Then he truly kissed her, telling her without words that he would always be there for her, melting away every fear and excuse. Darcy could barely keep her balance. The earth might have shook and the buildings around her tumbled down. She wouldn’t have noticed. There was only Jack.
He held her so close, so tenderly, as though she was the most precious thing in the world. He gazed at her the way Beattie looked at Blake, the way Papa held Mum when he thought they were alone. The world had righted, and Jack stood square in the center.
She reached for him, and her knee let loose. She nearly slid off the wing, but Jack caught her. He scrambled across the cockpit faster than she thought possible. Safe in his embrace, she gazed into those blue eyes, wide as the sky. There was room for her in that limitless future.
He grinned. “I guess I didn’t choose the best location.”
“No, it’s perfect.” She sighed like a silly schoolgirl, but she didn’t care.
He scooped her in his arms and carried her to the ground, where he set her on her feet. She hated to let go, but he gently removed her arms. “Why don’t you top off the oilcans?” He handed her the filter. “Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll heft them into the plane.”
Oh, yes—the flight.
Darcy set the filter on the table and carried the cans to the large oil drum. While she filled each to the top, she marveled at what had happened. Minutes ago she thought Jack hated her, but not now. After that kiss, she had no doubt.
She watched him pull open the barn doors. His stride was firm, his purpose set. He loved her enough to forgive. He was perfect in every way but one. She bit her lip. He’d accepted that faith was important to her, but hadn’t trusted God for himself.
The sky had lightened. It was time.
“Finished?” he asked. “We need to get underway. It’ll be a long day.”
She had to trust that God would complete the work He’d begun. “I’m ready.”
Jack’s energy soared. She had responded, really responded. Darcy Shea had feelings for him. It probably wasn’t the best time to find that out, but she’d looked so beautiful insisting she was wrong. What man could have resisted?
Thankfully, Blake Kensington, the Simmons kid and half the town turned out moments later to push the plane out of the barn and see them off. Romance got shoved aside and business took over. He had to make sure Darcy was ready. Once in the air, they wouldn’t be able to talk over the drone of the engines.
He handed her some cotton. She looked at it like she had no idea what to do with it.
“For your ears.” He indicated she should insert some in each ear.
She blushed, and the attraction rushed back. He clapped his hands in the cold morning air. He had to get their attention back on the flight. “Any instructions go on the slate, understand?” He ran through all the signals and made her repeat them.
Her eyes still looked a bit glassy, every emotion visible on her face. Darcy couldn’t hide a thing. Her joys and anger and sorrow were right there for the world to see.
He had to look away before he found himself in worse trouble than he already was. The flight would be long. He didn’t need to spend it thinking about her. One of them had to stay calm and rational.
They were airborne within the hour. The haze began to burn off, revealing clear blue sky. Light wind from the southwest wouldn’t cause much drift.
He headed for the lake.
The nearly three hundred miles they’d fly over Lake Michigan would provide the perfect opportunity to test over-water conditions. Within minutes they’d be out of sight of either shore, then he’d turn north. Darcy was to take sightings every half hour, plot their position, write the results on a slate and show him. Then he could make course corrections. Crude, but hopefully effective.
After two hours of flight, the motors droned at full revolution. No loss of speed. He’d dumped two cans of fuel into the tank, and the lighter weight was already making them quicker. The deep blue waters sped by below, the waves mere ripples at three thousand feet.
He’d have to add more fuel after the next reading. While he handled that necessary though risky procedure, Darcy took the controls. One sudden move would throw him over the side to his death. He usually hated putting his life in another person’s hands, yet with her he felt safe. He’d seen something in her eyes. Love?
After settling back in the cockpit, he noted a low cloudbank looming ahead. It didn’t extend all the way to the water like fog. Probably trailing clouds from yesterday’s weather. It would be a good test of machine and pilot.
They flew into the cloud at the three-and-a-half-hour mark. Condensation almost immediately formed on his goggles. He had to wipe them constantly. Impossible to see. He took the plane lower, searching for the cloud’s bottom edge, and came out at two hundred feet above the water.
“What now?” Darcy wrote on the slate.