Many of you have asked about my courageous bride. Dixie has done well since the operation and has gradually regained her strength. Eighteen months out from the procedure, she is in remission, and we thank God every day for her progress. All that is left from her struggle with the Big C is the residual pain from the surgery, the regular PET and CT scans that she endures to make sure everything is stable, and last but not least, the scars. Physically, she has scarring from her chemo port, now long gone, and the incisions from surgery. Emotionally, she lives with the fear of almost dying and the anxiety of what lies ahead. She does all of this with a brave face and never complains. I am in awe of my wife’s strength and grace.
As for me, I struggle with guilt and loss. I liken it to what a plane crash survivor must feel. My family is now almost two years out from the crash, doing well and getting our life back together. But one of us didn’t make it.
I miss my dad. As Bocephus Haynes told Tom at the end of The Last Trial, Dad was “my guy.” He was who I turned to for advice and direction. He was also the reader I most wanted to please with my stories.
So much of the character of Tom McMurtrie was inspired by Dad. Tom’s mannerisms, dialogue, love of bulldogs, and yes, his affliction with cancer, were all motivated by my father.
Because of the storm our life had become at the time of his death, I never really had a chance to mourn Dad. I’ve heard it said that writing can be good therapy. Well, I’m no psychiatrist, but I think I mourned my father by writing The Final Reckoning. And now Tom, like Dad, is gone too. But their legacies will hopefully live on.
That is one of the themes of this story. Legacy. Of leaving something behind greater than what you are. My father’s legacy was twofold, beginning with his family. He was an only child who married his high school sweetheart, my mother, and they had two sons and four grandchildren. Family was the most precious and sacred thing in his life. The other part of Dad’s legacy was his determination to succeed in the face of adversity. As one of the men who gave his eulogy said, and which I borrowed for this story, Randy Bailey stared challenges in the face and always said, “We can do this.”
What will be the legacy of Thomas Jackson McMurtrie? Only you can answer that question, and isn’t that the joy of reading? A story can mean different things to different people. That is one of the main reasons that I read. It is also why I strive to write.
Thank you for reading this story. And though I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises for what the future holds, I’ll tell you I’m hard at work on the first book in a new series. One that will have some characters you know, and a few that you don’t. A story that I hope will be, in the words of a certain attorney from Pulaski, Tennessee . . .
“Wide ass open.”
Robert Bailey
October 14, 2018
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My wife, Dixie, has fought her way back to health after surviving lung cancer last year. None of my stories would have ever been published without her encouragement and support. I love her so much and am so grateful for her.
Our children—Jimmy, Bobby, and Allie—continue to inspire me to write, and I’m so proud to be their dad.
My mother, Beth Bailey, is always one of my first readers, and her ideas and support have helped my writing beyond measure. She has been through hell these past couple of years, dealing with Dad’s death and helping us with Dixie’s fight and recovery. Through it all, she has been the rock and cornerstone of our family. I don’t know what we would do without her.
My agent, Liza Fleissig, has been my partner in crime these past six years and has helped me go from wanting to get published to becoming an author. I am forever grateful for her efforts and persistence.
Thank you to Clarence Haynes, my developmental editor, for his expertise and passion. Clarence makes the editing process fun and exciting. I am forever thankful for his guidance, which has improved my stories.
Thanks also to Megha Parekh, my editor with Thomas & Mercer, who has taken my stories to new heights that I couldn’t have imagined when I first daydreamed about writing a story about a law professor trying a case.
To Grace Doyle, Kjersti Egerdahl, Sarah Shaw, and my entire editing and marketing team at Thomas & Mercer, whom I am so proud to work with and call my publisher, thank you for your support and for expanding my brand.
My friend and law school classmate Judge Will Powell was also one of my earliest readers, and I admit that many times while I’m writing, I try to gauge what “Powell” will think of the story.
My friend Bill Fowler has been an important sounding board for ideas and has greeted my stories with enthusiasm and excitement. One of my favorite moments in the process is delivering Bill an early draft and waiting to hear his thoughts, which are always insightful.
Thank you to my friends Rick Onkey, Mark Wittschen, and Steve Shames for being early readers and providing me with constant encouragement.
My brother, Bo Bailey, has also been one of my earliest readers and supporters on this writing journey, and I am grateful for his calm and steady presence.
My father-in-law, Dr. Jim Davis, is my proofreader with respect to firearms and has been a consistent source of positive energy throughout my writing journey.
My mother-in-law, Beverly Baca, does so much for our family, and her energy and resilience are an inspiration.
My wonderful friends Joe and Foncie Bullard, from Point Clear, Alabama, were two of the first people in the boat on this writing voyage, and their support has helped me reach many new readers.
A special thanks to everyone at my law firm, Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne PC. I am so grateful for the support of my colleagues.
I also want to thank all of the readers, friends, and colleagues who have reached out to me and provided encouragement during the past two years as my dad and Dixie both battled lung cancer. There aren’t adequate words to express how much your support has meant to me and my family.
Finally, though we lost him in March of 2017, I want to thank my father, Randy Bailey. I love and miss you, Dad.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2012 Dixie Bailey
Robert Bailey is the bestselling author of the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series, which includes The Final Reckoning, The Last Trial, Between Black and White, and The Professor. The first two novels in the series were Beverly Hills Book Awards legal thriller of the year winners, and Between Black and White was a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year. For the past nineteen years, Bailey has been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, where he lives with his wife and three children. For more information, please visit www.robertbaileybooks.com.
The Final Reckoning (McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers Book 4) Page 31
