Elena’s smile faded.
“Who told her that?”
“Another child, I think. You know how children repeat things they hear.”
Elena looked down at the drawing again.
She had spent years defending her place in aviation against people who questioned her abilities. She had learned to answer doubts with qualifications, discipline, and an impeccable safety record.
But this little girl had not asked for any of those things.
She had simply looked at Elena and seen a possibility.
“Can you thank her for me?” Elena asked.
“Of course.”
Clara started toward the door.
“Clara?”
She turned.
“Would you ask her mother if it’s all right for me to meet Sophie after we land? Only when the aircraft is parked and the passengers are disembarking, of course.”
Clara’s face brightened.
“I think that can be arranged.”
After she left, Elena placed the napkin beside her flight documents.
She looked at it more than once during the next hour.
