Hearts in Flight Page 6

  The major nabbed the papers out of his hand and gave them the once over. “Good! Then it’s time we talk about putting her on the flight schedule.”

  Wesley drew in a deep breath. “I’m not sure if she’s ready for that yet, sir.”

  “You know Jackie Cochran, Captain. She trains those girls the Army way, just like they’re men.” A smile slowly spread across the officer’s face. “And Miss Daniels isn’t some green horn. I’ve done some snooping around. Did you know she was the top trainer at the flight school in South Carolina?”

  He really needed to read her files. “I didn’t know that, sir.”

  Evans gave him a stern look. “Let’s take a walk.”

  He was in trouble. It wasn’t a big secret that the major liked to use his ‘walks’ to correct his officers. Wesley followed the man out of the room. He didn’t have to guess where he’d made his mistake. This was about Maggie.

  “I learned a bit of information about you today too.” They turned the first corner before the major glanced at him. “My condolences on your sister.”

  Wesley flinched. The phrase still had the power to punch him in the gut. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me your sister died in a ferrying accident for the Royal Air Force?”

  What had he been thinking, keeping the truth about Beth’s death a secret? Maybe it was his way of denying the truth, that if he had been a better brother, given Beth a little more guidance after their mother died, she might still be alive. Maybe even settled down with a husband and a houseful of kids. Instead, Beth was gone.

  And he was responsible for that fact. Turning his head, Wesley looked the man straight in the eyes. “I didn’t think it was relative to my job here. I’m sorry, sir.”

  “It has to be tough working with a girl pilot.” The major gave Wesley a look of compassion before his voice went stern. “But Maggie Daniels has been trained to do a job and she needs to be doing it. Is that understood?

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. I expect to see her name on the next flight assignment.” Major Evans slapped him on his shoulder.

  Wesley nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  As the major walked away, Wesley took a deep breath. He hadn’t been able to dodge a bullet. Whether he liked it or not, Maggie Daniels was about to get her wish.

  7

  “Aunt Merrilee?”

  Maggie burst through the kitchen door, the succulent aroma of roasted chicken mingled with fresh bread making her mouth water. Lunchtime had passed with her up to her elbows in grease, making valve adjustments on a repaired Thunderbolt. With supper still a good hour away, Maggie was hoping for one of Merrilee’s applesauce cookies to tie her over.

  The warmth from the stove radiated throughout the stone-walled room, wrapping Maggie in a cocoon of homey comfort. Scouring the counter top, she spied the half-fill cookie jar. She’d been looking forward to one of these cookies since she’d left Merrilee baking them this morning. With sugar in short supply, she hated the thought of missing out on the treat.

  After laying out a couple of cookies on a paper towel, Maggie made a beeline for the ice box for the milk. She retrieved a glass from the cabinet and settled herself at the table.

  It had been another long day. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, twisting her head from side to side. Not that her time in the pressure chamber or checking out engine belts had been difficult. Compared to her usual routine, the past few days had been a walk in the park. She frowned. Bored was more like it. She’d been at the Bell for almost a week now, and the closest she’d come to taking off was on Claire’s tree swing.

  Good thing she hadn’t told anyone about the note.

  Opening her eyes, Maggie reached for the pitcher and tilted it toward her waiting glass, her mind on the scrap of paper she’d stuck back down in her foot locker. She’d been shocked at first, and if she was honest with herself, just a bit scared. But once she settled down and thought about it for a while, she realized the note was no different that the threats they had dealt with at Sweetwater, and those hadn’t kept Commander Cochran from getting them trained.

  But Wesley Hicks wasn’t Jackie Cochran.

  Maggie broke off a piece of cookie and dunked it in her milk. No, Wesley Hicks was a different piece of work all together, but Maggie couldn’t fault him on his abilities. More than once over the last week, she had witnessed the way his squadron relied on his leadership, his fairness in conflicting issues that had arose among the men. She had even begun to wonder if the slight shift in their attitude toward her was due more to the Captain’s influence than her hard work.

