One Shining Moment (American Century Book #3)

Gilbert Morris

Description

The war in Europe is over and a new feeling of freedom is sweeping across America. The skirts are getting shorter, the women are getting faster, and the Stuart family is caught up in a sea of changes.From the Arkansas hills to the streets of Chicago, with a stop off in Hollywood on the way, One Shining Moment will hold readers in its mesmerizing grip. From daring cross-country flights to seedy speakeasies to the Salvation Army headquarters, the Stuarts cross paths with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Rudolph Valentino, and Al Capone himself while they chase their dreams--and try to stay alive! Can the Stuart family survive in this country turned upside down?

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441239969
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 1995 by Gilbert Morris

Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3996-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
To Holly Sarver

The best little tater-grubber
in the whole state of Louisiana!
(And a real sweetheart, too!)
C ONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PART ONE The Silver Screen
1 A Circus and a Service
2 Christie’s Man
3 Sometimes the World Falls Apart
4 A Nanny for Adam
5 “I’ve Got to Do It!”
6 Running Wild
PART TWO Wings
7 Lenora
8 Jerry Takes a Walk
9 A Job in Fort Smith
10 Lylah and the Burglar
11 Jerry to the Rescue
12 “He Doesn’t Look Like a Gangster—”
PART THREE Airmail
13 Mario
14 Snowbound
15 Into the Darkness
16 Jerry Gets a Warning
17 Last Passage
18 A Gathering of Stuarts
PART FOUR Chicago
19 A Little Warning
20 Capone Strikes
21 A Family Argument
22 “It’s What I’ve Been Looking For All My Life!”
23 The Answer
24 Love and Ice Cream
Other Books by Author
Back Cover

A C IRCUS AND A S ERVICE
A green flare rose from the grandstand below, bursting into fragments. At the signal Gavin Stuart nodded at Tony Pasco, whose wing tip was no less than a foot from his own, and put his Standard biplane into a steep dive. The two planes seemed to be linked together by invisible wires, and the sound of their engines changed from a gentle purr to a heavy throbbing.
“Oh, the daring young m-a-a-an on the flying trapeze . . .”
Gavin saw in the cockpit a few inches ahead of him Cara Gilmore’s helmeted head bobbing crazily as she sang at the top of her lungs. She turned and gave him a lascivious wink, then turned back and began beating the side of the Standard with the flat of her hand. Gavin shook his head, wondering what went on inside the girl’s head. He could never quite understand how Cara could get such pleasure out of risking her life, and for one fleeting instant memories came to him of being raked by bullets in his Sopwith Camel by a scarlet triplane. It was not a pleasant memory, and he shook it off, concentrating on the maneuver.
Beyond Cara’s head, through the blur of his propeller, he caught a glimpse of the crowd below. He could tell how fast he was flying by the trilling of the wind on the wires. Shooting a quick glance at Tony, he aimed at the crowd, grinning as many of the people made a frantic dive to get away from the two ships that seemed determined to plunge into their midst.
Pulling the stick back in exact harmony with Tony, he felt his cheeks sag as the two planes flattened out, then zoomed upward together. The wires were singing a low vibrato as he brought the Standard over on its back. Now the crowd was above him and the clouds below him. As he hung on his seat belt he heard Cara singing, “. . . he flies through the air with the greatest of e-e-e-ase!”
Finally he righted the Standard, glanced at Tony, then shouted, “All right, Cara!”
As the two planes slowly turned fifteen hundred feet over the earth, Cara climbed out of the front cockpit and stood on the lower wing. The wind tore at her pink overalls as she put one hand on the cowling in front of Gavin. When he looked at her, he saw that her dark blue eyes were laughing as they always did. She reached forward and touched his cheek playfully, then moved forward. Grasping a bar set into the leading edge of the upper wing, she swung herself upward to the top wing. Still singing at the top of her voice, she freed the four thin wires that held the belt and strapped it on. Then she set her feet in the leather stirrups and stood up. Bending her knees, she waved her arms at Gus Tomlin, who was directly above her. He was hanging by his knees from between the wheels of the Travelaire, waiting to make the pickup.
Gavin gauged the position of the stands, aware of the distaste that had come to him for this stunt. The crowd would not be displeased if Cara or Gus should be killed. They were watching now for something to go wrong, and if a tragedy occurred, there would be no tears. It was what people came to see, just as they went to see auto races or the high fliers at the circus.
The two pilots brought their ships together in a precise movement. Cara freed the straps, and Gus reached out, their fingertips touching. As they swept by the bleachers the air was smooth. When the pair sensed the time, Gus’s strong hands closed on Cara’s wrists. Instantly Gavin let the Standard fall away.
Gus grinned at Cara, saying, “You’re getting fat, honey!” He lifted her within reach of the bar and swung himself to a seated position. He patted her on the rump and laughed when she slapped at his hand playfully. “Ready?”
“I was born ready,” Cara shouted into the wind. She took the parachute, fastened it, then lowered herself until she hung by both hands. Looking up she shouted, “How about we do the town tonight?”
“Sounds good!”
Cara loosed her grip and shot down toward the earth. She heard the crowd cry out, and she laughed with delight. Then after the parachute popped open, she began to swing back and forth singing, “Oh, the daring young man on the flying trapeze . . .”

