But he also looked tired in a way that suggested this wasn't the first time he had been asked to excuse his wife's behavior.
Victoria folded her arms and stared toward the front of the cabin.
The captain returned to the cockpit.
A few minutes later, two ground supervisors boarded the aircraft.
One was a woman wearing a dark business suit.
The other was a younger man carrying a tablet.
The woman introduced herself as Ms. Patel.
She looked toward Victoria.
"Victoria Whitmore?"
Victoria lifted her chin.
"Yes."
"Ma'am, we're asking you to gather your belongings and step off the aircraft while this incident is reviewed."
Victoria stared at her.
"Excuse me?"
"We need you to leave the aircraft."
She looked toward Gerald.
"Are you going to let them do this?"
He remained seated.
"Victoria, please cooperate."
Her face reddened.
"You can't remove me because some girl decided to make a scene."
Ms. Patel's expression remained professional.
"We have multiple reports and a video that require review."
Victoria looked toward my mother.
"Senator, surely you can see how outrageous this is."
My mother didn't answer.
Victoria tried again.
"I didn't know who she was."
My mother's expression hardened.
"She's the person you mistreated. That's who she was before I boarded."
The cabin went silent.
Victoria looked away.
Then she began gathering her belongings with sharp, angry movements.
But before she reached the aisle, the younger supervisor's tablet chimed.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
He stepped toward the captain, who had emerged again to speak with the ground team.
"Sir, there's another issue."
The captain frowned.
"What issue?"
The supervisor turned the tablet.
A red notification filled the top of the screen.
I couldn't read the message from my seat, but I saw the captain's face change immediately.
He looked toward Ms. Patel.
Then toward me.
"Ms. Johnson?"
My stomach tightened.
"Yes?"
He took a breath.
"There's a report in our system concerning your travel."
My mother stepped closer.
"What kind of report?"
The captain looked at the tablet.
"It appears an incident notification was entered under your daughter's passenger record before we were made aware of what happened in this cabin."
I stared.
"What?"