The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller
Page 24
‘You know I am devoted to Chubbie,’ he wrote on 21 March. He explained Russell’s plan and asked Haden to subtly assess Chubbie’s thoughts because he was worried he would lose her if he returned to Miami in a penniless condition. He would do anything—risk everything—to keep her.
Bill received a telegram from them four days later, telling him not to join Russell. While their financial situation was difficult, it didn’t warrant such recklessness. ‘You are in doghouse on chain if you ignore this,’ was its droll conclusion.
Haden followed up with a detailed letter explaining why it would be foolish for Bill to take part. He concluded, ‘Bill, I can’t begin to express my appreciation for the friendship you have repeatedly shown for me. To say that the feeling is mutual is putting it mildly. Nothing in the world would make me happier than to do everything in my power for you and Chubbie.’
Bill had expressed similar thoughts in a letter to Chubbie written that same day: ‘Thank Haden for me for his kindness and for anything he has done for you. I somehow felt I could trust him more than anyone else I have met for a long time. I hope this turns out to be so.’
Latin American Airways was almost broke by the time Bill reached Nogales, Arizona, on 29 March. The next day Russell and Tancrel pressured him to fly smuggling runs to help replenish the company’s funds. ‘Within three months we will have $100,000 apiece,’ Russell said temptingly.
Bill’s response was simple and to the point. ‘I’m going back to Miami.’
When Gentry—the plane’s owner—said that he would accompany Bill, it looked for a moment as if the airline would collapse. Then Russell reminded them that they had no money to finance their return trip to Miami. They would have to stick with him until the airline could pay them.
Carrying Russell and a legal paying passenger—a woman—Bill flew to Los Angeles on 1 April. There Russell approached his former business partners about investing in the airline. When his plan failed, he advised Bill that smuggling seemed their only solution. He added, ‘There is no need for you to go back to Miami. Haden Clarke has taken your place. What you need is some quick money and then you can go back and get rid of Clarke.’
Bill reeled in shock, as if Russell had just punched him in the stomach. Then, as a look of disbelief crossed Bill’s face, Russell pulled out two letters from his wife, a Miami resident, and pointed to the relevant parts.
One said, ‘Chubbie and Clarke came round tonight. They were all ginned up. I really think that Clarke has gained Chubbie’s affections and Bill lost them.’
The other said, ‘Was round at Chubbie’s tonight. She and Clarke got all ginned up together. Don’t tell Bill, but I believe she is being well satisfied.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ Bill declared. ‘I know Chubbie and I trust her.’
But in his diary that night, he fretted, ‘Mental agony!!! Hell!’
The next day he wired her every cent he could raise. Receiving no response, he tried to phone but still hadn’t reached her by 4 am. ‘Ill with nervous worry,’ read his diary entry.
Meanwhile, when Russell told Bill of a new money-making plan, its duplicity—along with Russell’s smugness—was the final straw. Bill told him he would take their paying passenger back to Nogales the next day, and that Russell could accompany them if he was at the airport. Afterwards, he would return to Miami.
That night, Bill finally reached Chubbie on the phone. The timing was unfortunate. The background chatter and laughter indicated she was socialising. Bill told her that Russell had received a letter from his wife containing some disturbing news. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked, listening carefully not just to her words but to her tone. Her voice seemed cold when she replied that it was.
After she handed the phone to Haden, Bill asked him the same question. Haden replied, ‘Certainly.’ When Bill enquired if he had kept his promise, Haden assured him that he had but then rang off quickly.
Upon Bill’s arrival at Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Airport the following morning, a federal officer approached him and asked questions about the airline’s activities. When the man mentioned that his colleagues planned to talk to Tancrel and Russell as well, Bill decided to instantly sever his connection with the airline. He flew back to Arizona without collecting Russell. In Nogales, he told Tancrel that he was finished with Latin American Airways: ‘Tancrel, you may be just a fool but Russell is a crook.’