Almost as soon as Gavin stepped to the ground he saw Lylah. Blinking with astonishment, he broke into a run, and when he got to her, he grabbed her and spun her around in a wild spin. She gasped but clung to him, and when he set her on her feet, she laughed, “You wild Indian!”
“Never mind that,” Gavin interrupted. “Where’s that nephew of mine?”
Lylah reached down to pick up the small boy wearing a sailor suit with a wide collar who, with a pair of bright blue eyes, was watching the tall aviator. When he found himself suddenly plucked up and tossed into the air, he didn’t cry with alarm as most two-year-olds would have done but instead grinned suddenly and chortled with glee.
“He’s grown a foot.” Gavin shook his head. He held the child in the crook of his arm, examined his features, then nodded. “You’re going to be as good-looking as your uncle Gavin!” Then he turned to Lylah and gave her a quick once-over.
What he saw was one of those women who is beautiful in youth but who grows more so as she ages. Lylah Stuart’s face was familiar to many, for she had been an actress since running away from Bethany Bible Institute in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the age of seventeen. She was not tall, but her figure at the age of forty was the despair of women half her age. She had a wealth of auburn hair, a rich complexion, and full, well-shaped lips. But her best feature was her eyes, large, well-shaped, and violet. She wore a white chiffon blouse with flutter sleeves, an apple green and white chiffon skirt, and a wide-brimmed hat.
“You look good,” Gavin nodded. “Never get a day older.”
“Yes, I do.” Lylah’s reply was somewhat short, and when Gavin gave her a surprised look, she shook her head. “Sometimes I feel like I’m an old woman,” she murmured. Her eyes touched on the face of Adam, and for one instant sadness marked her eyes. “It’s hard to raise a son in my business,” she added.
“Sure. But you’re doing a fine job, Sis,” Gavin said quickly. He thought of the time when he had stood with his brothers Owen and Amos looking down at Lylah and her newborn son. It had been in Paris at the end of the Great War. Lylah had been defenseless and afraid—perhaps for the first time in her life. Gavin remembered how she’d held the tiny, red-faced boy to her bosom, looking up at them. Adam’s father was dead—Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the famous Red Baron.
As if reading her brother’s thoughts, Lylah murmured, “It seems like a hundred years since Adam was born.” Putting out her hand she tucked a lock of fine blond hair in place on the boy’s forehead, then shook off her thoughts, saying, “Come on, Gavin, we’ve got a lot to do.”
They turned to go, but a woman’s voice caught their attention. “Gavin!” The young woman that came to stand beside Gavin was dressed in a pair of whipcord riding pants, a thin, blue silk blouse that revealed a full figure, and a pair of glossy, black, high boots. She took Gavin’s arm with a possessive gesture, her eyes on Lylah. When she smiled her teeth were gleaming white between red lips, and there was a feline quality about her that Lylah noted instantly. “You’re not running off, are you?”
“Yes, I am.” Gavin shrugged free from the young woman’s grasp, then nodded. “This is my sister Lylah—and her son Adam. Lylah, this is Cara Gilmore. You just saw her do her stuff.”
“The actress?” Cara’s eyes widened with a new interest. “Do you know Douglas Fairbanks?”
“I’ve met him,” Lylah nodded. Her eyes were heavy lidded, and she seemed to take in the young woman in one glance. As Gavin proceeded to give Cara instructions about the next day’s performance, Lylah said nothing, but as she and Gavin left, she whispered, “A real man-eater! Does Heather know you’ve got her on the payroll?”
“Sure—and she said the same thing about Cara.” He grinned, looking very young in the April sunlight. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the best woman in the world. Just an old married man, that’s me.”
Gavin carried Adam easily, and eyes turned to him as he walked off the field beside Lylah. He was tall and lean, with handsome features, including dark hair and eyes. “When did you get in, Lylah?” he asked.
“Yesterday. And I hope I never have to ride a train from New York to Chicago again! I caught a cab to your show.”
“Did your play close?”
“Yes, finally.” They moved across t