The Book of Longings

Yaltha welcomes Tabitha and Ana back to the commune. In the time Ana has been gone, Yaltha and her daughter have bonded. Yaltha reassures Ana that her brother is no longer interested in hounding her, that she is free now to live in the commune. Yaltha tells Ana that she and her daughter have taken the vows of the commune and that they will remain there for the rest of their days. Tabitha and Ana both promise to take the vows in the proper time. Two years pass. Ana never stops grieving for Jesus. “For nearly two years, I’d worn my grief for Jesus like a second skin” (401).

She and Tabitha thrive in the commune’s life of dedicated prayer, rigorous study, and meditation. Ana works diligently on what becomes a slender volume of original prayers, proverbs, and complex reflections she titles Thunder: Perfect Mind. In the closing reflection, she identifies herself as the wife of Jesus. When she finishes the binding, Ana, exhausted, falls into a deep sleep. She wakes and see Jesus standing across from her. She runs to him and grips his warm and callused hands. Before he disappears, he promises Ana he will always be with her.