ANGEL ASCENDING

Ronan James Cassidy

Description

THE REDEMPTION SERIES: 100 years after Margaret Anne transformed an American family, comes the profound 4-part finale to the Calhoun saga.

BOOK ONE: Angel Ascending

Two opposite men on parallel paths are drawn into the preordained reckoning to close out a family saga.

Ronan, a decent and reasonable man, has just begun a steep descent into a mid-life crisis after coming to the somber realization of an impending financial crisis in America. With his life, future, and marriage caught up in his downward spiral, Ronan soon loses faith in the path he’s chosen – and with it, his grasp of hope altogether. Inexplicably, this coincides with dreams of a golden cross, and intuitive whispers of a fated encounter.

A year beyond the depths of his despair and well within the season of his spiritual awakening, Ronan makes a pitch to help restructure the legacy assets of the infamous Calhoun pedigree. On the plane ride back from his initial meeting with the enigmatic board members of the company he hopes will offer him a life-changing assignment, he is seated next to a dark and unsavory man whom he instantly wants to avoid. Over time, Ronan begins to feel a visceral draw to this mysterious man.

Unbeknownst to Ronan, he has been led to this moment for a deeper purpose – where the hand of God will forever entwine him into a family legacy.

In this thought-provoking first book in the Redemption Series, the final player in the legacy of Margaret Anne will be revealed.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• the Arts
• Philosophie et théologie
• Literature
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 31 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823005074
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Angel Ascending
 
 
REDEMPTION
BOOK I
 
“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Isaiah 44:22
 
 
 
A Novel By
RONAN JAMES CASSIDY
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Ronan James Cassidy. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse   03/31/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0508-1 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0507-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023906066
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
To: My girls
To: My editor
To: My family and friends
Prologue:
 
BOOK I
ANGEL ASCENDING
 
Chapter 1 :    Rendezvous
Chapter 2 :    Epiphany
Chapter 3 :    The Vision of the Golden Cross
Chapter 4 :    New Beginnings
Chapter 5 :    The Man
Chapter 6 :    1982
Chapter 7 :    Returning Home
Chapter 8 :    The Vision of The Pale Horse
Chapter 9 :    First Impressions
Chapter 10 :  On The Road Home
 
