Free On Distant Shores by Sarah Sundin Page B

they’ll come back.”
    “That’s okay.” Now to release her to celebrate with her friends. “You don’t have to—”
    “May I ask you something?” She slid closer. But not too close. “It’s been on the tip of my tongue all evening, but I didn’t want to ask in front of the crowd.”
    “All right. What is it?” One question. Then he’d excuse her. She’d have more fun without him anyway.
    “You know a lot about the constellations. So tell me. Whydo people trust in the stars? In astrology? It seems silly to me.”
    He chuckled. “It is. The idea that the position of a ball of fire halfway across the universe determines the course of our lives.”
    “So they’d rather look to the stars than to the God who made them. Why do people do that?”
    “It’s about control. God doesn’t tell us everything we want to know. On purpose. So we learn to lean on him and trust him. People don’t want that. They want quick answers. Astrology gives them that illusion.”
    “And why do you watch the stars?”
    He grinned at the teasing in her voice. “Because they’re beautiful. Because I know God made them. Because the stories are interesting.”
    “All right. You pass. Now may I see what you have in your telescope?”
    So much for excusing her. But he had promised. “It’s set up. The Andromeda Galaxy, right near Pegasus.”
    Georgie peered through. “When I was little, I used to imagine my horse had wings. It certainly felt like he did.”
    “Mm-hmm.” He dug his bare toes into the warm sand. “You don’t have to stick around on my account. I have my telescope, and the moon doesn’t come up for another hour.”
    A soft sigh. “I don’t want to dance. It wouldn’t be right.”
    Hutch gazed to the expanse of the Mediterranean, lit only by pinpricks of reflected starlight. “Me neither.”
    “If you don’t mind my company . . .”
    “Of course not.” What else could he say? “So how long have you and Ward been together?”
    “Forever.” She pulled back from the telescope, her voice perky again. “We were childhood friends, then high school sweethearts. He never officially proposed. We always knew we’d get married.”
    Just what Hutch needed to hear. “Why aren’t you Mrs. . . . ?”
    “Mrs. Manville. You know how it is. I wanted to get married right out of high school, but he wanted to save money to buy his own farm. So I followed Rose to nursing school to pass the time. He still wasn’t ready, so Rose and I joined the Army Nurse Corps. Then the war came, and I was committed for the duration plus six months.”
    He let out a wry chuckle. “I definitely understand that.”
    “Now he has his own farm, and I’m over here.”
    “Mm.”
    She drew her knees to her chest and rearranged her skirt. “I know what you’re thinking. I let other people make my decisions.”
    Hutch leaned back and burrowed his hands into the sand. The sound of the sea added to the music. “What do you think? Are other people your stars?”
    “My stars?”
    “The ancients looked to the stars to tell them what to do. You look to other people.”
    “Oh.” Her voice dove, and she lowered her chin to her knees. “I do, don’t I? I just . . . I don’t trust my own judgment.”
    He pointed up. “You see the North Star? It’s only one degree from true north. It barely moves. But God never moves. He’s always the same.”
    A sad laugh. “I’m like the other stars, going around in circles.”
    “The Lord will help you make decisions, you know. In the book of James, it says if you lack wisdom, ask God, and he’ll give it to you. ‘But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.’”
    “Unwavering. I want to be like that. I’m tired of being tossed around by the wind.”
    “You can be. I know you can.” Something about advising her made him feel manly again, made his chest feel full and his arms like iron.
    “I’d like to