"I could sure have a good time with that, couldn't I?" But like Ca.s.sie, it wasn't the money that appealed to him, it was the excitement and the challenge. It was the same thing that appealed to Desmond, and had even sparked a flicker of excitement in her father. "Well, let me know what you do." And like her father, he suspected that she had already made the decision. She had, but she was trying it on for size, thinking about it, trying to be sure she wanted to make the commitment. Working for Desmond for another year was one thing, that was an easy choice, but agreeing to do the world tour was entirely different, and she knew it. She knew how great the risks were, and the benefits, if she made it. Imagine what Earhart would have been if she had succeeded. It was hard to imagine her legend being even stronger than it was, but it would have been. If only...

Billy left on a quick hop to Cleveland that afternoon, and her father was still at home, so Ca.s.sie volunteered to stick around and close the office. She put some papers away for them, and then she put on a familiar pair of overalls and went out to gas some planes. She had nothing else to do, and it would save Billy some work in the morning.

She had just finished the last of them, and put away some tools, when she saw a small plane coming in on the main runway. The little plane didn't seem to hesitate. It came right in, and then taxied toward the far hangar. She wondered if it was a regular, it had to be. She didn't know all of them anymore. He seemed to know exactly where to go, and what to do. She watched him for a minute, but the sun was in her eyes. And then she saw him. It couldn't be... it couldn't... but it was. He had come home to them. It was Nick. And she was crying as she ran toward him. She flew into his arms and he held her there, careful of her bandaged arm. It brought it all back to be there with him, the sorrow and the pain, and the shock of losing Chris mingled with the pleasure of seeing Nick now. He kissed her long and hard, and she felt safe and at peace suddenly, knowing he was home now.

"They let me go as soon as I heard," he explained when they came up for air. "But I had a h.e.l.l of a time getting to New York. I had to fly out of Lisbon, I got in last night, and I chartered this crate in New York this morning. I never thought I'd make it. The d.a.m.n thing barely got off the ground in New Jersey."

"I'm so glad you're here." She hugged him again, so relieved to see him. And he looked incredibly handsome in his RAF uniform. But also very worried.

"How's your dad?"

"Not great," she said honestly. "He'll be glad to see you. I'll drive you over now. You can stay with us." And then she almost choked on the words, "You can have Chris's room... or mine... I'll sleep on the couch." Billy was living in Nick's old shack, and it would have been close quarters with both of them there.

"I can sleep on the floor," he grinned. "It's not a problem. The British aren't known for their comfortable barracks. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last September."

"When are you coming home?" she asked, as she drove him to her parents' house.

"When it's over." But it wouldn't be over soon. Now that France had fallen three weeks before, Hitler had control of an even larger chunk of Europe. And the British had their hands full keeping him from trying to take what was left of the French fleet in North Africa. Their problems were far from over.

Nick inquired about her arm, and she admitted it hurt, but was getting better.

They had arrived at the house by then, and her father was sitting in a chair on the porch looking doleful.

"Cot a cot for a soldier, Ace?" Nick said quietly as he stepped onto the porch and walked swiftly to his old friend and embraced him. The two men cried, sharing each other's pain, and Ca.s.sie left them alone to talk and fix them some dinner. Her mother had gone to bed with a terrible headache. She was still taking it very hard, understandably, he had been her baby, and so young. He was only twenty.

Ca.s.sie made them both sandwiches and poured them beer, and her mother had made a big salad in case they wanted it. It was enough. None of them were very hungry. And as they ate, Nick told them about what was happening in Europe. He had heard tales of the fall of France three weeks before, and the heartbreaking fall of Paris. The Germans were everywhere, and the British were afraid Hitler would try to take them next, and there was some fear that he might succeed, although no one said it.

"Are they letting you fly missions yet?" Pat asked, smiling at the memories of their days together at the end of the last war.

"They're too smart for that, Ace. They know I'm over the hill."

"Not at your age. Give 'em time. When things get hot for them, they're going to throw your behind into a fighter and kiss you good-bye in a hot minute."

