Chapter 28
Through the mental fog that would not lift, Hank could hear Rory’s voice.
He faded in and out of awareness. His body wouldn’t move.
He couldn’t so much as lift an eyelid, but he knew she was there.
The words she was saying slurred together, so he focused on the rise and fall of her voice and the feel of her hand in his.
What happened? Where was he? Why couldn’t he move? He was flying back from Philadelphia and then what? He had no recollection of landing at Belmont Park. Something must have happened to the airplane. He must be hurt. That would explain why he couldn’t move. Maybe he was in the hospital?
The haze descended once again, and when his awareness returned, he had to puzzle it out all over again.
Then Rory asked him to squeeze her hand.
He was sure that was what she’d said. It sounded crystal clear.
All he had to do was figure out how to move his hand.
His mind called out, but his hand didn’t answer. He tried again. Nothing.
She asked again, and, trying with all his might, he managed a twitch. He had to find his way out of this somehow.
Unable to think, he let himself drift with her voice. He caught snippets of what she was saying. There was something about a trapeze? He tried another squeeze, and she squeezed back.
He drifted off into sleep after that, dreaming of being trapped in his house.
He wanted to go out the front door but every time he tried, there was another door, and he ended up right back inside.
Finally, he gave up on the door and went out through the window.
This time, he succeeded and was standing in the cool night air.
Slowly, he blinked awake. It was dark wherever he was. He was lying in a bed, but it wasn’t his bed. Someone’s hand was in his.
“Rory,” he said aloud, his voice thick and rough. It sounded odd to him, as if someone else was speaking.
“Hank?” she asked in a sleepy voice. “Hank, are you awake?”
“Rory, what happened? Where am I?” Dear God, his head hurt. There was something funny with his leg too.
“Oh, thank God you’re awake. I was so worried. You’re in the hospital, Hank. You had an accident when you were landing. Bill said something about the steering failing?”
He tried to remember, but it was all a blank. “I remember flying from Philadelphia. I remember seeing…Belmont Park. And then…nothing.”
“Don’t strain yourself. It’s not important. All that matters is that you’re awake and all right.” She kissed his hand.
“Can you turn on a light? I want to see you. There isn’t anyone else in here is there?”
“No, just you.” She clicked on a lamp, and there she was, beautiful as ever despite her rumpled hair, or perhaps because of it.
“You’re all dressed up.” Her dress looked so soft. He wanted to touch her all over in it. Then he tried to move, and a stab of pain pierced his skull. No, there would be no moving.
She smiled, and it was like the sun coming out. “I was planning to go see you.”
“You got all dressed up just to see me?” He was one to talk. He’d done the same thing.
“For you and for the occasion.”
What occasion? Was it her birthday? Did he miss it?
“I thought I should look nice for our engagement,” she said.
“Wait. Does that mean…? Are you saying…?”
“I’m saying yes, Hank.”
His breath caught. “You mean…you’ll marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, and a moment later her lips were on his. His future wife was kissing him for all she was worth, and he was doing the best he could to respond. With some difficulty, he managed to raise his arm and cup the back of her head.
At that moment, a man cleared his throat loudly. “Excuse me, you two. I’ll thank you to remember this is a hospital. Lieutenant Hawley, I’m very glad to see you’ve…er…recovered.”
“She’s going to marry me, Doc!” He wanted to get up and twirl her around, but of course he could do no such thing.
“Well, yes. That’s why we let her in here in the first place, but I won’t have any funny business or she’s out.
This is a respectable institution, and you are in a public place where anyone could walk in.
Like me, for instance,” he said, giving them both a disapproving look.
“I’ll overlook it this once, but not again, am I clear? ”
“Yes, doctor,” they said in unison.
“Besides, you should avoid excitement, Lieutenant Hawley. You may be recovering, but you aren’t out of the woods yet. We’ll need to monitor you for another day at least before we release you. In the meantime, let’s keep things calm and quiet in here, shall we?”
