“That’s not all, Mattie.” Leo swallowed hard. “A week after Alfred’s death, I got a letter. It came from an address I didn’t recognize. It started with the man, Clive, congratulating me for becoming an ace and saying that he thought I was his son. I had the right first name, was the right age, came from the right city, and I looked just like him. He’d included his photograph, and I realized it was true. Back then, living in that opulent château, I couldn’t escape the grief and the guilt—the horrible, horrible guilt over Alfred. I couldn’t tell you or your father about his final flight, so I wrote to this man who claimed he wanted to be my father again. I told him every single detail, said it was all my fault.”
“Oh, Leo.” Mattie’s voice held no condemnation over the fact he’d revealed private information about her brother’s death to a stranger when Leo had not told the McAdamses. Instead, her tone vibrated with concern forhim.
Emotion deepened Leo’s voice. “I never heard from my father again until he showed up at the flight school. He’d just gotten out of prison and spotted my face on the soap that I endorsed. He wanted paid, or he was going to publish the letter. I wasn’t around, but your pa was. Walt had just handed Clive a check when I walked into the office.”
Leo paused as guilt lacerated him. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if he could stop what had happened. “So you see,I’mthe reason for your family’s financial difficulties. Walt didn’t make poor decisions.Idid. He’s been protecting Alfred and me.”
Two warm hands touched his cheeks. Opening his eyes, he found Mattie watching him with nothing but love on her face. “Leo, you are no more to blame for your father’s actions than I am for Crenshaw’s.”
“You forgive me?” Leo asked, wonder shooting through his agonized remorse.
“There is nothing to forgive. You did nothing wrong.”
The conviction in Mattie’s voice triggered a relief so strong that it almost hurt. But Leo still wasn’t completely sure if he deserved any reprieve.
“But I put your whole family at risk.” Leo rubbed the back of his head until Mattie reached up with one hand and stopped him. She swept her fingers over his knuckles, soothing him, quieting the roaring fears.
“You’re part of the McAdamses too. And we always protect each other. If Pa had told the boys and me everything, we would have told him to pay off your father too—even if it hadn’t involved Alfred and it had just meant defendingyou.”
“Walt said something similar.” Leo choked out the words as a kernel of belief started to unfurl inside him, taking tenuous root.
“Then you should listen.”
“I’m not sure if I know how to step from the sidelines into the heart of a family. I’m used to being the silent, unseen guardian, but I want to be your partner.” The confession scraped against Leo’s raw, newly released emotions, but it had to be said;heneeded to say it, and Mattie deserved to hear it.
Mattie smiled through the fall of two more tears. It was her beautiful, confident grin, the one she wore when she soared through the air. She squeezed his hand like she would the stick and throttle of her Jenny, steering them both skyward.
“We’ll show each other, Leo.” Mattie smiled. “Look at the foundation we’ve built without even trying. Imagine what we’ll accomplish when we’re both working together. We’re daredevils, Leo. We’re used to making the impossible reality. Are you ready to embark on this adventure with me?”
“I’ll follow you anywhere you ask me to go, Mattie. If you’re willing to take a risk on starting a family with me, I’ll get down on one knee as soon as this busted leg heals.”
“Leo, I am an expert at risk-taking, and you aren’t one. You’re surefire.”
Her bold assurance boosted him. He’d been a fool to think he wouldn’t suit Mattie. They complemented each other, perfectly balanced counterweights.
“I love you, Mattie McAdams.”
“I love you too, Leo Ward.”
And with those words playing through his soul, Leo let his eyelids finally slide down. He permitted the exhaustion to pull him under, but he had Mattie’s confident love to anchor him and prevent him from drifting too far away.
Mattie couldn’t help but brush a strand of Leo’s hair back as he fell peacefully to sleep. She’d never experienced such an overwhelming tenderness before. It stunned her how such a soft, quiet feeling could be so undeniably fortifying.
She finally understood why Leo had betrayed her confidence all those years ago on the eve of Alfred’s memorial. With that knowledge came the rebirth of her trust in him. They had all been hurting then. There’d been so much pain. Not one of them had known how to address it. They’d stumbled along clumsily, hurting each other in the process.
Even after all these years, she and Leo were still healing from the loss of Alfred. A part of them always would be. But it was different now. Because they were grieving together, supporting each other, the way that her twin would have wanted.
Leo’s memories of Alfred’s death, his guilt at surviving when Alfred had not, his doubts about his own self-worth, his father’s betrayal—they had torn through Mattie like shards of glass slicing apart a pneumatic rubber tire. For a moment, it had deflated her to think that he saw himself as expendable. It struck her how many times Leo had performed adangerous stunt to prevent not only her from doing it but her brothers as well. Leo had been protecting them, safeguarding themallfor years, and they’d never realized he’d been their guardian angel. He’d never replaced her in dangerous stunts because he thought less of her since she was a woman but because he saw himself as the lesser—the foundling left on the stoop of a cold, austere orphanage.
But that moment in time didn’t define him; it had never defined him. Leo was neither the circumstance of his birth nor the consequence of his parents’ abandonment. He was a good-hearted hero, a fearless protector, and an amazing adventurer. He had brought so much joy into her life from their earliest days of friendship to their newly deepened relationship. And she would make sure he saw that, understood that.
For it was time that Leo had a guardian angel of his own.
Chapter Eighteen
What was initially meant as a race to determine if a female flyer could possibly outpace national war hero Mr.Earl Crenshaw ended in a nearly fatal crash for another of America’s aces, famous balloon buster Mr.Leo Ward. No one is sure why Mr.Ward was in the cockpit of the aircraft designated for Miss Mattie McAdams, but it has been rumored that the famed aviator and the petticoat flyer are sweethearts. There is some speculation that Mr.Ward meant to slip unseen into the airplane and fly in her stead, but the plan went awry, resulting in a nearly deadly tailspin into the ground. At least one expert aviator believes that the curious circumstances cast suspicion on Mr.Ward and Miss McAdams’s previous challenges and may indicate that the former balloon buster permitted the girl flyer’s alleged wins. At the very least, it appears to once again demonstrate that the dangers of flying make it an unsuitable pursuit for the weaker sex. Mr.Crenshaw is of the firm opinion that had Miss McAdams been in the cockpit rather than the experienced Mr.Ward, the apparent engine trouble would have resulted in not only her tragic passing but those of several spectators in the stands, as the femalereflexes are biologically not as fast as a man’s, especially when it comes to aviation.
—Benjamin Pringle,Oceanbreeze Chronicle,Chicago Advance Leader
