Just Beyond the Clouds (Cody Gunner, #2)

by Karen Kingsbury

There’s sunshine up there, Daisy.” He put his hand over his eyes and squinted. “Just beyond the clouds.”

How did you learn to pray like that?” They began walking toward the house again. Carl Joseph shrugged. “It’s a life skill. Teacher says we can’t be independent if we don’t know how to talk to God.”

porch. Prayer, a life skill? She sat on the glider a few feet from the door and stared at the distant mountains.

himself. He searched her eyes. “Why isn’t it enough for people with Down Syndrome to live at home with their parents, safe and loved and cared for?” “Because”—passion filled her tone—“people with Down Syndrome have dreams and hopes, Mr. Gunner. Did you know that? They look at magazines and television, and they picture themselves dressed in a suit, headed off to work. They see married couples, holding hands and kissing, and they dream of knowing love like that.” Cody could feel himself frown, despite his determination to stay neutral. “They want to be married?” “Yes.” She leaned against the counter. “Before I took this job, I interviewed a married couple with Down Syndrome. They had assistance from a twice-weekly caregiver, but they managed just fine on their own. Even with a variety of health issues.” She stared at him,

No, it isn’t.” She crossed her arms. “Down Syndrome makes a person less capable cognitively. But not emotionally. They still mature at an age-appropriate rate.”

An organist played two hymns, and then the pastor got things started. He welcomed Elle’s students and explained that God has a plan for every one of his children.

Down Syndrome, God? Is that the plan You have for Carl Joseph and his friends? There was no answer, nothing audible. But he remembered something his mother had said over the years when she spent time with Carl Joseph. “Here on earth, we think Carl Joseph is handicapped. Won’t it be funny if we get to heaven one day and find out it was the other way around.”

For healing and hope and love. And most of all she prayed that God would allow the sunshine to break through the clouds that had gathered around their home. Before the sad changes in her sons became little more than a way of life.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at his brother. “The risks are just too great.” Kelley smiled. “All of life is a risk, Cody. Bull riding and loving a sick barrel racer. Giving up one of your lungs.” She paused. “You, of all people, should know that.”

Usually, riding like this made him think only of Ali, but not so today. With the wind in his face and Ace pounding out a timeless rhythm beneath him, Cody could only think of his brother and the teacher who had given his buddy a chance to truly live. Elle Dalton.

white gold band he still wore. If Ali were alive today, if she were here with him, well enough to ride across the back field with him, he knew without a doubt what she would say about Carl Joseph’s situation.

to do so. She rode because she wanted to live her life, not sit it out. Ali was a dreamer and a doer, and if she had known Carl Joseph longer, she would’ve been supportive of the ILC from the beginning, and she would’ve cheered its purpose. Even when she knew her death was coming, she lived every day, every final moment to the fullest.

No one could tell the future, the pastor said. “We can only trust God and follow His lead throughout this journey called life. Then when the end comes, we will have nothing left to do but celebrate.”

point wasn’t how a person died. It was how a person lived.

mother once told me that God doesn’t give us something new unless our hands are empty.” She shrugged one shoulder and looked at his left hand, at the ring there. “You know?”

near the window. He sank into it and peered into the dark of the night. God was leading him; Cody could feel His guidance in every step. In the process he had let go of Ali, just enough to take one step forward. And now he was ready to face whatever came next. Because—whether he returned to the road or not—he had the one thing Elle had talked about, the thing he felt God urging him to have. Empty hands.

“Yes. I’ll tell you about it later.” He smiled, and for a long beat he held her eyes. “Whatever time Carl Joseph has, he wants to live it.” He turned toward his

Cody stared at his brother, past the extra chromosome to the tender-hearted boy inside. A boy who had looked up to him and longed for his attention since he was old enough to talk. And there, in the guileless question from his only brother, Cody had the answer he was looking for. Just as strongly as if God had walked into the barn and hand-delivered it.

it against her cheek. “You were right.” He reminded himself to breathe again. “I feel it, too. I felt it then on the mountain.” He moved closer, searching her eyes. “And I feel it now.” “Cody…” Fear shadowed her eyes, and she looked away. “I don’t know.” “I won’t hurt you, Elle.” He took her hands in his. “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t thought this through.”

was crying. And for the first time in far too long, Cody savored the sound. Because this time Elle’s tears did not come from a place of utter despair and heartbreak. They came from pure, boundless joy.

He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. “Cody”—she ran her thumb over the smooth indentation, the place where the ring had been just a week earlier. She looked at his finger and then back at him. “Why?” “I wanted empty hands.” Sadness touched his eyes, but only in a distant sort of way. She could imagine how hard it must’ve been to make this move, to set aside his wedding ring. As much as she felt giddy and alive, as much as her head was spinning trying to believe what was happening, she couldn’t have him doing this unless he was certain. She framed his face with her hands and looked deep into his eyes, all the way to his heart. “Are you sure?”

She smiled. For all the amazing growth and change in Carl Joseph, the greatest change was in her older son. Cody

lifetime ago, before she and Mike married, her mother told her something that stayed with her. She said, “A mother knows she’s done a great job when she has an empty nest and a full heart.”

same. Carl Joseph clapped his hands, not loudly and obnoxiously, the way he used to, but muffled and with a sense of wonder. He nodded fast and hard. “See, Daisy? I told you so. Sunshine… just beyond the clouds.” Her fear left instantly and she stared at the sky, clearly stunned by this new revelation. Carl Joseph did the same, as if he could hardly believe that all this time the words he had used to comfort Daisy had been right on. Elle looked past him to their siblings. “Down Syndrome is nothing more than a layer of clouds, really. Clouds that cover up a very bright sunshine.”