Winds of Hope

Winds of Hope by Anita Stansfield

This is the third book in the Jayson Wolfe series. The book opens with Jayson having just committed himself to drug rehab for the prescription med abuse. He became addicted after an injury to his hand left him in pain and unable to play the piano or guitar. He has been staying with his old love Elizabeth and her father Will after Elizabeth feels prompted to call Jayson one night. He is just about to take his own life.
Rehab is a struggle but Jayson learns that his addiction stems from the pain of many years of loss being stuffed into a 'box'. First he was able to dull the pain with his music. After suffering that loss he overcompensated with prescription meds. As Jayson pulls out the pain from his 'box' and faces it he is able to recover. The 'box' was made when Elizabeth left him. He has since put in the 'box'; the death of his band members, his cheating wife and their divorce, his runaway daughter Macy, the death of his mother, his brother Drew having to join another band when their band......Gray Wolf ended, the death of his alcoholic and abusive father that he had no association with for years, the loss of his band, the loss of the use of his hand. He also lost his best friend Derek (Elizabeth's brother) during high school, to a freak car accident. But he dealt with that loss enough that it didn't end up in the box.
While Jayson is in rehab, Elizabeth gets a call on Jayson's cell phone, which she is in charge of, from Macy. Macy is in California, seventeen and pregnant by an abusive boyfriend. She wants to come home but doesn't know where Jayson is. Elizabeth flies out and brings her back to Utah. Jayson is released from a successful rehab and finds his greatest desire.......having Macy home, has come true. As Jayson prayed for the return of Macy, he promised his life to Jesus Christ. He has always believed in Christ but has no use for organized religion.
Things settle down as Jayson and Macy decide to stay with Elizabeth until Macy can birth her baby and return to school in order to graduate. Macy has her baby right after Christmas. She decides to give it up for adoption because she knows she can't take care of it. Jayson is not happy at first because he has always wanted more children. He sees the wisdom in Macy's decision and supports her.
Macy begins high school. She also begins attending Young Women activities after a kind advisor seeks her out and engages her. Macy meets Aaron and they begin dating as Aaron prepares for a mission. Macy investigates the LDS church as she helps Aaron with his preparation. She does not admit this to her father. She fears his reaction because she knows he does not believe in religion. Macy decides to be baptized but not to wait for Aaron.
Jayson meanwhile begins reading the Book of Mormon after Elizabeth's son Trevin gives him one. Jayson keeps this from Elizabeth. He still loves her and wants to marry her but he doesn't want her to think that he is embracing her religion just to placate her. Jayson reads and studies for quite some time, also talking to other members in order to learn all that he can. He decides to be baptized.
Elizabeth is still in love with Jayson. She hopes someday she will marry him. She does however wonder if his refusal to have anything to do with the religion that is such a part of her, will come between them. Her father Will points out Jayson's many good qualities and the fact that they have belonged together for years. Elizabeth still prays for an eternal companion since her dead husband Robert never had anything to do with the LDS church. Elizabeth decides she wants to be with Jayson and she thinks he may come around. She plans to ask him out on a date and make it obvious she is ready to have a romantic relationship with him again. During this time of contemplation for she and Jayson, Elizbeth becomes violently ill. She is rushed to the hospital as she hemorrhages. The doctor wants to do an emergency hysterectomy. Elizabeth asks for a blessing from her bishop. She has felt since the death of her husband and child that she will still have other children. The blessing confirms this. Her body is commanded to heal. The bleeding stops. A benign tumor is removed from her uterus. She and Jayson both hope the children she was promised in the blessing will be theirs.
Jayson and Elizabeth come to each other at the same time to unload their new desires. Jayson schedules his baptism for the 20th anniversary of Derek's death to celebrate the way his life is changing. It doesn't take more than a little dating and some serious thought before they decide to get married. Elizabeth tells Jayson she feels great guilt over leaving him when they were young. She comes clean with the fact that she never stopped loving him even when she left him, she was just scared. She also reveals that she had planned to ask him to come back when she found out that he was married. They both lament the loss of years together and wonder how their lives would have been if they had been married all along. Then they realize that they are grateful for the struggles and events in their lives and even though they wish that they had married in their youth, they know the paths that their lives did take were the right ones despite all of the heartache.
Jayson and Elizabeth marry before Jayson is baptized. His baptism comes and goes. He decides to begin making another album. He has gradually regained the use of his hand and since his conversion and marriage he has had a burst of creativity. Jayson writes all new songs. He calls Drew to see if he will help record. Drew and his new wife Valerie come to live with Jayson and Elizabeth while the new album is created. Elizabeth and Valerie are pregnant. Will has found a wife and has married and moved not far away.
Jayson talks Elizabeth into singing with him on the album. She has some misgivings because she doesn't want to tour with him. She wants to stay home with their children. She prays about it and feels like the right thing to do would be to sing on the album.
The new songs are a hit. The family goes on tour.......including new baby Derek. Life is great.
Elizabeth gets a new church calling in genealogy. She feels inspired to find out if Jayson has any living relatives. He does.......his estranged father's mother and sister. They meet. Jayson feels complete. He and Elizabeth have another baby.
Aaron returns from his mission. He and Macy marry. Happy, happy, happy.
This series is supposed to have one more book. I can't imagine what it could be about. After all of this happiness, I hope it isn't all marred by tragedy!
I had a good time with this book. Stansfield really came around this time and did a great job. She didn't pull the old.........lets mull over our memories and psychological pain until no one understands what is even happening. The characters dealt quickly and thoroughly with any issue they had. I was glad to have Elizabeth and Jayson finally get together after all of the years they wanted to be.
Rating 5
Rating PG totally clean but dealing with drug addiction, teen pregnancy, date rape........this isn't for your eight year old.