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Jeans Basic jeans A white blouse buttoned up to a respectable level Boots with a low heel Hair in a ponytail Alh, vanilla enough for her ot into her BMW and headed out at near-breakneck speed She wanted to get this punish here in Guilford so close to where her mother had moved had been a mistake She should have known at some point Søren would order her to visit her mother They’d been friends once--Søren and her er everyone called Elle or Ellie, the sainted Father Stearns and herto tame her wild side Of course, Søren’s methods had proven farand disdain Nora knew her hter had far too much of her reprobate father in her It had been a miracle her mother had taken her in at all that day Nora had shown up at the front door still cra fro from the only man she’d ever loved

But her ht to keep her there when the others questioned whether Nora belonged there or not

"She left her lover," her mother told the others anted her out "He won’t come for her here He can’t He abused her Physically"

Although it turned Nora’s stomach to hear herthat the others would take pity on her and let her stay And finally they had Nora had been given her own room, chores to do, and orders to keep her head down and cause no trouble She’d caused trouble, of course Couldn’t be helped It was her nature In her loneliness there at the house, she started to write a story about a girl running away froirl in herher head back every few seconds to see who followed her And Nora had whispered to the girl in her mind, "Don’t run He’s the only one you don’t have to be afraid of" And with that one sentence, that one idea, she’d written her first book, The Runaway

For that book alone, the book that changed her life, she’d be forever grateful for her year of limbo in that house with her mother Søren once said that book had been her way of writing herself out of hell But it hadn’t been hell in the house Hell was leaving Søren Hell was staying away froh…that was atory she now returned

Hell punished sin Purgatory burned it away She’d like to keep her sins, thank you very much No matter how much they hurt

Nora parked the car and headed for the ate, Nora rang it and waited

"Yes, child?" caate

"My name is Eleanor Schreiber" Nora waited to see if the woman remembered her

The old woman smiled and nodded

"I’ll find her for you"

"Thank you," Nora said, entirely without gratitude

She heard the sound of cloth scraping the ground as the woer footsteps approached A door at the side of the gate opened and tohties and one in her fifties

"Sister Mary John, this is your visitor"

The woh