“So the way I figure it,” Sam said, “we’ve got another two weeks of this circus before we board that ship back for California. Three weeks to cross the ocean. I’ll break the news to Bertha right after we get back, I mean there’s no point trying to soften the blow.”

“You’re sure?” Irene said.

“Couldn’t be more. It’s you I’m worried about. They’ll call you a home-wrecker and worse, they’ll call you all kinds of things.”

“Well, I am. I am a home-wrecker.”

“No, you’re not. Bertha and I, we couldn’t be worse for each other. From the beginning, we made each other miserable. Our marriage has been over since long before I met you. The only fine thing we ever had between us was Pixie.”

Irene sat up. “But you wouldn’t be divorcing her if it weren’t for me. So that makes me a home-wrecker.”

Sam set down the coffee cup and reached for her. “Irene, don’t. You’re not doing a thing. It’s not your fault I’m crazy for you, can’t think of anything but you, don’t want to spend a single hour except with you . . .”

Irene let him pull her back down into the grass. He put an arm around her and drew her right up against his side.

“But I won’t have them saying a word against you,” he went on. “So we’re going to lie low for a bit. Strictly professional. The divorce might take a year or so, done right.”

“What about flying?”

“Why, that’s the best part. We’re a team, aren’t we? We’ll just hold our heads up and fly in every derby, every exhibition, every air show that will pay us. Take the high ground, don’t talk to any damned reporters—”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Write a book together, go on a lecture tour. They’ll flock to see us.”

“Will they? Even after all this dies down?”

“Sure, they will. They’ll love you. You’re America’s Flying Sweetheart, remember? Between the two of us, we’ll be able to buy our own ship within a year. Buy a nice house somewhere to settle down and shut the damned world out. You wouldn’t mind having Pixie around, would you?”

“Of course not.”

“Because I can’t let Bertha raise her alone. She’d break that child like she tried to break me. Pixie needs a mother like you. Someone true and brave, someone who knows how to love another person.”

“I’ll do my best for her. You know that.”

“We’d teach her to surf, wouldn’t we? Wake up mornings and hit the water first thing.”