The Light of Day

By Loretta Moore

From the day 19-year-old Michael Bradley sees a beautiful sad Mexican girl in a Chicago brothel storefront window. he can't get her out of his mind. He returns the next day, but she's not there, and the brothel has shut down. That very same day an unknowable force leads Reverend Robert Peterson to go to that area of town. He's moved when he sees the sad-looking girl in the shabby storefront. He and his wife come to the rescue of Carlotta Rivera.

Attorney Michael Bradley is in the hospital after a fall on an icy pavement. He can't believe that his attending nurse is that girl he saw ten years before, Carlotta Rivera. What happiness! Michael yearns to express his long-held feelings for Carlotta, but he can't bring himself to do so. Also, he has to deal with his physician half-brother Duc Le and Ben Peterson, son of Reverend Peterson, who are interested in her. How does Michael respond to a Calling to go into the ministry?

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Nov 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781487404543

Book preview

Michael Bradley hasn’t been able to find the way to express his deep love for Carlotta Rivera, something he’s wanted to tell her for so long.

From the day 19-year-old Michael Bradley sees a beautiful sad Mexican girl in a Chicago brothel storefront window. he can’t get her out of his mind. He returns the next day, but she’s not there, and the brothel has shut down. That very same day an unknowable force leads Reverend Robert Peterson to go to that area of town. He’s moved when he sees the sad-looking girl in the shabby storefront. He and his wife come to the rescue of Carlotta Rivera.

Attorney Michael Bradley is in the hospital after a fall on an icy pavement. He can’t believe that his attending nurse is that girl he saw ten years before, Carlotta Rivera. What happiness! Michael yearns to express his long-held feelings for Carlotta, but he can’t bring himself to do so. Also, he has to deal with his physician half-brother Duc Le and Ben Peterson, son of Reverend Peterson, who are interested in her. How does Michael respond to a Calling to go into the ministry?

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The Light of Day

Copyright © 2016 Loretta Moore

ISBN: 978-1-4874-0454-3

Cover art by Latrisha Waters

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Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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Smashwords Edition

The Light of Day

By

Loretta Moore

Chapter One: June 1990

This is a long, long ride, Uncle Juan. I never even imagined any place could be so far away, Carlotta Rivera said. She filled her mind with happy ideas about going to the United States of America and living in Chicago. Although she was tired from being on the road for two days since leaving her little Mexican village, her thoughts flowed with prospects and excitement.

Her uncle, Juan Rivera, sat in the seat beside her in his brand new 1990 Chevrolet. Yes, it’s a long way there, but it shouldn’t be too much further, he replied, seeming uninterested in conversation.

His sudden indifference caused her to wonder what had happened to make him change so drastically. He seemed far different from the robust, likable man who’d lit up her family’s household. It wasn’t just the sudden silence, either. Something tinged the ride, making her a little uneasy. The way he slid his eyes over toward her from time to time was what bothered her.

Her thoughts drifted back to when he’d come to visit.

Look at all of the mouths you have to feed. You work like slaves, and still you have nothing, he’d said to his brother Jose and his wife, Elena—Carlotta’s mom and dad.

Carlotta remembered how everyone’s spirits had dropped when he said that.

Carlotta and others in her village had seen their relatives take off for America, seeking a better life. Manuel, a good friend of her brother’s was one of those people. She and Manuel were practically the same age. Throughout their childhood, he’d had a crush on her. Manuel likes you, Carlotta, her brother would say. She’d just deny his remarks, shaking her head. Nonetheless, she’d noticed certain things and knew what her brother said was true. Whenever he’d visited their home, which was often, she was aware the entire time she was present that Manual focused his eyes on her. Regrettably, Manuel had died in an accident with a group of villagers headed for America. The bus had fallen into a river as it crossed a bridge, drowning everyone on board.

For years, I’ve been thinking about my family, wondering if there was a way I could help make their lives better. Juan’s pitch had sounded better than a used car salesman’s. Carlotta’s eighteen, he continued. She could help the situation. She could come with me and have a great job working for an American family and make good money. I can guarantee you the kind of money she can send back will lift you up like you wouldn’t believe. You can also rest assured that she’s in good hands.

