Mattie was so accustomed to pushing alone to make space for herself—it was amazing to have someone on her side, heaving against the obstacles with her. A renewed determination rushed through her, fierce and focused. This thrill was even better and definitely more durable than the one she got from flying. “I’ll make a prototype to prove that my design will work, and I’ll convince someone to buyit—be it the military, a manufacturer, or even the shortsighted airmail organizers.”
Carrie turned and pushed the largest box in her direction. “That’s the Mattie McAdams I’ve come to know. And you will have Vera’s backing, and I don’t mean just financially. Not to discount that she paid for our ‘new toys,’ but she can sell anything, including this idea of yours. And if she can’t, there’s always my mother.”
Resolutely, Mattie cracked open the wooden crate. There, nestled inside the straw, was a beautiful vacuum-tube radio. Relatively small, sleek, and compact, it was, above all, tough and ready to face the rigors Mattie would put it through.
A sharp whistle drew Mattie’s and Carrie’s attention to the now-open door, where Sadie stood admiring the new equipment. “Well, isn’t he a beaut!”
Mattie laughed. “I thought machines were usually referred to asshes.”
“That’s because it’s mostly men doing the talking,” Sadie pointed out. “Are you ready to start creating this antenna of yours?”
Carrie glanced at Mattie, her look questioning. Mattie nodded to indicate to the other aviatrix that she’d put all those worries behind her and that she was ready to soar.
“I’ll work on the worm gear.” Carrie headed over to the lathe and ran her eyes across it appreciatively. “Even Vera’s machinery is ritzy. Many factories don’t even have something of this quality.”
“I’ll throw together a wooden box to hold the motor and drivetrain that will spin the loop antenna.” Mattie headed over to the scrap pile of wood to find suitable pieces. “I need to whack something anyway.”
“Brother troubles again?” Sadie asked.
“Actually, this time Jake was mostly being supportive,” Mattie admitted. “I’m just vexed at how we fly girls are always having to prove ourselves over and over again, whether inside the cockpit or outside of it.”
“I understand that.” Sadie headed over to the stores of wire. “I’ll work on making the loop antenna.”
As Mattie sawed and hammered away her lingering frustrations, she found a surprising peace underneath it all. She felt... comfortable, at home even, surrounded by these women who didn’t let wood, metal, or radio waves intimidate them any more than they did the constraints of gravity.
Connection. It was something she’d been unconsciously searching for, especially after Alfred’s death, and she wondered if she’d finally found it with both Leo and the Flying Flappers.
“Swanky place you’re staying in.”
Leo froze in the middle of the hotel lobby. He’d only heard the deep voice once before in his adult life, but he wasn’t apt to forget it.
“I told you not to approach me again, Clive.” Leo kept his voice cold and steady, his only weapon in this particular skirmish.
His father stepped from a dark corner, his overcoat tattered and worn. With all the dough showered on the bastard from Walt and Leo, he could have afforded better. Much better. But it appeared all the money was immediately transferred into liquid form and then literally pissed away.
“You haven’t answered my letters.” The ragged man didn’t move any farther from the shadows, probably because the hotel staff would have booted him from the spiffy premises. But Clive was good at sneaking into places where he didn’t belong.
“The well is dry. You’ve drained Mr.McAdams, and you’ve drained me.”
A smile slipped across Clive’s features. Hard living had cut deep grooves into his leathery skin, but he still maintained vestiges of handsomeness... and features that Leo recognized from the mirror. Itwouldn’t be hard for folks to see the relationship—something the cowardly snake used to his advantage.
“That rich Miss Jones must pay a pretty penny. She ain’t too hard on the eyes either. Maybe you could persuade her to give you a little extra.”
Leo spread his legs apart and stiffened his back. “I don’t seduce women to get my way.”
“Must not take after me, then.” This time the man’s grin showed a broken tooth.
Clive wasn’t just shameless; hereveledin his lack of a moral code. And Mattie would be walking into this room in mere minutes.
Leo dug into his pocket and pulled out his billfold. He yanked out the money and thrust every buck in his old man’s direction. “Here, take it. It’s all I have right now.”
Clive’s fingers closed around the thin stack. “Mighty obliged.”
Leo didn’t respond.
His father tipped his battered cap. “Be seeing you around.”
The bastard melted away, somehow making himself unobtrusive despite the contrast between his old-fashioned rags and the sleek minimalist interior of the Prairie School–style hotel, which was located between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Leo swallowed, suddenly yearning for a shower. A long one.
