Chapter 4
“So I’m dying to hear how things are going with the airmail,” said Katherine, looking like a gorgeous elf, her long dark hair pinned up in a flawless chignon. She set aside her menu and leaned in. “I know they considered my tenure a disaster. How are they treating you?”
Millie laughed, making the beads on her favorite dress tinkle.
“They’re letting me fly but doing everything in their power to convince me to quit.
I’m paired up with one Ernie Pritchard to learn the ropes.
And you never heard a man so backward in his opinions about women.
He says we’re a distraction, and it’s too dangerous for us. ”
“Why should his distraction be our problem?” said Gertie, patting her perfectly coiffed auburn bob.
“Exactly,” said Millie.
“Too dangerous my foot,” said Katherine. “Have they forgotten that I was the first person to deliver the mail all the way from New York to Chicago, and that I set a distance record on the way back?”
Millie shook her head. “Oh, they remember the distance record all right. This Pritchard fellow just broke it. And, of course, they remember the race that wasn’t a race between Philadelphia and New York. They’ll never let you live down ‘winning’ a training flight.”
“I still can’t believe I was forced to quit over something so silly.” Katherine took a swig of her water as if it had something more exciting inside.
“Tell us more about this pilot who broke Katherine’s record and dares to denigrate lady pilots,” Gertie said.
“He’s a damned good pilot and thinks that makes him God’s gift to women.” Millie took another sip of her water.
“I know the type,” Gertie said. “Is he good looking?”
“Very.” Much as it pained her to admit it.
“Arrogant.”
“In the extreme.”
“Thinks he walks on water.”
“Isn’t that all pilots?” Katherine interjected. “Ourselves included,” she added with a grin.
“Does he swagger like that fellow that just took the table next to us with that cute brunette?” Gertie asked, leaning in so as not to be overheard.
Millie turned around surreptitiously to look and then froze. Pritchard was staring at her with wide eyes.
“Pritchard,” she said, her cheeks aflame. How much did he overhear? Did he hear her saying he was handsome? “What a coincidence.”
“Miss Aldrich,” he said, looking almost as alarmed as she felt. “I see you’re here with friends.”
She looked at her friends for guidance and got none. God, she wanted the floor to swallow her. “Yes, these are my friends, Miss Stinson, who you may have met before, and Miss Talcott.”
Pritchard nodded polite acknowledgements and continued to stare at her.
The brunette by his side tugged his sleeve and motioned with her head.
“Oh, of course. This is Miss Clarke,” he said, gesturing toward his date.
Turning to her, he explained, “Millie is a new colleague of mine on the airmail team.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Millie said before giving Pritchard a pointed look.
“Are you Millie Aldrich? And are you Katherine Stinson?” Miss Clarke asked, wide-eyed.
Upon receiving nods, she continued, “I’ve read all about you in the papers, and I’ve seen you both perform.
I think you’re so brave going up in the air like that and doing all those tricks.
And to think Ernie here is working with a celebrity!
” She tapped him playfully on the arm. “I wish I had something you could autograph for me.”
Oh, my. Miss Clarke is a fan. This is too awkward to be believed.
“We could autograph a napkin,” Katherine offered. Miss Clarke nodded vigorously. Millie donated her cocktail napkin to the cause. “What’s your first name so that I can personalize it?”
“Vera.”
Oh, poor Vera. She deserved better than a cad like Pritchard.
Katherine passed Millie the napkin. On it was written, “Vera, Spread your wings and soar. All the best, Katherine Stinson.” Millie added her signature, then passed it to Gertie, who gave her a questioning look.
“You are a pilot too.”
She beamed as she signed.
Vera looked like she might burst when she got up to retrieve the napkin from Katherine.
“I’m going to have this framed. Thank you so much!
I’ll let you eat your meal in peace.” She carefully put it in her clutch and turned to Ernie, hugging his arm.
