Wings of Love (23 page)

Mac thought about that for a minute, and she did have a point, about everything.

“You must get your wisdom from your mother. I don’t know how I ever got through a day without you two helping me along,” Mac said. “But all this is a moot point, because there is no Brad and me. I really just needed to be honest with you.”

“I’m not so sure, Dad. Go to him, tell him how you feel,” Zoe advised.

Mac didn’t say anything for a few minutes while he thought this through. “But what if he doesn’t want me? What if I messed things up too badly?”

“Then at least you’ll know,” she said.

“You’re right. I’ve got to try and fix this. I’ll check the weather and see if I can fly up first thing in the morning, before the storm hits. Will you and Zach be here for a few days? I promise to be back before Christmas, and if this works out, do you mind if I bring Brad back with me?” Mac asked with a new excitement in his voice.

“I don’t mind at all, and don’t worry about Zach and me, we’ll be fine,” she said. “Go and get Brad.”

Mac looked Zoe in the eyes. “I love you, Zoe-Grace Cleary.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

Mac went to his bedroom. He undressed and crawled into bed. He laid his head on his pillow and thought of Brad.
He must be so alone and hurt, and it’s all because of me. I’ve got to make it up to the lake tomorrow before the storm. I just have to.

Chapter 29

B
RAD
had passed out on the couch after several glasses of brandy, and woke with a horrible headache. He rummaged around in his medical bag until he found some aspirin, popped a few, and then downed a glass of water. It was three o’clock in the afternoon when he heard a knock at the door.

He ran for the door, half-expecting to see Mac standing there, but was disappointed when it was Zander and Jake.

“Hey, guys,” Brad said. “Come in.”

Zander jumped right in. “Brad, please tell us what’s going on between you and Mac,” he said.

“What did Mac tell you?” Brad asked.

“All he said was that it didn’t work out between you two, and that he had to resign, and we needed to find another pilot,” Jake said. “Oh, and he asked us to check on you.”

“Really,” Brad said. “That was so nice of him. Look, guys, I consider you both very good friends, and I’m really sorry about his resigning, but I didn’t ask him to do that.”

“We consider both of you good friends as well, and it doesn’t really matter whose decision it was to resign, but we would really like to know why and what’s going on,” Zander said.

“Since Mac asked you to check on me, then he involved you in this saga, so I guess you have a right to know.”

They all sat down, and Brad filled them in on the entire story, from the great beginning to the horrible ending. When he was finished explaining the story, the cabin was silent. Brad wiped a lone tear from his cheek and pulled his knees up against his chest and shivered. Zander was the first to speak.

“Jake and I picked up on something between you guys last night, but we had no idea it had gotten so serious,” he said.

“I think it snuck up on us as well,” Brad said. “The last thing I was looking for when I landed up here was a relationship, especially one with a straight man. But this thing came out of nowhere, and I don’t think either of us saw it coming. We both fought it, and we both struggled with it, until we finally gave in. In hindsight, I should have packed my bags and hightailed it out of Dodge the first time he kissed me.”

“Maybe Mac just needs some time,” Jake said.

“I don’t know,” Brad said. “I said some pretty harsh things to him when he left. I told him if he chose to leave with Jack, that he shouldn’t come back. Did I mention that I beat the shit out of Jack?” Brad asked.

“Really?” Zander and Jake said simultaneously.

“Yep, he called me a fairy loverboy, so I knocked the hell out of him. He swung at me and missed, and I flattened him. Damn, it felt good. So now you know the story.”

“Wow, if I didn’t know you guys, I would swear that this was a soap opera,” Zander said.

“Yeah, well, it’s over now, so no more drama,” Brad said.

“On another note,” Zander said. “Are you prepared for tomorrow’s storm? It’s supposed to be pretty bad—six feet of snow and sixty-knot winds.”

“I’m all set,” Brad said. “The solar panels are still secured from the last storm, and all I need to do is close and lock the shutters. I’ve got plenty of firewood, food, and brandy. I also heard the weather report a little while ago, and it doesn’t sound too good.”

“Would you like to come down to the lodge and ride it out with us?” Zander asked.

“Nah, I appreciate the offer, but I need to decide what I’m going to do with my life, and this is the perfect time to do it. No distractions.”

“Do you want us to keep our VHF radio on?” Jake asked.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Brad said. “Mac and I passed the last storm here, and it was pretty uneventful.”

“I tell you what, we’ll leave our radio on if you do. Just in case we may need each other, but remember, being down at the lake, we don’t get as good a reception as you do up here,” Zander said.

“I’ll remember that, and thanks for checking up on me, guys. You’re great friends,” Brad said.

Zander and Jake stood to leave. “We better get going; we still have some things to do around the lodge before tomorrow morning.”

“Be careful heading down the mountain,” Brad said. “And if you need me for anything, remember I’ll have my radio on,” he said as he closed the door.

