Page 75 of Air Affair

“Friday. Or at least it was. It’s probably Saturday by now. Why?”

He tried to move his head to look at her better, but it hurt too much. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a phone call home. I call every Wednesday. If I missed a call, they’d worry.”

“I can’t wait to meet them. What are they like?”

The question made him pause. It had been so long since he’d talked about them to anyone. He realized he was excited to tell Rory. “Well, Ma is a force of nature. She wakes up every morning before the crack of dawn to start the chores: milking the cows, gathering eggs, and feeding the livestock. Then she moves on to the garden, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting anything that’s ready. We have a small orchard where we grow apples and cherries. When it’s harvest season, she’s out there with the farm hands, working twice as hard and putting them to shame. When she’s done outside, she comes in and cooks and preserves. In our house, everything that can’t get eaten or stored gets pickled or preserved.”

“I look forward to meeting her. How old is she?”

“Forty-eight and going strong.” Ma was going to live forever if only to harangue Hank about how he ought to visit more often. Which he should.

“What about your sister?”

“Kate takes after Ma. Same work ethic and sharp mind. Got her looks from Ma too, though she got Pops’ green eyes. Jeremiah had a lot of competition when he set out to court her. Fortunately, she knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff. It didn’t hurt that she’d always been a little sweet on him. He’s the silent but steady type. Real thoughtful and a good hard worker.”

Rory was silent for a moment, then asked, “And your brother? What was he like?”

Benny. If he was going to talk about Benny to anyone, he supposed it should be her. “He was the perfect oldest son. He loved the farm as much as Pops, and he had Ma’s work ethic. Pops always worked hard too, but he had a bit of a dreamy side. Ma was always on hand to bring him down from the clouds. Anyhow, Benny was everything I wasn’t: steady, reliable, and responsible. He should have lived to inherit the farm. It never should have been me.”

Rory stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. It was so soothing. He didn’t want her to ever stop. “And what were you like growing up?”

He laughed, but it hurt, so he stopped quickly. “I was a rascal. Always trying to get out of farm work, playing dangerous games with my friends. Every other day, it seemed like I was scaring my parents half to death, leaping off rooftops and racing carts down hills. I saw a barnstormer pilot when I was at a county fair when I was a teenager, and from that day on, I was hooked. I went to every show of his I could, offering to help him with mechanical problems as they came up. I was always good with machines. When he opened a flight school, he hired me to be a full-time mechanic, and he taught me to fly on the side. That was how I started my career as a pilot.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“You’re tired, princess. And so am I. Let’s get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”

She stole a quick kiss goodnight and collapsed into the chair beside him, falling asleep immediately. He drifted off to sleep on a cloud of contentment.

The next morning, he woke up to Bill O’Donnell loudly whispering, “Rory, Rory…” and giving her shoulder a shake.

“O’Donnell, what in God’s name are you doing?” Good grief his head hurt. It felt a little clearer than last night, but his head, and for that matter the rest of his body, ached so much he could hardly move.

“Hawley, you’re awake,” he said at full volume, making Hank wince. “I thought Rory might want to go home and freshen up after spending all night here.”

Rory stirred and stretched like a kitten, making him wish he had her at home in his bed all the more. Not that he was in any state to do anything.

“Hmm? Me?” she said in a sleepy voice.

“Yes, you,” he said. “And I have some news for you that you’re not going to like.”

“I just woke up, O’Donnell. At least let me have some coffee before you bombard me with news.” He wasn’t sure he was capable of sitting up to drink, but he was damned well going to try.

At that moment, a nurse came in with a breakfast tray. “Eat up, Lieutenant Hawley,” she said as she stuffed pillows behind him to raise him to sit. “There you are. If you start to feel lightheaded, lie down again for a bit. All right?”

“I will,” he promised.

As soon as she was gone, he took a deep drink of the sad, lukewarm coffee from the tray. At least it had caffeine, which was all that really mattered.

“So what’s the news?” he asked O’Donnell.

“One of the mechanics cleaning up the accident noticed that one of the wires controlling your steering was cut. Not snapped, mind you, but cut, nice and clean. They called the police who confirmed it looks like a case of sabotage.” O’Donnell looked a little too gleeful delivering this juicy and upsetting news.

“Who would want to hurt Hank?” Rory asked.

“Exactly what the police are asking everyone at the airfield this morning. I just came from there. Several people brought up your father. It seems he learned of Hank’s identity earlier this week and made some threats in the presence of witnesses. It looks like the police consider him a person of interest in this case.”

Rory gasped. “Oh, no. My father was angry, and I have no doubt he would try to do something like ruin Hank’s job prospects, but sabotage and murder? He would never!”