A Modern Day Sense and Sensibility: An Adaptation of Jane Austen's Classic by Kaitlin Saunders Read Free Book Online

finding a place yet?” he asked.
    “No, not yet. I hope your sister isn’t getting too impatient,” Ellie answered as she shifted in her seat nervously. Was he anxious to see them leave? The thought made Ellie very uncomfortable, and well, depressed.
    “Don’t you worry about my sister, she needs to learn a little patience,” Edward replied, setting aside the cameraand clasping his hands in front of himself. Ellie was somewhat comforted by his answer and felt her shoulders begin to relax. “Francil’s used to getting everything handed to her,” Edward continued, “My mom wasn’t very good at saying no.”
    Ellie nodded and paused, her attention momentarily stolen by the cartoon on the screen until it went to commercials. “What’s your mom like?” she asked curiously.
    “Well—” Edward began, now shifting his entire body toward her as he became more animated, “Take Francil and multiply her characteristics by like, ten,” he said. Ellie’s eyes widened—she could only imagine. Edward nodded, “It’s just like the old saying, ‘as the mother is, so goes the daughter’, except Mom has taken domineering to another level.”
    “Oh my. . .” Ellie replied.
    “Exactly,” Edward said as he laid back against the couch. “When my dad passed away, we were all still really young. Mom had no choice but to become the breadwinner. Because of that, we didn’t really get to see much of her growing up.” Ellie nodded, feeling compassionate. Edward angled his head to look into her eyes, “Of course, she’s ready to play at being Mom now, but all of us already have our own lives and don’t even live in the same state.”
    “What does your mom do?” Ellie asked, quickly correcting with, “Isn’t it something on the radio? Like she has her own show or something?”
    The cartoon had resumed but neither noticed.
    “She’s a syndicated psychiatrist,” Edward said, his face conveying he was a bit surprised Ellie wasn’t aware of who she was. “You’ve probably heard of her radio talk show, ‘Family Ties with Frederica’?”
    “Ohhhh, yes, I forgot,” Ellie nodded in recognition. She thought she remembered her mom listening to that program until finding out her step-son was marrying Frederica’s daughter. With the exception of Edward, Diane was not a fan of the Ferrars family.
    Diane, unbeknownst to Ellie and Edward, had stumbled in upon the conversation and hadn’t been able to resist observing the special moment between the two. She seemed to have a knack for sniffing out romance, but what could she say, it was a gift. Diane had actually come downstairs with quite another purpose, but upon witnessing the unmistakable chemistry between Edward and her daughter, she became sidetracked. After nearly ten minutes of standing in the shadows, basking in their new romance, she finally scampered off to find Marianne.
    Locating her artistic daughter in the laundry room cleaning her art supplies, Diane hurried to her, exclaiming, “Look what came in the mail today!”
    Marianne glanced up from her task and turned down the Maroon 5 album she had been listening to, “What, Mom?”
    “It’s from my cousin,” Diane said, removing the letter from its envelope. “Apparently he has a place for us to live.”
    Marianne smiled and dried her hands on her apron, reaching for the letter which Diane released.
    Dear Cousin Diane,
    I heard about your husband’s recent passing and extend my deepest condolences. I now run an apartment complex in Oregon and would like to offer one of my apartments for your use. Since your circumstances have no doubt changed, I would make it as affordable as possible. . . .
    “Have you told Ellie yet?” Marianne slowly took her eyes off the letter to gaze questioningly at her mother.
    “No—” Diane began, but was interrupted when Marianne moved towards the door with excitement while trying to untie her apron. Diane stopped her, “Marianne, let’s wait a while.”
    Marianne looked