The Flight Path Less Traveled

by Leigh Dreyer

  “Then fight for it.”

  19

  Darcy balanced his shoes and helmet bag in one hand, his flight bag in the other along with a duffel bag slung casually over one shoulder. After another couple weeks of being on the road, he was glad to be home. He climbed up the one step on the porch and then pulled open the door.

  “Hey Will, you’re home early,” called Jane from the kitchen. “Lizzy’s at the inn, but I expect her home around dinner. I’m glad you’re back. Sorry you have to walk in to all this now. She’s here packing up the last of her things, finally.”

  “Elizabeth?”

  “No. Caroline.”

  “I was surprised I didn’t see her face beaming in the window when I pulled up. She was very much the faithful pet, even if I hated how she shed around the house.”

  “She is quite loyal, isn’t she?”

  “She is. I just wish it wasn’t to me.” Darcy sighed. “Anyway, enough about Caroline. How is Elizabeth?”

  “She missed you.” Jane smiled and nodded. “But… Pretty much the same. She’s been researching like mad so that she can give the best information at the medical evaluation board.”

  “Does she know if she even gets to talk at that thing? I’m not under the impression you have any personal input.”

  “She doesn’t know, but to her, it doesn’t matter. It’s worth it to be prepared.”

  “I can certainly understand that. So, what happened with Caroline? I thought she had moved out already.”

  “Oh, well, she did. We had just let her store some of her things here. But today…that is a story. I got home early—one of the other teachers volunteered to take my classroom and the principal let me have the afternoon off. I guess she figured I needed a break and has been so great during everything that has gone on over the summer and this school year. Anyway, Mrs. Clarkson isn’t important to the story.

  “I got home and noticed two cars out front. One car was Caroline’s but I didn’t recognize the other one. I knew you were coming home today; Lizzy told me last night she expected you. Well, what should I see when I came in, but Caroline going up the stairs, naked as the day she was born! As if that wasn’t enough to shock me, although believe me, I might need to poke my eyes out with our ice pick later, at the top of the stairs was none other than the illustrious Dr. John Willoughby, nekkid.”

  “What?” Darcy’s face reflected a range of emotions one after another. Shock, anger, confusion, surprise, and then confusion again.

  “Calm down.”

  Darcy kept his barely contained rage under control while he waited for the rest of the explanation.

  “Turns out, Caroline has been seeing our doctor friend for weeks now.”

  “How?”

  “Well, you know how no one in town likes her and the guys out at Meryton think she’s a gold-digging dependapotomus who wants nothing more than a pilot to warm her bed and an officer to pay her bills?”

  Darcy nodded in agreement.

  “Our dear Dr. Willoughby is new, and I guess he hasn’t heard any of that yet. They met at Skillets in town.”

  “She went to Skillets?” Darcy’s dropped his jaw. Skillets was a delicious, local family diner―far from the type of place Caroline would typically frequent. He was positive the menu had nothing organic, GMO-free, or containing avocado.

  “I know, I was surprised too. Not Caroline’s typical hangout.”

  “Okay. But now I’m pissed. She’s sleeping with Elizabeth’s doctor!”

  “Much more than that. She finally came clean when I wouldn’t let her go back upstairs without an explanation. Caroline has been telling the doctor that Lizzy is faking everything.” Jane began ticking points off on her fingers. “That she’s running around at home and doing just fine. She said she told him that she thinks Lizzy is dragging this out so she can get more points on her disability when she gets out. That Lizzy crashed the plane intentionally because of Lydia and as good as murdered Wickham.”

  Darcy’s eyes blackened as his anger turned into rage.

  “I’ll kill her…and him for that matter.” Jane put a calming hand on Darcy’s chest.

  “It’s already taken care of. Dr. Willoughby left immediately. Didn’t even put his shirt on before he drove off. Don’t worry. I made it very, very clear that she is not to darken this doorstep without an apology and made her explain to the dear doctor over speakerphone that she had been mistaken in all of her assumptions regarding Lizzy’s medical status. John and I had a lovely conversation and he let me know that he never really believed anything Caroline told him. I must say though, despite her awfulness, Caroline does appreciate a good-looking man.

  “She’s been humiliated. And she should be nearly done packing. I’ve given her an hour. The rest of her belongings will be shipped to Louisa’s. There is nothing that you can do that will be more hurtful to her than to show her you don’t care.”

  “Done.” Darcy, to his everlasting credit, listened to Jane’s careful reasoning of the situation. Willoughby was a womanizer—that was no surprise. With Elizabeth’s hopes pinning on his positive feedback at the board, it was important his report was untainted by Caroline’s spite.

  Darcy smiled. “I knew Charles picked a good one.”

  “What good one did I pick?” Bingley poked his head in the door and looked at his wife and best friend.

  “He says you made a good choice in wife, darling.” Jane went to Bingley and put her arms around his waist as he pulled her close to his chest.

  “Of course. Only the best for me.”

  “I always knew you had good taste, Bing.”

  “I’m going to tell Lizzy about what happened.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” asked Jane.

