Chapter 18
Millie was in trouble. She’d let Ernie get under her skin, damn it all. She was better than this. Stronger. Wasn’t she?
Men. They were a danger to ambition. As soon as a woman fell for a man, she could kiss her dreams of anything larger goodbye.
She would be dismissed, doomed to domesticity.
While she respected women who dedicated their lives to hearth and home, she knew she couldn’t be one of them.
She felt a different calling and had neither the patience nor the inclination to be a homemaker.
Even setting aside her own inclinations, she had a responsibility—to Katherine, Gertie, and every woman that came after.
If she failed at the mail, she failed all of them.
In a perfect world, a woman’s personal life would be as irrelevant to her work life as a man’s.
But society had yet to progress so far. She was an exemplar, held to a higher standard, whether she liked it or not.
So no more Ernie. It was over.
Unfortunately for her, she was still going to spend her day staring at him.
They tromped out to the airstrip together through the mostly melted snow. It had rained during the night, leaving behind icy, muddy puddles everywhere. Even now, the sun was obscured by a thick layer of clouds.
“I was afraid of this,” Ernie said, looking up at the sky. “We’re going to have poor visibility today. Stay as close to me as you dare. It’s easy to get disoriented in weather like this. If you lose me, remember to watch your pitch and compass, and pray. But don’t lose me. I’ll get you through.”
“I won’t lose you. I promise.”
He looked up hopefully as she realized her words sounded like a bigger promise than she intended.
She shook her head. “That is to say I won’t lose you today. In the sky.”
His lips pressed into a thin line. “Good.”
Turning away, he stomped off toward his plane.
Giving her airplane a thorough check, she tried not to think about her night with Ernie. She needed all her concentration to get through the day’s flight in one piece.
Think of Katherine. She made this flight, setting records while she was at it. Do this for her. And when you’re confident enough, steal back the Chicago record for the ladies.
Ernie as her competitor was much easier to think about than Ernie as her lover—much safer ground. Yes, she would learn the ropes and then take his place. She had a plan, and she was sticking to it.
Speaking of her adversary, he was climbing into his cockpit. It was time to go.
It was a muddy, bumpy take-off, but as the wheels left the ground, relief washed through her. They had left Bellefonte and their secret tryst behind. They were up in the air where they belonged. Everything was as it should be.
As promised, she stayed right behind Ernie as they flew up to just below the cloud cover.
If they flew above the clouds, they would lose sight of the landmarks they were supposed to follow.
The danger of flying low was they were still in the mountains.
If she wasn’t careful, she could fly right into one.
The tips of the Alleghenies pierced the low clouds like a jagged jaw that had closed around them.
Ernie knew the way through these monstrous teeth. She had to trust in him and not lose sight.
He kept them as high as he could manage while still maintaining sight of the ground. That meant wending their way around peaks, spending precious fuel. He kept as straight a path as was practicable until they were confronted with three tall peaks directly in their path.
Going around would take too long and eat up too much fuel. The only viable choice was to go up and over, but that meant entering the cloud cover and losing visibility. And even then, there was the danger that they would misjudge and slam into the side of one of the peaks that they couldn’t see.
Trust Ernie. He’s done this many times before. He knows what he’s doing.
She followed him up into the clouds, and everything disappeared. She could hardly see the nose of her own plane let alone Ernie or the mountains. The comforting roar of Ernie’s plane was just ahead, though, and she listened with every fiber of her being, knowing her survival depended on it.
With no visual clues, she felt suspended in space. Was she moving forward? Was time passing? But Ernie’s plane was just ahead of her, so everything was all right. How much longer until they could drop back down to where things were visible?
Then the thing she dreaded began to happen. Ernie’s plane got quieter. Somehow, she must have misjudged and lost his lead. Try as she might to home in and find him again, the sound kept getting more and more distant. No. She couldn’t lose Ernie in here. It would be the death of her.
Trying to stay calm and trust her own instincts as a pilot, she checked her pitch and her direction. She was still pointing toward Cleveland. The plane continued to push forward in the disorienting sameness of the cloud. Should she fly lower again to see if she could find Ernie? Was it safe yet?
She dipped down ever so carefully, reminding herself to breathe. Anything that wasn’t a cloud would be a welcome sight after the long minutes of nothing. Or so she thought.
As the clouds parted, she yelped.
Right below her were the tops of trees, almost high enough to catch on her wheels, and to her right, far too close, a peak loomed. Yanking on the stick, she steered away and up, narrowly avoiding a collision.
Heart pounding, she climbed. Her frozen hands gripped the stick for dear life as the visible world disappeared once again.
No more flying below the clouds, she decided as she swore a blue streak into the muffled emptiness of the cloud cover. She was going above them. Landmarks be damned. She would have to trust her compass and hope the clouds cleared before Cleveland.
Up she climbed until she broke through into the sunlight. It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. She was safe, at least for the moment. She could see where she was, avoid any mountain peaks, and steer her steady course in the right direction.
She prayed that wherever Ernie was, he was safe and that he didn’t worry too much for her safety.
Two hours later, the clouds broke, and she could see land again. She caught sight of railroad tracks and then the tall spires of a city in the distance.
Cleveland. It had to be.
She checked her fuel and was relieved to see she still had more than enough to reach her destination.
Circling the city, she spotted the airstrip at last and came in for a landing. Never in her life had she been so grateful to feel wheels touch earth.
As she ground to a halt and climbed out of her plane, she looked for Ernie. He should have arrived before her. But she didn’t see him.
“Has Pritchard arrived yet?” she asked the mechanic that guided her plane into the hangar.
“Haven’t seen him, Miss Aldrich. I’m sure he’ll be along soon.”
Oh, no. He was still out there? What if something happened? Did he try to circle back for her? He should have known better than to do anything so foolish.
