“I am.” It came out as breathless as she felt. She’d only been kissed once, so she could hardly call that experience.
“It’s okay; we’ll go slow,” he promised as his hand rose to cup her cheek. “I don’t want you to be frightened when I turn the controls over.”
She ignored whatever Americanism that was and arched her neck, but the man stepped back. He. Backed. Away? She stood there like a fish with her mouth open as he grinned.
“Let’s go, trainee, let’s make this little flight legitimate.” He held out his hand.
She blinked rapidly. “Trainee?” Was she getting her vernacular confused?
He drew her against him, caressing her neck and tunneling his hands through her hair as he lowered his lips to what had to be only centimeters above her own.
“You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now, Scarlett.”
And there went her knees.
Good, then they were on the same page.
“But if we don’t leave right this second, we’ll lose the horizon, and that will make it three times harder to keep the airplane level while you’re flying it.”
She gasped, and he brushed his lips over hers, taunting her with the promise of a kiss before leaving her wanting.
“Wait. Flying it?” she exclaimed.
“Well, yeah, what do you think training flights are for?” He took her hand and tugged her gently. “Come on, you’re going to love it. It’s addictive.”
“And deadly.”
He turned, then lifted her in his arms so he could place her on the wing. Everywhere their bodies connected hummed.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised. “You just have to trust me.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. I can do that.”
Chapter Five
Georgia
Dear Constance,
Leaving you today was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. If it were only me, I never would have left. I would have stayed by your side and seen this war through, just as we promised. But we both know this was never about me. My heart screams for all that we’ve lost in the past few days—at the injustice of it all. I promised you once that I would never allow our father to get his hands on William, and I won’t.
I wish I could keep you safe as well. Our lives have turned out so very differently than we planned. I wish you were with me, that we had taken this journey together. You have been my compass all these years, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to find my way without you, but as I promised this morning as we said our goodbyes, I will do my best. I carry you with me in my heart, always. I see you in William’s blue eyes—our eyes—and his sweet smile. You were always meant for happiness, Constance, and I’m so sorry that my choices robbed you of so many chances to find it. There will always be a place for you with me.
I love you with all my heart,
Scarlett
“And then it just…ends,” I said to Hazel as we sat on her back patio, watching her toddlers splash around in the baby pool at our feet. “And as a reader, it’s the darkest moment, so you know there has to be a third act, right? But as her great-granddaughter—” I shook my head. “I understand why she could never write it.”
I’d finished the manuscript at six a.m. but waited until the clock chimed seven before calling Hazel, and it was a respectable noon before I’d shown up at her place after a quick cat nap. She’d been my best friend since kindergarten—the year Mom left me on Gran’s doorstep for the second time—and our friendship had survived despite the vastly different paths our lives had taken.
“So the book is based on her own life?” She leaned forward and wiggled her finger at her son in the blow-up pool in front of us. “No, no, Colin, you can’t take your sister’s ball. Give it back.”
The mischievous little blond who happened to look just like his mother reluctantly returned the beach ball to his younger sister.
“Yep. The manuscript stops right before she left for the States, at least that’s what the letters indicate. And the letters…” I blew my breath out slowly, trying to exhale the ache in my chest. That love, it wasn’t what I’d had with Damian, and it started to make sense why Gran had been so against my marrying him. “They loved each other so much. Can you believe my mother found an entire box of Gran’s correspondence from the war and never even told me?” I stretched my legs out in front of me, resting one bare foot on the side of the pool.
“Well…” Hazel grimaced. “It’s your mom.” She quickly sipped at her iced tea.
“True.” I felt my sigh in the depths of my bones. Hazel did her best not to go negative when it came to Mom, and truthfully, she was probably the only one I’d allow to, since she’d been around through the worst of it. That was the thing about Mom—I could criticize her, but no one else was allowed to.
“How is it? Being home?” she asked. “Not that I’m not personally psyched that you’re here, because I am.”
“You’re just happy to have someone else around you trust to babysit,” I teased.
“Guilty. But seriously, how is it?”
“Complicated.” I watched her children splash in the mid-shin water and contemplated my answer. “If I close my eyes, I can pretend the last six years never happened. I never fell for Damian. I never met Damian’s…fiancée—”
“Noooo!” Hazel gasped, her mouth dropping open. “He’s engaged?”
“He is, according to the seventeen text messages I’ve gotten today. Thank God for do-not-disturb.” The future Mrs. Damian Ellsworth was now a twenty-two-year-old blonde with much bigger breasts than the ones filling my healthy C cup. I shrugged. “I expected it, seeing as she’s due any minute now.” Didn’t make it hurt any less, but it wasn’t like I could change anything that had happened.
“I’m sorry,” Hazel said quietly. “He never deserved you.”
“You know that’s not true, not at first anyway.” I wiggled my ringless fingers at her two-year-old, Danielle, who gave me a toothy smile in return. “He wanted kids. I didn’t give him kids. In the end, he found someone who could. Does it hurt like a bi—” I cringed but caught myself. Hazel would never let me live it down if her kids started swearing because of me. “That he didn’t exactly wait for our marriage to end before hooking up with his lead? Or that it was on one of Gran’s movies? Sure, but we both know she wasn’t the first girl in his trailer, and she won’t be the last. I don’t envy her that.” I’d been the launchpad for his career. I just hadn’t admitted it until the last few years. “Besides, we both know the love was long gone.” It had died little by little with Damian’s affairs that I’d pretended hadn’t happened, hollowing me out until all I had left to hold on to was my pride.