An Unexpected Grace (25 page)

O
n a chilly, autumn evening, Adam, Grace, and Lila gathered around a campfire outside Sedona, Arizona. The setting sun was turning the sky a glory of pastels, and the rocky red mountains a soft, earth-tone purple. Wind rustled in the pine trees, puffed up the blue-dome tent, and billowed the fire's smoke toward Santa Fe, where Adam and Lila had visited two of her high school friends and left in a gallery five of her paintings—of flung-open gates and doors.

Adam set up his telescope and arranged the tripod's legs in the soft, red earth. Grace, who'd hiked with him and Lila all day, was napping on the pillow they hauled everywhere for her. The fire was crackling, spitting sparks, and warming her golden haunches.

As the sun fell behind the mountains and the evening turned cool, an owl hooted from somewhere among the red rocks. Lila wrapped her bedroll around her shoulders and threw another log on the fire. Leaning back in her camp chair, she locked her fingers behind her head and watched the two thousand stars Adam said you could see with your naked eye.

“What are stars made of?” Lila asked.

“Hydrogen and helium.”

“How many in the universe?”

“Well . . .” Adam took off his lens cap and peered through his eyepiece. “We have about a hundred billion galaxies, and each one averages a hundred billion stars. That makes the total about the number of grains of sand on every beach on earth.”

That seemed too vast to comprehend so Lila went back to watching the measly number of stars her naked eye could see. They seemed like they were twinkling themselves into hissy fits of beauty, and the Great Spirit was shining straight through them into her.

If she looked deeper, she saw the spirit pulsing through the spots on Grace's Holstein costume,
The Diary of Anne Frank
, and the silver whales dangling from Betsy's ears. The spirit was flowing through Agnes Spitzmeier's horse teeth, the malnourished-beaver toupee on Albert Wu's head, and hearts, whether they were made of flesh, red metal, or rose quartz. If Lila looked in just the right way, she could see the spirit in her proud flesh and the buzzards who'd flown out of her chest on the way home from Monterey. The spirit had been in her Pleaser, Crazy Aunt, and Horny Guttersnipe—and even in Yuri and Reed. It had been hiding in the paintbrush Grace had chewed, and it had shimmered in her widow's peak and the imaginary sultan whom she fanned on the floor with her geyser tail.

“Want to see the Great Bear?” Adam asked.

Lila got up and looked through the eyepiece. “I can't find any grizzly.”

“Look for the Big Dipper. It's a part of the Great Bear.”

Lila smiled to herself when she found her former scooper of Truffle-in-Paradise ice cream.

“Mizar's part of the Great Bear too,” Adam said.

“I've never heard of Mizar.”

“It's the first binary star ever discovered.”

“I've never heard of a binary star, either.”

“It's two stars held together by each other's gravity,” Adam said. “The attraction makes them whirl around each other.”

“Like us.”

“Right.”

Lila could feel Adam smiling in the dark. “Any such thing as a trinary star?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“That's like you and me and Grace.”

Adam must have liked the analogies, because he put his arms around Lila from behind and rested his cheek against her ear. As Lila continued looking through the telescope, Grace stirred on her pillow. Her ID heart clinked against her collar buckle, as if she were putting in her two cents' worth and letting them know she liked sharing the trinary star.

What Lila liked was that out of the infinite possible combinations of beings, the gravity of life had drawn Grace, Adam, and her together. And now, connected, they would never break apart. They would whirl on like Mizar.

B
ehind this book are kind, encouraging people, to whom I owe huge gratitude.

I would never have written a word without my agent, Cullen Stanley, who was with me when Grace was just a concept. Through the long creative process, Cullen stood by me and offered invaluable suggestions. She was a beacon in the fog.

Michaela Hamilton, my editor, has guided me through the publication process with intelligence and warmth. Her love of animals has bonded us and made my work for her a pleasure. Steven Zacharius, my publisher, appreciated Grace because of his love for Brinkley, his golden retriever. Kristine Mills Noble designed the beautiful cover for the book, Adeola Saul deftly oversaw its promotion, and Rebecca Cremonese managed its production with kindness and good humor.

Kathy Renner, Elsa Watson, and Anjali Banerjee were astute readers of early drafts. Caitlin Alexander, equally astute, read the last version. Dr. Frank Walker explained what happens when a bullet goes through a person's chest. And Wendy Hubbert, my friend and the editor of my last nonfiction books, rescued me when I was in a muddle and got me going down the right path.

Other friends propped me up and nurtured me as I wrote: Gisele Fitch and Jane Allan boosted my spirit on walks. Suzanne Kerr and Marielle Snyder were always interested in my book's progress. Darryl Beckmann believed in Grace when she was barely an idea, and Linda Anthony was determined to see her in print. David Sackeroff gave me sturdy, needed pep talks. Patty Johns provided kindness, and Alexandra Kovats saw to the health of my soul.

Logan, my German shepherd, and Phoebe, my beagle, reminded me daily of my love of dogs and my vocation as an animal writer. And, as always, John, my beloved husband, was the wind in my sail. Without him, I'd never have become a writer. His presence in my life is the greatest gift of all.

 

 

 

 

The following questions are intended to enhance your group's reading of AN UNEXPECTED GRACE.

 

 

 

To invite Kristin von Kreisler to meet with your group by Skype, or in person if you're in the Seattle area, contact her at
www.kristinvonkreisler.com
.

Kristin von Kreisler
writes articles and bestselling books about animals. To get her stories, she followed a grizzly bear for a week, went hang gliding to see how an eagle felt soaring through the sky, and watched in awe as millions of bats emerged from a cave at dusk like clouds of smoke.

Kristin's first two books,
The Compassion of Animals
and
Beauty in the Beasts
, pioneered the topics of animal emotion and morality. Her third book,
For Bea
, a memoir about her beagle freed from a medical lab, received warm praise from fellow animal lovers. “Bea is unforgettable,” said Mary Tyler Moore, and Betty White called the book “a lovely story.” Kristin's books have been translated into ten languages.

She lives on an island in Washington. From her desk she watches ospreys and seals, and every day an otter wanders through the yard to go for a swim. Visit her on Facebook or at
www.kristinvonkreisler.com
.

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

Copyright © 2014 by Kristin von Kreisler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

ISBN: 978-0-7582-9194-3

First Kensington Trade Paperback Printing: January 2014

eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-9195-0

eISBN-10: 0-7582-9195-7

First Kensington Electronic Edition: January 2014