His plans for an immediate departure were stymied when the plane’s landing gear broke on take-off, delaying the flight until money arrived from some of Bill’s friends to pay for repairs. In that night’s letter to Chubbie, he said, ‘Have been through hell, sweetie, but see daylight at last. Russell and Tancrel may try to be vindictive. Take no notice of anything until I get back. Mrs R. wrote Russell, but I told R.: “You don’t know Chubbie. To hell with what you may say or think.”’
On 9 April, he wired Chubbie but her cool response worried him. He lamented in his diary, ‘If only she would say something nice such as, “Don’t worry, I still love you.”’
A night’s sleep didn’t improve the situation. ‘Awaken with misgivings. Suffer the tortures of the damned! Ways and means have to be found today to get on east—east is where my life lies, everything I hold dear is there. If it’s gone from me, I will end this life. I can’t stand the strain much longer.’
During the phone call, Chubbie had told Bill that letters would be waiting for him in St Louis. In Bill’s next letter, he expressed his eagerness to hear what she had written. ‘Is it good news or bad news? I don’t know whether I can stand any more shocks. Tell Haden I am not taking any notice of any scandal. I know in my heart that he would not go behind my back at a time like this.’
At last, on 12 April he and Gentry took off for St Louis, where they planned to discuss business possibilities with Gentry’s father. When they arrived on 15 April, Bill found four letters waiting for him, two each from Chubbie and Haden.
The day afterwards, his diary entries ceased.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chubbie hadn’t intended it to happen. She had just wanted her autobiography written. But after Bill left, everything changed.
Haden seemed to notice her for the first time. When they were invited to a party, he would ask what she was planning to wear. If she dismissively said something like, ‘Oh, just the old black’, he would respond, ‘No, I would like you to wear the one with the rose on. I like you in that.’ He would suggest a colour that might suit her or a different hair style. Once he straightened her hair with water and gave it an Eton crop, then stood back and said, with a smile in his eyes, ‘I rather like that.’
She wasn’t used to a man treating her in such a way. Bill was a man’s man. He barely noticed what she wore. To him she was just a beloved face in a pilot’s coverall. Haden was different. He seemed to actually see her, not just as a pilot and adventurer, but as a woman. It was intimate and strangely appealing.
Still, she was annoyed at his inability to get on with the book. Bill had indirectly asked how it was going when he wrote in one of his letters, ‘You will probably have put in some really constructive work on the book.’ Haden had admitted in his response that he was disappointed with his progress; however, he was determined to have three chapters ready for his mother to show publishers when she went to New York around 20 March.
Chubbie still had her doubts. ‘Don’t say anything to Haden,’ she complained to Bill, ‘but I’m very sceptical about the book being written. He hasn’t done one paragraph so far.’ In a later letter, she added, ‘Am writing very hard so Haden will have all the material he needs for the book. He is without doubt the laziest, slowest writer I have ever seen, but for God’s sake don’t tell him I said so or he will walk out and leave me alone. He wrote the first chapter (which is very short) but it is incorrect, as he would not take the trouble to read over that stuff I wrote two years ago. The only thing seems to be for me to write the whole thing and have him rewrite it, so this I am doing.’
That night they visited other friends and enjoyed some home-brew. When they returned home late in the evening, Haden said that it was too hot to go inside. They plopped down on the grass and talked. As the moon cast its romantic glow over them and as spring’s perfumes filled the night air, he said that he knew what he’d done the night before. Then he leaned over and kissed her and said that he loved her.
They spent the night together in Haden’s bed. The next day, he asked her to marry him. She said yes.
Chapter Thirty-Four
‘Hello, darling. I’ve missed you,’ was Bill’s surprisingly affectionate greeting to Chubbie when she and Haden picked him up from Miami airport shortly before 7 pm on Wednesday, 20 April.
