Acknowledgments

There are probably few things more presumptuous than sitting down in front of a blank sheet of paper and saying, “I think I’ll start writing a novel today.” This is why books have acknowledgment pages, because every writer knows they never write alone.

Dozens of people were with me on this bold, exciting, frightening journey from idea to printed page. I wish to take a few lines to thank those who helped me reach the destination.

Many thanks to David Milofsky who first told me I was a writer and helped me to become a better one; to my husband, Brad, whose unseemly optimism helps me believe that anything is possible and truly believes, however wrongly, that everything I write is the best thing he ever read; to my mother, Margaret, and my sisters Betty, Donna, and Lori, who never hang up the phone without asking me if I wrote today and scolding if the answer is no; to my gallant sons, Alex, Trey, and Jackson, whose humor and zest for living bring me joy and endless inspiration; to my many encouraging friends who endured the reading of early drafts, especially Susan Witkow, Raynor Cunningham, Jane Burke, and Julie Naughton.

Thanks to the warm, welcoming, and generous people of the Oklahoma panhandle region; to the curators and volunteers of the Mid-America Air Museum and the Seward County Historical Museum; to librarians in towns big and small, especially those at the University of Oklahoma Library and the Liberal Memorial Library; to the nice people at the Bluebird Inn in Liberal, Kansas, who make the best breakfast in town.

Thanks to those who showed me the path through the no-man’s land that lies between finished manuscript and printed page; to my agent who has become my friend, Jill Grosjean, the patron saint of first-time novelists; to my editor, Audrey LaFehr, whose unfailingly kind and courteous manner always brings the word “lady” to my mind; to the good people at Kensington Books—publishers, editors, artists, copy editors, administrators, and support staff—who work so hard to put good books into reader’s hands.

Finally and foremost, thanks to the God of creation, my Heavenly Father, who gives me, and every writer, a world worth writing about.