Beyond the Horizon Read online

  Nina’s hand came down and clutched on to Eva’s.

  Right then, Nancy rushed into the room, hair flying and her dressing gown flapping behind her. “Sorry. Sir.” She half saluted, then turned beetroot red in front of Dan.

  “It’s no problem, Nancy.”

  “I drifted off to sleep, and when I woke up, Rita told me these three had come searching for Bea. I knew she’d been gone too long. I suddenly panicked. Is everything okay?”

  Helena reached out and touched Nancy’s arm. “Nancy, Bea clipped a high-tension wire during the exercise tonight. There’s no easy way to say this, but her aircraft has possibly gone down in a field.”

  Nancy blanched. “But she’s my friend from back home. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. And what about her folks?” Nancy turned huge eyes to the other girls.

  “Here.” Dan reached for a jug of water on his desk and handed her a glass. “Nancy, we are doing everything we can to get to her as quickly as possible.” He looked out the window. “I hate this.”

  Eva watched him. He was an instructor, and he had to be professional, but his feelings were there for them all to see.

  “I can’t stand being useless.” Helena’s voice cut into the room.

  Nina reached out and took Helena’s hand as well as Eva’s.

  “A recovery team has headed out to the field. All we can do is wait, Helena,” Dan said.

  Why had Dan not acknowledged Eva’s concern hours ago? Why had he said that Bea had not had a mishap when she had?

  “I was behind her,” Eva said. “I was behind her when it happened.”

  “Eva,” he said, eyes trained on her. “Beatrice is an excellent pilot. I want to focus on that. Okay?”

  Eva’s eyes locked with his. So he did want to protect Bea. His protectiveness was toward all the WASP trainees, even though he had feelings for one special girl.

  “We’ll get you girls some chairs,” Reg said, appearing at Dan’s side, placing a hand on Dan’s arm. “I’ll get them.” His voice was gruff.

  Reg moved slowly toward the side of the hangar, and with great care, he collected a stack of plastic chairs and set them out. “You must know that we are doing everything we can,” he murmured. “We should have news very soon.”

  Eva sat down in silence. A plane falling from the sky was something entirely different from what they’d dealt with last night. Nina sat with her head in her hands, and Helena fidgeted in her seat. Nancy gripped her glass of water and frowned into space.

  Reg and Dan chatted quietly a bit farther away across the hangar.

  After about fifteen minutes, a member of the emergency crew appeared. He spoke quietly into Dan’s ear.

  Eva shuddered. Next to her, Nina drew a heavy breath.

  When the instructors finally made their way back to them, the plastic seat under Eva felt like a slippery slope.

  “Eva, Nina, Helena, and Nancy, Beatrice lost her bearings during tonight’s exercise and panicked. She went way off course, spun, and decided the only thing to do was to attempt a landing. She, like all of us, lost contact with the radio tower during tonight’s quadrant training exercise.” He paused. “She is fine.”

  Eva slumped back in her chair, and Nancy moaned out loud with relief.

  “Beatrice did the right thing tonight. She followed instructions not to abandon her plane once she’d carried out her forced landing. She stayed with it. The plane is safe. She simply waited until she was found.”

  Dear Bea. This was so like her. Eva could just picture her waiting. Not abandoning her plane to the cows.

  “You girls will be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight. Y’all must be very, very tired.” Reg looked directly at Eva, and if she was not mistaken, he raised a brow.

  Eva searched his face. Did he know about last night? She stared at the ground for a moment. This was becoming complicated. She had a lot to learn about loyalties among these folks.

  “Who would like a nightcap while we wait for her? Coffee?” The relief on Dan’s face was palpable. He was sagging with it.

  “Yes, please,” Nina said.

  “I could do with a bucket of coffee,” Nancy said. “Thank goodness. Thank goodness my dear, dear friend is okay.”

  A half hour later, and two cups of coffee having cleared her head, Eva almost collapsed with relief when the sound of a truck echoed through the hangar. Bea appeared in the doorway, holding her turban, her tiny frame overwhelmed by her hopelessly too-big zoot suit. Nancy was over to her before the others could get out of their seats, enveloping Bea in a great hug.

