Beyond the Farthest Star (21 page)
Read Beyond the Farthest Star Online
Authors: Bodie and Brock Thoene
Anne stood rooted in the doorway, feeling sick and remaining silent, until her mom looked up.
“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t see you.” Hurriedly Maurene collected her things, then followed Anne’s line of vision to the hymnal. “He really wanted you to have that.”
Anne nodded, remembering every moment of confrontation and anger over that very songbook. “Yes,” she said, unable to meet her mother’s imploring gaze.
Maurene replied quietly, “I wouldn’t blame you if you never want to talk to me again, Anne. If I’d heard my mother say the things … what you heard me say …” She stroked Anne’s hair. “But if you do wanna talk or just sit, let me know. Okay, sweetie?”
Anne nodded slightly. “Okay.”
Maurene slipped out of the room. Anne sank onto the chair at Adam’s bedside and watched the machines breathe for him. The monitors lit up the room like a spaceship.
Fixing her gaze on the hymnal, she picked it up and held it gently as she spoke to her dad. “You said the songs in this book, like, comforted the saints through famine, plague, and whatever, and since you’re a saint and all and being in a coma has to qualify as some kind of plague …” Anne thumbed through the hymnal until she found the page. “Hymn 567. Your favorite, you said.”
Looking up, she checked out the ICU observation window. No one watching. And then she began to sing in a beautiful, clear voice.
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born …
The melody drifted through the corridor as emotion and longing cracked her voice. “Daddy,” Anne whispered.
And then, as she searched his face, Adam’s eyes fluttered and opened, filling with recognition and love.
Anne touched his hand, then hesitated a moment more before hurrying to the nurses’ station.
The nurse looked up. “Yes?”
Anne could hardly speak. “The patient in 403? He just opened his eyes and looked at me … and I think … I think you should go in there.”
Anne hung back as the ICU unit was suddenly filled with the frantic bustle of doctors and nurses rushing to Adam’s bedside.
It was a true miracle, they said later.
When all the tubes and machines were disconnected, Adam told everybody that he woke up after hearing an angel singing.
Anne didn’t tell him it was just … her.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Psalm 19:1 – 2
Anne’s Journal, One Year Later
Two weeks after he woke up, my dad was released from the hospital. He had Stephen and me pick him up instead of my mother. And instead of driving him home, he made us drive him to the Bigmart in Alamo cause all of a sudden the “Miracle Preacher Boy” became like that Lord Nathan guy in my mom’s novels.
Stephen and I waited on the porch, pretending not to notice when Adam came into the house. Mom was unpacking the remaining boxes.
She said,” I mainly unpacked your things till we decide what we’re …” And then she noticed he was wearing a blue Bigmart employee’s vest.
He just stood there for a minute, then he said, “I bribed her, Mo. Miss Moore. The Tom Thumb wedding. I told her I’d clap erasers and wash the chalkboard for the rest of the year if she’d pick
you and me as husband and wife. Then he took
her in his arms.
From that day on, my mother stopped reading romance novels and started thinking maybe what happened to Sarah and Abraham could happen to Maurene and Adam.
I remember the day she bought a pregnancy test at the Bigmart Pharmacy in Alamo. She brought it home and disappeared in the bathroom and, just like Sarah in the Bible, my mother started to laugh when the EPT advanced test strip turned pink.
I watched from my window as she ran outside to catch my dad before he got into the minivan. She had the test stick in her hand and sort of held it up for him to see. He knew, I think, before she told him.
I’m seventeen now. Since I’m older, I think life isn’t just razor teeth, acid blood, and slime. Sometimes it’s sunny days with blue skies and teacups of sunshine. I know now What’s beyond the farthest star—which, as Dad whispered in my ear on my fifth birthday, is so far no telescope can reach … yet so close that we can hold Him in our arms.
At least that’s the story Adam has been preaching since he was six years old. If you ask me if I believe it personally, if I believe that sometimes you get beauty from ashes? I’d have to say,” Wow.’ Really! And I’d mean it.
So I guess that’s all until later. Got to get ready. Tonight the whole town is coming out for the living nativity in the town square.
Leonard Town Square, Christmas Eve
A lot had happened in the last year. The folks in Leonard, Texas, were different since the night Senator Cutter burned the manger scene in the town square.
This year the nativity’s characters weren’t made of wood. Anne carried her baby brother to Maurene, who was dressed as Mary. Sheriff Burns and Principal Johnston, with Momsy and Potsy Dobson, were Bethlehem shepherds, and the sheep were real. Deacons portrayed the three wise men. Senator Cutter, as an apology for what he had done last year, volunteered to be the innkeeper. His wife, Candy, was the angel, dressed in a stunning white gown. The senator gazed deeply and lovingly into her eyes as he helped her into an elaborate, professionally designed set of angel wings.
Anne, dressed in a red Christmas sweater, observed from a distance. The girls in her class and Stephen and Clifford beckoned to her from the choir of angelic host gathered under the scorched star, which was all that remained of the old nativity scene.
Adam, wrapping a robe around himself, asked her, “Are you singing tonight, Annie? In the choir?”
Susan called over her shoulder, “Hey, Annie! Come on! The angelic host could really use your voice!”
Adam noted her hesitancy and took her hand. “It’s okay, hon. Maybe next year?”
“I only know the ‘new and glorious morning’ one, Dad,” she replied.
Adam’s eyes filled as she spoke his name. “That’s my favorite, Annie.”
