Sunrise (31 page)

Katy reached her spot at the end of the aisle, and he realized that she was crying too. Not loud or with any trace of sadness but with tears of joy for all they’d been through to reach this place, all they’d survived together.

Let the paparazzi trail them. Let them write about every move they might make as husband and wife. Nothing—nothing in the world—would ever separate him from the love he felt for Katy Hart. If they needed to live on their own private island, he would go in a heartbeat before he’d let anything come between them.

His love was protection and passion and honesty and awe; it was a dusty-faced girl flat on her back on an old, dirty stage looking at him with wonder in her eyes and the flash of lightning between them on a dark, stormy night in Bloomington. He had never wanted anything in his life as much as he wanted Katy Hart, and along the way he’d found the One he did need more, even when he hadn’t known it.

God and God alone had brought them here this morning.

It was a beginning, and it was only right that the sun was rising into the sky over his right shoulder as the song was ending. He finished it strong. “‘Everything I do . . . I do it for you.’”

As he lowered his microphone, the sky changed again, daybreak coming to life all around them.

Dayne’s friend Bob Asher had flown in to take part in the wedding and to officiate the ceremony. He stepped forward now and looked at Katy’s father. “Who gives this woman to be married?”

Katy’s father kissed her cheek one last time before giving her away. Then he nodded in Bob’s direction. “Her mother and I.” With that, he tenderly took Katy’s hand and gave it to Dayne.

The music was still playing softly in the background, repeating the chorus of the song. Before they began the vows, Katy and Dayne had something they wanted to do, something they had planned months ago. Together they walked to a small table set up near the piano. There on a white linen cloth were two vases full of dirt. Hers was soil taken from the flower bed near the front entrance of the Bloomington Community Theater. His was sand from Malibu Beach.

They smiled at each other, and then Katy pulled a larger, empty crystal vase close. Gradually, they each poured the contents of their vases into the empty container. As they did, the two materials mixed and swirled together in the new vase.

When it was full, Dayne turned to their family and friends. He’d written something for this moment, but he didn’t want to take a piece of paper out of his pocket and read. Instead he spoke from his heart. “Our worlds are very different, Katy’s and mine. The sand and the soil show you that much. But here, with you and God as witnesses, we have found the miracle of oneness—one heart, one family, one faith. So that no matter what happens in either of our worlds ever again, we might be as difficult to separate as the soil and sand you see here.”

Next to him, Katy squeezed his hand, and they moved back to the center of the pavilion area, where Bob said a few words about love and marriage and God’s design in both. Dayne was focused, but every time he looked at Katy, he lost his ability to concentrate. It was the same way through their vows, Dayne caught up and mesmerized by Katy’s presence, the beauty that came from deep within her.

Finally Bob smiled. “I now present to you Dayne and Katy Matthews.” He grinned at Dayne. “You may kiss the bride.”

Dayne couldn’t draw a breath, but that didn’t matter. He lifted Katy’s veil and held her face in his hands. The kiss didn’t linger, but he would remember it all his days.

As he faced his family and friends, he wanted to shout to the heavens that they’d done it! They’d gotten married. And now she was his, and he was hers. It was more than he could take in.

At that moment he realized that the sky had changed again. The yellows and subtle pinks were brightening, and a hint of pale blue was filling in the gaps between the streaks. That was the beauty of a new day, wasn’t it? A sunrise would change every few seconds, but with each change the picture only grew more beautiful.

The same way this was a beginning for the two of them, and changes would come. But as they did, Dayne was convinced to his core that the days would make themselves known the way the sky was coming to life here before their eyes.

With bright and breathtaking color and all the beauty of a changing sunrise.

A Word from Karen Kingsbury

Dear Reader Friends,

If you’re like me, at this point you want to do a little dance or stand on the highest hill and raise a victory fist in the air. Dayne and Katy are married!

My eyes welled up as I pictured these two and all they’d been through, all that had led them to this place. And so you see that
Sunrise
is a new beginning not only for Dayne and Katy but for the Baxters and the Flanigans and all our dear friends in Bloomington, Indiana.

I know; I know. They’re just fictional characters. But I think about them as if they’re real. Just ask my husband. He’s worried I might need counseling, but I tell him I’ll be fine. Even if I spend time looking for Ashley and Landon when I visit Indiana.

What struck me most as I wrote
Sunrise
was the importance of new beginnings. Marriage is certainly a time of new beginnings, as anything can be when we allow God to work. An anniversary, a birthday, a first of the month. Since we are subject to a forgiving and gracious God, we ought to be intimately familiar with new beginnings.

God never planned for us to wallow in the mire of failed efforts or broken relationships, and He doesn’t want us to flounder in the frog pond of unforgiveness and bitterness. He wants us to take hold of the promises He has to offer and make a new start. New beginnings are crucial if we’re ever going to find victory in our life with Christ.

