Beautifully Cruel (Beautifully Cruel #1)(93)

So thank you to the woman who gave me life and to the woman who raised me and taught me how to live it. I love and honor you both.

The second major event that delayed publication of this book was a worldwide pandemic. The appearance of the novel Coronavirus and COVID-19 is unlike anything I have encountered in my decades on this planet, and I hope to never experience anything like it again. My heartfelt and sincere thanks go out to all the healthcare workers, emergency support personnel, and the many largely unacknowledged and hardworking people who assisted others during the crisis.

The final thing that happened to wreak havoc with finishing this book has to do with my malfunctioning bowels.

Excuse me if this is TMI, but I have ulcerative colitis, also charmingly known as inflammatory bowel disease. When it flares, I can’t eat. I can’t work. I can’t leave the house. I’m utterly useless. Imagine what happens when your entire colon is rife with bleeding, ulcerated sores, and be grateful for your health, if you have it. This last flare lasted two months, inconveniently while there was a worldwide toilet paper shortage due to the aforementioned pandemic.

Good times.

All of that is a roundabout way of saying thank you to my husband, Jay, who is a real life hero.

Any time I get up in the middle of the night, no matter how quietly I creep from bed to pee or get a sip of water, he instantly wakes and says, “Do you need anything?” If I do, he’ll get up and get it for me. No matter what I need or want, or how it might inconvenience him, he’s always there to provide it.

Even to a romance writer, that is incredibly romantic.

July 1, 2020, is our twentieth wedding anniversary. It was love at first sight. I moved in with him two weeks after we met at a restaurant where we were both having lunch with friends. We locked eyes across the dining room, he followed me out to the valet to ask me for a date, and the rest is history. We were married in a fantastically tacky chapel in Las Vegas with all our friends and family in attendance. (The only reason we didn’t do the drive-through Elvis wedding chapel was because my mother was there, and she would’ve had nightmares for the rest of her life.)

Jay, I love you. Marrying you was by far the best decision I have ever made. You make me happy in so many ways. As of this writing, I probably will not kill you in your sleep. Just keep up the good work and you’ll be safe.

Thank you to Geissinger’s Gang, my Facebook reader group, for supporting my work and being so much fun.

Thanks to Letitia Hasser for her talent at making beautiful book covers.

As always, thank you to my readers. You have made my dream of being a writer come true.

Thanks to my father. I miss you every day.

Finally, thank you to everyone I’m forgetting whom I will remember as soon as this book goes to press and feel crushing guilt for not including in this section.

PS – In case you’re wondering, Truvy passed the bar.