Chapter 37
37
JADE – TWO WEEKS LATER
“What are we doing here?” I look up at the closed air base of Licharty, situated ten miles outside of Castleview Cove.
Owen taps the side of his nose, then throws me a cheeky wink as a security guard appears from behind the locked metal gates.
I throw him a wave, and the guard opens them for us and Owen drives through.
Checking the side mirror, I find the security guard relocking the gates behind us, which has me asking about a million questions in rapid succession as Owen drives down through the hangars and out on the open stretch of the out-of-operation airfield.
Smiling smugly, Owen ignores every one of them.
With Poppy fast asleep in the back of the car, Owen leaps out of the driver’s door and runs around to open mine.
I scowl with confusion. “I’m not getting out unless you tell me why we’re here.” I haven’t flown in a plane since the crash, and since the news of my pregnancy, I don’t intend to fly in my fast jet until I get the all-clear from the doctor .
“Get out or you will spoil the surprise.”
“Surprise?” I question excitedly, unbuckling my seatbelt, taking his hand to help me out of my green SUV.
He pulls me slowly behind him, guiding me into the middle of the runway.
“What do you think?” He motions to the enormous space.
“I think it’s a recently closed-down airfield, and that makes me sad.” I hate what the Air Force is doing to cut costs. Closing air bases, merging trades, and retiring squadrons. It’s a very different Air Force than the one I joined two decades ago and, I’ve realized recently, not one I want to be part of anymore.
“It’s not closed down, it will reopen soon.” He bounces on his heels as if pleased with himself.
“Okay.” I let go of his hand and place my hands on my hips. “Spill the tea. What has you buzzing like a queen bee?”
With open arms, he motions to the surrounding space. “Welcome to Hotshot Flying School and Outdoor Adventure Training.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Welcome to Hotshot?—”
“Oh, I heard you,” I interrupt him. “Are you for real?” Flabbergasted, I spin on the balls of my feet and look around, realizing the enormity of his words. “But how?” I know he gave everything to Richard.
“My trust fund turned up. With interest.”
I gape at him with my mouth open. If I don’t close it soon, I’ll catch flies from the estuary at the end of the runway.
“So, you bought an airfield?”
“I bought us an airfield. A business.” Like an excitable puppy, he points over to the high-low ropes area and the physical training block. Then the hangars, cabins, parking, toilet blocks, and houses. He has plans for it all. “We will run adventure weekends for schools. Run high-low rope instructor courses. Set up a flying school. A mentoring program for young people who come from less fortunate backgrounds to help them work toward apprenticeships in engineering and administration. Give them a better start in life with skills to help them along the way. We can do weekend or week-long retreats for schools, and I was thinking that we could reopen the nursery that the base closed down to offer flexible sessions for moms who work unsociable hours.”
His excitement is bubbling over like a hot cauldron, and I can’t contain myself anymore as I launch myself at him and smack a kiss over his mouth. “I’m getting my own flying school?” I smile against his mouth.
“Yes. Did I do the right thing?”
“Holy shit, yes.” I step back and look around. There is so much to organize and the small fire of excitement that was merely a flicker in my belly a moment ago turns into a full-on ball of energy, enough to start a forest blaze. “All?—”
“Five hundred hectares.” Owen finishes my sentence.
“Wow. All five hundred hectares of rightness.” I can’t stop grinning.
Speechless, I look around the area that goes on for miles. “How many family quarters are there?” I ask.
“Four hundred. I was thinking we should keep half and sell half. Plus, there are twenty blocks of single-living accommodation. I think we should sell the family quarters and blocks to a developer. That will give us more money to buy you a dozen or so of those little aerobatic planes.”
“A dozen?” I exclaim.
“Yeah. I’ve offered some of your teammates jobs.”
“You are kidding me? ”
“Gregor is a firm yes.” He nods, confirming he’s being serious.
“They won’t release him.”
“By the time we’re ready to open in twelve months, he’ll be itching to retire. I’ll have all the qualifications I need to instruct classes and training. It’s perfect timing. Plus, we’ll have our little bean by then.”
