His voice purred like one of the cats he treated. “I’ll have to show you the paintings of you and Jonah and Mutt that I started. And haven’t finished. It’s because of the eyes. Your eyes. You have this lovely face, beautiful hair, and your eyes are haunted. I cannot capture the pain, and, without it, the picture isn’t you.”
She shuddered again. Haunted. Yeah, that was a good word.
That hand on her back continued its gentle rub, just like Gramma Grace. “Dinah, it’s time you told me why your eyes are haunted. I want to know because I care about you.”
Because I care about you. Dinah found herself yearning to believe that. “My little brother, Michael. He slept more than he ought, drank gallons of water. Then his breath began to smell like he was sneaking wine. He was five. Where would he get wine? But they prayed over him to get rid of the demon alcohol, then took him to a clinic for a tonic to spiff him up. The nurse there said he had an advanced form of Type I diabetes; it had been neglected way too long; and needed treatment right away. Daily insulin shots. They refused. Our minister declared that if their faith was strong enough, he would be healed. Jesus would heal him, like He raised the widow’s son. My mother and father believed him. Michael slipped into a coma and I watched him die. They told me it was because I hadn’t prayed hard enough.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Two years later, the only solid pillar in my world died, Gramma Grace. Dad’s mom. Type II diabetes.” Oh, Gramma Grace! Michael! She took a deep breath. “So you tell me: if those were God’s will, why would I want to love and serve a God like that?”
He said nothing, but his arms continued their fortifying wrap around her.
“No platitudes, Garret? This seems like the perfect time for a platitude.”
“They didn’t seek help for your grandmother, either, I take it. Was this their idea or their pastor’s?”
“What are you getting at?”
“John Hanson. Our study leader. You’re going to really like John. He tells this story: This fellow got caught in a flood. It rose almost to the roof of his house. So here he sat on his ridgepole. A rowboat came by. ‘I’m here to rescue you,’ the boatman said.
“‘No problem,’ said the fellow. ‘I am praying to God and He will rescue me.’ Awhile later, a motorboat came by. Same thing. Then a helicopter. ‘No, no, God will rescue me.’ The flood topped his roof and he drowned. When he got to the gates of heaven he was furious. ‘You promised to rescue me and you didn’t! What use is faith?’ And Saint Peter, he says, ‘Hey, man. It’s your fault. We sent you two boats and a helicopter.’”
In her deep despair, she almost smiled.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but to refuse appropriate medicine is like refusing the rescue that God sent. I’m sorry you blame Jesus instead. It wasn’t His idea.”
“But…” What could she say?
“Jonah tried to go to heaven and God didn’t allow it. It wasn’t his time to go.”
“Then why was it Michael’s?” She insisted. “And Gramma Grace’s?”
“I have no idea. I’m not God.”
Whatever had given her the idea that this man could care for her? This man who had been so hostile toward her in the beginning? Or that she could reciprocate? But why, then, was it that his hug felt so good? And why, when she didn’t know what to do, had she come to him? As if things shuffled around into some kind of order. No longer chaos, but order.
She coveted order.
“Dinah? I realize this sounds stupid, but you’re not Gloria.”
“Gloria?” She tipped her head back to look at him. “Your ex-wife?”
He nodded. “When I first met you—encountered you is probably a better way to put it—you were the perfect picture of a take-charge woman. It took me a long time to get past the past; to realize that you’re not the woman I imagined. Please believe me when I say I’ve come to care for both you and Jonah. You’re stuck with me.”
Caring. Was that a lesser form of love? Or perhaps an even greater thing than love. What if caring leads to love? The voice came whisper soft, tiptoeing down the corridors of her churning mind.
She stiffened and he loosened his hug a little. “I don’t know what…” All she could do was wag her head. She understood what hydration did to carboxyl ions, but she could not understand her own mind. She did understand, though, that he had helped Jonah when she could not. And she stood a good chance of helping his mother when he could not. And there was April, caring so much about all of them. And. So many ands.
So. Life was not the quiet, simple, controlled environment of the laboratory. It was the big, wide messy world, and if Dinah would hide from life and refuse to engage it, apparently life was going to leap out and engage her whether she wanted it or not.
Do something! The only way to handle all this. Her mother used to clean closets when life got hard. They had had the cleanest, neatest closets in the universe. Where had that thought come from? Another blindside?
His voice rumbled along. “You probably don’t agree with me, but with your company, you have been doing God’s will all along—helping people live better lives. And saving lives if you can. It’s the same job I do.”
“I don’t—”
“Hey, I read your mission statement. I didn’t see anything there about making money. And I remember that interview on TV. They tried to stick a profit motive on you and you shook it off. You do what you do to help others. That’s Jesus.”
“That interview.” So long ago! Ages ago!
“To a bunch of smelly shepherds, God spoke with a whole skyful of angels. To eastern sages, all he had to do was shove a star out of place. He speaks to each person in a way that is unique to each person. Jesus has been by your shoulder the whole time, and He is more than happy to meet you on your terms. I hope you can find each other.”
“You said you got past the past. I’m not sure I can.”
He loosened the hug more. “Have I mentioned to you that I belong to a really dynamite group of folks who pray for each other?”
Prayer. There is was again. “You seem to have mentioned it.”
He was smiling. “We’re having a get-together after the Good Friday evening service, to bless our new classroom. I’d like you and Jonah to come with me. Maybe we can all just start over.”
She thought she had learned ways to deal with life. And death. And God and Jesus and—memories. So much changed. Her ways did not work. Everything had collapsed, from her faith on out. Now she must pick up the pieces.
