Prelude

God's grace takes many forms and comes to us in many ways-some easily recognizable, some by means not always readily apparent or comprehensible. For Tracy Carmichael, despondent over being forced into early retirement by a corporate takeover, Divine Grace settled over her with the sudden intrusion into her life of a musically talented, smart aleck, fun-loving, irresistible twelve-year-old boy named Brogan. Abruptly, her existence became filled with complications and circumstances that, to her, were both vexing and exhausting, yet nonetheless always enjoyable. Then, as suddenly as he appeared in her life, Brogan disappeared. Having become inexplicably dependent upon his presence, Tracy fell into depression and subsequently sought the help of a psychiatrist. Through counseling she was encouraged to try something adventurous-to get away; far away from those things that only served to remind her of what had been, for a woman of total dedication to her career, a tragic blow to her self-esteem. Without faith and morosely despondent, she was hardly prepared for the incredible circumstances that followed next. During a nature-trail photo shoot at a resort in Arizona, she became lost: broke a leg, met a priest, and began a most incredulous journey of renewed interest in life and people. Remarkably, Father Bertelli shared a similar connection with the boy, Brogan. At first, what she had assumed was simply coincidence was hardly Father Bertelli's interpretation. Theirs became a ...