She nodded and took his arm. Together, they joined the living nativity. Adam, as Joseph, stood beside Maurene and their new son. Anne joined the choir behind. Next to Stephen.
And they all began to sing,
“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth …”
Chapter One
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat! …
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?”
Isaiah 55:1 – 2
Chapter Seventeen
[To] provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes …
Isaiah 61:3
Chapter Twenty-Eight
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born.
“O Holy Night” is a well-known Christmas carol written as a French poem by Placide Cappeau (1808 – 77) in
1847, translated from French to English by John Sullivan Dwight (1813—93), and set to music by Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803 – 56).
B
ODIE AND
B
ROCK THOENE
(pronounced
Tay-nee)
have written over sixty-five works of historical fiction. That these bestsellers have sold more than thirty-five million copies and won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards affirms what millions of readers have already discovered—that the Thoenes are not only master stylists but also experts at capturing readers’ minds and hearts.
In their timeless classic series about Israel (The Zion Chronicles, The Zion Covenant, The Zion Legacy, The Zion Diaries), the Thoenes’ love for both story and research shines. With The Shiloh Legacy and
Shiloh Autumn
(poignant portrayals of the American Depression), The Galway Chronicles (dramatic stories of the 1840s famine in Ireland), and the Legends of the West (gripping tales of adventure and danger in a land without law), the Thoenes have made their mark in modern history. In the A.D. Chronicles they step seamlessly into the world of Jerusalem and Rome, in the days when Yeshua walked the earth.
Bodie, who has degrees in journalism and communications, began her writing career as a teen journalist for her local newspaper. Eventually her byline appeared in prestigious periodicals such as
U.S. News & World Report, The American West,
and
The Saturday Evening Post.
She also worked for John Wayne’s Batjac Productions and ABC Circle Films as a writer and researcher. John Wayne described her as “a writer with talent that captures the people and the times!”
Brock has often been described by Bodie as “an essential half
of this writing team.” With degrees in both history and education, Brock has, in his role of researcher and story-line consultant, added the vital dimension of historical accuracy. Due to such careful research, the Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles series are recognized by the American Library Association, as well as Zionist libraries around the world, as classic historical novels and are used to teach history in college classrooms.
Bodie and Brock have four grown children—Rachel, Jake, Luke, and Ellie—and eight grandchildren. Their children are carrying on the Thoene family talent as the next generation of writers, and Luke produces the Thoene audio books.
Bodie and Brock divide their time between Hawaii, London, and Nevada.
www.thoenebooks.com
www.familyaudiolibrary.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC HISTORICALS
By Bodie and Brock Thoene
Gold Medallion Winners*
The Zion Covenant
Vienna Prelude*
Prague Counterpoint
Munich Signature
Jerusalem Interlude
Danzig Passage
Warsaw Requiem*
London Refrain
Paris Encore
Dunkirk Crescendo
The Zion Chronicles
The Gates of Zion*
A Daughter of Zion
The Return to Zion
A Light in Zion
The Key to Zion*
The Shiloh Legacy
In My Father’s House*
A Thousand Shall Fall
Say to This Mountain
Shiloh Autumn
The Galway Chronicles
Only the River Runs Free*
Of Men and of Angels
Ashes of Remembrance*
All Rivers to the Sea
The Zion Legacy
Jerusalem Vigil
Thunder from Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Heart
The Jerusalem Scrolls
Stones of Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s Hope
A. D. Chronicles
First Light
Second Touch
Third Watch
Fourth Dawn
Fifth Seal
Sixth Covenant
Seventh Day
Eighth Shepherd
Ninth Witness
Tenth Stone
Eleventh Guest
Twelfth Prophecy
Zion Diaries
The Gathering Storm
Against the Wind
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC ROMANCE
By Bodie Thoene
Love Finds You in Lahaina, Hawaii
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC AMERICAN LEGENDS
Legends of the West
By Brock and Bodie Thoene
Legends of the West
Volume One
Sequoia Scout
The Year of the Grizzly
Shooting Star
Legends of the West
Volume Two
Gold Rush Prodigal
Delta Passage
Hangtown Lawman
Legends of the West
Volume Three
Hope Valley War
The Legend of Storey County
Cumberland Crossing
Legends of the West
Volume Four
The Man from Shadow Ridge
Cannons of the Comstock
Riders of the Silver Rim
Legends of Valor
By Jake Thoene and Luke Thoene
Sons of Valor
Brothers of Valor
Fathers of Valor
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC CONTEMPORARY
By Bodie and Brock Thoene
Icon
THOENE CLASSIC NONFICTION
By Bodie and Brock Thoene
The Little Books of Why
Why a Manger?
Why a Shepherd?
Why a Star?
Why a Crown?
Writer to Writer
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC SUSPENSE
by Jake Thoene
Chapter 16 Series
Shaiton’s Fire
Firefly Blue
Fuel the Fire
THOENE FAMILY CLASSICS FOR KIDS SHERLOCK
HOLMES & THE BAKER STREET DETECTIVES
By Jake Thoene and Luke Thoene
The Mystery of the Yellow Hands
The Giant Rat of Sumatra
The Jeweled Peacock of Persia
The Thundering Underground
The Last Chance Detectives
By Jake Thoene and Luke Thoene
Mystery Lights of Navajo Mesa
Legend of the Desert Bigfoot
By Rachel Thoene
The Vase of Many Colors
THOENE FAMILY CLASSIC AUDIOBOOKS
Available from
www.thoenebooks.com
or
www.familyaudiolibrary.com