“Penny for your thoughts?”
She flashed a sly smile. “I can’t tell you.”
“So, they were about me?” He leaned into her, his warm breath caressing her ear. “Were they inappropriate thoughts, Miss Donahue?”
She swatted his arm. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Will returned her grin.
She reveled in the moment. The much-needed sleep appeared to have erased all his anxieties. However, as soon as they stepped off the train, Will’s eyes dulled, and his foot tapped incessantly as they waited in line for a cab.
The cab stopped at the entry gate to the airfield. As Charlotte exited the taxi, a gust of wind lifted her hat, nearly blowing it away. She held onto it and turned to the southern horizon. The storm that pounded Washington, D.C. for the past two days had moved up the Eastern Seaboard. Towering clouds, dark as charcoal, loomed in the distance.
Charlotte didn’t like it one bit.
“Will, I don’t want you to do this. Not today. We can return next weekend.”
Will shook his head. “We traveled four hours to get here, and I’m not returning to D.C. without conquering this.” He gestured to the sky and shrugged. “We have plenty of time before the storm arrives. I bet it hasn’t crossed Long Island yet.”
Charlotte scrutinized the line of storms. Will was here to overcome his fear of flying. Even though risk was involved, she had to admit the feat was necessary. Success today would bolster his confidence. He’d stop thinking himself a coward, as he so put it last night. Maybe his nightmares would cease. It was the only solution.
She squared her shoulders. “All right, then. Let’s get this over with.” Remembering the location of his plane from their previous visit, she strode forward. There was no time to waste, not if they were going to beat the storm.
Will caught up and led her along until they stopped in front of a closed sliding door. He withdrew a key from his pocket and inserted into the lock. Pushing the door to the side, he spotted the aircraft within. With a shaky breath, he stared at his yellow biplane. Then he took a confident step forward.
He pulled off the sheeting and jumped into the cockpit.
“Let me know if you need any help,” said Charlotte.
He tinkered with the instruments. “Thanks. I think I’ve got it for now.”
She wandered the hangar as he prepared for flight. She studied the workbenches and toolkits in the back. She also kept an eye on the approaching storm. Will was right; the line of clouds was slow-moving and hadn’t progressed much further north in the past ten minutes.
“Can you give me a hand?”
She turned from the doorway. Will had removed the blocks from the tires and stood behind the set of wings nearest to her. She set her pocketbook on the ground and joined him. “Sure. What do you need?”
“We’re going to push the plane from the hangar. It’s not too heavy. We just have to make sure we guide it straight.” Will took her hands and placed them on one of the metal bars that supported the upper wing. “I’ll tell you when to stop.” He jogged to the other side and told her to start pushing. Without much exertion on her part, the plane rolled forward. They steered it from the hangar and halted once the tail cleared the doorway.
Will climbed into one of the cockpits and talked himself through the steps. “Fuel . . . brakes . . .”
Charlotte’s eyes widened. “You aren’t leaving yet, are you?”
“Almost. I have to prop it first.” Will jumped back to the ground. He stood in front of her and touched her shoulders. His hands trembled. “Darling, I won’t be long.” He gestured to the airstrip behind him. “Listen, I don’t think any other planes will be out in this weather. But just in case, stay off the runway.”
She nodded.
“Now, I’m going to start the engine, so you should take a few steps back.” He curled a lock of her hair between his fingers. “I’ll be fine.”
Despite the knot of fear in her stomach, she smiled. “I know you will. You’re a brilliant pilot. Be safe.” She stood on her toes, planted a kiss on his cheek, and stepped farther away from the airplane.
Will walked to the nose of the plane. He slowly rotated the propeller until it was parallel to the ground. Then, in one fluid motion, he pulled down on the blade and quickly stepped away. The propeller spun only a quarter of its rotation before stopping.
He marched forward and repeated the movement.
Still nothing.
He tried again. This time, the engine coughed and purred, and the blades whirled. He dashed around the wings, giving the propeller a wide berth. He swung into the cockpit, put on the leather helmet and flying goggles, and gave her a thumbs-up. A moment later, the biplane glided forward.
Charlotte followed behind him and stood in the grass beside the airstrip.
Will steered the plane onto the pavement and braked.
“Kendrick’s finally flying, huh?” Leon Chambers strolled toward Charlotte. He wore the same blue coveralls from her last visit.
“He’s trying.” She greeted him with a tight smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Chambers.”
She refocused her attention on Will. The biplane rolled forward, gaining speed as it advanced down the runway. Seconds later, the wheels lifted off the ground. The plane climbed briskly, growing smaller in the cloudy sky. She kept her eyes trained on the aircraft, afraid it might disappear like Amelia Earhart’s if she looked away.
“You’re worried,” Leon said. It was neither a question nor an accusation.
“I am. If Will were confident, I’d happily cheer him on. But he’s only doing this to prove something to himself.”
“Sounds like a good enough reason to me.”
Will’s plane leveled off and continued heading east.
Several minutes passed before Leon spoke again. “If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to him over there that brought him back so soon?”
