She and Finn made the rounds throughout New York City, locking down ongoing commitments. Mingling with rich people to ask for money wasn’t exactly enjoyable, but they were good at it. Finn borrowed a Curtiss biplane to deliver on his promise of taking Alfred Pollard on a flight over Manhattan. It gave Delia the idea to hold a charity raffle, the prize being an airplane ridewith America’s hero. The raffle raised eight thousand dollars, and the winner was Mrs. Edna Orenburg, a middle-aged matron who arrived at the airfield with her four adult children and sixteen grandchildren to watch the spectacle.
Mrs. Orenburg looked frightened but excited as Delia helped the lady pull on a man’s leather jacket over her plain brown frock. Once she had a scarf around her neck and a pair of goggles to protect her eyes, Finn placed a wooden crate outside the rear seat of the airplane for her to board.
It took both the lady’s sons to steady their mother as she clambered first onto the lower wing, then into the back seat of the biplane. Painted a cheerful yellow with navy trim, the airplane still looked big and scary to Delia. Finn stood on the lower wing to holler last-minute instructions to the matron, and then he hopped into the cockpit and signaled to a man with the ground crew to crank the propeller.
The engine roared to life with a deafening rumble. The crew backed away, nodding and waving at Finn. Wind from the propeller whipped at Delia’s hair, and thick exhaust fumes made her nose twitch. Then Finn increased power using a lever, causing the biplane to start rolling forward.
“Bon voyage!” Mrs. Orenburg called to her family, waving both hands wildly.
Delia’s heart swelled with pride as the plane, with Finn at the controls, raced down the runway and took off into the air. The Orenburg family cheered and hooted, and Mrs. Orenburg’s shriek of joy carried on the wind.
Delia shaded her eyes, watching the cheerful yellow biplane grow smaller as it veered to fly over the tallest buildings in Manhattan.Oh,Finn. Happiness mingled with shame as she watched him climb higher into the sky. Back when she lived at the orphanage, she’d tried everything to dissuade him from moving to Hammondsport to learn how to fly. She’d been so afraid of losing him that she stood in the way of his dreams, but thank heavens, he got there in the end. Finn was born to fly.
The flight lasted less than ten minutes, and Mrs. Orenburg’s graying hair was a frazzled mess as she was helped out of the airplane and onto the ground. She beamed as her family swarmed around her.
“Want to go up for a ride?” Finn asked Delia. His face was wind-chapped, and his eyes sparkled.
“Heavens, no!” she said.
“You’ll never forget it,” Mrs. Orenburg said. She wobbled and leaned on one of her sons as he guided her away from the plane.
Finn nudged her arm, grinning with that devil-may-care charm of his. “Come on, Dee. Don’t be such a scaredy-cat.”
The word stung. He didn’t mean to be cruel, but shewasa scaredy-cat. It was one thing to imagine what it would be like to fly through the air, but when it came to actually doing it? The prospect made her want to run all the way back to the safety of her apartment. “I really don’t want to, Finn.”
The teasing glint faded from Finn’s expression, and he tried to mask his disappointment, but she knew him too well. “Another time, then,” he said, and she nodded in relief.
“Yes, another time,” she said, knowing it would never happen. Yet they’d earned eight thousand dollars from the raffle. It was enough for her to be proud, even though she still felt like a bit of a coward.
Each week she and Finn visited Bertie’s town house to present him with a list of new donations. By the end of November, she was happy to report that they’d raised two million dollars. It was still short of their goal, but Bertie had arranged for short-term loans to keep the ships supplied.
One evening in the first week of December, Bertie invited them inside for hot cider and conversation. The parlor was decorated with Christmas greenery and cinnamon-scented red candles, yet despite the cheery atmosphere, Bertie was clearly upset.
“I have a new request,” he began, then strode to a standing globe in the corner of the room. He gestured them over and spunthe globe to land a finger on a small country in northern Europe. “That’s the Netherlands. It’s a neutral country, which is why I’ve been using their port at Rotterdam to deliver supplies. Now that the United States has joined the war, the prime minister of the Netherlands wants to close the port to our ships.”
“Why?” Delia asked.
Bertie’s answer was diplomatic. “The Dutch know that if they show favor toward the Allies, the Germans are likely to invade, and in doing so, turn them into another Belgium. They are therefore adamant about maintaining their neutrality. The publicity about Finn’s escape is beginning to backfire, and General Ryckman is rattling his saber.”
Delia met Finn’s worried gaze, remembering what he’d said about the despised German general who ruled over occupied Belgium. Bertie went on to report that General Ryckman was bitter about not succeeding with capturing Finn, as well as not apprehending the people who had helped him escape. All of this was made worse by the flurry of boastful newspaper articles coming out of America.
“General Ryckman has issued a bounty on the head of anyone who helped Finn escape. Although he has no proof, he is accusing the CRB with being complicit in Finn’s escape.”
Anxiety squeezed Delia’s gut. Finndiduse the CRB to escape.
“How can we help?” Finn asked.
“I want to lean on the prime minister of the Netherlands,” Bertie said. “He might be persuaded to keep the Port of Rotterdam open to us. I’ve never met Prime Minister Jansen, but he was college roommates with William Howard Taft.”
“The former president?” Finn asked.
Bertie nodded. “President Taft was stunned when he lost the last election, but he still has plenty of political capital. I don’t know the man, butyou,” he said, clapping Finn on the shoulder, “well, you’re a war hero, and Taft has great respect for men like you. I want you to make a personal appeal to President Taft. Get him tolean on Jansen and his other connections in the Netherlands to keep the Port of Rotterdam open to us.”
“Are you able to arrange a meeting?” Finn asked.
“Already done!” Bertie replied, and Delia’s heart started to beat faster. She’d met a lot of important people in the city, but no one close to the stature of an American president.
Bertie turned to Delia. “Ever since leaving the presidency, Taft has been at Yale, teaching classes on constitutional law. Head on up there, share Finn’s story, and both of you convince Taft to put pressure on the prime minister to keep Rotterdam open to the CRB. Spare no effort. Ineedthat port in the Netherlands.”