She went inside to warm up and got herself a cup of coffee. It was markedly better than the mud back in New Jersey. The heat and aroma started to unwind some of the fear and anxiety that had her clenching every muscle throughout the trip. She was on the ground, safe.
But where was Ernie? He didn’t have the fuel to stay up much longer. She went and sat beside a window where she could see the airstrip, watching avidly.
Ten minutes passed. Twenty.
If something happened to him, she would never forgive herself. She was sure that his lateness had to be the result of his turning back to try to find her. Foolish man. She’d been flying longer than he had. Couldn’t he trust her to find her way?
Half an hour had passed, and she began pacing.
What if something had happened? How would they know?
When would they know? Was there a time beyond which they considered him lost?
Would someone be sent to look for him? She would volunteer in a heartbeat.
Should she volunteer now? No. Better to wait and see. There was still a chance.
She sat down again, staring out the window, willing something to happen. Her foot tapped, and then she stopped it. Then it started tapping again. She had to do something with all this nervous energy. She couldn’t just sit here.
Reaching a sudden decision, she headed back to the hangar to her plane. “I’m going back out to look for him,” she told the confused mechanic.
“Miss Aldrich, he could be anywhere. There’s no point in going yet. He could still get here safely. We need to wait.”
The man made sense, but she had no patience. “I have to go up. I have to find him.”
“Well, you can’t take this plane. I’m in the middle of a repair.”
The fuselage was opened to reveal the engine, and the man had his tools.
“Is there another plane I can take?”
“No.”
“What about that one?” she said, pointing.
“Doesn’t have an engine in it at the moment. We’re waiting for a replacement.”
“And that one?” she said, pointing again.
“There’s a nick in the wing. It isn’t safe to fly.”
Just as she was ready to throttle the mechanic, the distant roar of an engine reached her. Running out to the airstrip, she saw a Curtiss R-4 making its descent. Was it him, or was it the plane from Chicago?
As it made its landing, Millie still wasn’t sure.
A man climbed out of the cockpit and yanked off his cap and goggles. She’d recognize that face anywhere.
“Ernie,” she yelled, forgetting herself and running to him.
“Oh, thank God you’re safe,” he answered. “I turned back to look for you when I lost you.”
They were about to embrace when they both realized they couldn’t. Not in front of an audience.
“You stupid man. You could have got yourself killed.” She wanted to kiss him senseless, wrap her legs around him, and peel off his clothes. Instead, she whacked him on the shoulder.
“Ow! Is this the thanks I get for trying to save your life?”
“It’s the thanks you get for being an idiot and putting yourself in danger. I was just fine, as you can see.”
He grabbed her arm and looked her in the eye. “I couldn’t lose you, Millie. Not like that.”
The anguish and fear reflected in his eyes mirrored her own desperation as she waited for his plane to land. God, she wanted to kiss him.
“You think I wasn’t losing my mind worrying you were dead, you stupid oaf? How dare you scare me like that!”
He was so close. So very close. If she just reached out…
“I need a word with Miss Aldrich in private,” Ernie said, his voice gruff. “Is there anywhere we can go?”
One of the gawking mechanics volunteered, “No one’s in that tool shed over there.”
Dragging Millie by the elbow, Ernie stomped off to the shed. It was small and cramped and there was more than one spider on the walls, but it had a dim bulb and a door that closed. Ernie yanked on the chain of the light with unnecessary vigor and slammed the door behind him.
The second they were alone, they crashed into each other, lips and tongue meeting in a punishing kiss, arms grasping as if they would never let go.
Millie bit Ernie’s lip, and he only kissed her deeper.
His knee thrust between her legs, and she rolled against him.
Her need was blinding, all consuming. She would have let him take her up against the wall, wanted him to as he walked her backward until her back hit wood.
His punishing kisses didn’t stop, and she gave as good as she got until he suddenly pulled back.
“You’re spending tonight with me.” He wasn’t asking.
She wasn’t arguing.
Damn it all, this was supposed to be over when they left Bellefonte. But every fiber of her body ached for him. She couldn’t stay away, and she knew it.
“You stupid, stupid man! Why did you have to be so gallant and idiotic?”
“You think I was gallant?”
“Stop it,” she said, beating her fists ineffectively against his shoulders. “You could have died. I thought you were crushed to bits against some mountain. Do you have any idea how terrified I was?”
“Yes, I know exactly how terrified you were. Do you think I didn’t have those same pictures running through my head as I searched for you? You should have stayed behind me Millie,” he said, his voice getting louder with each word.
“Do you think I didn’t try?” she yelled in his face.
“Do you think I wasn’t terrified up there in the clouds where I couldn’t see a thing as the sound of your airplane drifted farther and farther away?
But I kept my nerve. I did what you told me and followed my compass, and here I am.
Unlike you, I didn’t purposefully put myself in danger! ”
Ernie was breathing hard, and his eyes were one fire. His jaw clenched. Was that a tear dripping down his cheek? She reached up without thinking to brush it away.
“I can’t lose you, Millie,” he said in a low, dangerous voice, as he seized the hand on his cheek hard then let it go. “I’ll see you at the hotel.” He turned abruptly and left the shed.
She stomped out after him, grabbing her bag. A taxi took her to the modest hotel near the airport, frequented by aviators, and she arrived shortly after Ernie, who was chatting with Will Hopson in the lobby when she arrived.
As she was about to step up to the front desk, Ernie stopped her. “I need to tell you something about tomorrow’s flight,” he said loudly, pulling her aside. “Room 123,” he murmured just loud enough for her to hear.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” she murmured back. Then, aloud, she said, “See you in the morning, Pritchard.”
She checked into her room, dropped off her things, and knocked on his door right on time.