Mattie felt a rush of pride as she saw the grouping of motor vehicles gathered like a parade. Even John and the children were going to tag along.
As the rest of the group chatted among themselves, Mattie, Carrie, Sadie, and Leo mounted the rotating antenna to the strip of metal skin between the front bench and the rumble seat of the Duesenberg. When that was secured, they placed the radio unit up front in the passenger seat with Vera. Mattie and Leo squashed into the bumpy back seat. There was barely enough room for them and the control panel, but the cockpit of a plane would be crammed too.
“All ready?” Vera asked, pausing before she climbed behind the steering wheel.
“As soon as Carrie and Sadie tune the station, we can take off,” Mattie said. Since her friends couldn’t join her in the Duesy, she wanted them to be part of the critical test somehow. When the words and music to “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” became clear enough, Carrie and Sadie wished Mattie good luck before they joined Aida and her parents in the Rolls.
Mattie glanced down at the control board. “Redding is at one o’clock.”
“Right!” Leo said, his index finger on the map they’d marked with the bearings that Lily had calculated.
“It’s working! Let’s hit the road!” Vera hollered, and all the drivers started their automobiles.
“Miss the motorcycle?” Vera asked Leo as she pulled the Duesy away from the hacienda and pointed it toward the rows of vines stretching over the rolling hills. She’d added a Harley-Davidson to her collectiona few towns back. She was planning on learning to ride it for a stunt, but she let Leo use it for the most part.
“In this rumble seat, it feels about the same,” Leo said as they hit a particularly big bump. If Mattie hadn’t been wedged next to Leo, she probably would have popped up a few inches from her seat. Holding on to the control board, she called out as the indicator moved from the one o’clock position to two o’clock.
“Right on time.” Leo smiled at her, the grin so warm and natural that Mattie almost forgot to look back at her prototype.
“Eyes on the lights!” Vera cheerfully sang out. Ruby, who was sitting on her mistress’s lap, poked her little nose over the heiress’s shoulder, as if echoing the command.
Mattie obeyed, but she couldn’t resist responding, “Eyes on the road!”
“Typically, I would have a hard time looking away from the snowcapped Mount Shasta, but you and Leo can be quite fascinating.”
“You sound like Aida.” Leo rubbed the back of his head, but he only turned a light pink under his tan rather than a full red.
“Well, she did ask that I report back to her. She finds your and Mattie’s interactions over mechanical matters an interesting case study.”
“Case study?” Leo repeated, sounding more than a little discomforted by the thought of being analyzed. Mattie agreed with him but perhaps not for the same reasons. It seemed like everyone had given more thought to her relationship with Leo than she had. Every time she tried to consider the future, she shied away from it, almost as if in a panic. Since she normally faced problems head-on, her reaction was more than a little unnerving.
“Three o’clock!” Mattie cried out. She was so glad for the interruption she wanted to kiss the control board.
“Perfect,” Leo confirmed, checking the map and his watch.
“This is remarkable, Mattie.” Vera turned her head to regard them. “You are brilliant. Simply brilliant.”
Leo reached over and squeezed her hand. “You truly are, Mattie.”
He looked like he had that night in the cooling room, his blue eyes earnest, his expression relaxed, open even. She felt so close to him, so connected, yet Vera’s words had once again pricked at the fears Mattie still couldn’t completely define.
Leo held Mattie’s hand as they stepped into the courtyard on the Sanchez estate. After the ride, everyone had gone back to their rooms to freshen up. They were planning to regroup over wine, cheese, and crackers to celebrate Mattie’s latest success. It appeared that Mattie and Leo were the first to arrive.
Drawing in a deep breath, Leo consciously glanced around the garden paradise. He knew Mattie would ask him questions about their surroundings again, and he wanted to surprise her with an unprompted observation.
Over the red terra-cotta shingles, he could spy Mount Shasta in the distance, its snowy cap a burst of white against the darkness of the other visible peaks. The open side of the courtyard looked out upon the vineyards and showed a flash of blue water beyond. Manicured lemon, orange, and lime trees grew inside the courtyard along with a variety of succulents. Around the center fountain, birds-of-paradise bloomed. But the sensation that gripped Leo the most was the sweet scent from the ripening figs.
“It smells wonderful,” Leo said, and Mattie rewarded him with a smile. She sucked in her own breath, drawing back her shoulders. The motion pulled at the delicate fabric of her royal-blue dress, causing it to tighten over her breasts. She looked wonderful with her short hair ablaze and the greens in her eyes bolder than normal.
“It’s magical here,” Mattie agreed.
“Every place that Vera has taken us has been that way,” Leo admitted. It was as if he’d entered a new world entirely.
“It’s like a fairy tale with her,” Mattie said, echoing his thoughts.
“Yeah,” Leo agreed, but a whisper of disquiet crept through him... for all stories ended. He did not want his time with Mattie to draw to a close. He had never spent much time thinking about the future. But for the first time, Leo had begun to consider making plans... plans that involved Mattie. But did he dare ask her to join him permanently, this brilliant, passionate woman who was on the brink of accomplishing so much? Although she had every right to leave him behind, what would it do to him if she did?
“Hello,” Guadalupe called as she and Amando appeared, also hand in hand, interrupting Leo’s suddenly dismal thoughts. It gave him some measure of hope when Mattie’s fingers tightened around his instead of releasing them. She obviously did not mind claiming him as hers in front of these people whom she respected.