  “Lizzy deserves some peace. Normally, I might say that what she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her, and her knowing won’t fix the situation, but with all her hopes pinned on this doctor’s testimony, not knowing will only hurt her more.”

  “You’re right.”

  20

  “She what?” screamed Elizabeth in a frustrated cry.

  As soon as Caroline had cleared out, Darcy left to pick Elizabeth up from Longbourn. After a quick embrace, they got back in the car and headed to Netherfield. With no preamble, he revealed Caroline’s deception. After the third time combing through every detail, he ruffled his hair and sighed.

  “I don’t particularly want to discuss it again. Don’t you think we’ve covered the main concepts?”

  “I just want to hear it one more time,” Elizabeth begged.

  “She slept with Willoughby and lied about you.”

  She let out a derisive laugh. “It’s a good thing you told me after she is already gone because I’m liable to murder her.”

  “You can’t murder Caroline.”

  “Yet.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Darcy.

  “I took care of it. She isn’t coming back.” He laughed and kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “I’m moving away so there’s no reason she’d brave the small town of Longbourn again.”

  “You know, that is tremendously cocky.”

  “What?”

  “You think Caroline was only here for you?”

  “Well, she was.”

  “Maybe she wanted to stay with her brother because she enjoyed his company. Ever think of that?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, she slept with Willoughby, so clearly she’s not blind. You are a handsome man.” Elizabeth scrutinized the man in front of her, sweeping her eyes from his chiseled jaw line to his broad shoulders and down to his shoes.

  “Or,” she said suddenly, “maybe she was here for the vast employment activities available to someone of her skill set. As a recent sorority girl whose main resume bullets include shopping for overly expensive t-shirts and being the salt receptacle for tequila shots, she must be in high demand.”

  Darcy smirked as he pulled into the driveway at Netherfield and parked. “The important thing is that you can’t go to ja
il regardless of how reasonable your motive might be because I have waited too long for you to let you go.” He kissed her softly before she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “What about my board?” Elizabeth jumped back quickly as if scalded. “It’s on Friday. Is Willoughby going to testify?”

  Darcy pulled her to him and pressed his forehead against hers. “I don’t know. What I do know is I love you, you love me, and we will get through this together. No matter what happens.”

  “Captain Darcy?” The medical assistant stood at the clinic door. Darcy strode past two coughing airman and a green-looking colonel.

  “Right this way, sir. We’ll be going down the hall. Follow the footprints to the right and then second door on the left.” They made their way down the hall and entered the small room.

  “Go ahead and sit down here.” The woman pointed at a seat next to the door. “I’m Airman Jones. I’ll be assisting Dr. Willoughby today. If you’ll stick this under your tongue, I’ll go ahead and grab your blood pressure.”

  Darcy did as instructed and patiently waited as Airman Jones took note of his height, weight, and vital signs.

  “And what brings you here today?”

  “Well, I’ve had some frequent headaches that I wanted to see Dr. Willoughby about. I’ve never had them before, so I assume they’re brought on by stress.”

  “Okay. I’ll go and tell the doctor you’re here.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  Darcy glanced around the room while he waited. He could hear the murmur of voices just behind the door.

  The door knocked and Airman Jones poked her head into the room.

  “Captain Darcy? If you’ll move over here to room two, the doctor is ready for you.”

  Darcy moved to the next room and sat down before another knock on the door and the entrance of Willoughby. His hair was short but gelled into a messy structure Darcy supposed women must find attractive. Darcy just thought it looked disrespectful to the uniform he was wearing.

  “Oh hey, Fitz. I thought that was your name on my schedule today. Feeling all right? Jones said you have headaches. Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Well, the last few months have been rather stressful.”

  “Your paperwork says you haven’t been deployed recently. Any ideas what is causing the stress?”

  “I have some theories.” Darcy watched as Willoughby fiddled with his access card in the computer.

  “Any you’d like to share?”

  “Well, I’ve been having some difficulties with my housemates.”

  “I didn’t realize you had housemates. I thought a stiff like you would live on base—alone.”

  “I have in the past, but this PCS I was lucky enough to have a friend from college in the T-6 squadron. Charles Bingley.”

  “Bingley?”

  “Maybe you know him? Red hair. Recently married to a lovely woman named Jane. Well, I lived with him and his sister Caroline before he got married, and since then his wife and her sister have moved in as well. It’s a bit of a zoo, honestly, but lately it seems to be even more chaotic.”

  Willoughby pulled at the collar of his ABUs and shifted in his seat.

  “His sister Caroline has been in and out. She just recently moved out permanently…and I heard that the two of you go way back.”

  “Caroline? Well, we went on a few dates.”

  “I’m not going to beat around the bush. I know Caroline lied to you about Elizabeth’s condition. I know she told you she was lying. But listen closely to me—Dr. Willoughby”―Darcy stretched the name out, emphasizing each syllable―“if I find out that Caroline had any influence on you, your decisions, or the board, I will make it my personal mission to end you.”

  Throughout Darcy’s speech Willoughby sat, unmoving on his stool. Now that Darcy was done, he tapped his fingers on the small computer desk and kept his eyes on Darcy’s.

