It felt to Liddy as though her day would never come, and she grew weary and anxious. She lay in bed that night thinking about Jack and Crik. She yearned to hear a voice from home, but any calls that were made had to be collect and Crik didn’t have a phone anyway. Liddy relied on letters to keep in touch. She had counted on Daniel to give her updates because Crik hadn’t been the best at writing. When Daniel enlisted, the line to home had been severed. She saw Doubt sitting across the room and was about to get up to make him leave when an alarm rang across the base.
Bet jumped up and staggered. “Up, up, I’m up.”
The women tried to orient themselves.
“That’s not rev,” Liddy told Bet.
“It’s the fire bell,” said Louise.
“Fire?” Marina screamed and scrambled to her feet.
“No, the graduates,” said Liddy. “They set the fire bell off.”
Each graduating class was allowed an extra measure of rowdy, and this class was taking every inch.
“Let’s go,” Joy Lynn flipped the covers off and ran out the door. Marina followed.
Shadowy silhouettes flashed past the window as the bays emptied. Barefoot and in their bed clothes, the women rushed out to the concrete porch to catch the celebration.
Bet stopped at the doorway and looked back. “Aren’t you girls coming?”
“I’ll wait for your stories. They’ll be better than the real thing anyway.” Louise rolled over and pulled her blankets over her head.
“I might come out,” said Liddy. She sat up in bed for a few minutes and then decided she didn’t want to be alone with Doubt. She kicked off her bedding and walked outside to join the party. By the time she was on the porch, Joy Lynn, Marina and Bet were lost in the crowd, and Liddy leaned up against a post and watched for a while. She saw Jenna Law at the end of the bays, and took a deep breath before she walked over to her and held out her hand.
“Congratulations, Jenna.”
“Thanks, Hall.” Jenna shook Liddy’s hand. “Maybe, now that I’m leaving, we can get off on the right foot.” She smiled.
“Okay, let’s do that,” Liddy agreed.
“Right foot or not, you probably don’t want to hear a pep talk from me, but these gals look up to you, Liddy. Even the girls in the new senior class think you’re the one to watch. You know, we all know that ten successes are nothing against one failure in this program. You want the WASP to go military just as much as I do.”
“Why do you care if we get commissioned? I heard you’re getting married.”
“Which means I don’t fly?”
“Some men wouldn’t like having an Army wife.”
“Wouldn’t be too smart to marry one of those, now would it? Ellis got leave, so before I report to Palm Springs, we’re going home to San Diego and getting married. Then I’m off to pursuit training.”
“Ellis?” Liddy repeated, confused.
“Captain Charles, my fiancé. I know the word got out.”
“Your fiancé? Captain Charles?” Liddy repeated the words and replayed the last few months in her head.
“I know, no fraternizing with the base staff, but we’ve known each other since we were kids. Our parents were friends. We started dating long before I joined the program and before he was assigned here. Kinda odd how it all worked out. The base command understood the situation. But we still had to keep it professional.”
“Wow! Congratulations, Jenna. Really, that’s great, really great!”
“Thanks.” Jenna searched Liddy. “Who did you think I was marrying, Hall?”
Liddy changed the subject. “I heard you got pursuits—congratulations for that too.”
Jenna stared at Liddy for a moment but let it go. “You’ll have them too, you know that.”
Liddy heard Doubt whisper, If you don’t get kicked out.
“Liddy, do you know how many people get the opportunity to fly for their country? And how few of those will fly fighter planes? And how few of those will be women?” The porch light shone on the wetness that washed over Jenna’s eyes. “We’re the beginning of something big.”
“Do you have your wings on you, Jenna?”
Jenna reached in her pocket and opened her fist. Shiny silver wings sparkled in her palm.
“So, is it true, are you a Hollywood stunt flyer?”
“No, haven’t you heard? I’m a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot.”
Each graduation was followed by a few days of restlessness. The trainees yearned for their own day of recognition and their release from the confines of Cochran’s Convent. But the distraction was soon replaced by the reality of their journey. As Liddy’s class moved through each phase of training, more trainees washed-out and were killed on the base and WASPs were killed out on their commands. The most recent had been a senior trainee and one of the civilian instructors, who went down five miles north of the primary field. A rancher saw the flames when the plane was still in the air. It was determined that a fuel line broke into the carburetor and lit up the engine like a blow torch. They didn’t have a chance.
The glamour had long ago faded but the commitment had only deepened. The women came to accept the risks of flying for the military. There were a few of the girls that let it weaken them and would eventually washout or leave on their own—most, however, learned to adapt to the Army way. Defeat was not an option. Future generations of women would benefit from or pay for what they did, and they knew it.
With all the ups and downs, Liddy was thankful to finally receive a letter from home. Celia wrote with updates from Holly Grove and she asked twice what Liddy had heard from Daniel. Daniel wrote Celia often, but the heart-broken girl wanted every last bit of information she could get. Celia wrote of the men who had been drafted, enlisted, come home or died. More Holly Grove boys had been killed including both of the Wilson brothers, which deepened Celia’s anxiety. She wrote about everything she knew of each death and Liddy didn’t understand why she would spend so much time thinking about it, but Celia did think about it, a lot.
It was from this letter that Liddy learned Rowby had returned home, just two months after he finished his basic. He was with his infantry pushing the German lines when he took a bullet in the flesh of his upper arm. It was an injury that wouldn’t have kept most soldiers from being sent back up, but his mama had had enough worrying and made his daddy call some friends in Washington. Rowby was honorably discharged.
He wasn’t alone when he came home to Holly Grove. He had a ring on his finger and a Roman goddess on his arm, who was to be his final distraction. A double sense of relief came to Liddy and she couldn’t wait to meet her.
Standing at the door of their last eight hours of primary training, the class again posted for instruction from Major Trent. Liddy had done a pretty good job of hardening her heart against her feelings for Major Reid Trent until she found out he wasn’t the other half of Jenna’s engagement, and all the wonderings started again. But Trent wouldn’t even look at her since the night she was so cold to him, and then he saw her and her friends traipsing in after curfew, which brought a whole new pain.
“Trainees, when you finish your acrobatics instruction and have logged your hours, you will take an Army check. If you pass, you will move on to Basic Trainers. After lunch today, read the flight boards then check in with your instructor. You’re dismissed.”
Lewis Gant had gone overseas and Liddy’s flight group was to be shuffled to other instructors to finish their primary training. Basic training would follow and again, they would be assigned to a new instructor and they were feeling a bit like orphans.
At the flight boards Trent saw a group of instructors involved in a heated conversation and walked to the boards to check out the reason. “What’s the hold-up, gentlemen?”