Epilogue
“Are you ready for today?” Bill asked over breakfast in their new home.
They sat together in a spacious, freshly painted, pale-yellow dining room at a mahogany table covered by a crocheted tablecloth.
He’d had the idea to take her flying when they were on their honeymoon in Cape Cod and had been looking forward to it ever since.
“I’m ready,” Ann said with her usual gorgeous smile.
Junior sat in a wooden highchair beside her, mashing his hand into a bowl of applesauce and licking it off, and then babbling, “Dadadadada.” Bill’s heart was fit to burst with so much love for his little family.
She’d never been flying, which was astonishing considering he was the second pilot she’d married.
He wanted her to experience the joy and exhilaration of leaving the world behind and soaring up into the skies.
It was a feeling he couldn’t get enough of.
Even after flying for years, it still gave him a thrill every time he went up.
There was something magical about that moment of lift-off when the plane’s wheels left the ground, and you floated on nothing but thin air. And then flying higher and higher…
He looked down and realized his eggs had been halfway to his mouth for far too long. Taking a hasty bite, he swallowed. “I promise I’ll keep you safe, and it’s all fully enclosed. You’ll hardly notice you’ve left the ground.”
A certain tightness crept into her smile. She was nervous, then. It was only to be expected.
“I trust you.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. But that was all right. Everyone was a little uneasy on their first time up.
“I’m an excellent pilot, I assure you. Possibly the best in the air mail fleet.”
She laughed. “So modest.”
“I am. Everyone says so.”
“Oh? So if I call up Pritchard and ask—”
“Well, everyone that matters, that is.”
“And who matters?” she asked, putting her chin on her hand and leaning in, eyebrows raised.
“You, me, the good Lord above.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I know nothing about flying and can’t opine on the matter, and the cheek of suggesting God thinks you’re great is too much to bear. That leaves you.”
“And who knows me better than me?” He stood up and walked around to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You’re safe with me. I’d never let anything happen to you.” He kissed her on the head.
Junior cooed.
“See? Junior agrees with me.”
“I already agreed to go with you. I’m just nervous is all.”
“Perfectly understandable.”
She finished the last bite of her breakfast and began gathering the dishes to take to the kitchen.
“Now all we have to do is drop off Junior with my mother, and we can be on our way. I already packed the picnic basket.”
While Ann cleaned up the breakfast dishes, he cleaned up Junior and took him up to his new nursery to put on clean clothes for Grandma.
It was a charming room, painted in robin’s egg blue.
Ann had painted a border of stenciled yellow ducks around the ceiling.
A mobile with tiny, stitched forest animals hung above the crib.
Ann made it herself, just as she made all his crib bedding and the stuffed animals piled in the corner.
Bill put Junior in a tiny blue sweater and brown velveteen pants to keep him warm on the crisp November morning.
Heading back down the stairs, he waited for Ann in the sitting room where he went through his daily ritual of showing Junior all the pictures on the mantel and telling him who they were, including one very special picture with Grandma Randall and his father, Roger Prince.
“You see he was your father, and I’m your papa. And we both love you very much.”
Junior yanked a lock of Bill’s unruly hair. “Such a grip, my wee one.” Bill carefully loosened the tiny fingers.
“I’m ready,” said Ann, sweeping into the room, pulling on her coat over the flowing pants he’d advised her to wear.
She took Junior so that Bill could put on his coat, and then they were ready to go.
They walked down the newly refurbished, bright white steps of their front porch and put Junior in his baby carriage. All was well with the world.
Ann’s heart threatened to pound out of her chest as she rounded the corner of the hangar and saw the plane waiting on the grass runway. It was large and fully enclosed, as promised, but she had to tamp down the urge to run right back into the hangar and stay.
“This is the Lawson C-1 that Hank and I are planning to buy. She’s the plane we’ll be flying today. You’ll be in the back in whichever of the passenger seats you choose.”
He gestured for her to climb the steep rolling stairs beside the plane.
This was it. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to climb up and into the body of the airplane.
It was more spacious than she expected, and the armchairs for passengers looked quite comfortable. If only there weren’t so many windows.
Look away from the windows, Ann. This would be fine. Nothing bad would happen. Bill would keep her safe. He was right behind her. There was nothing at all to worry about. Not plummeting from the sky, not the engine dying, not crash landing and leaving Junior an orphan…
“Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Everything is going to be all right. Take a deep breath.”
She complied.
“You’re safe with me. You’re always safe with me.” Tightening his arms around her, he kissed her on the cheek.
