Do you ever get the feeling that you were destined to cross paths with specific people?  In the past I’d had vague feelings of fate or destiny, but never anything as powerful as the story I’m about to tell you.

Just over a year ago I read an excerpt from a book and something about it caught my attention enough that I requested the manuscript from the author.  I was incredibly busy and had stuffed that manuscript and another into my briefcase before I left the office that night, hoping that I would have part of the evening free, to at least start reading one or the other.  When I got home from the office my ten year old had basketball practice and the friend who was supposed to bring him home had forgotten, so I had to dash off to the school to pick him up, in the meantime my fourteen year old daughter was making snicker doodles in the kitchen.

While I was gone, my daughter had become diverted from her cookie making by a phone call and my husband Arthur had arrived home to find the dog had jumped onto the counter, eaten the cookies and spilled the entire contents of my briefcase on the floor.  My husband was sifting through the pages of the two, now combined manuscripts, trying to separate them and put them back into order.

He had things mostly back in order when I arrived home, but he was intrigued after noticing the author of one of the manuscripts.

“Do you know this author?” he asked, holding up my most recently obtained manuscript.

“No, I just got it, I read an excerpt from her manuscript, I wanted to read more,” told him.

“Do you know anything about her?” he asked.

I was frowning at him, he usually had no interest in what I did and he had little to no interest in the authors I worked with.  Something was not right.

“I don’t know, read her bio if you want.  Why do you even care?” I snapped, I was tired and hungry.

“I think I know her,” said Arthur.

“No, I don’t think so.  You should read her bio, she lives in Montana or something,” I was rolling my eyes, how could he possibly know this woman?  The very thought seemed completely ridiculous.

“I think she was engaged to Marc,” he said, his voice was disturbed enough, I suddenly shivered a little bit.

“Really?”  I knew at that moment he was totally serious, Arthur didn’t joke about his brother Marc, who had died nearly thirty years before.

“The name sounded vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure.  I couldn’t remember her married name.  I did read her bio, she was a professional figure skater and her partner’s name was Jack Adams, I know it’s her,” said Arthur, he was so moved, he was shaking from the emotion of this revelation.

“She was engaged to Marc, did you guys keep in touch?” I asked.

“We did for a while, I think after a while it was difficult for her, when we were younger we looked a lot alike.  I know she has kept in touch with my mother.”

I was chomping at the bit.  I wanted to call his mother immediately, if she’d kept in touch with this woman she would know the name immediately.  I was nearly shaking with excitement myself,  it would be an incredible coincidence that her book had ended up on my desk.  I wanted to call, but Arthur had already picked up the phone, in moments he was laughing a strange emotional laugh and tears were streaming down his face and I knew immediately that my author, was his would be sister in law.

Loosing Marc had been extremely tough on Arthur and his family.  Marc had been killed in a terrible car accident, his fiancee Jean had nearly died herself.  She suffered a head injury and her other injuries were so severe, her skating career had ended abruptly.  Marc was the oldest of three boys so not only had his parents been traumatized by Marc’s death, but his two younger brothers Arthur and Parker had been deeply scarred as well.

I had heard the stories, but that was well before my time so I had never known Marc, but I was fascinated that this woman that he had loved was still keeping in touch with his mother and was apparently still well loved by the entire family.  I wanted to call her, but I was afraid.  My husband’s family had been so badly hurt by the void left in their lives by Marc’s death, would I be causing this woman pain by calling her?  She merely wanted someone to publish her book, what would she think about me calling her up, delving back into her painful past?

I couldn’t help it, I had to do it, even though my husband begged me not to.  “She’s happy now, why would you do that?” he cried.

I don’t know, I just knew that suddenly I felt a connection to this woman and I had to call her.  I hadn’t even read her manuscript yet, but I couldn’t control the overwhelming urge I had to speak with her.  I dialed her number as my husband shook his head numbly and rolled his eyes.

“Hello?” it was the tentative voice of a person picking up a call from an unknown caller.

“Is this Jean Stanberry?”

“Yes.”

“Hi, my name is Vaughn Thompson from Kingsmuir Press, I was calling about the manuscript you sent me.”

“Yes?” she wanted me to elaborate, but she didn’t want to get too excited yet.  Publishers are fickle people, rejection is the norm.  It’s best to stay neutral.