So though the characters are fictional, God is using them to teach me lessons that come straight from the Bible. Because the power of story belongs to God alone. Whether you’re the reader or the writer.

Another lesson
Sunrise
taught me was the power of persistent prayer. Katy asked God for something some people might’ve thought too simple. She wanted her husband to enjoy their wedding without concern for photographers. And God delivered, as so often only God can do.

I wish I could tell you all that lies ahead for Katy and Dayne as they attempt to make peace with the paparazzi. I can only say that their love will be tested beyond the normal bounds, beyond anything they could’ve anticipated in this, the beautiful sunrise of their married days. Likewise, there’s more to know about Ashley’s story and Landon’s, John’s and Elaine’s.

Maybe the saddest part is that there are just three books left with these precious people, the ones I’ve learned so much from. The ones tens of thousands of you have written to me about. Three more books. Look for
Summer
, then
Someday
, and finally
Sunset
. After that, we’ll see if God allows more opportunity with the Baxters somewhere down the road.

If not, you’ll simply have to check in on my Web site. I might start a Baxter update for those of us who want to know how these characters are doing when the books stop coming. In the meantime, I’ll have other books, other Life-Changing Fiction titles you can journey through with me.

By the way, if any of you don’t yet know the personal love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, if for the first time you’re hearing about Jesus and His powerful salvation and His plans for your life, please visit a Bible-believing church in your area and talk to the pastor about Jesus. You need to spend time in God’s Word—the Bible—in order to know what the Lord wants from you and what He is offering free of charge.

If this book changed your life or led you into or back into a relationship with Jesus, please write to me and put
New Life
in the subject line. I’ll be sure to read that letter and pray for you as you journey toward a deeper walk with our Lord.

Either way, I hope you’ll take a minute and visit my Web site at www.KarenKingsbury.com. There you can see what books are coming up or connect with other readers and book clubs. You can leave prayer requests or take on the responsibility of praying for people. People often tell me they haven’t found a purpose or meaning to their faith. Maybe they’re on the go a lot or their circumstances keep them homebound. Remember, prayer is a very important ministry. It was prayer that turned things around for Dayne and Luke, prayer that made the difference time and again in this series. Your prayers—either in the midst of a busy day or as the main focus of a homebound one—could be crucial in the life of someone else, someone God wants you to pray for. Visit the prayer link on my Web site and make a commitment to pray for the hurting people who have left requests there.

In addition, I have two new pages on my Web site—one for active military heroes and another for fallen military heroes. If you know someone serving our country and you’d like to honor them, please click the appropriate links on the side of the home page and submit their photo, name, rank, and how people can pray for them. We can include more details if you have someone you’d like to honor on the Fallen Military Heroes page. The importance in our current war is not who is wrong or right, because war is complicated. However, the duty we all share is to honor and respect and admire our troops. They are heroes, and they deserve our utmost support and constant prayers.

On a personal note, my family is doing well, nearly through another year of homeschooling. It’s a wonderful adventure full of laughter and precious memories. Kelsey is a high school junior, talking about colleges. Austin, nine, rarely wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to climb in the middle between Donald and me. Yes, I can feel the days moving too fast, and there’s nothing I can do to slow the ride. But I am enjoying every minute all the same, trying to remember the lessons from
Sunrise—
look for the new beginnings in life and believe that this time God will help you see the light of day.

Thanks so much for sharing in this journey, the journey of the Baxter family. I pray that God is using the power of story to touch and change your life, the way He uses it in mine.

Until next time, blessings in His amazing light and grace,

Karen Kingsbury

Discussion Questions

Use these questions for individual reflection or for discussion with a book club or other small group.

1. What does a sunrise represent to you? Tell about a time when you got up early enough to watch a sunrise.

2. What area in your life could use a new beginning? What steps would you need to take to get that new beginning started?

3. Describe Katy’s new approach to the press. What was at the root of her ideas?

4. What did Dayne think about opening their lives to the public? As their wedding neared, what were Dayne’s fears about being publicly open with their lives?

5. Many Hollywood couples have fallen victim to the tabloids and wound up divorced. What advice would you give Katy and Dayne as they begin their married life in a very public way?

6. What do you think causes real Hollywood marriages to receive so much scrutiny? What ultimately breaks up these marriages?

7. What concerns does Katy have about Christian Kids Theater? Have you ever been part of something good, something of God, and then watched it fall apart or close down? Describe that situation.

8. Can you understand Rhonda’s feelings of discontent around Katy—especially in Katy’s time of happiness? Explain how Rhonda is feeling.