“You’re crazy.” I’m also thinking he’s an actual genius. This is an epic plan beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
He tilts his head to the side and looks at me. “About you. I’m crazy about you.”
He drapes his arms over my shoulders. “This is your retirement plan. You don’t have to leave the Air Force, but when you do, this place will be waiting for you. You can offer extreme acrobatic experiences. Teach people how to fly. Whatever you want.”
Our new wing commander inferred that it’s more than likely I will receive a payout to compensate me for my crash, and I would have an excellent case to submit for retiring early.
Owen made the impossible possible.
Although I can’t get the cost of maintaining an airfield out of my head. “This place cost way more than your trust fund.” And how much was the interest?
“You’d be surprised at how little I paid for this place, and we can charge for plane landing fees and parking overnight. Pro golfers from all over the world travel to be here for the Championship Cup. They all bring their jets when they tour. Since this place closed, the nearest airfield is over an hour away. They will park up here in their private jets. Hunter, Lincoln’s uncle, who is a pro golfer, already wants his own hangar to hire all year round. The infrastructure of the place works for what you want to do and what I want to do. We have a few planes to buy and a few million should cover it. I’ll go on your recommendation, though.” He places a kiss on my forehead as I stare up in wonder at this magnificent man. “Camilla signed the deeds of the castle over to me. I sold it to the National Trust.” He leans closer to my ear and whispers, “For twenty million. I squeezed every penny I could get out of them, knowing that it will only increase in value.” He looks off to the side. “If I had thought about selling it to the National Trust for that amount when Richard was after my father’s debt, it would have saved me a whole heap of drama.” He scowls, as if mad at himself for not thinking straight while he was under pressure. “And I have an even bigger surprise.”
“Yeah?”
“Get back in the car, Hotshot.”
I can’t sit still as Owen drives back out of the base and into Castleview Cove.
Wobbling down the cobbled streets, my wide car barely makes it through the narrow stone port leading to the beach.
In an instant, I know where he’s taking me. “You didn’t?”
“I did.”
A glow of happiness fills me with warmth. “You bought it?” I sigh, swooning, as he parks up outside the quaint stone beach house with a white picket fence and matching shutters.
“I bought the adjoining one next door, too.”
“Two?”
“Yes. One is perfect for a vacation home; two joined together is a home.” He points to them.
Joy bubbles in my heart and on a laugh and a sob, I blubber like a big baby.
Still sitting in the car, he holds up the keys. “Want to take a look? ”
“Hell yes, I do.” I grab them out of his hand and jump out of the car.
Slamming the passenger door shut, I take a moment to check out the view I will have from the upstairs windows. “Wow. Now that’s a view.”
“It really is.”
A glance to my left confirms he’s not looking at the lapping sea, the golden beach or the cobbled harbor that leads to a pier. He’s looking at me.
“I want to start the process to leave the Air Force. I think it’s time for me to retire,” I say confidently.
I don’t want to spend time away from him, Poppy, and the baby while deployed, when I could have the best of family life and an incredible career here.
My pipe dream turned into reality.
Owen’s face breaks into a face-splitting grin. “I hoped you might say that.”
“I told you this is what I wanted.”
“I made your dreams come true?”
“You waved a magic wand,” I whisper in awe at my handsome man.
“I’m Harry fucking Potter,” he jokes.
“You are looking more like Gandalf by the day with that long beard and hair,” I say, but loving how he wears it in a man bun now.
Chuckling, I look over at the house. I grab Owen’s hand. “You are an amazing man, Owen Brodie. And a hopeless romantic at heart.”
“You bring out the best in me, Hotshot,” he says with pride, and I can’t stop staring at the man I want to spend the rest of my life with .
He lifts my hand and kisses my engagement ring before pulling me into his arms.
With his shovel-sized hands, he cups my face tenderly and slants his mouth over mine, then whispers, “What did I do to deserve you?”
“Nothing, Owen.”
“You like me just as I am.”
“I do. Don’t ever change.”