  Eva ran over to their friend.

  The thought of losing one of the girls out here was becoming more threatening than any fears Eva had of losing her own life.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE COMMITTEE: You were not trained by military personnel. Your instructors were civilians. As far as this committee can determine, the program was not military, and neither were the WASP in any veritable sense.

  EVA FORREST: Our training was imbued with so many elements that were authentically military. We were all military in everything but name. From the beginning, we were taught that our responsibility was not to stay alive but to keep the person next to us alive. This military-style attitude of loyalty was drilled into us. What was more, the WASP gave us a military-style camaraderie that I have never experienced since in any other area of my life. Many of us came from homes where we did not have this. Being a WASP sung to our hearts. We felt like we only had each other because we trained on a base in one of the most isolated parts of the country. To be honest, I would get to the end of a hard day and realize that I hadn’t even gone to the mail depot or thought about anything other than our training and being a WASP.

  Eva propped herself up on her towel. The shade of a big tree by the Sweetwater public swimming pool was welcome, even though the weather was flowing by into autumn and there were only several weeks left until graduation. Nina lounged alongside Rita while Bea and Nancy chatted about the dance they were looking forward to that night at the Blue Bonnet Hotel in town.

  “I’m so tempted to go buy a new dress for tonight, you have no idea!” Nancy said. “I saw this great little green number in the window of the dress shop, and I dunno if I can resist it. Nor do I know if I can afford it,” she added, dropping her voice into a delicious, low, Texan-affected drawl.

  “Green would look wonderful on you, Nancy,” Nina said.

  “It would bring out your lovely eyes,” Eva said.

  “I’m in the mood for a bit of fun.” Nancy stood up, gathering her towel and duffel bag. “I’m going into the changing rooms to get dressed, and before I change my mind, I’m going to buy that little thing!”

  “Good for you.” Bea stood up too. “I’ll come and keep you company, but I’m not even going to bother to dress up tonight. Don’t see the point, but understand other girls do.”

  “Oh, don’t be a heel, Bea.” Nancy grinned at her. “Rita and Eva are so good-looking they’ll be dancing all night! You and I gotta dress ourselves up a bit just so’s we can compete.”

  Bea placed her hands on her hips.

  “That gotcha!” Nancy grinned.

  Bea took a playful swipe at Nancy, who ducked and laughed out loud.

  “Well.” Bea stood up to her full five foot three. “You and I will compensate with our brains. Although your brain is something scattered. You and your stars. I don’t know about you . . .”

  “You’re the head of every class, Bea.” Nancy chuckled. They made their way off to the changing rooms. “Which is why I need to console myself with that green dress!”

  Eva sat up and shook her head, her lips forming into a lazy smile. This was a rare day off, and while some of the class were sunning themselves on the lawn between the barracks back at Avenger Field, stretched out on towels in their bathing suits, their bay had all chosen to jump in the cattle truck and come to the pool for a swim.

  She stretched her tight muscles and wandered d
own to the blue pool. Autumn leaves fluttered from the trees overhead. They’d decided to make the most of the last warm days before the weather turned cold, which could happen suddenly and dramatically, they’d been warned.

  Eva dived into the water, enjoying the feel of her body moving like silk. She started swimming lazy laps up and down the pool, coming to rest in the shallow end. A mother with a little girl regarded her.

  “You one of those women pilots?” the woman asked.

  “I am, ma’am. My name’s Eva Scott.”

  “Pleased to meet you. I’m Rosie Harris, and this here is my daughter, Vanessa.”

  “I’m charmed,” Eva said, smiling at the little girl, who shot her a cute grin before burying her head in her mother’s bathing suit.

  “Well, we weren’t sure what to think of y’all when you first landed here,” Rosie said. “I mean, folks around here weren’t sure about women flying airplanes and all. It didn’t seem right, somehow. Or proper. I dunno.” She blushed a little.

  “Oh?”

  “In fact, there were bets around these parts as to how long you’d last. Because we had men stationed at Avenger Field before y’all came, you know.”

