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"He's gone, I take it?" she said in a sweet, almost pleasant voice

She still wore her faded pink, terrycloth robe Without ht's sleep and her hair unruly, she looked like one of those poor, disheveled homeless women who used to inhabit the alleys and duton

In her right hand, she clutched a light yellow folder

"Yes" I said "He left right after you burst in on us You have so my privacy"

"Invading your privacy?" She laughed and then grew ste to conduct yourself like sonity and proper behavior were ever tolerated I'ed her ht And after all the warnings and all the advice I have given you!

"Just like Megan, bringing disgrace to our doorstep How many times did my father have to pay soood nah as it should be? More times than I care to count I can tell you thather own question quickly

"Well, now that he was so brazen about his seduction of you, I have Mrs Churchwell as a reliable witness,"

"I wasn't seduced I love Austin and he loves ed her head

"Of course you do What girl in your place, crippled, sentenced to be in a wheelchair her whole life, wouldn't grasp at the first good-looking face to turn his false sirls eren't in

wheelchairs would fall for those lines and winks these days, much less someone like you"

"Stop it! You don't knohat you're talking about You could never understand" I yelled

Aunt Victoria stretched her thin lips into a mean spinster smile

"Why, child, there are feell equipped to understand the craftinesses of uile Unlike ht say I have a built-in lie detector It rings here" she said putting her left hand over her heart "and sends warnings immediately to here" She pointed at her temple

"What did that fortune hunter tell you?" she continued, stepping closer "Did he tell you that you were just as beau-EH as before, maybe even more so? Did he tell you that you ht such joy to hiine himself without you? Did he tell you he saw you everywhere, constantly heard your voice and you were stuck in his mind forever and ever? Did he promise to always cherish and love you too?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes to all of that" I screamed at her "And he ether"