Wings

“Poor guy. This is going to be the longest engagement in history. What is that? Another three and a half years?”

“Yes.” She grinned mischievously at him, and he couldn't help but laugh as he resisted an urge to kiss her. He was so relieved by what she'd said. He had felt sick when he first saw the engagement ring. He hated the idea of her being married to anyone, or even engaged, but Bobby wasn't much of a threat actually. Sooner or later Cassie would have to figure that out for herself, but then someone else would be. And he knew how much it would bother him when that happened.

“Okay… get your ass in gear, O'Malley… let's see another dead stick landing.” He was going to take her up again.

“You must think I'm going to spend half my life on the ground instead of in the air. Can't you teach anything else, Stick?” She emphasized the word. “Or is that the only trick in your repertoire?” She loved teasing him, loved being with him, loved being with the only person in the world who really understood her. And better yet, if they could be flying.

This time he sent her up alone, and watched her land perfectly, dead stick, then again without a hitch, and finally, without flicking an eye or a wing in the cross-winds.

It really was a shame, he found himself thinking again, that her father refused to watch her fly. It would have given him so much pleasure.

“Ready to call it a day?” he asked, as they walked back to her truck, so she could drive home to Good Hope.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said sadly. “I always hate to come down. I wish I could go on forever.”

“Maybe you should be a Skygirl when you grow up,” he teased her again, and she swatted him with her gloves, but she looked sad. She really had no options. And if it weren't for Nick, she couldn't fly at all.

“Take it easy, kid,” he said gently. “He'll come around.”

“No, he won't,” she said, knowing her father.

Nick touched her hand, and her eyes met his. She was grateful for all that he had given her, and his kindness. They had the kind of friendship that neither of them had ever found with anyone else. She was a great girl, and a good friend, and they had fun on their stolen afternoons at their airstrip. Nick only wished it could go on forever. He couldn't imagine not meeting her like this anymore, or not having her to fly with, and share his thoughts with. In all the important ways, she was the only person he really talked to. And he was her only friend too. The only tragedy, for both of them, was that there was nothing more ahead for them in the future.

She drove home alone late that afternoon, thinking of him, and it started to snow just after she got back. She went into the house and helped her mother cook dinner for the four of them, but her father was late. And an hour later, he still hadn't come home. Oona finally sent Chris out with the truck to find Pat at the airport.

Chris came back twenty minutes later to grab something to eat for him and Pat. There was a train wreck two hundred miles southwest of them, with hundreds of injuries, and they were asking for rescue teams from everywhere. Pat was organizing rescue teams at the airport, and he wanted Chris to help him. Nick was there too, and they were calling all their pilots in to fly. But three were home sick, and too ill to come in, and they hadn't been able to reach some of the others. They were still waiting for a few more to come in. Pat had told Chris to tell his mother they wouldn't be back all night. Oona nodded, used to this, and packed some food for them to eat at the airport.

“Wait!” Cassie said, as Chris started to go back to him. “I'll come with you.”

“You shouldn't…” Oona started to object, but at the look on her daughter's face, she shrugged. There was no harm in it. All she could do was sit at the airport. “All right. I'll pack something for you to eat too.”

She gave them a basket filled with food, and Cassie and Chris drove off, skidding on and off the old road on the property to the airport. It was an icy night, and the snow had been falling for two hours. She wondered if they'd even be able to take off. Conditions did not look good, and her father looked worried when she and Chris walked into his office at the airport.