  Tossing the bite in her mouth, Maggie sucked milk out of the cookie until it disintegrated into a million pieces. Had she been going about earning the men’s respect the wrong way? Maybe you had to catch the lead dog to get the pack to follow.

  The screen door of the kitchen slammed shut. “Margaret Rose Daniels! I baked those cookies for dessert this evening!”

  “I missed lunch today,” Maggie gulped down the last of her milk. “You wouldn’t want a girl who is serving her country to starve to death, would you?”

  Merrilee huffed as she pulled her flowered apron from a nearby drawer and tugged it over her head. “What made you forget to eat this time?”

  “A blown engine on a Thunderbolt.”

  Her aunt eyed her for a moment, then smiled as she tied the apron around her waist. “Well, I can’t take food out of the mouth of one of our service people, now can I?” She walked over to the cookie jar and extracted another one. “Here,” she said, handing to Maggie. “I always make a few extra if I’ve got the sugar.”

  “Thanks,” Maggie broke off a piece and popping in her mouth. “How did your day go?”

  “Busy,” Merrilee pumped water into a kettle and setting it on the stove. “I heard Mr. Jarvis got in a shipment late yesterday afternoon so I was over at his grocery store before he even opened this morning.” She opened the door to the stove, checked the pilot light then quickly shut it. “I swear you don’t know what a fight it is just to get a good piece of meat these days. Once I made it home, I spent the rest of the afternoon weeding out the garden. I was hoping tonight after dinner you could help me pick the tomatoes. That is if you don’t have anything planned.”

  “Just a quiet evening at home.” Maggie leaned back and stretched her legs out beneath the table. Mercy, it felt good to relax.

  Merrliee gave her a disapproving look as she walked to the ice box. “That’s not very ladylike, sweetheart.”

  “No disrespect, but I seriously doubt very many ‘ladies’ have been hunched over the engine of a P-47 all day.”

  “More than there were three years ago. Anyway, that doesn’t give you permission to slouch.”

  Gracious gravy! Maggie didn’t care what she looked like but she wouldn’t do anything to upset her sweet aunt. Planting her feet on the floor, Maggie pushed herself upright in her chair.

  “There. Don’t you feel better?”

  “Not really.” Maggie brushed the crumbles into a delicious hill in front of her. “I haven’t flown once since I got here.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Merrilee answered, retrieving two jars of canned green beans from the pantry. “Wesley warned you he was going to break you into the squad’s routine slowly.”

  “Yeah, but snails move faster than he does.” Maggie crossed her arms on the kitchen table. “At this rate, the war will be over before I get my first flight assignment.”

  “Be patience, sweetheart. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” A whispered hiss exploded from each can as Merrilee opened the jars. “Why don’t you talk to him about it?”

  “I have.” Maggie rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “But he keeps stalling. I have a hard-enough time with the guys without whining about the schedule.”

  A motherly warmth enveloped Maggie as Merrilee slid her arms around Maggie’s shoulders, her cheek nestled on top of her head. “What are you going to do if those
men never accept you as a pilot?”

  Maggie leaned back into her aunt’s embrace. She’d heard the question before, listened as the girls argued over it in the barracks during WASP training. She wasn’t sure how she’d handle it if the guys never accepted her as an equal. They knew this country needed women who could take the burden of ferrying and training from the men who were sorely needed at the front. The knowledge that God had opened this door for her meant it would be wrong not to go through it, even if she was ridiculed.

  Maggie opened her eyes and glanced at her aunt. “Then at least, I can stand before the Lord and know I’ve tried my best.”

  “That’s all any of us can do, dear.” Merrilee pressed a kiss to her forehead then moved away.

  Maggie stood up and followed her to the sink. “Well, with no flights, I’ll be around here a lot more. Doing what, I don’t have a clue.”

