Mary Elizabeth Nelson is the oldest child in a conservative Roman Catholic family in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco. As a sophomore at Berkeley in 1983, Mary is discovered by her mother in a "compromising position" with another woman, and she is summarily disowned.<br><br>She moves to New York and works as a waitress. While auditing an Austen seminar at NYU, she falls for fellow student, Betty Anne Elliot. The two foolishly share one night of passion before Betty decides to marry and disappear from Mary's life.<br><br>That is, until twenty years later when she calls still-single, successful writer Mary out-of-the-blue. Can the romance they had that first day blossom into love and passion?

Mary Elizabeth Nelson

I had tried.He was an ass.I am sure my parents were proud of him.


To get it out of the way now,I had no further contact with my brother until 2010,and I will get to that.In 1993 or 1994 I went through Time’s morgue—where copies of old newspapers were kept in those days—as I periodically did,going through the society page of The San Francisco Chronicle.I saw that on June 8,1991,Kathleen Pugh,Daughter of Eric and Mary Pugh,of Glenview,California married William Nelson,son of William Allen and Mary Suzanne Nelson,of Mill Valley,California.


Of course they did.There was a picture of the couple and their parents.His wife,Kathleen,was pretty,I will grant her that.If I could wipe the smirks off my parents’and off my brother’s faces I would have.I kind of felt sorry for Kathleen Pugh Nelson but she walked in with her eyes open and it would be a while before I came to hate her.That is for later too.


Chapter 4