Chubbie knew that Bill had received their letters when he arrived in St Louis. Aware that he would read hers first, she had broken the news gently: ‘The inconceivable has happened . . .’ It broke her heart to tell him, but, ‘I know that your one thought has been for my happiness, and feel you will take it in the right way.’
Haden’s letters attempted to justify his behaviour. He said that he had never wanted to harm or hurt Bill. ‘I did my damnedest to make friendship kill my love for Chubbie, but it was a losing fight from the very beginning. We both tried to talk each other out of it, but we could convince neither each other nor ourselves.’
He said that he had wired his estranged wife asking for an immediate divorce; they would marry as soon as it was granted. He promised to do everything in his power to make her happy and concluded with a warning: ‘Please think it all over sanely, Bill, and try to see your way clear to help us get it over with as smoothly as possible. If you do lose your head, I’m afraid I can do nothing but meet you halfway. It would break Chubbie’s heart if either of us did anything violent, but the decision regarding this is entirely up to you.’
He and Chubbie had been delighted to receive Bill’s telegram of 18 April: ‘Am no dog in manger but hold your horses, kids, until I arrive. Insist on being best man and best friends of you both for life. Happiness of you is my happiness. Hope to arrive tomorrow night or Wednesday latest. Love.’
Bill followed the ‘Hello, darling’ with a kiss for Chubbie. Then he turned to Haden and said, ‘Hello, old man’ as if nothing had happened in the intervening weeks, as if the man he had asked to protect the love of his life hadn’t committed a Judas-like betrayal.
They piled into the Lincoln’s front seat and headed home, stopping to buy cigarettes along the way. Bill gave Haden a $5 bill to pay for them and told him to keep the change—as if he were tipping a helpful waiter.
Continuing their journey, Bill said, ‘I’m nearly dead for a drink,’ and asked if they had any liquor in the house. Chubbie said that they hadn’t because Haden wasn’t drinking. When Bill asked why, Haden remained silent. Chubbie explained that it was for medical reasons, that his doctor had ordered him to abstain two weeks previously and she was supporting him by doing the same.
Just before they reached the house, Bill at last acknowledged the seemingly unmentionable. He turned to Chubbie and asked if she knew her own mind. Had she decided to marry Haden after having a few too many drinks or was their love a true thing?
‘Yes, it is true. I want to marry Haden.’
‘Your happiness is foremost with me, whatever happens,’ he reminded her. He then asked Haden pointedly, ‘Are you sure you can make Chubbie happy?’
‘Damn sure!’ was Haden’s response.
Bill urged Chubbie to wait four weeks so she would know for certain. When she agreed to the delay, he said that he wanted to help them financially. He would give her a cheque for $1000 on her wedding day.
She was astonished. She knew he had no money. Latin American Airways owed him a couple of hundred dollars, but he was unlikely to ever be reimbursed. She asked how he would obtain such a large sum.
He responded firmly, ‘I’ll arrange it. Don’t question me about it. You’ll get it on your wedding day.’ She didn’t push the issue, thankful he appeared to have accepted the situation gracefully.
They chatted idly as they ate dinner and, for a moment, it seemed like old times again. Then, as if he could hold it in no longer, Bill turned to his rival and said bitterly, ‘Haden, old chap. I trusted you and you haven’t acted as a gentleman.’
In a world where men of good breeding aspired to be considered gentlemen, it was a nasty slur. Haden stood up so violently that his chair flew back against the wall. ‘I resent that,’ he shouted. ‘I am a gentleman!’
Bill pushed his own chair back from the table, prepared to respond in kind if Haden’s anger turned physical. Before long, however, Haden calmed down and admitted, ‘I guess you are right.’
They continued their meal, the air now sizzling with hostility. Afterwards, as Chubbie washed the dishes, Bill came in and made a wry comment about the situation—one woman and two men—adding with a rueful laugh, ‘This is a mess, isn’t it?’ She couldn’t help laughing as well.