The cabin was again empty and quiet. Brad started a fire and lit his oil lamps. He walked to his bed, the bed he and Mac had shared for the last week. He lay on Mac’s side and wrapped his arms around Mac’s pillow. He took a deep breath and inhaled Mac’s scent. He buried his face in the pillow and silently cried.
It is going to be a long winter
, he thought.

Chapter 30

M
AC
got out of bed at four thirty, without much sleep. He checked his weather radio, and the storm was due to arrive at the mountain range by late morning, which meant that if he left at first light, he could make it to the lake before the worst of it hit.

He dressed and quietly opened his bedroom door, trying not to wake Zoe and Zach. Zoe was standing in the doorway. She threw her arms around her father’s neck and said, “Be careful, Daddy, and good luck. I love you.”

He slid his arms around her waist, held her tightly, and said, “Thanks, baby, I’ll need it, and I love you too. Listen, this storm is supposed to be pretty bad, I may not make it back for a few days, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. Besides, this storm is a good thing. Even if Brad doesn’t want me back right away, he surely wouldn’t put me out in a blizzard, and then I’ll have a few more days to work my magic.”

“Good plan, Daddy. Don’t take no for an answer,” she said with a smile.

“I need to get going, honey, so I can beat the worst of the weather. I love you, and thanks for everything,” Mac whispered in his daughter’s ear.

“I love you too, Daddy. Be careful.”

Mac quietly went downstairs, skipped the coffee, and headed straight for the front door. Before he made it down the hall, Zach caught up to him and said, “Good luck, Mr. Cleary. Zoe told me everything last night.” Mac started to blush just a little.

“Thanks, Zach, but if we’re gonna be related, you got to start calling me Mac.”

“Good luck, Mac,” he said with a smile, and gave him a hug.

F
IFTEEN
minutes later, Mac pulled into the Lake Hood parking lot. He checked the weather once more at his kiosk and made his way out to the dock. It was five forty-five, and daybreak was still far off. He ran through his checklist, started the engine, and requested permission to take off.

His pontoons left the Lake Hood at six ten.
That should put me at the lake by six fifty-five
, he thought. The wind was starting to pick up, but he’d flown in a lot worse. Brad was worth any chance he’d have to take to get to him and make things right.

He was in the air about thirty-five minutes and about to start his descent when his wind shear alarm sounded. The alarm indicated a possible wind shear in his immediate vicinity, so he disengaged the autopilot and took control. As he adjusted the flaps and started his descent, the winds at the lower altitudes were getting much stronger. The lower he got, the stronger the turbulence and winds became. He kept waiting to break through the low ceiling, but nothing—simply white. He immediately realized he was experiencing whiteout conditions in addition to the high winds. Mac kept a very close eye on his instruments, as whiteout conditions can produce a feeling of vertigo, where you lose the ability to determine which way is up or which way is down.

As he tried to steady the small plane and keep himself calm, he remembered the famous crash of John F. Kennedy Jr. off Cape Cod. John Jr. was flying from New York to Cape Cod and ran into a heavy fog bank. He hadn’t been trained to fly with instruments alone, and combined with zero visibility, it was a disaster waiting to happen. It was later determined that the cause of the crash had indeed been vertigo.

Mac reminded himself that he was a well-trained pilot and very capable of flying on instruments alone. He knew he couldn’t afford to make that mistake, but was confident that he could land the plane on the lake in the general vicinity of the lodge.

As he continued his descent, the winds became increasingly difficult to handle. He gave the engines a little more power to help push the plane through the winds, but it didn’t seem to help. He was now bouncing around almost to the point that his plane was out of control. He kept waiting for a break in the snow to try and catch a glimpse of the lake, but he saw nothing but white. According to his instruments, he was about five minutes from landing when all hell broke loose. He was being blown in every direction and losing altitude quickly. He realized that he needed to get down, but he could no longer determine where he was. His last thought before he went into survival mode was,
I love you, Zoe, and God, I love you, Brad.
He flipped the switch on the radio and said, “
Mayday! Mayday!
”

Chapter 31

T
HE
winds started howling about four o’clock in the morning while Brad lay awake in bed, tossing and turning. He sighed and turned over for the umpteenth time and finally decided that he would never go back to sleep. It was now six forty-five, and he’d gotten maybe three hours of sleep the entire night. He got out of bed and stoked the fire and threw on a few more logs. The winds were already howling, two hours ahead of the forecast, and he still needed to close and secure the shutters before the worst of the storm hit.

He remembered that he’d promised Zander and Jake that he would keep his VHF radio on, so on the way to the bathroom to get dressed, he switched it on and made sure it was on channel sixteen.

Halfway to the bathroom, he stopped in his tracks. His heart stopped beating when he heard Mac’s voice.