“Someday, we’re going to be sitting by the fire, telling our grandchildren about the time we met Katherine Stinson and Millie Aldrich at a restaurant. ”
Ernie’s smile tightened, and he let out a strangled laugh. “Grandchildren? Seems like we’re getting way ahead of ourselves here. How about we focus on dinner tonight?”
He took Vera’s elbow and guided her back to their table, but not before Millie caught the way Vera’s face fell. It was clear as day that she was more invested in Ernie than he was in her. Poor Vera. Millie was going to have to have words with Ernie about not leading that lovely young woman on.
Katherine cleared her throat, and Millie dragged her gaze back to the ladies at her table. Oh, God. She was going to have to sit through a whole meal with Pritchard right behind her.
“I love your new hairstyle,” Katherine said to Gertie, admiring her bob. Her auburn hair was carefully coifed in a finger wave.
“I’m not brave enough to cut mine off yet,” Millie said, recovering herself and gesturing at her somewhat haphazard updo. “I’m worried if I cut it too short it will get in my face while I’m flying.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Gertie. “Just tuck it under your aviator’s cap, and it’s no problem at all.”
“How’s the barnstorming business?” Millie asked, desperate to talk about anything but the airmail and Pritchard.
“Going strong,” Gertie answered. “The public can’t get enough of the spectacle of a woman flying an airplane.”
“No, they cannot,” Katherine agreed. “You’d think we walked on the moon the way they gawk at us.”
“Nobody’s invited me to Europe, though,” Gertie said. “What’s it like?”
They were interrupted by the waiter. “May I get you ladies anything to drink?”
“I’ll have a cola,” said Katherine.
“Do you have lemonade?” Gertie asked.
“Yes, we do,” said the waiter. “And for you, miss?” He turned to Millie.
She wished she could have something alcoholic to drown her embarrassment, but alas, Prohibition had taken all the fun out of everything. “I’ll have a lemonade too.”
“Now, back to Europe,” Gertie said as soon as he was gone. “What’s it like?”
It was hard to pay attention to the conversation. The room felt unnaturally hot. Was there a heater on?
“Beautiful,” Katherine said. “Everything is so much older there. The architecture is amazing, and the museums are to die for. They have some lovely countryside as well. My favorite place to fly was southern France. I was there when lavender was in bloom, and there were fields of purple everywhere.”
“Sounds magical,” Gertie said with a sigh.
“It was.”
Their drinks arrived, and Katherine held up her glass. “To lady pilots!”
“To lady pilots,” they all agreed as they clinked glasses.
Millie was quieter than usual for the rest of the meal, worried she’d say the wrong thing out loud.
Setting aside what Pritchard overheard, what did Vera overhear? She had no desire to see a nice girl like that fall prey to a no-good playboy.
The woman was still enthusing at the next table, playfully scolding Pritchard for failing to mention he worked with someone famous. Millie couldn’t quite hear Pritchard’s murmured replies, and it was driving her mad.
But she was here to see her friends, not Pritchard, so she wrenched her attention back to the conversation in front of her.
Katherine chattered away about her shows in Europe, eliciting oohs and aahs from Gertie.
Millie didn’t begrudge her. Let Gertie think it’s a magical wonderland.
They don’t need to know that Europe’s men looked down on women just as much as American men, if not more so.
Her recollections from trips to the continent to put on air shows were not pleasant.
At last, their agonizing dinner was at an end, and they split the bill.
Millie couldn’t help glancing back one last time at Pritchard.
He was whispering something in Vera’s ear.
Or perhaps he was surreptitiously nibbling on it?
Vera’s cheeks flushed red. Something twisted inside Millie at the sight of their intimate pose.
Just as she was dragging her gaze away, his eyes flicked up and met hers. Why did she feel like the one who had been caught when he was the one toying with poor Vera?
She turned away quickly and hurried to put her coat on and follow her friends, who were already heading for the door. What a trainwreck. How would she face him in the morning?
Not ready to let the evening end, she and her friends headed down the street to a blissfully Ernie-free speakeasy Katherine knew.