9. Have you ever been jealous of a friend who seems to have everything all together? What typically comes of this jealousy?

10. What did you learn about Dayne through his playacting on the stage with Katy?

11. In what ways do you try to incorporate laughter and fun into your relationships—especially your relationship with your spouse?

12. Have you planned a wedding—yours or someone else’s? What things are crucial to making the day come off the way you hoped?

13. Katy will need to make sacrifices in order to live alongside Dayne in his very public life. What are a few of those sacrifices?

14. What are sacrifices you’ve made on behalf of your spouse? How were those sacrifices received by the person you love?

15. After reading
Sunrise
, you know that Katy has been offered a leading role in Dayne’s upcoming movie. In your opinion, what problems could come from this?

From

by Karen Kingsbury

Chapter One

For Katy it felt like all her life—every successive year of her adolescence, every season of pain or joy, all the lonely days and weeks and months without love—was only the path that led her to the here and now, her honeymoon with Dayne Matthews.

With every breath she was convinced that this brilliant moment in time would shine forever like the brightest star in the night sky of her memory, a time that would always make her certain that this—this man and this time and this shared faith—was the reason she’d been born.

Dayne’s surprise for her had been a two-week trip to the Bahamas. They’d spent the first week in a secluded beachfront bungalow not far from the well-known Atlantis resort and the second on a private island, a thirty-minute ferry ride from Nassau.

Wilma Waters, the wedding coordinator, had handled the details, so Katy and Dayne had a personal staff complete with a chef, a cleaning staff, and a recreation coordinator in charge of providing scuba gear, Jet Skis, and whatever else the couple might need.

Only Wilma and Dayne’s agent knew the phone number at the bungalow, and both had promised that short of an emergency, they wouldn’t call.

It was the third day of the second week, and Katy woke next to Dayne, amazed as she had been every morning since the wedding that this was her life, that she and Dayne were forever going to wake up this way.

Sunshine streamed through the sheer curtains and shone across the white, downy comforter. Katy drew a long, slow breath and looked at her husband . . . her
husband
. The word still made her feel like they were pretending. The idea had felt impossible for so long; through every brief visit and every long good-bye, while they fled the paparazzi and while Dayne recovered from his car accident, they’d agreed time and again that love for the two of them could never work. Would never work.

But somehow here they were on a brilliantly blue day, sharing a bed and a brand-new marriage and a love that simply could not be denied. Not for any reason.

Katy rolled onto her side and studied the man beside her, the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Whatever his past, it was behind him.

“Fifty years from now I’ll look back on this time,” he’d told her during one of their walks on the secluded sandy shoreline, “and I’ll know that my life didn’t really begin until now. With you.”

Dayne didn’t spout pithy lines or tired phrases. He had not been a playboy in the traditional sense but only because the tabloids dubbed him that, only because his looks and charm were genuine and therefore irresistible. So when he told her his life only really started on their wedding day, he meant it. Every word.

Since their first night together, each whisper and quiet conversation over a candlelit dinner had been marked by words that crossed his lips the moment he thought them, words that seemed to take even him by surprise with their depth and intensity.

And so the honeymoon was more than Katy could’ve dreamed of, because she had never known love like this. Overnight her ability to feel seemed magnified a thousand times over. That’s what loving Dayne Matthews had done to her. She could only imagine what that love would become as they shared the months and years, journeying through the seasons of life together.

Dayne stirred and took a deep breath. He rolled onto his side, faced her, and slowly opened his eyes. “Mmmm . . .” A slow smile filled his face even before he was fully awake. “Good.” He reached for her hand. “It’s not a dream.”

She was about to tell him that no, it wasn’t and that she had to remind herself of the same thing when she first woke up, but before she could say a word, the phone on Dayne’s bedside table rang. The sound of the ring was foreign after so many days without an interruption from the outside world.

Dayne frowned and reached for the phone. “This better be big.” He picked up the receiver and pressed it to his ear. “Hello?” He turned his attention to the caller on the other end of the line. He paused, his expression serious. “That’s okay. What’s up?”

Katy watched him, waiting for his reaction. Since Wilma and Dayne’s agent had been instructed to call only in case of an emergency, she felt her breath catch in her throat. It could be her parents or one of the Baxters or Flanigans . . . almost anything.

“And he needs to know by this afternoon?” Dayne raked his fingers through his hair and rolled onto his back again.

Katy breathed out and felt herself relax. Whatever the news, it wasn’t tragic. Based on Dayne’s reaction, it was probably business.

Katy climbed out of bed, slid the curtains back, and opened the window. She drew in a long gulp of ocean air and studied the sandy stretch outside their room. The beach looked like something from a calendar, so beautiful that no camera could ever really do it justice. Behind her she could hear Dayne wrapping up the call.

