Thanks also go to Katharine Beutner, Jessica Brearton, Clara Jaeckel, Shana Jones, Susie LeBlanc, Amy Pascale, Donna Randa-Gomez, Nephele Tempest, Marianna Volokitina, and Janel Winter for reading drafts, encouragement, and all-around support as I was writing this book. Special thanks to my husband for believing in me and being the best man I know. STEALING HEAVEN My first memory is staring through a window into a house that isn't mine. I'm not very old, three or four at the most, and a hand rests on my head and fingers tap twice softly on my left ear. I know this means I must be extra super quiet and wait exactly where I am. I am good at being quiet. I am good at waiting. The window opens. Through it I see a carpet. It's all different colors and enormous, stretching out as far as I can see. I stare at it for a long time and then I hear a bag fall, clinking softly as it lands. I am scooped up in a pair of arms and held tight, the only sound the rhythmic slap of feet hitting the ground over and over again.
