Free Gilbert Morris by The Angel of Bastogne

beside her. She turned and

studied his profile, not certain of how she felt about him. He was an attractive man, of that she was sure—but there seemed to be something troubling him.
    He’s a man without a star.
    Charlene had read of the ancient navigators who steered their frail ships across trackless seas by the light of one dim star. She’d always admired such men, and now as she cast another glance at Ben Raines’ profile, she thought, He’s lost and afraid—and he can’t admit it. She said nothing, but knew that somehow God had put the two of them together for some purpose more important than a newspaper story.

Chapter Six
    The weather is getting worse, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes, quite a bit.” Charlene leaned forward and peered out into the dark clouds that seemed to wrap the plane as in a blanket. “I don’t like to fly in stuff like this.”
    â€œMaybe we ought to set down somewhere,” Ben said. “Could we do that?”
    â€œThat’s what I’d like to do. Let me see if I can contact the nearest airport. Probably have to be a regional airport.”
    Ben sat bolt upright, trying to hold the plane up by his willpower while Charlene called several airports. Finally she turned to him and said, “There’s a small airport about five minutes from here. The tricky part is getting down in this stuff. You can’t see anything until you’re right on the ground.”
    â€œI don’t guess you can make an instrument landing.”
    Charlene shook her head. “No, that’s for big jets with all kinds of equipment that they have at big airports. Here it’s just ooze down a little bit at a time and hope you don’t encounter anything nasty like a TV tower or something like that.”
    It irked Ben that he could do absolutely nothing to help. He liked to be in control of things, and here he was as helpless as a baby. His life was completely in the hands of this woman who sat beside him. He studied her covertly, noticing that while she was alert there seemed to be no sign of fear. That eased his mind somewhat—but not completely.
    â€œHere we are,” Charlene said and seemed to expel her breath. “Now we can see a little something.”
    Indeed, they had dropped below the cloud cover, and although a freezing rain was falling steadily there was visibility enough to see the ground. “How will you find the airport?”
    â€œLook for it. It’s the only way, but it shouldn’t be too hard.”
    Five minutes later Charlene said, “Look! There’s the strip right there.”
    â€œLooks awfully small.”
    â€œProbably was a private airport that they designated as a regional airport, but there’ll be plenty of room for us.”
    Charlene brought the plane in perfectly, and as soon as she taxied up to the hangar and shut the engine off, Ben expelled a sigh of relief. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad to be here.”
    â€œI was a little bit worried myself. There’s not much we can do about the weather. We may have to stay here all night and maybe tomorrow. Do you have anybody you need to call?”
    â€œNot really.”
    â€œWell, I do. I have to have someone go in and take care of Tammy.”
    â€œTammy? Who’s that?”
    â€œMy cat. Come on. Let’s see if we can find a place to stay.”
    The two got out of the plane and found nobody inside the hangar. “Service with a smile,” Ben said. “What do we do now?”
    â€œWe’ll call a cab, and he can take us to a motel for the night. There’s a small town over there somewhere about five miles away according to the map. They probably will have a Knotty Pine Motel.”
    * * *
    The motel was called the Royal Motel, but there was little royal about it. It consisted of eight small, identical cabins, and they had five vacancies. They took a cabin apiece, and Ben asked