“I got your manuscript today and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I was wondering if I could ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Not about your book, it’s personal,” I told her.

“OK.”

Her voice was tentative and I was hesitating as well.  How do you ask a question so intensely personal?  How do you bring up a subject you know is going to upset someone?  I swallowed my fear and asked.

“Were you engaged to Marc Thompson?”

Dead silence on the other end of the line…

“Hello?  Are you there?”

“Who is this?” I could hear anger in her voice.

“My name is Vaughn Thompson, I’m married to Arthur.”

It was silent for a moment and then I heard sobbing on the other end of the line.

“I’m sorry…”

“No, I’m glad you called.  When you mentioned Arthur’s name it caught me off guard.  Sometimes I miss being part of the family.”

That was the start of a conversation that lasted almost 3 hours.  I had made an instant connection with this woman who had been so important to my husband’s family.  I had never even met his brother, but just talking to her, I could feel the pain that she had endured for more than half her life.  Like the rest of the family, she had done her best to put the tragedy behind her.  She had recovered from her injuries, went on to college, married, eventually having children of her own.  I was in awe of her courage and I was moved by the close relationship she still shared with Arthur’s mother Pamela.

After I hung up the phone I settled in to read her manuscript.  It was already late but I stayed up most of the night so I could finish it, I was not disappointed.  Some people just have a way of conveying their emotions into words and Jean Stanberry has a real gift.  I wanted to publish her book, I wanted to call her and give her the good news, but I couldn’t trust my emotions.  Maybe I had enjoyed the book because I had just made such an intense connection with the author personally.  As an editor you have to try to read things objectively and keep your emotions separate.  I decided to wait, I wanted to read the other manuscript I’d been considering first, then I would decide.

The next evening I read the other manuscript I’d been considering.  It started out strong but lost it’s momentum before I even made it halfway through the book.  I was so bored I couldn’t even make it through to the end.  I picked up Jean’s book and read it again and I was still smiling when I closed the cover, even though I knew the outcome from the last time I had read the book.  Her’s was definitely the one I couldn’t stop thinking about.  I was so excited, I could barely wait to call her and tell her that her’s was the book I wanted to publish.  I was so excited, I had forgotten about the time difference between Boston and Montana, it was 7 a.m. here, but it was only 5 a.m. in Montana.  Being a nurse, Jean was already up and getting ready to start her shift in the OR at the nearby hospital.  We were both so excited we were screaming, I’m pretty certain she woke up her entire household at 5 a.m. that morning.

I published her first book Laying Low In Hollywood on February 14, 2013 and it is still drawing in new readers daily with it’s unique voice.  A figure skating coach and choreographer, Lane Jensen, has just been completely blindsided as her husband of more than 20 years ditches her to move in with his gorgeous and many years younger assistant.  Broken and in pain, Lane falls into a depression, but soon she gets an opportunity to use her talents on a new reality TV show.  The story is a play on the popular TV show “Dancing with the Stars”, this show works under the same premise, only on ice skates.  Lane is saddled with the impossible task of teaching pairs figure skating to Ron Brannon, a retired football superstar and his new partner Elena, a washed up Russian figure skater with a bad attitude.  The novel revolves around the emerging new hit show and a semi secret romance between Lane and her co-star which threatens to erupt into a circus-like scandal.

The response and reviews of Laying Low In Hollywood were so positive we published her next novel, a sci fi adventure laden with political satire in a matter of months.  One World United hit the bookshelves with so much force we were completely amazed.  People were completely intrigued by the world she had created, where the worldwide government has complete control of it’s citizen’s lives.

Since that time Jean has published two more books with Kingsmuir Press, The Illusion of Order and Blood, Sweat and Fears.  I am so proud that she has overcome all the obstacles that life has thrown at her with such dignity and I am proud to say we have become great friends and sometimes I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if fate hadn’t intervened on that night and taken Marc from us.  Would we be sister in laws right now?

Regardless, I feel that I was meant to meet up with this wonderful person eventually, it just took longer than it might have, had she still been entwined in the family.  All of Jean’s books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as paperbacks and as e books.  You can learn more about her at her website jeanstanberry.com or you can follow her on twitter @jeanstanberry.