"I hope not." It made Ca.s.sie angry listening to them. They all loved war so much, and as far as they were concerned, it was all right to take chances, as long as they were the ones who did it.

She left them talking on the porch late that night. She would have liked to talk to Nick too, but she knew her father needed him more. And she had time. Nick was there for three days. She would see him in the morning.

Her father finally went to his office the next day, and he was pleased to find everything in good order. Billy had taken good care of the planes. Ca.s.sie had taken good care of his desk, and his pilots were all standing by waiting for directions. It did him good to come back, and halfway through the morning, Ca.s.sie was surprised when Desmond called her. He asked if it was okay to talk, and she stepped in and closed the door to her father's office.

"It's fine. You're nice to call."

"I've been worried about you, Ca.s.s. But I didn't want to intrude at a time like this. How's the arm?"

"I'll be fine." She didn't want to worry him by telling him how bad it really was, but so far it was healing nicely. "Is everything all right there?" she asked, feeling guilty for staying away for so long. She had been gone almost a week now, but he had told her not to to rush back. She apologized again, and he told her to stay as long as she wanted. rush back. She apologized again, and he told her to stay as long as she wanted.

"How are your parents?"

"Not great. But my dad came to work today. I think it'll do him good, especially once someone makes him mad about something. It'll take his mind off his troubles." He laughed at what she said, and asked if she'd given the world tour any more thought, and she smiled and said she had. "I talked to my father about it."

"I imagine he was thrilled to hear about it right now. Your Your timing wasn't exactly the best, Miss O'Malley." He almost groaned at the thought of her telling him now. He could just imagine what he must have said. But she surprised him. timing wasn't exactly the best, Miss O'Malley." He almost groaned at the thought of her telling him now. He could just imagine what he must have said. But she surprised him.

"Actually, he wasn't all that opposed to it, after we talked about it for a while. I think he's worried about a lot of things, but he was surprisingly reasonable. I think he sees it as a great opportunity for me. He told me I had to make up my own mind."

"And have you?" he asked, holding his breath. He had been frantic about her since she left. And he was surprised at how much he missed her. And he was even more worried she might not come back to LA or renew her contract after her brother's death. She was an important part of his life now.

"Almost," she told him tantalizingly. "I just want to think it out while I'm here. Ill tell you the minute I get back, Desmond, I promise."

"I can't stand the suspense." And he meant it. It was driving him crazy.

"I think you'll find the answer worth waiting for," she teased and he grinned. He liked the way she sounded. And he couldn't help thinking of how she looked, as he talked to her. She had even looked beautiful at the funeral with her ravaged face and heavily bandaged arm, but it seemed wrong to think so.

"Promises, promises. Hurry up and come home, I miss you."

"I miss you too." She said it as she would have to a friend, as she would have to Chris, or to Billy. She missed talking to him at the crazy hours when they were both awake, and about the things they both cared about, his airplanes.

"I'll see you soon, Ca.s.s."

"Take care. Thanks for calling." She hung up and went back outside to her father and Nick. Her father asked her who had called and she told him Desmond Williams.

"What did he want?" Nick asked, looking annoyed.

'To talk to me," she said coolly. She didn't like the way Nick had asked the question. He was acting as though he owned her. And for a man who hadn't even bothered to write in three months, that was pushing his luck, or so she thought.

"What about?" Nick persisted.

"Business," she said bluntly and changed the subject.

Fat smiled then and walked away. He could see a storm gathering, and he could only smile. She was definitely an O'Malley.

"How's the arm?" Nick asked when they were alone again.

"So-so," she said honestly. "It's starting to hurt like h.e.l.l, which they claim is a good sign." She shrugged and looked up at him then, and invited him to take a walk with her. He agreed and they strolled to the far edges of the airport.

"What are you doing these days, Ca.s.s?" He sounded gentler than he had a few minutes before, and her heart melted again the minute he came near her, and put an arm around her.

"The same stuff. Flying planes, pushing limits. My contract is up this week. They've offered me a new one."

"Same terms?" he asked bluntly.

"Better." So was she.

"Are you going to do it?"