It was hidden behind a psychic’s shopfront.
The woman directed patrons that knew the password through her back door.
The jazz quartet wasn’t too loud, and the lighting was dim enough that they were unlikely to get recognized.
It was the perfect place to relax and unwind with her girls and forget what happened at dinner.
Millie ordered a martini. She’d have to stick to just one drink for the night, given her flight plans for the next day, but she intended to savor it to the fullest.
“You weren’t lying. He was a looker,” Gertie said as they all settled in with their drinks. “I bet the ladies fall all over him.”
“So it seems,” Millie said, taking a sip of her drink. “He’s in for the shock of his life with me. I bet he’s never met a woman he couldn’t charm before.”
Her friends burst out laughing.
“What? What did I say?”
“Oh, he’s got you charmed, honey,” said Gertie. “We saw the way you looked at him.”
“No, I’m not!” She nearly spilled her martini and only saved it by taking a deep drink before it sloshed.
“I’m afraid you are,” said Katherine, looking over the rim of her Manhattan. “But he’s obviously terrified of you, so I doubt he noticed.”
“Good, he should be scared.” That martini was going straight to her head. She felt a familiar warmth as her muscles unwound and the world around her got softer. “I work hard to be a terror.”
Her friends laughed even harder. “Yes, you do,” said Gertie, slapping her knee. “So tell us what really happened with Barney. We saw what all the gossip rags said, but what’s the real story?”
Millie sighed. She’d hoped to escape without having to tell it, but there was no avoiding it now.
“For once, the papers had it right. One night while we were out at a restaurant, a woman I’d never met came up to Barney, obviously drunk, and threw her drink in his face, calling him a no-good two-timer.
A photographer was lying in wait and caught the whole thing on camera. I ended our engagement then and there.”
Millie took a fortifying swallow of her drink.
“You know my agent, Stanley, right? He was livid when he heard,” she continued.
“He had some choice words with Barney’s agent the next day.
Of course, he immediately started talking up other celebrities I might step out with, but I told him I wouldn’t have it.
I want to break records, not hang on the arm of some dull-as-dirt playboy.
Fortunately, the airmail opportunity presented itself the very next day.
Stanley agreed to let me have a go at flying the mail on the condition that I let him arrange a feature in the Times when I break my first record. ”
Gertie slapped her on the back. “You lucky duck! I would kill for publicity like that.”
Millie shrugged. “I know that I should be grateful for what I have instead of whining about Barney. Fortunately, the Postmaster General needs me. Now that women can vote, he thinks the publicity around a lady pilot can help him get his Postal Service funding. I may have promised to do a private air show for members of Congress.”
Nerts! She shouldn’t have said that. This martini was going straight to her head.
“Bold move,” said Gertie, raising a glass. The others joined her and took a drink.
“Please keep this to yourselves, though. I’m not supposed to talk about it.” She knew her friends would keep her secret, but she shouldn’t have blabbed.
“Don’t worry about us, dear. Our lips are sealed.” Gertie patted her shoulder reassuringly. “But enough about men. I’d much rather talk about flying.”
“Hear, hear,” said Katherine. “Gertie, I heard a flock of geese flew through in the middle of a show last month. What did you do?”
“Geese,” said Gertie, shaking her head. “Can’t stand ’em.
I was in the middle of a loop-the-loop, and they came out of nowhere, flying right at me.
I knew if they got in my propeller, I was a goner, so I shot out of there as fast as I could go, throwing in a barrel roll so it looked intentional.
The audience thought it was all part of the show.
I tell you, my knees were shaking when I landed at the end of it, but I wasn’t going to let some dumb birds be the end of me. ”
“Birds,” said Katherine. “That reminds me of the time when…”
Millie glazed over, finally relaxed and tipsy. She’d heard these stories and others like them a hundred times, but they never got old. She had the very best friends in the world. If only she could fly with them every day and never see Ernie Pritchard again!