“Yes, doctor,” they said again.
“Doctor,” Hank called as he started to leave. “How long will it take me to fully recover?”
The doctor folded his clipboard over his chest. “Now that you’re awake, I’d say your head should be better in a couple of weeks, around when the stitches come out. Your leg will take six to eight weeks to heal before we can take off that cast.”
“Thanks, Doc.” It was a bit disappointing to know he’d be in a cast for so long.
He hadn’t envisioned hobbling down the aisle with crutches.
When he imagined marrying Rory, he’d wanted to be her loyal knight, strong and heroic, making up with chivalry for what he lacked in polish.
He wanted to kneel before her beauty. He wanted to carry her over thresholds, but he didn’t think either of them could wait until he’d fully healed.
“If that’s all, then goodnight.” And the doctor left them alone.
Rory burst into quiet giggles as soon as he was out of sight. “I think we scandalized the poor man.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“When should we marry?” she asked, squeezing his hand.
He was tempted to say as soon as they got out of here, but he thought better of it. “When would you like to marry?”
“As soon as possible. Could we go to City Hall?”
He smiled. He was about to say yes when he remembered.
“I promised my mother and sister that if I ever got married, they would be there. Also, I’d like to get this bandage off my head before our wedding day.
The cast I can live with, but the bandage…
I don’t want to look like I might have had brain damage on my wedding day.
What would you say to two weeks from now? ”
“I suppose I can wait that long,” she said with a sideways smile.
“Can you remind me what day it is today?” He was still a bit addled, and his head was starting to throb again.
“Friday. Or at least it was. It’s probably Saturday by now. Why?”
He tried to move his head to look at her better, but it hurt too much. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a phone call home. I call every Wednesday. If I missed a call, they’d worry.”
“I can’t wait to meet them. What are they like?”
The question made him pause. It had been so long since he’d talked about them to anyone.
He realized he was excited to tell Rory.
“Well, Ma is a force of nature. She wakes up every morning before the crack of dawn to start the chores: milking the cows, gathering eggs, and feeding the livestock. Then she moves on to the garden, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting anything that’s ready.
We have a small orchard where we grow apples and cherries.
When it’s harvest season, she’s out there with the farm hands, working twice as hard and putting them to shame.
When she’s done outside, she comes in and cooks and preserves.
In our house, everything that can’t get eaten or stored gets pickled or preserved. ”
“I look forward to meeting her. How old is she?”
“Forty-eight and going strong.” Ma was going to live forever if only to harangue Hank about how he ought to visit more often. Which he should.
“What about your sister?”
“Kate takes after Ma. Same work ethic and sharp mind. Got her looks from Ma too, though she got Pops’ green eyes.
Jeremiah had a lot of competition when he set out to court her.
Fortunately, she knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
It didn’t hurt that she’d always been a little sweet on him.
He’s the silent but steady type. Real thoughtful and a good hard worker. ”
Rory was silent for a moment, then asked, “And your brother? What was he like?”
Benny. If he was going to talk about Benny to anyone, he supposed it should be her.
“He was the perfect oldest son. He loved the farm as much as Pops, and he had Ma’s work ethic.
Pops always worked hard too, but he had a bit of a dreamy side.
Ma was always on hand to bring him down from the clouds.
Anyhow, Benny was everything I wasn’t: steady, reliable, and responsible.
He should have lived to inherit the farm. It never should have been me.”
Rory stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. It was so soothing. He didn’t want her to ever stop. “And what were you like growing up?”
He laughed, but it hurt, so he stopped quickly.
“I was a rascal. Always trying to get out of farm work, playing dangerous games with my friends. Every other day, it seemed like I was scaring my parents half to death, leaping off rooftops and racing carts down hills. I saw a barnstormer pilot when I was at a county fair when I was a teenager, and from that day on, I was hooked. I went to every show of his I could, offering to help him with mechanical problems as they came up. I was always good with machines. When he opened a flight school, he hired me to be a full-time mechanic, and he taught me to fly on the side. That was how I started my career as a pilot.”
