Acknowledgments

Thanks, as ever, to everyone at St. Martin 's Press, at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, and at the Hugo-Vidal house. I couldn't do it without you-literally.

Thanks to the friends and family who hosted me in my travels; Jamie and Robin Agnew, John and Lois Fleming, Jon and Ruth Jordan, Dan and Barbara Scheeler, Neil and Tammy Lynn, Calvetta Spencer Inman, Mark and Laura Hubbard, David Lovett and Meg Ruley, Gordon and Rebecca Scruton, James and Mary Ellen Harris, and especially Rachael Burns Hunsinger, who turned her home into a writer's retreat so this book might get finished.

Thanks to those who gave me information, inspiration, and edification: The Reverend Mary L. Allen, Dr. Michael Brennan, Roxanne Eflin, David Garza, Timothy LaMar, Albert A. Melton, Dr. Parker Roberts, Lieutenant Colonel L. R. Smith (USA Ret.) and the Very Reverend Benjamin Shambaugh.

Finally, thanks to singer/songwriter Bill Deasy, whose CD Good Day No Rain was the perfect soundtrack to Russ and Clare's story. (He even looks like Russ Van Alstyne!) Go to BillDeasy.com and give it a listen.

My Shepherd will supply my need,

Jehovah is his Name;

In pastures fresh he makes me feed

Beside the living stream.

He brings my wandering spirit back

When I forsake his ways,

And leads me, for his mercy's sake,

In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death,

Thy presence is my stay;

One word of thy supporting breath

Drives all my fears away.

Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,

Doth still my table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows,

Thy oil anoints my head.

The sure provision of my God

Attend me all my days;

Oh, may thy house be mine abode

And all my work be praise.

There would I find a settled rest,

While others go and come;

No more a stranger or a guest,

But like a child at home.

– Isaac Watts (1674-1748) paraphrase of Psalm 23,

The Hymnal, 1982, The Church Pension Fund

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