toward me. Ryan wouldn’t turn me in. At least I didn’t think he would. Not after everything that happened. But, it all felt very strange. I watched as the two of them approached, trying to keep my expression neutral.

When they arrived, Ryan spoke to me, “Honey, this officer has found a machine that can help us out.”

Then he turned to the family that was immediately in front of me, and then back to the security guard. “Can they come, too?” Ryan asked.

The officer shrugged. “Alright.”

I wasn’t sure what was going on. The security guard said, “You can come with me.”

I took a few steps away from the winding security line with the guard. Ryan said something to the father in a low whisper, and the man smiled, directed his wife to gather the children and their things, and they all joined us with the security guard. I was completely lost. The guard didn’t say much as we walked away. We walked down a corridor and around the corner where an old-fashioned metal detector stood.

“This good,” the security guard said to Ryan and the father.

Both men nodded. I wasn’t sure how he’d done this, but he’d gotten us just what we needed.  Ryan said to the family, “You guys were ahead of us out there. You can go ahead.”

The family smiled appreciative, as the security guard turned on the machine, and sent them through one at a time.

I was still at a loss, and that’s when Ryan wrapped an arm around me and said, “I know we weren’t going to tell people about the baby, but I read an article in the British Medical Journal that they really weren’t sure if these new devices were good for developing fetuses. In the US, you can opt out, and I explained the situation to the nice officer here, and he found this older machine to run us through. I mean, metal detectors aren’t great, but they’re a known quantity, whereas these back scatter are very suspect.”

He sounded so convincing. It wasn’t entirely a crock of shit, but the science of backscatter suggested it was safe if it was working properly. I wondered how he’d even know this, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I smiled and leaned into him. “Thank you for doing this. I was really worried about the baby.”

He kissed my forehead. “I’ll take care of you,” he said. “We’re partners, remember. You and me.”

Yeah. I did remember.

“You two can go next,” the security guard said. Ryan motioned for me to go first. I did, practically holding my breath as I walked under the arch. No alarm. No bells. All was well. Ryan walked through next. Nothing for him either. I breathed out in relief.

“Down that corridor,” the guard said.

And then over the airport speaker, I heard an announcement that our flight was boarding. We grabbed our bags and rushed to the gate.

They’d already boarded first class, but we squeezed in with the next group going onboard.

As soon as we got seated, I pulled off my skirt, leaving just the leggings, folded it and put it in my purse, and stuffed them beneath the seat. Once the plane was boarded, I leaned to Ryan and whispered. “Good thinking.”

“Yeah,” he said. “My boss’s boring story about his stupid vacation to Yosemite finally proved its worth.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What happened on his vacation.”

“More boring crap than you’d ever want to know, but his wife was pregnant at the time, and he demanded TSA find him a metal detector machine because it was bad for the baby, and apparently, you can demand a pat-down, but if you’ve got small kids with you—and he had a two-year-old, too — they’ll let you go through the other one.”

“Well, when the flight attendant brings us drinks, let’s drink to your boss. What’s his name?”

“Tim,” he said. “Wait, it may be Tom. I’m not sure.”

I laughed and shook my head. No wonder his parents fired him. “Then we’ll drink to both,” I said. The pilot announced we were ready to take off. I was ready, too.