Throughout the journey, as happy and joyous as she was, recalling her family as she was departing dampened the experience. They’d had smiling faces, but she could tell that pride was intermingled with sadness, so thinking about the family she loved, her feelings weren’t confined to joy and expectation. Her heart overflowed, though, thinking about all the ways she’d be able to help her family and herself.

In addition, she was on an adventure, and her mind was spinning with aspiration and hope for the new episode unfolding before her eyes. As she watched from the passenger window, life seemed filled with inspiration and passion as the landscape quietly rolled by over immense stretches of fields, tracts of green forests and isolated countryside. Oh, and the havens those quaint little houses formed made life appear to course contentedly over the dwellers inside. When darkness overtook the scene, she fell asleep to the car’s rhythm, challenging the long, dark highway, thinking about the destiny that was to claim her.

Don’t tell me this is where Uncle Juan wants me to live. This place looks horrible! It looks worse than where I came from! Her hopes fell as she looked out the car window at the dismal scary-looking surroundings. They’d entered a section of Chicago so dilapidated, it had the appearance of defeat, as if it had been sapped of all of life’s energy. Why did he bring me here? She shivered with the feeling she was headed toward something bad. Her concern deepened when they arrived at a street more miserable than the ones she’d seen, with rundown buildings—most of them storefronts. What? Am I expected to live here? He pulled up and stopped at a wretched little dusty dry cleaning business. After days traveling, finally they’d arrived. The two got out of the car and entered the uninviting building.

Habla usted espanol? Carlotta nervously asked a woman who looked like a Latina offering her a seat on a beat-up sofa. The woman was one of six friendly-seeming women in the tiny barely-furnished ugly living room inside the seedy storefront.

Child, I ain’t no Hispanic or Latino. I can’t speak no Spanish ‘cause I’m black, a light-skinned black, the woman, whose name was Althea told her, laughing. Raucous laughter from the two Caucasian and two other black women filled the tiny surroundings.

Unable to comprehend anything, Carlotta simply stood, her shoulders hunched, dismayed, looking from one to the other.

You’ll get to know more about all of us girls soon. I just wish you could understand us. All of us only speak English.

"You just got here today. Give yourself some time and you’ll learn how to speak it. I can tell you, it’s gone make it hard for you with your tricks if you don’t... you’ll learn," added a tall, very thin white woman who looked at least fifty.

I hope this chile don’t haveta learn nothin’! Juan oughta be ashamed of hisself, bringing a child into this mess, and worst of all, his niece and even worse, a chile. Althea shook her head disgustedly.

Could these women be what I think they are? They seem so nice, but I’m getting the feeling that I’m in the middle of a room... that filthy, lying bastard brought me to be one of his prostitutes... betraying my family and me! Enraged, fearful, and feeling as helpless as a trapped animal, she burst into tears. Almost at once, the women started coming to her, giving hugs and sharing words of compassion, showing their understanding.

You gone be okay, we’ll see to that! Just you wait, you gone be okay! said Althea, the black woman, wrapping her thick arms around her and rocking her.

Carlotta’s uncle suddenly entered the room and Carlotta started yelling at him with tears falling down her angry face. You lied to me and my family! You’re as low as they come!

He ignored the attack and began talking to the women, telling them that he’d put out the word at taverns and such and johns would be coming so they needed to be ready.

Then, looking disgusted and stern, he turned to Carlotta, still crying and shouting protestations. Now to you... shut the hell up! With that, he grabbed her by the hand and roughly began pulling her. I want you to be nice and fresh for tomorrow.

Let me go, you wicked bastard! Let me go! she yelled at him, using every bit of strength she could to get free of him as he was pulling her down a small, narrow darkened hallway.

She’d been fighting him and yelling obscenities the whole time, and when they came to a particular room, he seemed to have extra trouble managing her and opening the door with a key.

Get in there! Exhaustion seemed to have stolen his voice and he was barely audible. Shoving her into the room and pushing against her weight to shut and lock the door visibly took everything he had. Holy shit!

I can’t end up like these women, selling my body for a living. She sobbed her heart out, frightened, alone and feeling hopeless and desperate in the dank, awful bedroom he’d tossed her in. No way will I become one of them. I have to find my way out of here somehow. Whatever I do, I’ll have to do on my own, but how? I don’t have a cent, and with no