Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

F R A N C I N E R I V E R S
“All this way for nothing.” She didn’t know what she had expected. A
monument. Something. She sat down, exhausted and shivering from the
chill night air. The quilt wasn’t enough. Ten quilts wouldn’t be enough. The
chill was inside her. What did he think he was doing dragging her up this
hill in the middle of the night? “What’s so special about this?”
Michael sat down behind her. He put his strong legs on either side of her
and pulled her back against him. “Just wait.”
She wanted to resist his embrace, but she was too cold to fight him. “For
what?”
He put his arms around her. “For morning.”
“I could have waited for that in the cabin.”
He laughed against her hair. Lifting it, he kissed the nape of her neck.
“You can’t understand until you see it from here.” He nuzzled the soft skin
beneath her ear. She shivered softly. “Sleep a while if you want.” He tucked
her more closely against him. “I’ll wake you at the right time.”
She wasn’t sleepy after the long walk. “Do you do this sort of thing
often?”
“Not often enough.”
They were silent again, but she was not uncomfortable with it. The
warmth of his body was coming through her. She felt the weight of his arm
across her and the solidness of him bracing her back. She looked at the
stars, tiny jewels against black velvet. She had never seen it like this before,
so close she felt she could reach up and touch each bright speck of light.
The night sky was beautiful. It had never looked like this from a window.
And the smell—thick, moist, earthy. Even the sounds around her became a
kind of music, like the birds and insects, like the rain plinking into the tin
cans in a dingy wharf shack. Then the darkness lightened.
It began slowly, hardly noticeable. The stars grew smaller and smaller,
and the black softened. She stood up, hugging the quilt around her, watching.
At her back was darkness still, but before her was light: pale yellow
growing brilliant, gold-streaked with red and orange. She had watched sunrises
before from within walls and behind glass, but never like this, with the
cool breeze in her face and wilderness in every direction. She had never seen
anything so beautiful.
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