  “I know.” The base was not new. But the WASP had taken it over for now.

  “So there were bets that you’d not even be able to land your planes here, back when you started training here earlier in the year. My menfolk were predictin’ that women would just crash their planes on the ground. But I tell you, the sight of all them airplanes landing ready for trainin’, all flown by women and comin’ in one by one, it was a sight I’ll never forget, and I think it’s grand. Y’all are serious pilots. I feel proud when I hear your planes up in the sky, Miss Eva. I’ll tell you that.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear it, ma’am. We appreciate being made to feel welcome, and I know that some of the townsfolk have been having trainees from the field in for Sunday lunches, so your kind hospitality is not going to waste on us.”

  “No, indeed. Your Mrs. Cochran got that organized so we could get used to having the young women around.”

  Vanessa started kicking and splashing in the pool.

  “Well, guess I’d best git going!” Rosie said.

  “Nice talking to you, ma’am,” Eva said. And she smiled and took a few more laps up and down the pool.

  On the way back to Avenger Field in the cattle truck, Eva rattled along with the rest of the girls, her damp head catching the breeze from the road.

  Nancy showed off a glimpse of her green dress inside her brown paper bag. “Not gettin’ it out while we’re in the back of this rattly truck. But I’m excited.”

  “It looks just grand on,” Bea said, her voice loud above the noise. “And it has sparkles. Sparkles that look like the stars Nancy loves.” Bea rested her arms against the rails and raised her face to the sun.

  Nancy bit her lip. “You know I wouldn’t mind finding one handsome boy to dance with tonight. What do you think my chances are?”

  “Huh. Don’t hold your breath. Stop filling your head with such stuff and nonsense.” But Bea’s face broke into a wide smile.

  They rolled up in the cattle truck, climbing out and jumping down onto the baked ground.

  Deedee was waiting for them, arms folded.

  “Now, you girls. Remember curfew. Not a stroke after midnight. The cattle truck will be there to pick you up at half past eleven outside the Blue Bonnet. And no stragglers. You’re all getting closer to graduation with every day that’s left now. Don’t let me down, will you, ladies.”

  The girls hopped out of the cattle truck and made their way to their bays.

  “You bet we won’t,” Nancy said.

  Eva walked alongside Rita, her head down.

  Once she was in the bay, Eva ran across to her bed. Propped up on the pillow, just like her mom used to do for her, was a letter with unmistakable handwriting across it. She’d know it anywhere in the entire world.

  “Harry!” she said, throwing herself onto her bed. She tore at the envelope.

  “Clear the decks,” Nina warned. “Evie won’t be on this planet tonight. I see he hasn’t written to me yet!”

  “Hmm,” Rita said. “You’ve been very coy about whoever he is, Eva.”

  “I haven’t heard about him either,” Helena said. “You have to tell me. I should know! I want full disclosure. Haven’t I earned that right?” She affected a whiny voice and then lapsed into laughter.

  “You sure have, girl,” Nina said.

  But Eva was lost in the piece of paper in front of her. She read and read and had no idea what she was looking for, but her heart was thumping and pounding, and she let it do so while she drank in his words.

  Darling Evie,

  How are you? I’m fascinated just thinking about your life out there. It’s difficult and easy at the same time to imagine it! I hope you and Nina are loving all the “work” and having a gas. I’ll bet you’re doing brilliantly. I’m doing fine. The food is good, and the other men are excellent company, and we are all getting along just grand. It’s hot here, as you can imagine, but we love what we’re doing, so it’s fine.

  I’m not sure how much those censors will take out of this, but they’ll black out anything that I can’t share. I don’t know if they’ll be interested in any general details that you and I always talk about, even if I keep locations and weather out and be deliberately vague.

  We are all getting pretty familiar with the situation here. Everyone is becoming proficient at the basics, and we are quickly moving on to more challenging stuff, angles have to be precise, I can tell you, and you need a good team with you up there. I’m dashing this off to you now because tomorrow, we move from where we are. The landscape around here is something amazing, and you know how I get to see it, just the same way you do. I can’t give you any more details, but I can’t wait to talk about it all with you.