"I think so."

And then Nick asked a question she hadn't expected. "Are you in love with him, Ca.s.s?" He looked worried as he asked, and she smiled at the bluntness of the question.

"Desmond? Of course not. We're friends, but that's all. He's a very lonely person."

"So am I, in England." But he didn't sound sorry for himself as he said it. He sounded angry about Desmond, and jealous.

"Apparently not lonely enough to be bothered writing to me," she said tartly. She hated not hearing from him, especially since he wrote to her father sometimes, and to Billy.

"You know how I feel about that. There's no point stringing you along, or our getting tied up with each other, Ca.s.s. There's no future in it for you."

"I still don't see why not. Unless you don't love me. That I could understand. This I can't. This is crazy."

"It's very simple. I could be dead next week."

"So could I. So what, we're fliers. I'm willing to take my chances on you. Are you willing to take them on me?"

"That's not the point and you know it. If I do get lucky and survive, which would be lucky for me, and maybe not so lucky for you, then what? You live in a shack and starve for the rest of your life? Congratulations to the big winner. I'm a flier, Ca.s.s. I'm never going to have a hill of beans. I never minded till now. I never paid attention, just like Billy isn't. He's having a good time. So was I. I still am. Then what? It's no future for you, Ca.s.s. I won't do that. And your father would kill me if I let you do that to yourself."

"He may kill you sooner if you don't wind up with me. He thinks we're both crazy. Me for loving you, and you for running."

"Maybe he's right. Who knows, but that's the way I see it."

"And what if I save some money?" It was an interesting question.

"Good for you. Enjoy it. I hope you do. You're practically a movie star these days. Every time I see a newsreel from home now, you're in it more than Hitler."

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, it's true. Williams sure knows what he's doing.

So what are you asking me? If you get rich thanks to him, am I willing to live off of you? The answer is no, if that's the question."

"You don't make anything easy, do you?" She was beginning to get annoyed. He made everything impossible. Heads I win, tails you lose. He had loaded the dice, and she just couldn't win a round, and she was getting sick of it. "Are you saying that if you'd saved some money over these past few years, then you'd come home and marry me. But since you didn't, if I make some money, that's not okay. Is that it?"

"You've got it," he said smugly. He had decided not to ruin her life, and he was determined to do everything he had to to stick by it. "I don't live off women."

"You don't make much sense either. You're the only man I've ever met who's more stubborn than my father. And he's at least beginning to make sense in his old age. Just how long do I have to wait with you?" She said impatiently.

"Till I get soft upstairs," he said with a grin, "and it won't be long now." He was tired of arguing with her. All he wanted was to put his arms around her and kiss her. It drove him up the wall when he saw her in the newsreels. He wanted to shout, "Hey, that's my girl!" But she wasn't. He wouldn't let her be. She was his best friend's daughter, and the girl he'd been in love with since she was three. Try explaining that to a bunch of guys in the RAF. It had blocked him off his feet to realize that. Two or three of them had her on their walls as pinups.

"Get over here," he said gruffly, as she stood several feet away with her arms crossed, tapping her foot at him. "And don't look at me like that."

"Why not?" She scowled at him.

"Because I may be a complete jerk, and I may want you to marry someone half my age and have ten kids, but I still love you, Ca.s.s... I always will, baby... you know that."

"Oh, Nick." She melted at the sight of him, and as he pulled her into his arms all she wanted was him. They stood together and kissed for a long time, forgetting all the words and the arguments and the problems. And then they walked slowly back to the airport. Her father saw them from where he sat in his office, and he figured they had worked things out. He wondered when they were going to get smart and figure out that they had something rare and important. But they were both stubborn as h.e.l.l, and he wasn't going to get into it with them. He wondered if she had told Nick about the world tour yet, and what he would say. But it was only the next day that it came up, as they were all three sitting in Pat's office.

"What are you talking about?" Nick looked confused. Pat had referred to it, and Nick had no idea what he was saying.

Pat looked at his daughter then and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to tell him?"

