One Glance

Chapter 29

"Get out," snapped Annaliese coldly.

Jane merely arched an eyebrow and pressed her lips into a firm line. Clearly the animosity between them had not diminished any. "I have come to help Isabella change," she said calmly. She then crossed the room to stand beside the bed to peruse the gowns.

"Isabella does not need your help," Annaliese insisted.

"Isabella is still my child," retorted Jane.

"Isabella can speak for herself," she interjected as she seized the first dress she could get her hands on to end the argument. The burgundy fabric in her hand felt like butter it was so soft. It was heavy, too, as they layers of fabric underneath the dress had deceived her. "Help me, Eleanor."

Eleanor was quick to take the dress from her, and together they walked towards the privacy screen.

"Mother, really, what are you still doing here?" Annaliese asked exasperatedly. "You have already conned Luke into clearing your debt, just as Matthew did once before. You are free to do whatever you want with your life! Why do you insist on making ours complicated?"

She and Eleanor discarded the gown on the floor and pressed their ears to the privacy screen.

"Is that all you think that I care about, Annaliese? Money?" asked Jane in disbelief.

"Yes," scoffed Annaliese. "You married me off for money. You would have done the same to Isabella and Eleanor if I had not taken them in."

She exchanged a look with Eleanor, and the sadness in Eleanor's brown eyes told her it was the truth.

"And look at the life it gave you!" exclaimed Jane. "You have beautiful things! A beautiful home! Money, security! Things that the poverty stricken people in this country would give their right arm for!"

"And it breaks my heart to know that things are what you value, Mother," Annaliese said sadly. "I do not need my things. And it breaks my heart that you do."

"I suppose you will never understand, Annaliese," huffed Jane. "You never knew what it was like to go without, even when you were a child. I always made sure you and your sisters had everything. I even found you a rich husband!"

"But I did not need that, Mother!" exclaimed Annaliese. "All we needed was for you to be happy with us, and to love us. Not to slap us into submission whenever we did not comply with your rules."

She instinctively reached up to touch her own cheek. Was that true? Had her mother beaten her?

Jane did not reply.

"Does it make you sad, Mother?" asked Annaliese. "Does it make you sad that you do not know your children anymore? Your grandchildren?"

"Of course it makes me sad, Annaliese," Jane said quietly.

Eleanor brought her hand to her mouth. "I cannot believe those words came out of her mouth," she whispered.

Jane and Annaliese were quiet for what felt like hours. During the silence, Eleanor grabbed her hand and squeezed tightly. She did not have any memory of the animosity between her mother and sister, but even she felt nervous and apprehensive.

This exchange was important.

"Everything I did, I did to ensure that you did not have the life I had," Jane said finally.

"Was your life really so awful, Mother?" asked Annaliese.

Jane sighed. "It was not what I had envisioned for myself," she replied. "I wanted to raise my position in society and I am not ashamed of it. Every girl that attends the season in London desires the exact same thing, Annaliese.