About the Author
TO: MY GIRLS
“I put these words down to give permanence to our time here, which must and will come to pass. But know that our love is eternally bound and preciously held by the Lord. My greatest hope is that you will find my love in your heart always and that it will be a beacon to guide you home on your darkest days.”
TO: MY EDITOR
“Without the eternal gifts of your unbound and gracious love, always dedicated and never wavering guidance, and tender and merciful care never bound by expectation; your unending sacrifice and your ever hopeful eye towards the days ahead and the simple pleasures never to be overlooked in this life, none of this would have been possible. Being able to share this project with you has been an adventure I will always remember as I do your heartfelt smile, the warming embraces that always brought sweet sunshine to even the sourest of days and the proud, loving, and delighted look in your eye whenever we parted ways. There are no words to express the feeling in my heart but I hope that there were times enough when it showed all the same. I love you and miss you lots and lots, forever and always. I thank you from the bottom of my bursting h eart!”
TO: MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS
“Without the abundance of your love, compassion and guidance no words written here can be made to properly stand for a thought, a dutiful kindness, a belief held safe by the heart or a lasting memory born of kinships shared that shape the very world of our souls and the world moving about us without boundary or limit. I consider myself so very blessed and honored to share in the laughter, the joy, the sorrows and the tender moments of affirmation that make our hearts sing out to the heavens in union. Somewhere hidden deep within lie little kernels which are the essence of the moments we have shared, so marked by time and the shifting of the wind, thick and eternal like the waking moments of a wonderful and coincident dream. My deepest gratitude and my love go out to you all for the pictures hanging on the wall of this life of mine and the thoughts that will always reaffirm that which is possible and indeed worthwhile. May God shine upon you al ways.”
PROLOGUE:
“There are certain truths manifested in earthly love that are etched into the fabric of our lives, our souls, our spirit. They are indelible pieces of art that tell the very story of who we are. A story made permanent and sung throughout the heavens. These truths are indisputable and beautiful and protected in their innocence and sincerity by the glory of God. This world shall never have them but know they do mark the time we all have shared and are a source of eternal light. We carry the truth of God’s love with us al ways.”
BOOK I
Angel Ascending
REVELATIONS & GATHERINGS
Chapter 1
RENDEZVOUS
T he tavern of the inn was exceptionally dark and filled with the tang of ancient wood and the dying embers of the great stone hearth. The light allowed to enter through the small windows on the top half of the stout front door died out about halfway into the narrow room and was replaced by the quaint incandescence afforded by the few neon emblems hanging from the wall and those behind the stock wooden bar. At the corner of that centuries-old monolith and monument to the hard-drinking sailors, monks, and vagabonds of a bygone era sat a man awaiting a visitor.
For the sake of preserving the identity of one helplessly, though not hopelessly by any means, drawn into a conflict that was set in motion centuries before his time and to promote the moniker of your faithful raconteur, we shall call this man Ronan Cassidy. Mr. Cassidy was not from the area, and he was dressed in a casual and distinctively American fashion. He would have remained fairly unremarkable to the average local denizen of the island, except that his outerwear was designed for a far colder climate than the one he now visited. Moreover, when his facial features entered an area of better light, it was possible to tell that he possessed a softly handsome and welcoming countenance that the inhabitants of far more hospitable climes would have been drawn to upon noticing the foreign and middle-aged gentleman.
Mr. Cassidy sat patiently and upright while he waited. He also sat perched in a manner that would have led the casual observer to believe that, despite his clearly imported attributes, he was quite comfortable where he took his rest. Ronan had already managed to acclimate to his surroundings, and he drew warmth from his seated position within the quaint shelter on the hillside and its formidable hearth. The inn and its tavern stood alone as shelter from the constant battering of the raw, damp, and unrelenting wind that blew in from the western ocean. The stone structure had been in existence in some form or another since the days when the first Christian monks settled across the angry sea on the island of Inis Mor sometime during the fifth century.
Mr. Cassidy was not a person who stood out to someone at first glance, and while that quality had been both a blessing and a curse in his earlier days, the trait was ideal for his current purpose. He also possessed the unique ability to understand the motivations of most people at a deeper level than those same folks consciously understood their own wants, desires, and creature comforts. Due to these intuitive gifts, Mr. Cassidy had cultivated the rare ability to communicate with people on wavelengths far different than those frequencies of the more traditional social norms. His friendships were nearly absolute and forged in the depths of those slippery emotional realms, which ultimately bond us in an eternal manner to those we endeavor to endear. Furthermore, his conviction for those he loved was unmatched, even if that devotion remained silent at times. The net result of these curious verities was that his tribal footprint existed predominantly in the form of seldom-forgotten obscurities, which were more of the spirit realms than those confined by the limitations of the flesh.
The clouded light outside the shrouded inn of ancient stone had begun to wane but would hold for another hour or two, as the canonical spring season of that year had been welcomed in at midnight. Perfectly alone in the gloaming of what still felt like late winter, Ronan was no longer overwrought by the prospect of confronting his antagonist. A meaningful while would come to pass before the innkeeper began to ready dinner for his few guests and the handful of local seamen who might make their way out of the harrowing weather by venturing up the hillside and into the inn. Ronan was glad to have been gifted the time to reflect on how so much had rapidly transpired to reach this anxiously awaited moment of denouement. As nothing was set to occur at the moment, and because he wasn’t much of a drinking man, Mr. Cassidy quietly slipped his backside off his barstool and moved over to one of the large weather-beaten leather chairs stationed in front of the limestone hearth. While walking softly across the old stone floor of the room, Ronan saw that the fuel of the fire had been reduced to burning embers and pulsating coals. He stepped forward to add some wood to the hearth and gently stoke the fire for a brief time while he basked in its radiating warmth.
Beyond appreciating the extra time to reconsider the circumstances leading up to the event of his scheduled rendezvous, Ronan was happy to have had time to carefully study and become familiar with the old inn by the sea. He firmly believed that there was always great comfort and certain advantages to be gained from being acutely aware of one’s surroundings. After surveying the murky confines of the room from the vantage point of the old stone hearth for just a short while, Mr. Cassidy convulsed briefly from head to toe and proceeded to shake his limbs to the quick as the strengthening fire drove the last of the remaining chills from th