'Tell me what? Oh great. So what's the big secret?" He knew she wasn't in love with someone else or even seeing anyone, although he had told her to, and she had had a fit over his telling her that. And she certainly wasn't pregnant, since he pretty much knew she was a virgin. There had never been anyone in Ca.s.sie's life except Bobby, and Nick. And all she and Bobby had ever done was a little light kissing on the porch. And Nick would never have touched her. "So what's the deal here?"

She decided to tell him herself. It wasn't a fait accompli yet. But she was as good as sure. And she was going to tell Desmond when she went back to LA that she was going.

"I've had a very interesting offer from Williams Aircraft."

"I know. For another year. You told me," he said smugly, but Ca.s.sie only looked at him and then slowly shook her head as Pat watched her.

"No. For a world tour. A year from now. I've been thinking about it, and I talked to Dad about it before you got here. But I wanted to make up my own mind before I told you."

"A world tour world tour?" He exploded onto his feet with a look of outrage.

"That's right, Nick," she said calmly. She didn't tell him the price attached to it, because that wasn't why she wanted to do it. And saying it sounded vulgar.

"I told you that's what that sonofab.i.t.c.h had in mind right from the beginning. G.o.ddammit, Ca.s.sie, don't you ever listen?" He raged at her, swinging at the air with a pointing finger. "That's what the newsreels are all about, and the constant publicity. He wanted to make you into a name, and now he's going to exploit the h.e.l.l out of you, and risk your life. There's a war going on, how the h.e.l.l do you think you're going to do it? Even if you do figure out some insane route, which I doubt. G.o.ddammit, Ca.s.s, I won't let you do it!"

"That's my decision, Nick," she said quietly. "It's not up to you. Any more than your joining the RAF was mine. We make our own decisions."

"Oh great. So what is this? Revenge? Because I volunteered? Or because I don't write you? Don't you understand what this guy is doing? He's using you, Ca.s.s. For G.o.d's sake, wake up, before he kills you." Nick was in a total rage over what Williams was doing, and Ca.s.s refused to see it.

"He's not going to kill me. That's ridiculous."

"Are you crazy? Do you know how dangerous that trip is, with or without the war? It's suicide. And you won't make it. You don't have the endurance or the experience."

"I do now."

"Bulls.h.i.t, all you do is fly test flights. That's nothing like it. When was the last time you flew long distance?"

"Last week when I came here. I do it all the time, Nick."

"You'll kill yourself, you d.a.m.n fool. And what about you?"

He turned to Fat with a look of fury. "You're willing to let her do this?"

"I'm not happy about it," Pat said sadly. He had just lost a son after all, but he had learned a lot in recent years, and much of it from Ca.s.sie. "But she's old enough to make up her own mind, Nick, for better or worse. I don't have a right to make her decisions for her." Ca.s.sie wanted to cheer when she heard him.

"What happened to you?" Nick looked stunned. "How can you say that?"

"Because I've grown older and wiser, and maybe you need to too. On the one hand you tell her she's on her own, you won't marry her because you're too old for her or G.o.d knows why and then you want to tell her what to do. It doesn't work that way, Nick. And even if you marry her, she may not let you tell her what to do. It's a new generation of women out there. I'm learning fast fast. And I'm d.a.m.n glad I got Oona when I did, I can tell you. They're a complicated lot, these newfangled women."

"I don't believe you. You sold out. You've let her talk you into this."

"No." Pat was adamant. "She hasn't even told me if she's going yet. This is her decision, Nick. All hers. Not yours, or mine. I don't want to be the man who kept her from it, if I stop her, and you shouldn't either."

"And if it kills her?" Nick asked bluntly.

"Then I'll never forgive myself," Pat answered honestly. "But I still have to let her do it." There were tears in his eyes as he said the words, and she walked over and kissed him.

Nick was staring at her when she turned to him again. "Well, are are you going to do it?" Both men held their breath while they waited, and then she nodded, and Nick looked as though he might cry. you going to do it?" Both men held their breath while they waited, and then she nodded, and Nick looked as though he might cry.

"Yes, I am. But I haven't told Desmond."