The Bridegrooms (39 page)

My stories always start with something small. This one began with one word.
Bridegrooms
. While I was in the midst of researching for
Stealing Home
, mixed in with all the teams and stats and players and scores, I saw them. The Bridegrooms. I was hit with the humor of the team name and caught up in the romance of the early days of professional baseball. More than that, the word—that plural,
bridegrooms
—really brought to mind the idea of chaos. Of choices. Ultimately, the chaos of choices, especially when we fail to factor the Lord’s wisdom and guidance into those choices.

Of all the characters I’ve created, it’s safe to say that Vada Allenhouse is the most like me. We’re both wound a little too tight, both prone to think we have more control over situations than we actually do, both prone to call on God after we’ve made a mess out of things. I loved taking this journey with her, and I loved stocking a story with such a cast of strong, vibrant women. And, I must say, I was so excited to bring each girl to her own “happily ever after.”

For the past year, whenever anybody asked me about my next book, I’d say, “It’s a story of four sisters. And it’s so much fun!” I hope you had fun with it too. In fact, I hope you’ll continue on the journey with me. Please visit my Web site,
www.allisonpittman.com
. Drop me an e-mail, leave a comment on my journal, or sign up for my newsletter. The Allenhouse girls have come to the end of their tale, but I’m far from finished with mine!

Many, many thanks to you, my readers, who bless me beyond my own imagination.

Thank you to all the great people at Multnomah—especially Alice Crider, who heard this story over breakfast and believed in it before it was fully formed.

Thank you, Bill, agent extraordinaire, who “gets” me, even though I’ll never, ever bait a hook.

Thank you, Julee Schwarzburg, for seeing everything I can’t and showing me everything I should. So cool to work with you!

Thank you, my Monday Night Group—especially my fellow fiction-ators. Twelve pages, twelve pages, twelve pages…

And, of course, my bridegroom, Mike! Thank you for twenty amazing years.

Finally, my Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Author of my life, lover of my soul. Thank You, Lord, for giving me the words, the people, the stories—and covering it all with Your grace and Your power.

T
HE
B
RIDEGROOMS
P
UBLISHED BY
M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

This is a work of fiction. Apart from well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure into the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Allison K. Pittman

Published in association with the literary agency of William K. Jensen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pittman, Allison.
    The bridegrooms : novel / Allison Pittman. — 1st ed.
        p. cm.
    eISBN: 978-1-60142-261-3
    I. Title.
    PS3616.I885B75 2010
    813’.6—dc22

         2009042392

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