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Welcome back to Austen Promises!

I’m back with 511 words of Race Book 4! This is all I have written, but I didn’t want to leave you not knowing what happened with Mrs. Bennet.

I’ll be back with more as soon as I can be.

Here is the master list of posts. I’ll update it weekly. I will also try to remember to link the posts at the end each week, so you all can start at post 1 and click the bottom to get to the next post, if you want.

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Chapter 3

“Mama happened.” At first, Mary bristled, sitting straight up and going stiff, her jaw clenching and her eyes narrowing. A few seconds later, she deflated, slouching back into the chair. “I heard what she told Jane the last time she was up, that it would have been better if you were dead. I was shocked when I heard her say it, and proud of Jane for standing up to her.” She looked at her eldest sister with a smile.

“Thank you. I thought you might have heard us. We were certainly not quiet about it.”

Mary shook her head. “No, but who could fault you for it?” She sighed. “Anyway, after Jane and Charles left, I tried to get Mama to see reason. I reminded her what the Scriptures say about forgiveness and how by holding a grudge, she’s hurting herself and no one else. She blew me off, saying she was sure Jane would come back and that if she didn’t, it was her loss. She was hysterical by this point. She pulled a hanky out of a pocket or something and was waving it in front of her face, crying about her nerves. I walked away and let her go, but it’s been eating at me.

“Then, I heard about your kidnapping, Liz. I’ve been doing Google searches periodically to catch up on race news and to see if any of you have made the papers or anything. Daddy won’t let us watch racing anymore, and I’m usually working on homework on the weekends, so I have no idea what’s going on with the season.” Mary paused to take a sip of the bottled water Audra handed her. “Charlotte Lucas’ mom stopped by a few days ago and said you were on the national news and that you went missing. Mom acted like it was nothing, but I was terrified.

“Yesterday afternoon, I let Mama know that you had been released from the hospital and that it would be nice if we could come down and see you.” Mary started to choke up, tears once again streaming down her face. “She said she didn’t care and she wasn’t wasting money to come down here for a visit. I was so angry I couldn’t see straight. Kitty and Lydia were in the room with her and they stared at me when I started yelling. I tried to shut my mouth, but I couldn’t. No mother should be that cruel.” Mary wiped her eyes with her hands. “I stewed on it all night and decided I can’t live with her anymore. She’s too much, too mean.” She looked at Liz and then down at her hands. “I was hoping I could stay with you for a little while, until I can find a job and get my own place.”

Liz leaned over to pull Mary in for a hug. “Of course you can! We’d be happy to have you. But, what about college?”

“I can transfer to one of the schools around here.” She shrugged. “Every university  has a math department.”

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