Danielle Steel - Wings

They wished Cassie luck, and went off to check their plane. They were all taking turns flying it, and they were enrolled in different events. But only Billy was going to be flying against Cassie.

“He's nice,” she said easily, once they were gone, and Nick glanced at her over his shoulder.

“Don't forget you're engaged,” he said politely, and she laughed at the pious look on his face, which was very unlike him. Most of the time he had no interest at all in Bobby Strong, or her fidelity to him.

“Oh for heaven's sake. I just meant he was ‘nice,’ you know, as someone to talk to. I wasn't planning to run off with him.” She was fueling the plane, and wondered suddenly if Nick could be jealous. It was a ridiculous idea, and she brushed it off as soon as she thought it.

“You could run off with him, you know,” he persisted. “He's the right age. And at least he flies. That might be refreshing,” he said innocently.

“Are you finding guys for me now?” She looked amused. “I didn't know that was part of the service you provided,” she said calmly.

‘The service I will provide will be to chain you to the ground if you don't prepare your plane right. Don't fool around, Cass. You're going to be putting a lot of stress on the plane, and yourself. Ray attention.”

“Yes, sir.” The games were over now, but for a fraction of an instant, she could have swom that he was jealous, although he certainly had no reason to be. She was engaged to someone else, and they were just friends, and always had been. She wondered if it annoyed him to see her making friends with other pilots. He was very proud of all she'd done, and maybe that was what had been bothering him. It was hard to tell as he helped her check the plane. And then a few minutes later they saw her father and her brother. It was nearly eight o'clock by then. And the races started at nine. Although her first event wasn't until nine-thirty.

“All set, Cass?” her father asked nervously. “Did you check everything?”

“I did,” she said defensively. Didn't he think she was capable of doing it? And if he cared so much, why hadn't he come out to help her, instead of Chris? He could have been attentive to both of them, but he wasn't. All his concern was for Chris, who looked more than anything as though he wished he didn't have to be there. He was in only one event this year, and Cassie hoped for his sake that he'd win it.

“Good luck,” her father said quietly, and then left her to join Chris across the airfield.

“Why does he bother?” she muttered as he walked away, and Nick answered gently.

“Because he loves you, and he doesn't know how to say it.”

“He has an odd way of showing it sometimes.”

“Yeah? Maybe it's because you kept him up all night when you were born. Maybe you deserve it.” She grinned at the answer he gave her. Nick always made her feel better about everything, and it was comforting to know that he'd always been there.

She saw Billy Nolan and the boys again before her first event. They were hooting and laughing and raising hell. It was hard to believe they were serious, but they had entered all the toughest races.

“I hope they know what they're doing,” Nick said quietly. They looked like a bunch of kids, but it was hard to tell sometimes. He had known some real aces who had looked like cowboys. But no one wanted to watch a tragedy, and that usually happened when people overestimated their skill, or didn't know their planes’ limits.

“They must be okay,” Cassie said confidently, “they qualified.”

“So did you,” he teased, “what does that mean?”

“Jerk…” she laughed at him, and half an hour later she was on her way. It was almost her turn. There had already been some pretty impressive stunts in the air, some great gasps, a few screams. It was all in a day's work at the air show.

“Give 'em hell!” Nick called as he left her and she taxied off down the short runway in the Moth for the aerobatic event. And for the first time in years, he found himself praying. He hadn't been nearly as nervous for her last year, but this year he was afraid she might push too hard, just to prove something to him, or her father. She wanted to win more than anything, and he knew it.

She began with a few slow loops, then a double, and a barrel roll. She went through the whole repertoire backward and forward, including a Cuban eight, and a falling leaf, and as he watched her, each exercise was completed to perfection, and then she did a triple, and a dive, and somewhere near him a woman screamed, not realizing that in an instant, Cassie would recover… and of course she did. Perfectly. It was the most beautiful demonstration he had ever seen, and she finished it off with an outside loop, which delighted everyone. And Nick was beaming at her when she landed.

“Not bad for a start, Cass. Pretty clean.” His eyes shone right into hers as he praised her.

“That's all?” Her excitement and adrenaline turned instantly to disappointment, but he gave her a tight hug and told her she'd been terrific. “You were the best,” he said honestly, and half an hour later, the judges confirmed it. Her father congratulated her politely when their paths crossed. But his praise was more for Nick than for Cassie. He was proud of her. But it still irked him that she was showing up the men with her flying.

“You must have had a very good teacher.”

“I had a very good student,” Nick corrected him, and the two men smiled, but her father said nothing more to Cassie.

Chris's race was next, and he tried hard, but he lost. He didn't even place this time, and the truth was he didn't really care anymore. For him, his flying days were over. He was much more interested in his classes at school, and all things separate from planes and airports. He just didn't have the bug, and the only thing he hated about it was disappointing his father.

“I'm sorry, Dad,” he apologized after he parked the plane. “I guess I should have practiced more.” He'd been flying Nick's beefed-up Bellanca, which Cassie was going to fly too.

“Yes, you should have, son,” Pat said sadly. He hated to see him lose when, with a little effort, he could have been a great flier, or so Pat thought. But Pat was the only one who thought of Chris that way. Everyone else knew the truth, even Chris, that he just wasn't a flier. But Cassie congratulated him anyway.

“Good job, baby brother. That was a pretty piece of flying.”

“Not pretty enough apparently,” he grinned at her, and then congratulated her for taking first prize in the previous event.

And a few minutes later she saw one of Billy Nolan's friends take second place. He had done some very fine flying.

Cassie's next race was at ten o'clock and it was more difficult this time. It involved speed, and she was worried that the Vega couldn't do it. It was fast, but some of the racing planes were faster.

“She'll do it if you play her right,” Nick promised as he talked to Cassie right before takeoff. The Vega was a great plane and Cassie flew it well. Nick knew that for this race it was better than the Bellanca. “Just keep cool, Cass. Don't let it scare you.” She nodded and said not a word as she taxied off, and a moment later she was in the air, and flying remarkably. Nick had never seen anyone more precise or faster, and she managed some extraordinarily complicated maneuvers. He couldn't take his eyes off her, and he noticed that Pat was watching her intently too. And so was a tall blond man in a blazer and white trousers. He was watching her very carefully through binoculars, and talking to a man who was taking notes. He was out of place and Nick figured he was probably from one of the Chicago papers.

Cassie won second prize that time, but only because she hadn't had a faster plane. She had overcome every handicap the Vega had, and Nick still couldn't believe it. He had never expected her to win that race, and she had placed handsomely. When she was down again, Billy came over and congratulated her. He had won third against her. They were a great bunch of fliers, and Nick liked what he had just seen of Billy. He was careful and sure, and he had won in spite of an inferior plane. Like Cass, he had pushed it to the limit.