The little trickle of guilt returned. “I’m sorry we’re leaving, Pa. I only meant it to be me, not the two of us. But we’ll both be making a lot of cash, which we’ll send back to you to pay off the debts—”
Her father pulled her into his arms again. “I’ll be fine, Swift. I can manage to find my way out of this financial difficulty. I have in the past.”
“You’re not mad that I’m striking out on my own?”
“Not in the slightest. Just promise that you’ll write.”
“I’ll send you a letter every week.”
Her father gave her a squeeze. “You take care of yourself and Leo.”
Mattie sniffed at the idea of Leo allowing that. “He thinkshe’s the one watching overme.”
Her father patted her shoulder. “I have a feeling that you’re both going to discover something about each other.”
“Why are you supporting her harebrained ideas, Leo?” Otto and his brothers were following Leo as he checked the propellers for pitting. Leo was doing his best to ignore the gaggle of McAdamses... and the guilt chewing at his gut, but succeeded at neither.
“Back up,” Leo barked out before he yanked the uninspected blade downward. He’d never liked conflict much, and arguing with a McAdams never led to any good.
“Surely you don’t approve of what she’s doing?” Otto demanded.
“Mattie can soar as well as any male pilot—probably better,” Leo said quietly as he reached up to touch the belly of the plane. Luckily what he’d thought was a tear was merely a shadow.
“See,” Jake said. “Youareencouraging her.”
Leo sighed as he cocked his head to scan the plane’s canvas skin for any rips. He wished the problems in life could be so easy to spot and repair. Luckily, before any McAdams brother could raise another complaint, Mattie stepped out from the hangar. Her brothers instantly headed in her direction. Leo debated about intercepting them, but Mattie had always been able to hold her own. And he wanted a chance to talk to her father alone.
Slipping past the debating siblings, he headed into the barn, where he found Walt McAdams waiting for him. The man nodded at his entrance. “I figured you’d be in here next.”
More remorse flooded Leo. He’d always held a deep admiration for the soft-spoken man, so different than the rest of the raucous clan. He kept the group together—the soft yet strong mortar between a bunch of hard bricks.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
A wisp of a smile pulled at the man’s thin lips. “No reason to be, son. This has Mattie’s stamp all over it.”
Son.Walt had always called him that. It both warmed him and made him uncomfortable, especially now.
Leo rubbed the back of his head. “That’s notallthat I have to apologize for.”
Walt placed his hand on Leo’s shoulder. There used to be a time when Leo would have flinched at the contact, but the McAdamses were a physically demonstrative lot. After all these years, he’d mostly learned to accept their embraces, just as he’d learned the mechanics of airplanes.
“You’re not responsible for that man’s actions, Leo.”
“But he ismyfather,” Leo pointed out, unable to keep the bitter frustration from creeping into his voice, “and you paid him off to protectme.”
The lines in Walt’s face deepened, but his broad shoulders didn’t sag. “That was my decision, Leo. I didn’t even want you knowing about it.”
But Leo had walked into Walt’s office that day. He’d heard the awful story the bastard planned to take to the press unless Walt coughed up dough. And over Leo’s protests, Walt had.
“You’ve protected me,” Leo choked out, “even from your own family. You haven’t once hinted why the flight school is in arrears.”
“I won’t, because it is not your fault. You need to forget about the money, Leo.”
But I can’t.Leo wanted so badly to keep on arguing, as if words could somehow fix the turmoil he’d once again brought down on the McAdamses. But he’d never done well talking about feelings. He was good with discussing SPADs, Nieuports, and Sopwith Camels—mechanical things, orderly things,predictablethings. And this was as messy as it got.
Walt studied him closely. “Has your father tried contacting you again?”
Leo never lied to the man who had given him so much... except about this. “No. He hasn’t.”