She drew a deep breath. “If you want me to come to your group on Good Friday evening, I will do that.”
Epilogue
Dinah sat on the sand facing west as the sun drifted ever lower. Garret sat behind her, his knees bent on either side of his new wife. When she leaned back and turned her head to ask him something, he took the opportunity to kiss her cheek.
Earlier in the day, the South Carolina beach in June had been more populated, but apparently everyone had gone to dinner, leaving the beach to Garret and Dinah.
He pointed to the horizon. “See that spot just to the left of straight out there? It should swell just as the sun disk drops below the horizon.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Look at that little tiny cloud above there. It’s getting golder.”
“Getting golder?” She tipped her head back, just to feel his nearness.
“You didn’t marry a grammar and language professor, you know.”
“No, I married a cartoonist who makes sick animals well again. Besides, Jonah insisted that we all live in the same house.” She narrowed her eyes. “I think it is coming.”
“Hear the songs of the waves? And the birds. Even they are saying goodbye to the day.” He inhaled and slowly let it out again. “I love this hush.” He nuzzled her neck. “And you.”
The golden sun dropped away, but not the golden light.
“There it is.” Dinah pointed to the gilded spot that hovered with e
very blink of the eyes. “I caught it.”
He wrapped both arms around her shoulders. “Our glimpse of glory. I think God orders the sun to show us a glimpse of His glory, first with the dawn and then like now, the sun setting. We can’t handle any more than this, but someday we will see Him face-to-face and we won’t have to worry about burning our eyes.”
“I love that.” Her sigh sang of contentment and peace. “Thank you for insisting we come out here.”
“Other than time alone with you, I wanted you to see this. That’s why we are honeymooning here.”
“Good a reason as any.”
“You think Jonah is hungry yet?” They’d left him at the house. The windows of Garret’s aunt Sylvia’s house up the beach were blazing now with liquid gold. The sky glinted off them, off every bright surface. How splendid!
Marrying Garret meant a whole big family for Jonah, and for Dinah: brother, sisters, nieces, and nephews. Garret’s mother was one of the first to buy Scoparia when it finally went on sale. Dinah had offered to give it to her, but she said she wanted to brag about her daughter-in-law at the store.
Mutt came jogging up the beach toward them. With her pups weaned and given away, running up and down the beach was helping her regain her girlish figure.
Dinah used Garret’s knees as braces to stand, dusted the sand off the seat of her jeans, and gave him a hand up. The two of them strolled upbeach toward the house, arms around each other, the evening breeze that had just sprung up tickling their necks.
Barefooted, Jonah met them on the deck. “Mom, you got sand on your feet. You gotta brush it off or Aunt Sylvia won’t give you supper. She said so.”
Dinah smiled first at Jonah and then to Garret. Mom. What a title.
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
What advice would you give Dinah when Corinne asks her to take her son?
Juggling family and career is never easy. If you have had experience here, what have you done to make it work?
Who was your favorite character? Why?
Losing one’s faith when life gets too rough is not unusual. Have you ever experienced this? What did you do? How have you helped someone else through this?
What was the central theme in Heaven Sent Rain?
God has a knack for turning our lives upside down and taking us down a new path. How has He done that in your life? How did you respond?
Have you ever had a negative first impression of someone because he or she reminded you of someone who hurt you in the past? Did your opinion change over time?
Have you ever reached out to help a homeless person or someone hungry? What did you do? How did you feel?
Also by Lauraine Snelling
Wake the Dawn
Reunion
On Hummingbird Wings
One Perfect Day
Breaking Free
Available from FaithWords wherever books are sold.
Praise for
Lauraine Snelling
Wake the Dawn
“Snelling (One Perfect Day) continues to draw fans with her stellar storytelling skills. This time she offers a look at smalltown medical care in a tale that blends healing, love, and a town’s recovery.…Snelling’s description of events at the small clinic during the storm is not to be missed.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Snelling’s fast-paced novel has characters who seek help in the wrong places. It takes a raging storm for them to see that the help they needed was right in front of them the whole time. This is a strong, believable story.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Lauraine Snelling’s newest novel will keep you turning pages and not wanting to put the book down.…Wake The Dawn is a guaranteed good read for any fiction lover.”
—Cristel Phelps, Retailers and Resources Magazine
Reunion
“Inspired by events in Snelling’s own life, Reunion is a beautiful story about characters discovering themselves as the foundation of their family comes apart at the seams. Readers may recognize themselves or someone they know within the pages of this book, which belongs on everyone’s keeper shelf.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Reunion is a captivating tale that will hook you from the very start.…Fans of Christian fiction will love this touching story.”
—FreshFiction.com
“Snelling’s previous novels (One Perfect Day) have been popular with readers, and this one, loosely based on her own life, will be no exception.”
—Publishers Weekly
On Hummingbird Wings
“Snelling can certainly charm.”
—Publishers Weekly
One Perfect Day
“Snelling writes about the foibles of human nature with keen insight and sweet honesty.”
—National Church Library Association
“Snelling’s captivating tale will immediately draw readers in. The grief process is accurately portrayed, and readers will be enthralled by the raw emotion of Jenna’s and Nora’s accounts.”
—Romantic Times Book Reviews
“…[a] spiritually challenging and emotionally taut story. Fans of Christian women’s fiction will enjoy this winning novel.”
—Publishers Weekly
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Epilogue
Reading Group Guide
Also by Lauraine Snelling
Praise for Lauraine Snelling
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Lauraine Snelling
Cover Designed by JuLee Brand.
Cover Images by Shutterstock
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-89296-912-8
E3
Heaven Sent Rain Page 30