“Sounds wonderful,” she said, stifling a yawn.
“You’re tired, princess. And so am I. Let’s get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”
She stole a quick kiss goodnight and collapsed into the chair beside him, falling asleep immediately. He drifted off to sleep on a cloud of contentment.
The next morning, he woke up to Bill O’Donnell loudly whispering, “Rory, Rory…” and giving her shoulder a shake.
“O’Donnell, what in God’s name are you doing?” Good grief his head hurt. It felt a little clearer than last night, but his head, and for that matter the rest of his body, ached so much he could hardly move.
“Hawley, you’re awake,” he said at full volume, making Hank wince. “I thought Rory might want to go home and freshen up after spending all night here.”
Rory stirred and stretched like a kitten, making him wish he had her at home in his bed all the more. Not that he was in any state to do anything.
“Hmm? Me?” she said in a sleepy voice.
“Yes, you,” he said. “And I have some news for you that you’re not going to like.”
“I just woke up, O’Donnell. At least let me have some coffee before you bombard me with news.” He wasn’t sure he was capable of sitting up to drink, but he was damned well going to try.
At that moment, a nurse came in with a breakfast tray. “Eat up, Lieutenant Hawley,” she said as she stuffed pillows behind him to raise him to sit. “There you are. If you start to feel lightheaded, lie down again for a bit. All right?”
“I will,” he promised.
As soon as she was gone, he took a deep drink of the sad, lukewarm coffee from the tray. At least it had caffeine, which was all that really mattered.
“So what’s the news?” he asked O’Donnell.
“One of the mechanics cleaning up the accident noticed that one of the wires controlling your steering was cut. Not snapped, mind you, but cut, nice and clean. They called the police who confirmed it looks like a case of sabotage.” O’Donnell looked a little too gleeful delivering this juicy and upsetting news.
“Who would want to hurt Hank?” Rory asked.
“Exactly what the police are asking everyone at the airfield this morning. I just came from there. Several people brought up your father. It seems he learned of Hank’s identity earlier this week and made some threats in the presence of witnesses.
It looks like the police consider him a person of interest in this case. ”
Rory gasped. “Oh, no. My father was angry, and I have no doubt he would try to do something like ruin Hank’s job prospects, but sabotage and murder? He would never!”
Hank was less certain. Major Belmont was a powerful man, and he might think he could get away with something like that. After all, he practically owned New York City. Even if he was accused, Hank was certain the charges would never stick.
Major Belmont wasn’t his only enemy, though. Senator Windham had also made threats, and he was underhanded enough to have arranged spying on Rory in an attempt to force her hand. He also seemed like the sort that might consider himself above the law, and he had more to lose if Rory married Hank.
“When the police find out you’ve woken up, I’m sure they’ll want to interview you. Both of you,” he said, turning to Rory. “After all, your romance is the primary motive for someone to want to harm Hank.”
Rory’s grip on him grew painfully tight.
“If someone tried to hurt Hank on my account, they’d better watch out.
I’ll… I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do, but I swear I will see justice served.
” She turned to O’Donnell. “Take me home, Bill. I need to change clothes, and there’s someone I need to see.
I’ll be back this afternoon, Hank. I promise. ”
Deeply uneasy, Hank said, “Please don’t do anything foolish, Rory. If someone’s trying to kill me, then you’re in danger too. Promise me you won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Rory’s lips thinned to a tight line. “I promise I’ll be back this afternoon, Hank. Be good.”
With that, she dragged O’Donnell out the door.
Hank gritted his teeth. That was not the promise he asked for. But Rory had never been one to play it safe. He loved that about her…except when there was a murderer on the loose. This was going to be one long and anxious day, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.