  Take care, dearest Evie, send my love to Nina, and let me know more about life where you are.

  Much love, kiddo. I miss you something terrible.

  Keep the far horizon firmly in your sights,

  Harry

  While the other girls lined up for the showers, Eva read what she could of the letter over again. The censors had stripped it, but he sounded well. He sounded fine. She closed her eyes and thumped back on her bed.

  Two hours later, they were lined up to get on the cattle truck, the sun setting over the airfield. Deedee stood by, counting the heads of her girls as they climbed aboard for the dance. The driver turned on the engine, and the girls gave a cheer as the truck rattled off to the Blue Bonnet Hotel.

  Eva looked out over the plains studded with mesquite trees, Harry’s letter burning a hole in her handbag. She wasn’t letting go of it for anything tonight.

  They stepped out onto the main street of Sweetwater, quiet except for the hotel with its fancy facade.

  “Cheer up, Evie.” Nina stood next to her, waiting to take their turn in the elevator to the seventh floor. The marble lobby gleamed around them, and in it, a few older men in cowboy hats lounged.

  “There’s nothing wrong.” Eva smiled at her friends.

  “Oh, I know. You’ve just got a big case of the Harry blues.”

  “I’m concentrating on keeping you away from all the cowboys.” Eva nudged her friend.

  Nina took a glance around the lobby at the forty- and fifty-something men who were still watching them from under their cowboy hats. “Don’t git too excited, y’all,” she said, putting on her best accent. “They all look ’bout your dad’s age.”

  Nancy stepped into the elevator, her face shining, her pretty green dress twirling around her calves. “I, for one, am going to have a few dances and make the most of it. I’m in the mood to dance, and I don’t care if my partner’s eighty-three.”

  Eva felt a giggle well up inside her. “Oh, I do adore you, Nancy.”

  Nina pressed the button for the seventh floor. “My, being in an elevator seems so sophisticated. I coul
d just ride up and down in this thing all night.”

  Once the elevator opened and let them into the ballroom, the girls stood on the threshold of the room and took stock. A clutch of aging cowboys sat at the bar, and a few older men in suits who were clearly traveling on business to the oil wells looked the trainees up and down, straightened up, and, as a group, adjusted their lapels.

  “Well, this looks like a gas.” Rita sighed.

  But when the band struck up “Oklahoma,” Nancy turned to the girls. “Hey there, you girls take off your high hats right now! I’m up for a whoopee of a time, and I’m gonna have one. Y’all can stand there mopin’ if you please.” She sashayed off to the dance floor.

  Nina grabbed Eva by the hand. “There’s no rule to say we can’t dance with each other! C’mon, Evie!”

  Two minutes into the dancing, a few cowboys adjusted their hats and came to dance with them.

  Nina gripped Eva’s back as she twirled her around and around. “Don’t make eye contact with them.” She giggled.

  “I’m of a mind to think that Jacqueline Cochran would expect us to dance with them, but at the same time, we must—”

  “Act with pure decorum.” Nina laughed.

  Rita appeared next to them in a flash. “My dears, let me join you.” She pulled Bea over, and they started dancing in a group, swinging and jiving, Rita showing off all the latest moves, her long legs skipping.

  Helena and Nancy were chatting with the cowboys, and one of them started twirling Nancy around.

  “Good,” Nina said. “She didn’t get all spiffy for nothing.’”

  Right before pickup time in the cattle truck, Nancy threw herself on a chair alongside the others, her face flushed and her legs stretched straight out in front of her. “Well, that was the most fun I’ve had in ages! It didn’t matter a fig that there weren’t any boys our age. You know, you girls sure know how to enjoy yourselves.”

  Rita handed Eva her glass. “Have a sip,” she said. “In fact, finish it, honey. It’s one heck of a bathtub gin. One of those businessmen bought me a drink, but I’ll share.”

  Eva took the glass and finished it. “Here’s to you, Harry,” she whispered, her chest still heaving from all the dancing and twirling she’d done to make the most of the night despite the fact that he wasn’t there.