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Celestina watched as her daughter paced the floor, walking three steps in one direction and then spinning on her heels and walking three steps back.
“Like I said,” Celestina began. “I don’t know where your sister is.”
“I don’t believe you,” Isotta hissed, pausing her steps just long enough to peer at her mother again with hooded eyes.
“Whether you believe me or not, I don’t have a clue where she is. To be honest, I would like to know, too.”
Isotta paused her steps and returned to the table, sliding into the chair. “Are you serious that you have no idea?” She studied her mother’s face to see if she was being the least bit deceptive.
“I wish I knew, Isotta. I really do,” Celestina affirmed, her voice softening from the level of sadness she felt. “I just want to make sure she’s doing okay, see if she needs anything.’
“She needs her family,” Isotta quipped. “And I need my sister.”
Celestina reached her hand out again. “I need her, too.”
Isotta allowed her hand to be touched, but she didn’t return any affection.
“Then who knows? Who knows where Valentina is?”
“I’m not sure,” Celestina deceptively replied.
“Mother,” Isotta replied. “You know who knows. Tell me.”
Celestina couldn’t reveal the answer to that question, but she still tried to look empathetic to her daughter’s inquiry. But Isotta lost patience.
“Does grandmother know?” Isotta asked, once again examining her mother’s face to see if she would be truthful in her reply. When her mother was unresponsive to her direct inquiry, Isotta made an assumption of her own.
“She does know, doesn’t she?” Isotta insisted. When her mother still didn’t give her answer, Isotta bounded from the table again.
“Where is she? She’s going to tell me the truth.”
“Isotta!” Celestina spoke, getting up from her seat. “Don’t!”
Isotta paused and spun on her heels again.
“Why?”
Celestina took a ginger step forward. “Because you will be stirring up things that don’t need to be stirred up.”
“But why not?” Isotta countered. “What did Valentina do that was so bad she deserved to be ostracized permanently?”
“She broke trust,” Celestina answered, returning to her seat and sitting down heavily. “That’s what she did, Isotta. She broke trust.”
“That’s no reason,” Isotta defended. “So what? So what? She broke some unwritten rule that required she marry someone she didn’t even know, all for the sake of making money. So what!”
“I know it sounds bad, but that’s just how things are. It’s our plight. Don’t you understand that? We are required to be selfless.”
“But it shouldn’t cost her everything. It just shouldn’t,” Isotta sighed. “Besides, our plight is stupid. It makes me regret ever being born.”
“Don’t say that,” Celestina hissed, even though she understood. “It’s a blessing that you were born.”
“Really? So, what? So I could marry someone in Valentina’s absence to protect the bottom line? Someone I don’t even know, someone I am forced to love despite the horrible things he does to me?”
Celestina studied her daughter, looking past the anger and seeing the hurt.
“What did he do?” Celestina asked gingerly.
“I don’t want to talk to you about it,” Isotta countered, folding her arms across her chest. “I want to talk to my sister. That’s why I need to know where Valentina is so I can talk to her.”
