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12
"Darling, how have you been here? Do they treat you well?"
Since her mother had arrived in England, she had found a necessary need to always be fussing over her youngest, much to Ana's annoyance. It was either her hair or her cheeks that Ekaterina reached to stroke with her wrinkly hands. She may have been ageing to look like Ana's grandmother, but her actions were nothing like the old woman, or her previous self.
She was far too sickly sweet, badgering over her as if she were a newborn baby. It unnerved Ana, and if Tatiana had even tried to spend a moment with their mother, it would have hit a nerve with her too. She had expected Ana to forget all about the fact that she had dumped her by a train station forcing her to leave home without another word said.
"As well as you can imagine." Ana forced her lips into a smile. But her mother frowned, her eyes darkening. It seemed she was more interested in a point to attack her sister, Ana's aunt, with rather than concern for her daughter, both that Anastasiya had expected anything other.
"What does that mean?" Her voice was snappy, like a rogue dog.
"It means that they don't trust me yet. Tatiana may, but uncle doesn't." She said, looking away from the conversation as if she was bored.
"And my sister?"
"She despises me."
It wasn't completely true, Ana could admit. Izabella had warmed to her recently, even going so far as to have a conversation with her. It seemed that her aunt had found a use in her, or perhaps she had just realised that she wasn't as stupid as she had wished to believe.
Ana couldn't bring herself to tell her mother though. What was wrong with keeping both sides sweet? It would make everyone's lives much easier. The comment made Ekaterina smile slyly, her eyes narrowing like a fox.
"It's because you are too much like me." She said, and Ana couldn't help but snap her head back around to gaze at her mother.
"How?" She asked, and her mother smiled.
"Strong. Opinionated. I would guess ambitious too." She said with a casual shrug of her shoulders, speaking as if it were obvious facts.
But they were obvious facts. Ana knew that. She was far too ambitious for her own good, though it was not her downfall. Unlike her mother and Aunt and most of her other family, it seemed she was too trusting of the wrong people- though she wouldn't know that yet.
"Yes, but as is Tatiana. They tell her everything, love her like their child." She said, her voice almost bitter.
"She doesn't have loyalty like you. She had no sense of family or of understanding."
Ekaterina leaned forward, her cold fingertips trailing tenderly over her daughter smooth skin. It somehow glowed under her fingers, not coarse like her own face was, thanks to the rough, Russian winters that she had struggled to endure as a child.
It was here again, that Ana was reminded of her grandmother. The manipulative words, tricky and motherly strokes and sly comments. Her mother spoke of Tatiana's lack of loyalty, and doing so showed Ana that she had no honour or integrity herself.
"You would help your mother through anything, wouldn't you, Anastasiya?" Her mother said, her lips pouting, as if in thought.
Ana drew in a breath. "Of course."
"And I would help you through anything, you know that too?"
She bit her tongue, holding back her words. She dared not to speak of the fact that it was her who had left her with out aid and with out so much as a curt nod.
"I know, mother." She said, her voice monotonous.
"Then you know that I love you, daughter."
She leaned in again, placing a harsh kiss on her cheek. Ana sighed. She knew her mother would always love her and Tatiana, and she would always love Ekaterina too. She was loyal, she wouldn't deny it, and perhaps that was her problem.
"Do you love me?" She asked.
"Yes, mother."
Sorry for the shortness, but it was key in a way. So what do you think of Ekaterina, Ana and Tatiana's mother? M xxx
