Page 61 of Air Affair

“Six thousand sounds grand. But you know I haven’t finished my engineering degree yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. You have deep, practical experience with these machines. Couple that with your engineering mindset, and you are one in a million. Plus, you’re a smart business thinker. What you said to the major back there was spot on. I was about to suggest the same myself. If you want to finish your degree, I’ll pay for it.”

“Thank you, sir. You’re too generous.” This was truly above and beyond what he ever could have expected.

“No, I’m practical. Plenty of my competitors would love to get their hands on someone like you. It’s in my interest to keep you happy. Now, when can you start?”

That depended. “I’ll put in the paperwork to resign my commission today. It usually takes ninety days to process, and it could take more. But perhaps you could reach out to your army connections to expedite this?”

“Say no more. Consider it done. This work is essential to the war effort. I’m certain I can convince the brass to move quickly on this.” Mr. Curtiss got up and called to his secretary.

“Mabel, I need you to type up an offer letter. Address it to Hank Hawley. H-A-W-L-E-Y, is that right?” Hank nodded. “Offer him six thousand and tuition reimbursement for his Bachelor of Engineering. Give him the job title ‘Senior Director.’ Have you got that?”

Mabel repeated it all back. “Did I miss anything?”

“No, you’ve got it. Now go type up two copies, one for Hank here and one for our files.”

“Yes, sir.” She began typing away.

Hank walked out of the office ten minutes later with that letter burning a hole in his pocket. This was his big break, his ticket to success. He might not be a Belmont, but he would be more than comfortable. Rory would lack for nothing as his wife. He would see to that.

At home, he wrote out his letter of resignation, and he drove out to the airfield to deliver it to Major Fleet. He found the major in his makeshift office just off the hangar.

“Major, might I have a moment?”

“What is it, Hawley? Come in. Sit down.”

He came in and seated himself in one of the rickety folding chairs in front of the folding table that served as the major’s desk.

“I’m here to tender my resignation.”

The major smiled. “You’ve decided to go work for Curtiss. Major Belmont was here earlier and warned me this would be coming. I can’t say I’m happy to lose you, but I wouldn’t want to hold back someone as talented as yourself. And I know you can do more for the war there than here. I expect you’ll be out of here in record time.”

“Thank you, sir. It’s been a pleasure working for you.”

The major reached across his desk and shook his hand. “It’s been a pleasure having you on the team.”

Leaning back, he said, “While you’re here, I have some news of my own. I’m being reassigned. A man named Charles Willoughby will be taking my place. You and he may not overlap, but I wanted to let you know. There’s also talk of transitioning this operation from Army to civilian Postal Service oversight. It will be interesting to see where that goes. Changes are afoot, Hawley, and you’ve chosen a good time to move on. I’m sure Major Willoughby will do a fine job, but I expect the coming months to be bumpy ones, given the broader politics.”

“I’m sorry to see you go, sir. No one but you could have launched airmail service so quickly and kept it going these last few months through all the accidents and emergency landings. It’s a big loss, and the men are going to miss you.”

Hank had heard about Willoughby and didn’t have high hopes. He was supposed to be arrogant and pretentious.

“I’ll let you go back to your business, sir. I only stopped by to drop off my letter.” Hank stood, and the major shook his hand one more time. Then he left.

On the drive home, he couldn’t help thinking about how Rory had turned his life upside down but in the best possible way. Without her, he never would have considered the opportunity with Curtiss, an opportunity that was going to make his career. He couldn’t wait to see her again and tell her the good news.

23

At last, Rory was going to have some time alone with Hank. Bill had cleared things up with Mrs. O’Donnell, explaining that Rory was Hank’s girl. Mrs. O’Donnell didn’t like it, but she brightened considerably when Bill said he’d met someone and promised to bring her around as soon as he was able. It made life at the O’Donnell’s significantly easier, but she still missed Hank, who she’d barely seen since she turned down his proposal.

She didn’t know what to expect today. Hank said it was a surprise but asked her to wear pants or divided skirts. She hoped this meant they were going up in an airplane. She wore a one-piece, long-sleeved, navy jumpsuit with a single-breasted jacket collar and buttons down the front. The loose legs gathered just above the ankle, and she wore matching low pointed heels. Her hair was tucked beneath a straw cloche hat with a band of navy ribbon.

Hank arrived right on time at noon in his Model T, and he kissed her hand as he helped her in. Warmth suffused her body. For all her complicated emotions about his proposal, she still desired him as much as ever. He seemed to have forgiven her for turning him down. At any rate, he was as attentive as always. His face showed no hint of sadness or disappointment, just a mischievous smile and a dark smolder in his eyes.

He looked quite dashing in his form-fitting shirt with his pants tucked into knee-high boots. He wore a tie, but his jacket lay discarded in the back seat over a picnic basket.

She held onto her hat as he sped as fast as he could go, the windshield barely breaking the wind as they pushed forty miles per hour. Soon they were at the local Mineola airfield, as she had hoped, and he helped her out of the car. She was relieved they weren’t headed to the Belmont Park airstrip. There was too much chance of running into her father. Not that Mineola was entirely safe. Papa sometimes came out to Mineola too on Army business.