My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark

Author:Mindy Starns Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780736962896
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Pierre and Eriq had walked to the temple, so they crowded into the carriage with the Gillets. As they drove away, a fire wagon sped by, most likely to protect the surrounding buildings. It was too late to save the temple, even if the dragoons would have allowed them to try. Already the roof was falling in. Soon the walls would collapse.

All was not lost, however, Catherine reminded herself. No one had been killed, and everyone was safe—though how the group of believers would continue on and worship together after this was beyond her comprehension.

Feeling the loss, she turned to her brother, who sat across from her. “You certainly didn’t exert yourself to help.”

“Granddaughter!” Grand-Mère scolded for the second time that day.

Jules shrugged. “The situation was under control. There was nothing I could do.”

Catherine swallowed hard to keep from responding. Always the pragmatist, her brother. How very different he was from Eriq and Pierre.

Once they reached home, they all eventually gathered in the dining room, and Catherine found herself appraising the two brothers. Their faces were clean again, and though Eriq was still in his own clothes, Pierre was wearing a simple pair of too-short trousers and a white shirt drawn tight across his broad shoulders. She hadn’t realized how much bigger and more muscular Pierre was than Jules until she saw him in her brother’s clothes. When he turned to speak to Grand-Mère, Catherine noticed a smudge of soot still behind one of his ears, and she found herself fighting the urge to reach out and wipe it away with her fingertips. As upset as she was with him, she could not deny her attraction, which never seemed to go away.

They settled in at the table, but Catherine found the scene disturbing. How could everyone just sit here and share a meal as if it were any other ordinary Easter? Didn’t they understand that after today nothing would ever be the same? If burning the churches did not make the Huguenots convert, then who was to say that the next step would not be to burn down their houses?

Finally, as the food began to come in from the kitchen, she could not hold her tongue any longer despite Grand-Mère’s previous warning. Working hard to keep her tone from sounding in any way disrespectful, she waited until the footman left and then turned to her grandmother.

“How can you have an appetite after what we have all just been through?” she asked, and then she looked to the others. “All of you. How can you sit here and share a feast when our precious temple has been burned to the ground—very nearly taking Pierre with it?”

They all grew quiet for a moment until finally Grand-Mère responded, quoting a line from the twenty-third Psalm.

“ ‘Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,’ ” she said, her tone strong but her eyes kind.

Catherine understood. Then she picked up her fork, somehow finding her appetite on the strength of God’s Word.

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