Just For A Moment by Kate Carley

Epilogue

Sixteen Months Later

Even with hersunglasses in place, Grace shielded her eyes with one hand as she gazed upward. Piper clung to Grace’s other arm, occasionally giving an excited squeeze.

“Mom.” Piper tugged to gain Grace’s attention. “Where do you think they are?”

“Remember the map Dad showed you?”

“Yeah, they’re taking a big loop toward Traverse City. It’s gonna be about 16 minutes, and we’ll hear them before we see them.” Piper stared at the cell phone in her fist. Grace had set the stopwatch feature when the three planes took off to help ease Piper’s anxiety about the debut flight.

Who was Grace kidding? She had plenty of anxiety of her own, but moms needed to be strong for their kids. And Piper Beckett was her daughter. Maybe not by birth, but by everything else that mattered.

“Exactly.” Grace squeezed Piper’s fingers and darted a glance at Madalyn who stood on her other side.

“You are about the luckiest woman in the world. I hope you know that, Gracie Jane.”

“Yes, I do, Maddie Jane.”

“So, Piper,” Madalyn said. “How many minutes has it been?”

Piper studied Grace’s phone. “Twelve minutes and twenty-seven seconds.”

“So, that means less than four minutes to wait.”

“We’re gonna hear them soon,” Piper said, tilting her head to the side as if she could catch the rumble from the clouds quicker.

“I wish we knew how it was going,” Grace whispered to Madalyn.

“I know. But remember, Aaron said he needed to focus on communicating with the other pilots and with traffic control. Everything is okay.”

Grace nodded, because the tightness in her throat wouldn’t let her speak. No way was she crying in front of Piper. Not now. Not when Piper was barely holding herself together. Instead, Grace studied the crowd of a few hundred assembled at the airstrip, thankful they’d hired security for crowd control.

Folks from town and the surrounding area had shown up—some for the spectacle of it and some in memory of Edwin Ross. News outlets from across the region as well as veteran’s organizations from across the country had come to witness this monumental event—the flying of another Tigercat.

“Mom,” Piper said, leaning against Grace’s hip while her little fingers pressed against the growing bump of Grace’s lower abdomen. “I wish my baby brother were here to see this. He’s gonna like airplanes just like Daddy.”

Grace set her hand on top of Piper’s. A tiny bulge shoved from inside, maneuvering for more space. “You feel that? I think baby brother agrees with you.”

Piper giggled. “He does.”

Madalyn nudged Grace. “I hear something.”

Sure enough. An excited murmur raced through the crowd, and then a hush fell. Once again, Grace lifted her face to the sky, shading her eyes with her free hand. The planes were still a distance away, but she could make out three specks, moving nearer.

“They’re back!” Piper jumped up and down, waving her hands in the air as if she were part of the landing crew. Grace plucked her cell phone from her daughter’s hand before it could hit the tarmac and then tucked it safely away in her crossbody bag.

Closer and closer the three Tigercats came, flying in a V formation, until they soared over the gathered spectators in a thunderous display. The crowd cheered as they passed by, and then they circled around and headed back. The news media captured the excitement as it happened.

Like a well-orchestrated dance, Aaron’s plane touched down first, followed in quick succession by the two accompanying aircraft. Taxiing to the area quartered off for the crowd, all three Grumman F7F Tigercats, angled slightly, lined up on the tarmac for pictures for this historic moment. Tigercat number nine had flown, and in the small community of Tigercat owners, that was cause for celebration. Each pilot climbed from their cockpit and jumped to the ground, gathering for a moment of high-fives and handshakes and slaps on the back.

The back of her throat hurt as Grace held back the longing for things that would never be. Her granddad would’ve loved being a part of all of this.

After what felt like an eternity but was only a couple minutes, Aaron stepped up to the microphone at the nose of the plane he’d flown. Grace took in the sight of her husband with that grin that lit up his entire face. God, he was amazingly handsome.

“Good morning!” Aaron shouted to the crowd.

Everyone echoed his greeting.

“How was the ride?” someone behind the security line asked.

“Honestly, it was pretty darn loud up there.” Aaron chuckled. “But guys, seriously, I just flew the plane. It was my wife, Grace, who made this all happen.” He gestured for Grace to come join him.

Through the crowd and beyond the ropes, she fought the tears the entire way to his side. Thankfulness for a safe flight, sorrow over the fact that her granddad had missed this moment—whatever the reason, emotions spilled down Grace’s cheeks.

“It’s okay, Grace,” he whispered as she threw her arms around his neck. “You’ve got this part.”

She nodded her head against his chest and lifted her face. He gently thumbed off the tears, and she said, “I’ve got this part.” Slowly, she faced the people who had gathered.

“Good morning, everyone. Please excuse my runaway emotions. It’s been quite a day. I just wanted to take two more minutes of your time to thank you for being here. As you know, prior to just moments ago, there were only eight flying Tigercats in the world. But now there are nine.”

Applause and cheering rang out, and Grace paused for the excitement to settle.

“I want to personally thank Gene Owens from California and Daren Wickdahl from Arizona for flying their beautiful Tigercats here to make our celebration even more special. We were honored to have them accompany Tigercat number nine on her maiden flight.”

Grace lifted her hand to the side nose panel of the midnight blue plane, running her fingertips across the painted name there, Win’s Dream. “My grandfather, Edwin Ross, started this project several years before his death. He had this wild dream that Tigercats could fly.” Grace laughed. “And I just wanted to make sure his dream became reality.”

The gathered crowd cheered, and Grace reached for Aaron. “Thank you,” she whispered.

His arms were wrapped around her waist while she clung to him. “For what?”

“For making my dreams come true.”