Charlotte finally looked away from Will’s airplane. Leon’s hands were shoved into the pockets of his coveralls, and the wrinkles in his forehead deepened with his frown. The elderly man certainly seemed to care about Will, and she was grateful. Will needed the additional support.
“His plane was shot down over Germany. When he was admitted to my hospital, he had fractures in his right leg, both arms, and his clavicle, as well as internal injuries.”
Leon rocked back onto his heels and looked to the sky. “And yet here he is.”
She nodded. “He’s had a miraculous recovery, at least physically.”
“Are you a nurse?”
Her lips curled upward. “Not yet.”
Leon cocked his chin toward the sky. “He should be landing soon. Wind’s picked up.”
Charlotte followed his line of sight. The storm had advanced further northward. Thunder rumbled in the distance. She blanched. “What if he doesn’t?”
“He’ll be fine. The Army would’ve trained him for these conditions.”
His reassurances didn’t comfort her. Army training hadn’t helped Nick.
After what seemed like an eternity, Leon pointed to the sky. “He’s descending.”
Charlotte released a sigh. “Thank goodness.”
The yellow biplane grew closer, coming in from the west. She chewed her bottom lip as the wind jostled the plane in its descent. Only a couple more minutes, and Will would be safely on the ground. She counted the seconds under her breath.
At thirty seconds, the plane’s approach was straight.
At sixty seconds, the approach was horribly skewed. The nose was misaligned with the airstrip, angled instead toward the fence across from them. To make matters worse, Will was coming in at a steep pitch, the left wing hanging much lower than the right. Charlotte’s heart launched into a frantic pace as she anticipated a crash landing.
The left wheel touched down.
Metal screeched against the concrete.
Charlotte ran after the plane.
The right wheel met the ground
, and the biplane safely decelerated. Will turned off the runway and stopped the plane. He shut down the engine, and the propeller stalled.
By the time she reached him, he’d hopped out of the cockpit. He removed his goggles and helmet, and dropped them to the ground. He grinned, his green eyes alight with triumph.
Charlotte halted a few feet in front of him, relieved and out of breath. “You scared the bejesus out of me! What kind of landing was that?”
Will took two strides forward and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her nose in his jacket, smelling the pungent odor of leather, and felt his lips on the top of her head.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. It was a normal crosswind landing, though the wing shouldn’t have struck the ground. That was my miscalculation. Seems I’m a bit rusty.”
The warmth of his embrace relaxed Charlotte’s nerves and slowed her heart rate. She smiled up at him, cupping his stubbly jaw in her palm. “You look happy, though.”
Will’s grin widened. “I did it.”
Leon sauntered toward them. “What kind of plane did you think you were flying, doing a sideslip like that? I taught you better.”
Will released Charlotte and joined Leon at the dented wing of the aircraft. “I’m used to flying the Warhawk.” He bent to inspect the damage. “I don’t think it’s too bad. The structure seems stable, though the skin needs replacing.”
Leon nodded. “Not going to be cheap.”
“I’ve been saving up. I’ll come in a few weeks and patch her up. Maybe then I’ll fly her down to D.C. and finally get out of your hair.”
A loud grumble of thunder reminded them of the impending storm.
“We should get her inside before the rain starts.” Will turned to Charlotte and gestured to the plane. “Want to take a ride?”
She nodded eagerly.
Will helped her climb onto the wing and then swept her off her feet, his arm supporting her knees. “One of these days I’ll take you flying with me.”
“You said that last time.”
He set her down into the cockpit. “This time I mean it.”
Thirty-Five
The rain held off until Charlotte and Will said good-bye to Leon and were safely inside a taxi cab on the way to downtown Stamford. They returned to the station and purchased tickets for the return trip. This time, they splurged on a semi-private compartment.
Onboard the train, Charlotte nestled under Will’s arm. Though the severe weather delayed their departure, she was in no hurry to get home. This was the only place she wanted to be.
“Did it bring back any memories from the crash?”
Will traced small circles on her arm. “Not really. I remember the mission and the lead up to the crash. After that, nothing. My first memory is waking up on the medical ship, in pain and seasick.”
“The trauma likely induced a coma. It’s no wonder you can’t remember anything afterward. Maybe one day you’ll figure out how you were rescued.”
To her surprise, Will chuckled. “You’re starting to sound like a nurse.”
“Well I’d hope so, after being a nurses’ aide for so long.”
The train whistled and rolled away from the platform.
Charlotte ran her fingers through his hair. “I don’t want to go home yet.”
“We have four whole hours before we get home.”
“At which point we’ll be separated for another week,” she said. “I want to see you every day, not just on Sundays or the few evenings you can leave early from work. I saw you more often when you were in the hospital.”
He took her hand from his hair and kissed her inner wrist. “But I couldn’t do this in the hospital.” His lips trailed down her forearm to the skin inside her elbow.
She sighed. “True.”
“Spend the night with me again.”
She closed her eyes, her lips curving upward. “Where?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”
“If we’re not careful, you’ll scandalize me,” she said, only half-joking. “My parents know a lot of people, and I’d rather they not hear their unmarried daughter is rendezvousing with her beau in various hotels all over town.”
“What if you were rendezvousing with your fiancé instead?”
She sat up and turned so she could see him better.