Haden stormed into the kitchen, complaining, ‘The captain is trying to talk you out of it.’ Turning to his rival, he declared, ‘Bill, I won’t have you trying to break down my wagon.’ He then told Bill that he mustn’t talk to Chubbie alone.
Chubbie and Bill protested, with Bill exasperatedly saying that he’d known Chubbie for five years so it was natural that he would want to talk to her alone. Haden was unbending. After further angry words, Bill said, ‘I’ll give you a year to make her happy and, if you haven’t, I’ll swear by God that I’ll come back and take her away from you.’
Sick of them snarling at each other like dogs fighting over a piece of meat, Chubbie sent them out to buy cigarettes, shedding tears of misery while they were gone.
On their return, Bill flipped through his pile of mail, stopping when he saw some letters from his insurance company, the National Air Pilots Association.
Looking over, Chubbie said, ‘They’re through. The company went bust the first of the month.’
‘What?’ Bill said sharply, as if horrified at the revelation.
She gazed at him in surprise. Companies were collapsing all the time. Why did he seem so concerned? As her eyes searched his for an answer, her mind clicked through the possibilities. The $1000 wedding gift. ‘Are you planning to crash your plane and kill yourself?’ she asked accusingly.
He denied the charge.
She wasn’t deceived. She knew him too well. ‘I know that’s where you were planning to get the $1000.’
‘No one would have ever known,’ he admitted. ‘Ships go into a spin and no one can tell anything about it.’
For a moment there was silence. What could they say? Then Chubbie changed the subject. The tension eased as she and Bill talked shop about his recent flights and Gentry’s latest money-making idea. Haden grew increasingly resentful at being left out. When he demanded to speak privately with Chubbie, Bill left them alone and took the dog for a drive.
Bill’s reappearance in their lives had intensified Haden’s plans for a speedy marriage: he now suggested that they marry before his divorce was finalised, saying that everything would be fine if he stayed away from California. But Chubbie had no interest in breaking the law. Moreover, she had just promised Bill to wait a month.
When Bill returned, he said that he’d had time to think about their situation and had decided to leave.
‘Leave for where?’ Chubbie demanded to know.
‘I’ll stay in a hotel tonight, and then go back to St Louis, make some money and send it back to you kids.’
Chubbie begge
d him not to go although it was clear that Haden was pleased with the decision. When Chubbie continued to plead with him, Bill agreed to stay for now. He then said that he was tired and he retired to the sleeping porch leaving Chubbie and Haden alone downstairs.
Having seen Bill’s emotional pain, yet his willingness to give them what they wanted, to even help them financially by doing something so awful as killing himself, Chubbie was confronted by the depth of her betrayal. In despair, she burst out, ‘I wish we could go and end it all!’
‘Yes, I wish we could too,’ Haden responded. They sat there in silence for a moment, thinking about life and love. He told her how much he wanted her, how he hated having to sleep apart. Then he announced, ‘I want you to lock your door.’
She said that she never locked her door, that she kept it open for the fresh air. He entreated her to do as he asked. ‘I don’t want that son of a bitch to come into your room and try to talk you out of marrying me.’ Then he too retired to bed.
When she eventually headed upstairs, she went to the sleeping porch rather than to her own room. She found a pyjama-clad Bill sitting near the foot of his bed looking at his letters. Haden was seated on his own bed. She said that she had come to collect the alarm clock. As Bill handed it to her, he asked her to wake him when it went off as he had lots to do in the morning.
Turning to leave, she said, ‘Good night, chaps.’ Bill didn’t answer. He was reading a letter. Concerned that he thought she was ousting him from her life forever, she said good night again and gave him a shaky smile. This time he responded.
She looked over at Haden. He frowned at her. She went to her room and locked the door as Haden had requested. As she wound the alarm clock and placed it beside her bed, she noticed that it was 12.45 am. Climbing into bed, she began reading a long detective novelette in a magazine.