The Mansions of Idumea (Book 3 Forest at the Edge series) (89 page)

Mahrree stopped to kiss each of them quickly.
“Everything’s fine!” she said too cheerfully. “Back to bed, now!”
She followed their father up the stairs. “Perrin, give me the
sword.”

Jaytsy had never before realized just how
brave their mother was.

The next morning she and Peto got their own
breakfast and ate early before their parents got up. Neither of
them said it, but they both seemed to think it was just safer that
way.

Two days later Jaytsy found her father asleep
on the floor by the back kitchen door, curled in a ball, with
General Shin’s sword by his side. She crept away and rushed
upstairs to get her mother, then waited on their bed until the
shouting downstairs stopped.

Everything was
not
fine. That was
obvious. But no one was talking about it. Peto just looked at her
that morning across breakfast with a mixture of understanding and
dread. She returned it. At least, for once, they had something in
common.

Acknowledgements . . .

First, I acknowledge that I’m not an
AUTHOR
.

I’m barely a writer; more like a
drafter
with rewriting issues. (I’m pretty sure rewriting
means taking
out
problems, not
inserting
new
ones.)

I dabble with stories that insist on being
told, and because the characters didn’t plop themselves down in
anyone else’s head (I guess God didn’t know what else to do with
me), they’re stuck with whatever I can churn out about them. But
oh, has it been fun!

If you enjoyed any of this book, I’m
thrilled. Thank you for sharing in this.

(If you didn’t enjoy the book, then I take
comfort in the fact that you likely downloaded it for free or for
very cheap, so you’re out only a few hours of your time.)

I so appreciate those who served as beta
readers, catching my many inconsistencies, dangling them in my face
like a load of smelly laundry and saying, in the
kindest
of
ways, “How did you manage to miss this?!” My daughters, Tess and
Alexandria Mercer, and my sister Barbara Goff, my dear friends
Debbie Beier, Stephanie Carver, David Jensen, Kim Pearce, Liz Reid,
Paula Snyder, and Ron Snyder (not like the colonel; well, not
that
much).

I also appreciate the rest of my children for
allowing me to tap away for hours on my keyboard.

(“What, another book? I thought you were
done!”)

I’m also grateful for my husband who tosses
Lindt truffle balls at me when he can tell I’m frustrated yet again
by my inadequacies.

“
You know, you could just quit,” he says
from a safe distance.

“
But I LOVE writing this! It makes me so
darn happy,” I yell back, pulling out my hair. “Once I figure out
how to fix it!”

He looks at the empty bag in his hands.
“Lemme see if Lindt sells in bulk,” and he makes a hasty
getaway.

About the author . . .

Trish Strebel Mercer has been teaching
writing, or editing graduate papers, or changing diapers since the
early 1990’s. She earned a BA in English from Brigham Young
University and an MA in Composition Theory and Rhetoric from Utah
State University. She and her husband David have nine children and
have raised them in Utah, Idaho, Maryland, Virginia, and South
Carolina. Currently they live in the rural west and dream of the
day they will be old enough to be campground managers in
Yellowstone National Park.

Other
titles:

The Forest at the
Edge of the World (Book 1)

Soldier at the Door
(Book 2)

Falcon in the Barn (Book 4)

Visit me everywhere
else!

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https://twitter.com/mercertrish9
Blog:
 
http://forestedgebooks.com
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