Will held her stare and squared his shoulders. “Charlotte, I want to marry you.”
A grin spread across her face. She scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him, lightly and sweetly.
His eyes were bright and hopeful. “Does this mean you accept?”
Her smile widened. “Of course it does.”
Will blew out a deep breath. “Brilliant. Well, I wasn’t prepared to do this today . . . I’ll buy you an engagement ring when we get back . . . whatever you want.”
Charlotte shook her head. She’d worn Nick’s ring for over a year and came to realize it was only a flashy symbol. Will’s promises meant more than a piece of jewelry.
“Darling, all I want is to marry you. Fix your plane first, and then we can look at wedding bands. I’ll wear one that matches yours, and that’ll mean more to me than a diamond ring.”
Whenever they decided to marry, Charlotte wouldn’t have to go a single day without seeing him. They would laugh together, sleep together, and wake together. And together, they would heal. Will still had a ways to go before he fully recovered from the war. But she knew the man he was and the man he had the potential to become, and she vowed to love and stand by him every step of the way.
Epilogue
Sunday, May 29, 1946
Charlotte drove across the Potomac River and down a street lined with elm trees. She turned off the main thoroughfare, passed through black wrought iron gates, and steered into a parking lot. To the far right, John Cartwright stood beside his car, wearing his Army uniform. He smoked a cigarette and stared at the white gravestones that gleamed in the bright afternoon sunshine.
She pulled her car behind his and parked. He gave her a brief wave, flicked the cigarette to the ground, and stubbed it out with his shoe.
“Thanks for joining me,” he said after she stepped out of the car. “I didn’t want to come alone, and Natalie’s busy with the baby. I couldn’t think of anyone else.”
She offered him a small smile. “I’m glad you called. My visit is long overdue.”
He gestured to the dirt pathway in front of them. “Shall we?”
Charlotte nodded and strolled beside him. They passed beneath the white, columned Sheridan Gate and entered into Arlington National Cemetery.
“You didn’t want to visit tomorrow? I’m sure it’ll be a big to-do, the first Memorial Day ceremony since the war ended.”
John shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m in the parade tomorrow.”
“Will and I will be at the parade. Do you think Natalie will make it?”
“Probably not. How’s Will?” he asked.
“Good. He’s on a flight to Chicago. He’ll be home tonight.” She rubbed the dainty gold wedding band with her thumb and smiled. “You know, it’ll be our second wedding anniversary on Friday. Can you believe it?”
After a nine-month engagement, Charlotte and Will were married on the third of June 1944. Initially, the thought of a long engagement was unappealing to Charlotte for many reasons, and she toyed with eloping. But Will had wanted a proper ceremony. So she continued rooming with Natalie until their college graduation in late May and, during that time, planned the wedding with her mother. Unable to procure silk for a new gown, Mrs. Donahue gave Charlotte her conservative wedding dress from 1921, and a seamstress altered it into a more contemporary style.
On their wedding day, Charlotte and Will were surrounded by her family and their closest friends, and she was thankful they hadn’t eloped. Natalie stood up for Charlotte, and Frankie for Will. John, however, was absent from their nuptials. He’d been in England, preparing for the D-Day invasio
ns into Normandy that occurred only days later.
“Congratulations,” John said as they continued their walk through the cemetery. “Our first anniversary was last week. It wasn’t much of a celebration. We should’ve gone out and gotten a babysitter, but Natalie insists on nursing.”
Charlotte nodded. Though she had no personal experience nursing a child, her training in pediatrics at Sibley Memorial Hospital gave her intimate familiarity with the practice. She and Will both wanted children. Will was especially impatient to start their family. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to settle down and become a mother until she finished her program with the Cadet Nurse Corps.
After the war ended, the men came home, and women were expected to return to full-time housewifery. The demand for nurses diminished, and the Corps stopped admitting new students. A free education in the field she loved was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she didn’t want to jeopardize it. Only one year of her program remained. They could wait until then for children.
Despite her own decisions regarding her career, Charlotte knew Natalie didn’t regret leaving her teaching job to stay home and care for her infant daughter. Natalie had taught for one year after graduation at an all-girls school in Arlington. Then, in May 1945, Germany surrendered. Because John had been in combat since 1942, he was among the first soldiers from the European front who were sent home. Mere days after his return, Natalie and John were married at the courthouse, and a couple months later, Natalie confided to Charlotte that she was expecting.
Last year, Charlotte and Will socialized with them regularly, going to movies, dinners, dances, and baseball games together. Will and John weren’t the best of friends, but they had developed a mutual respect for each other and got along most of the time. Since little Beverly’s arrival in February, though, their outings with the Cartwrights had become sporadic. Will’s hectic work schedule didn’t help either.
Through their first year of marriage, Will continued his work as an aircraft mechanic. He spent his time off flying recreationally, logging flight hours, and studying for a commercial pilot license. By the end of the war, he’d earned the necessary credentials to become a commercial pilot. He beat the influx of airmen from the military to the private sector and was now the second officer on a flight crew with Pan American Airways. He loved his job, and that was the only reason Charlotte didn’t mind him working nonstandard hours.
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