  “I’m sure we can find some projects to keep you occupied.”

  The expression on her aunt’s face lead Maggie to believe she already had something in mind. “Like what?”

  Instead of answering, Merrilee went to the kitchen door, looking around outside as if she thought there were spies in Grandma Daniel’s rose brush. She finally shut the door.

  “Merrilee?”

  Her aunt extracted a handkerchief from the pocket of her dress and patted her lips. “I’m sorry for being so secretive, but if your Uncle James heard what I’m doing, he’d pitch another one of his fits and start up that talk about taking the house away again.”

  “What are you up to, Aunt Merrilee?”

  Merrilee leaned back against the door. “A few days ago, I had a visit from Preacher Williams and his wife, and they told me about a tent camp they’ve been ministering to.”

  “Are you talking about the one over next to Kennesaw Mountain?”

  “That’s the one. Anyway, it’s crowded and a few of the families would like to find a place closer to the plant.”

  Maggie could vouch for the crush of tents in that small field. “What has that got to do with you?”

  Merrliee smiled. “I gave Preacher Williams permission to use a clearing at the back of my property to house some of those folks.”

  Merrilee was right. Uncle James would have a stroke if he knew. “How many families are we talking about?”

  “Four, maybe five. But it’s near the back corner of the spread where nobody ever goes.” Merrilee lowered her voice. “This has to just be between me and you.”

  Maggie nodded. The biggest problem she saw was keeping this information off the community’s radar range. “I wouldn’t dream of spilling the beans. What would you like me to do?”

  “I knew you would help.” Merrilee beamed at her. “I going to try and get out there a couple of days each week. You know, to take their mail to them or carry whatever extras I get out of the garden to barter.” A serious line replaced her smile. “I don’t think those people have enough to eat.”

  “You’ve already met them?”

  “Yesterday afternoon. They had some beans and a cake of cornbread, but not much else.”

  “Why not just give them the extras?”

  Merrilee shook her head. “I’ve tried, but people have their pride. They believe if a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat.”

  Maggie didn’t understand. Why wouldn’t a person accept food if their family was hungry? She popped the last piece of cookie in her mouth. “I can probably go out there once or twice a week.””

  “I know that’s a lot to ask, but I just hate the thought of them going hungry.”

  The idea of people going without food a stone’s throw from their home bothered Maggie as well. She stood and joined her aunt at the kitchen door. “I’d be happy to.”

  “You don’t know how much I appreciate you helping me like this.” Merrilee wrapped her arms around her and gave her a gentle hug. “You’ve grown into such a sweet woman.”

  Maggie linked her arms around her aunt’s trim waist. “At least it’ll give me something to do while I wait for Wesley Hicks to put me on the schedule.”

  Stepping back, Merrilee cupped Maggie’s face between her hands. “Be patient, darling girl. Remember, God’s in control.”

  Maggie nodded. But she was tired of waiting. When did her life begin?

  “Dinner’s almost ready.” Merrilee pulled on the apron strings loose and tugged it over her head. “I’ve got some ripe tomatoes in the garden that will go nicely with dinner. Be right back.”

  Maggie watched through the window as her aunt cut across the yard and around the corner of the house. Momma, Aunt Merrilee, Grandma Daniels. All of them had taken care of their families, working the fields in the summer, storing vegetables for the winter, always with a ready smile and a set of patient hands. God had blessed her with such wonderful role models. If she could be half as good as any of the three, she’d consider herself a blessed woman.

  A movement from outside caught her eye. She rose and walked over the sink. At the edge of the woods bordering Merrilee’s yard, Jimbo stood, looking over his shoulder as if he was up to no good.

  Oh no, you don’t, Jimbo Haney. Merrilee already has enough problems on her plate with having to deal with you tonight.

  Folding a handful of cookies into a dish towel, Maggie slipped out the kitchen door.

