Acknowledgments
I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.
—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
It takes a great deal of effort for an idea to become a book. Sure, the author plays a significant role in that (and I am thankful that my own brain got the job done), but not the only role. Because once I have taken that Nothing and turned it into Something, it then must go through a long, complex process to become the tangible thing that you hold in your hands. This particular book would not exist if not for the following people:
Elisabeth Weed—literary agent extraordinaire—has kept me sane and gainfully employed for over a decade. And I will never really understand how she took my dream of being published and turned it into a long and fulfilling career, but I will forever be grateful to her. I could not do this job without her. I would not want to do this job without her. She has been friend and advocate, therapist and coach. The entire team at The Book Group is a joy to work with. Other than Elisabeth, DJ Kim is the name I most love to see in my inbox. Faye Bender, Julie Barer, and Brettne Bloom have all been kinder to me than I deserve.
I had the great fortune of working with two wonderful editors on this book. Margo Shickmanter acquired Martha’s story, and Carolyn Williams got me through to the end. They are both really good at what they do, and I was fortunate to have them.
The team at Doubleday is unsurpassed in publishing, and I am lucky to have spent my entire career working with them. Todd Doughty, Elena Hershey, and Jillian Briglia are the best publicity team working today. Bill Thomas and Suzanne Herz have championed my work since the beginning. Judy Jacoby and Lindsay Mandel are marketing wizards. The diligence, talent, and patience of John Fontana, Nora Reichard, Lorraine Hyland, and Pei Koay are the reason that a former Word document is now a beautiful, tangible novel. I am so grateful for all they do.
The Doubleday sales team is the reason that you can buy my books wherever books are sold. Special thanks go to Jessica Pearson, Valerie Walley, Christine Weag, Ann Kingman, Emily Bates, Lynn Kovach, Beth Koehler, Beth Meister, Mallory Conder, Chris Dufault, Ruth Liebman, David Weller, Annie Schatz, Jason Gobble, and Nicholas LaRousse. Their ongoing enthusiasm means the world to me.
The support and generosity of independent bookstores has enabled me to meet readers from coast to coast. Thank you for inviting me in, for introducing me to your beloved customers, and for hand-selling my novels these last twelve years. I am particularly grateful for Parnassus Books, Page & Palette, Foxtale Book Shoppe, Watermark Books, Books & Company, Northshire Books, Square Books, Intera-bang Books, A Likely Story, Novel Bookstore, The Little Bookshop, Litchfield Books, The Poisoned Pen, and Warwick’s. Thank you so, so much!
Marybeth Whalen is a rare friend: the kind who will tell you the truth. But—if necessary—I suspect she’d also help me plot revenge. For fifteen years she made me laugh and made me cry (in a good way). She has sent me snarky texts and nice purses, and I can’t wait for our next adventure!
The writing community in Nashville is vast and supportive and one of the highlights of having this gig. They are the Venn diagram that combines my work life and my real life. I’m proud to call them all friends. JT Ellison feeds me queso and valuable knowledge. Lisa Patton is the reason I must seek treatment for Inappropriate Laughter Syndrome. Traci Keel serves me old-fashioneds with a healthy side of sarcasm. Blake Leyers reminds me that I am not, in fact, A Very Dumb Person. Joy Jordan-Lake has the rare gift of encouragement. Paige Crutcher always sends the right text at the right time.
The writing community outside Nashville has also welcomed me with open arms, and I’ve discovered great friends in Patti Callahan Henry, Abbot Kahler, Denise Kiernan, Laura Benedict, Deanna Raybourn, Greer McAllister, Helen Ellis, and Anne Bogel.
Kristee Mays has known me longer than my husband, and let’s just say that I’m not a spring chicken. She actually predicted I’d marry my husband! And she stood beside me at the altar when that day came. We don’t see each other often enough, but can pick up right where we left off. She’s seen me through it all, and I love her madly.
My uncle Will answered every question that I had about horses and cows and livestock in general while I wrote this book. Even when the text showed up at seven in the morning or ten at night. I am grateful that he was not appalled by my lack of knowledge. Given my familial history, I should know more than I do, but I’m grateful that he filled in the gaps.
Once again, Garreth Russell was a godsend in the areas of research and good humor. Many of the details about childbirth in the late eighteen century were thanks to him. I promise to make it up to you, Garreth!
Other friends, family, and neighbors who generally kept me encouraged and fed during the writing process include Abby Belbeck, Josh Belbeck, Emily Allison, Tayler Storrs, Kaylee Storrs, Dian Bel-beck, Jerry and Kay Lawhon, Blake and Tracy Lawhon, Andy and Nicole Kreiling, Jannell Barefoot, Michael and Cindy Easley, Chris Wilson, and Christine Flott.
I am thankful for Ranier Maria Rilke and his poetry collection Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, and also for Mary Oliver’s Devotions. For most of my life poetry has felt like a foreign language. Perhaps because I cannot write it? Regardless, I am learning, slowly. I read a poem from each of those books every day that I sat down to write, and I believe the spirit that I found there, that sense of wonder and worship and awe, has made its way, ever so slightly, into these pages. Thank you for teaching me this new language.
I made the best decision of my life twenty-three years ago when I married Ashley Lawhon. He has made all the difference in a life that could have gone either way. That’s a gift and a mercy that cannot be explained. He’s the reason for my laugh lines and also my stretch marks (hello, four children). He is the inspiration for every touching thing that Martha Ballard says about marriage in this book. He’s the reason that I have no interest in writing about bad marriages. He makes me laugh every day. He lets me sleep in every day. He is my best friend, my safe place, my one and only lover. I am who I am today because he has loved me well. That is a thing I will never take for granted.
I have often talked about the children that Ashley and I made together. Those four boys could not be more different than the points on a compass. Two look like him and two look like me, and together they have added a purpose to my life that I wouldn’t have thought possible in my younger years. I cannot believe that they are all grown now—or almost so. If not entirely empty, our nest is certainly quiet. I don’t know how we survived the chaos this long, but London, Parker, Marshall, and Riggs are worth every bit of it. I cannot wait to watch them take the world by storm.
On the long list of things that I am thankful for, Jesus is at the top. Thirty years ago, He found a lost and broken girl in the sagebrush of nowhere New Mexico and saved her. That alone would have been enough. But He has been with her every day since. It is my greatest hope that His great love is reflected in the pages of this book.
As the Bard says above, for all that I am and all that I’ve been given, “I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”