She nodded against his shoulder, knowing full well she would be perfectly safe on this flight. Hadn’t she watched birds with envy when she was young? If they could fly, why couldn’t she? Besides, Bill did it several times a week, and no harm had come to him.
“Can I help you to your seat?” he said, gallant and suave as a ma?tre d’.
Summoning all her courage, she picked a seat at the front with a clear view of the cockpit.
Once settled, she heaved a sigh of relief.
This wasn’t so bad. There were walls around her and a roof over her head.
It would be like a Ferris wheel, up high but perfectly safe.
She settled into her seat and consciously stopped herself from gripping the walls.
A man stepped up to start the propeller.
Then Bill started the engine. She vibrated like a tuning fork as the engine roared to life.
The plane began to move, slowly at first and then faster and faster and…
She closed her eyes at the moment of takeoff, too terrified to look out at the nothing that was holding her up.
They were airborne, and suddenly their motion grew smooth.
There was a weight on her chest from the acceleration that eased as they climber higher.
She opened her eyes a crack, checking that the reassuring walls of the fuselage were still intact around her.
Opening them wider, she took in the blue of the sky and the small buildings below, looking like a child’s playthings.
Then fascination overcame fear, and she turned from side to side, marveling at the sights she was seeing. She truly was a bird in the sky.
The world opened below her. She could make out familiar landmarks—the airfield, Nassau Hospital, the Long Island Railroad tracks. She thought she could even see their house from here.
As the minutes passed, her worries dropped away.
This was magical. Putting a tentative hand on the side, she peeked down.
They were indeed floating on nothing. That should have terrified her, but instead, she could only feel exhilaration.
She turned her gaze to Bill, who glanced back to smile and wave at her.
He eased the plane into a gentle turn, and she clutched the arm of her chair for a moment then relaxed.
She trusted Bill. He would take good care of her.
They flew out over the ocean and her breath caught.
The land seemed so insignificant compared to the deep blue of the ocean that met the lighter blue of the sky at the horizon.
A flock of seagulls flew by, and she laughed.
She was one of them up here, flying like a bird.
Bill curved back to bring them over land and began to ease the plane down.
He’d promised her it would be a short flight.
Now she regretted her insistence. She loved it up here and wasn’t ready for it to end.
Clouds rushed by, and the buildings grew larger.
Their speed became more apparent as they approached the ground.
Up high, everything had seemed slow and removed.
As they neared the ground, their speed suddenly seemed suicidally fast. The ground came nearer and nearer.
She couldn’t look and closed her eyes. There was a gentle touchdown and then the bumpiness of the grass runway as they drew to a halt.
When they stopped, she opened her eyes. Bill was already heading toward her from the cockpit, and a mechanic rolled up the staircase for her to use getting down. Her legs felt like rubber as she climbed down to the ground.
Taking her in his arms and guiding her away, he asked, “Well? What did you think?”
“Oh, Bill, it was wonderful. I don’t know how to put into words all that I felt.” She was glad of his support as they made their way to the hangar. Her legs were none too steady beneath her after their gravity-defying ride.
“Good. I’m so glad! I was worried you might spend the entire flight with your eyes shut, but I know you had them opened when you waved to me.”
“I had them open for most of the flight. It was just the take-off and landing that scared me a bit.”
Bill nodded. “Those were the bits that scared me the most my first time too.”
“I really enjoyed it. I might even be willing to do it again sometime.”
Bill came over to offer her his arm. “Well, my budding aviatrix, shall we celebrate today’s adventure with lunch at the Gold Bug Hotel?”
She looked adoringly up at her husband. “That sounds delightful, Bill. I can hardly wait.”
As he walked her to the car, she thought about all that had transpired in the last year.
Despite everything, she was certain this day would stand out in her memory for years to come.
All year long, she had gone from one crisis to the next, always dealing with the practical realities of her situation.
But this was a day for joy, a day for daring, a day for fun.
Ann stopped her husband and tugged him into a kiss.
“What was that for?” he asked when she finally released him.
“For today.”
He cupped her face between his hands and brought his lips to hers. His passionate onslaught left her breathless and blushing.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“Everything.”
She knew exactly what he meant. It had been a long and difficult road, but now she knew what it was to fly.
Her heart overflowed with love as she looped her arm through his.
All that had come before had made them who they were, and for all the pain and heartache, she wouldn’t have changed a moment of it.
But the past was in the past, and with him by her side, she was ready to soar.