  Wesley ambled down the stairs, his muscles relaxed after a hot shower. Nothing beat the feel of clean clothes after a grueling run. His five-mile hike to Kennesaw Mountain had been murder today with the sky-high humidity and an electric storm threatening to burst overhead.

  He’d enjoyed his visit at the tent camp. Playing stickball with Bobby and the other kids had taken his mind off the new flight schedule sitting on his desk at least for a while. As he waved good-bye to the boys with the promise of another game in the future, the weight of other promises, the ones he had broken showered down on his soul.

  Wesley stood on the bottom step. The only way he could even begin to make amends was to get back to England to his RAF squadron and do the job his sister had believed in enough to die for. One that Maggie Daniels had dreamed of all her life.

  At least Maggie’s getting her wish.

  He’d spent the better part of the afternoon in Major Evan’s office, going over next week’s schedule. His goal was to keep Maggie’s hours in the air to a minimum. In the end, Major Evans had given him his orders.

  Put Maggie in the cockpit.

  The door opened. Edie Michaels, her arms loaded down with wrapped parcels, surged through the doorway.

  Wesley moved toward her. “Here, let me help you with those.”

  “Thank you, Wesley. You can just leave them right here for now.” She deposited her packages on the nearby loveseat. “How was your day today?”

  “The usual.” He stacked up her papered boxes so that they wouldn’t tumble across the foyer’s floor. “And you?“

  “Any day off is a good day,” Edie tugged her gloves off and laid them with her purse on the front table.

  “Looks like you’ve cleaned out the local merchants.”

  “Not quite. Some of those packages are for Maggie.”

  “Why didn’t she go with you?”

  “I suppose if I’d held the keys to her airplane hostage, she would have gone.” Edie smiled, a flirtatious hint to her lipstick enhanced mouth that might have appealed to him. But now, it left him with the vague yearning for something more. “Anyway, she said she had to go do her daily calisthenics.”

  He didn’t know why that news surprised him. From what he’d seen of her, Maggie Daniels had the shapely femininity of an all-American girl. “Why would she do that?”

  “I’m not sure,” Edie removed her hat pin. “But I think it has something do to with growing up with all boys.”

  “Maggie mentioned something about it.”

  Edie lifted her hat from her head and sat it down. “Merrilee told me that the competition between Maggie and her cousins was horrible. She spent most of her time worrying
those boys would goat Maggie into something and, Maggie being Maggie, was always bound and determined to come in first.”

  Wesley nodded. It’s the same determined resolve he saw in the feisty redhead when she worked through a tough problem with a P-51. “Do you know if she ever bested the boys?”

  “I asked Merrilee about that, and I have to be honest, her answer struck me as strange.”

  “What did she say?”

  Edie turned to him, her nose wrinkled in awkwardness. “Of course not. Maggie’s a girl!”

  Wesley blinked. No wonder his girl pilot was out to prove herself. The members of her own family didn’t even believe in her abilities. How would the news of her new flight status be received by her relatives? “Do you know where I might happen to find her?”

  Edie shook her head. “She’s probably out in the kitchen, helping Merrilee with dinner.”

  “Thanks.”

  Wesley walked down the hall toward the back of the house. He could appreciate the pressure Maggie was under with her family. He’d had some experience with that kind of situation himself. This assignment wasn’t another game to use in her competition her cousins, not when her life depended on it.

  Opening the back door, Wesley stepped out onto the screened porch and glanced toward the stone walled building on the southern corner of the yard. A mist of smoke signaled that Merrilee was in her kitchen, busy preparing the evening’s meal. His hand on the door knob, Wesley stopped short as Maggie came quietly out of the kitchen and headed toward the tree line at the edge of the property.

  What is that woman up to now?

  Behind the mesh of metal, Wesley studied her. Her exercise program seemed to agree with her, judging from the natural glow in her cheeks. Her starched short-sleeved shirt tucked neatly into the trim waist of a blue jumper, the feathery ruffles at the shoulders reminding Wesley of angel’s wings.