  “I thought you didn’t associate with the T-6 folks.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Well, except Elizabeth.”

  “Except Elizabeth.”

  “She’s certainly hot enough to cause a few headaches.”

  Darcy stood, towering over the doctor. “That will be the last time you speak of Elizabeth Bennet that way.” He leaned threateningly close and dropped his voice. “I don’t care what you do. I don’t care how you find the information, but you will give an accurate description of her progress at the board or, so help me god, I will find a way to make you more miserable than you have ever been in your life. I know Elizabeth has already provided you with mountains of research so use it.”

  “Noted,” said Willoughby. Darcy backed away to sit back in his chair.

  “I’m sure I’ll find something appropriate.” Willoughby cocked his head to the computer. “I’ll just prescribe you some Tylenol for that head, shall I?”

  “You know”―Darcy stood and opened the door―“I’m feeling much better already. You really are a very talented doctor. See you around.”

  21

  The morning of December twenty-first had brought with it a confidence in the future, an attitude of positivity, and a certainty of everything turning out well. Elizabeth had looked out the window of her room and watched thin white contrails draw crisp, straight lines across the cloudless sky and knew she would be up there flying with those pilots soon. Today was her day. Today was the day for which she had been waiting months, and she was ready.

  So far south, the high would remain in the mid-sixties, so Elizabeth dressed in jeans and a light sweater to wait out the morning before changing into her uniform later in the day. She drew a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of rejuvenation that filled her lungs.

  She had spent the previous day finalizing her statement for the board and delivering a printed copy to her case manager. Her case manager had thus far been essentially useless; her main tasks to help Elizabeth with tracking, attending, and making her various therapies and doctors’ appointments had proved too much for the woman’s capabilities. As such, Elizabeth had spent her own time, when not performing therapeutic exercises or sitting in various offices, researching on her own what needed to be included and researching various medical information that would be relevant to her recovery and prove that she should remain in the Air Force. The case manager had been surprised at Elizabeth’s capable nature and crossed her off of the “to be worried about” list until the day of the board.

  Elizabeth felt a strange calm as she had prepared for the day. Carrie Fisher had once said, “Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” Elizabeth had acted. She had prepared and studied and organized while she convalesced. Now, in her time of action, she was confident.

  After lunch, Elizabeth went to her room to dress. She chose to wear her uniform skirt rather than the pants because she wanted to remind the members that she embodied diversity in the Air Force. As she pinned her silver name tag on her chest, she felt like she pinned on her confidence.

  The drive to the base was pleasant. The bumps in the road did not pain Elizabeth as much as they had even two days before and traffic parted like the Red Sea before them. She reminded herself that those bumps would only get better. Her doctors had told her that she would experience discomfort because of her spine for the rest of her life, but that it would become manageable as she healed and continued to keep herself in shape. I can still fly.

  Darcy set the cruise control and made the easy drive down the highway to the base. They crossed through the gate with a sharp salute from the airman on duty. The fifteen miles per hour zone before the wing building went past faster than usual, and Elizabeth watched fat, little sparrows zoom from tree to tree.

  The board met in the wing building, but Elizabeth was devastated to learn she was not allowed to attend the actual meeting. She would instead sit outside and wait for her case worker to bring her the results. The small group made t
heir way through the hallways passing various pictures of old aircraft, signed awards, and motivational posters until they arrived at the conference room with a group of chairs which had been set up outside.

  Elizabeth thought she looked commanding in her blues, tightly tailored to her figure. She sat at attention: back straight, shoulders back, and ready for her moment. Jane sat shakily, allowing her nerves to show. She bobbed her knee up and down in a steady rhythm and bit her lip while studying a picture in one of the outdated magazines provided. She did not turn a page for seven full minutes. Darcy, on the other hand, handled his stress much more like Elizabeth. His expression turned colder, icing the room into relative silence, and turning away airmen waiting for other services who considered sitting near them.

  The three watched as Elizabeth’s case worker, the wing commander, the squadron commander, a physician that Elizabeth did not know, and a member of the Air Force Personnel Center, whose nametag revealed his name to be Greg Wilson, entered the small room near them, closed the door, and the Physical Evaluation Board began.

  “Where’s Willoughby? I thought he was supposed to come,” Elizabeth said, a note of desperation in her voice that pitched higher than usual.

  “Dr. Metcalfe knows all about your case. I know you’ve seen him, and I’m sure Dr. Willoughby kept him abreast of any updates,” Darcy said while Elizabeth nodded nervously.

  Time stood still. Jane bobbed her knee. Elizabeth stared at the closed door, willing the knob to open and for the board members to congratulate her on her successful return to duty. Darcy did nothing; his dour expression became even more serious, his eyes darkening and his brows knitting closer together.

  After ten minutes, Elizabeth let out a sigh, her confidence waning. Jane and Darcy soon followed, exhaling for what seemed the first time since they had been seated.

  “What could possibly be taking so long?” Elizabeth asked, still laser-focused on the dented, tarnished, cheap silver knob.