Officials from the sheriff’s office, the Federal Aviation Administration, and rescuers from Cal Fire and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation were led to the crash site. They speculated that the marine layer had caused Rick to mistake one canyon for another. By the time he figured out his orientation, there wasn’t enough space to pull up.

Natalie shuddered, haunted by the image. Over and over, she pictured those final seconds, imagining what her mother must have been feeling—the flash of realization, the panic, the terror. She told her grandfather what she’d learned but didn’t share the further details in the report. The blood. The motionless bodies found by the fisherman.

“They were both gone on impact,” she told Grandy.

He reached over and covered her hand with his. “I never met your Rick in person. I wish I had.”

He was never my Rick, thought Natalie. “At the memorial yesterday, his sister gave me something,” she blurted out.

“What’s that?”

She reached into her handbag. “This was zipped into a pocket of his flight vest.” She handed the small box to her grandfather.

“A diamond ring,” he said, taking it in a hand unsteady with tremors.

“Rick was going to surprise me with a marriage proposal,” Natalie said. “I assume he wanted my mom there when he asked me.”

“Yes, that was his plan,” Grandy said. “When we spoke on the phone—”

“You spoke with him?” Natalie felt nauseated.

“Indeed I did. He told me what he intended to do. He wasn’t exactly asking my permission, but he wanted me to know that he loved you. He wanted to make a life with you.”

Her throat clogged with inexpressible grief. Then she choked out, “He told you and Mom? You knew?” Surely not. Maybe this was one of Grandy’s episodes—delirium was the doctor’s term for it.

“Rick had a lovely plan,” Grandy continued. “He was going to ask you to marry him, and then fly you and your mother back to the city. He had a suite booked for the two of you at the Four Seasons on Nob Hill. It made me supremely happy to know such a fine young man wanted to marry you. I never dreamed it would go so wrong.” His hands shook as he straightened his tie. “Blythe never found anyone, and she always feared it would be the same for you. She believed Rick would be the one.”

Natalie put the ring away. “When I told her I was having doubts, she didn’t want to hear it. I don’t know what to do, Grandy. What should I do?”

He regarded her blankly. This was one of his lost moments. She was beginning to recognize the signs—the distant stare, the agitated hand movements, the impenetrable expression.