“Right, I’ve seen the show.” Dayne didn’t sound short, but he wasn’t happy, either. “I don’t know. . . . I mean, do we need that sort of publicity?” He sighed and for a while he said nothing. “Okay . . . I get it. I’ll talk it over with her and get back to you in an hour.”

Katy turned and dropped into a chair near the bed. “Your agent?”

“Yes.” Tension was written across Dayne’s brow, a tension that hadn’t been there since their wedding day. He sounded tired and uncertain. “I guess word got out that you took the part.” He tossed his hands, an apology on his face. “I’m sorry, Katy.”

“Don’t worry about it. They would’ve found out.”

“This is a little different.” He hesitated, almost as if he didn’t want to finish his thought. “
For Real
wants to feature us in a twelve-episode segment. It’d run twice a week during filming of our movie.”

Adrenaline shot into Katy’s veins, and her heart skipped a beat. She blinked, and she felt her eyes open wider than before.
For Real
was one of the most watched reality shows on TV. “You mean like . . . follow us home and camp in our living room?” Reality shows had done that with other celebrities, usually with terrible results.

“No.” Dayne sat up and leaned against the headboard. “They’d stick to the set.” Doubt flashed in his eyes. “My agent thinks it might make the whole movie thing easier for us.”

Katy gripped the arms of the chair. She couldn’t shake the sudden surge of fear. “Having us the subject of a reality show?” The idea was enough to make her change her mind about the part.

Over the next few minutes, Dayne explained the offer. The camera crews would document Katy and Dayne working together, giving the country what it would so desperately want anyway—an inside look at Dayne Matthews and his new bride.

“Sort of like my idea.” Katy was starting to understand. “Smile for the cameras rather than run from them.’

“Right. Only on a much bigger level.” Dayne didn’t look happy, but his tone said he understood where his agent was coming from. “Make the story more available and because of that less desirable.”

They went out onto their balcony, and for a while neither of them said anything. Then Katy rested her elbows on the table and met Dayne’s eyes. “Think it’ll work?”

“Take the heat off these next few months?” The weight of their decision showed in Dayne’s expression. “My agent thinks so.”

“What about you?”

“Maybe.” A warm breeze drifted up off the gentle surf. “The network wants a commitment from us today. They need to put together a package and present it to the execs.”

Katy didn’t want to make the decision. Too much rested on how it went. “If we do it, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“The press could get more interested.” He narrowed his eyes, concentrating. “But I’ve only seen that when the crews follow celebrities 24-7.”

A fine layer of salt lay on the glass tabletop, and Katy dusted off a section with her fingertips. “It isn’t a long commitment, I guess.”

Again they were quiet, and Dayne slid his bare foot next to hers. He breathed out long and hard and stared into the clear, blue sky. “We don’t really have a choice. They’ll follow us one way or another.”

“It’d be good publicity for the movie.” Katy still felt slightly sick at the thought, but Dayne was right. If they turned down the offer, they would be dodging paparazzi every hour of the day. At least with a reality show, there was a good chance the story would feel overplayed. The press might find another more secretive celebrity to focus on.

“Exactly.” Dayne allowed the hint of a smile, his first one since the phone call. “That’s what my studio’s saying. Obviously.”

In the end, they prayed together, and the decision became as clear as the water lapping against the beach. They would have nearly two months to savor their privacy, to return home from their honeymoon and help Katy move into their lake house. They would have quiet mornings overlooking Lake Monroe and dinners with the Baxters, and come May, they would fly back to Los Angeles, roll up their sleeves, and get to work.

Dayne made the call, and his voice still held some of the doubt from earlier. “Tell them yes.” He gave Katy a wary look. “Only on the set and only for twelve episodes.”

After the phone call, Dayne and Katy tried to put the news behind them, tried to find their way back to the easy laughter from the past few days. But they compared notes several times that morning. All they could think about was the reality show and whether telling them yes was the right decision.

In fact, all the rest of that day, as they snorkeled fifty yards offshore and swam twenty feet from a trio of dolphins, Katy wondered about what was right. Other couples had broken up after being the subject of a reality show or dropped out before the full run of episodes in an effort to salvage what remained of their relationships.

By the time they sat down to dinner that night—prime rib, compliments of their personal chef—Katy had warmed somewhat to the idea. It wasn’t as though they were committing to a twenty-six-week season, after all. And it would certainly give the press what they wanted without a chase. Which was why Katy could agree to the idea in the first place. Along the way they might even have the chance to share their faith, the beliefs that now drove both of them. God would use it, because Katy and Dayne might be newly married, but they weren’t like other Hollywood couples. They would grow closer through the experience. A reality show wouldn’t test their relationship; it would make them stronger.

Katy was sure.