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"What do you mean relax?" How can we relax?" Isotta questioned, sitting on the edge of the limo's seat.
The driver only looked in the rearview mirror and smiled. It was a subtle smile, but both Isotta and her mother, Celestina, noticed it and questioned it.
"Why are you smiling?" Celestina seethed between clenched teeth. She clenched them to keep from crying, but she was already too late to stop the flow of tears that spilled down her cheeks. For as long as they were in the driveway, Celestina kept looking back at the front door, sure that her husband of so many years would show up and rescue her. She kept looking back. But it didn't matter.
The driver sped up, even around the curve of the drive. The exit was automatic, more automatic than the entrance, so he did have to secure permission to leave. He just needed to wait long enough for the rod iron gate to open. When it did, Celestina's heart dropped in her chest because her husband didn't save her. He probably couldn't save her. The driver's reluctance to respond to her daughter's question was the perfect outlet for Celestina to vent her frustrations.
"Answer the question," she demanded. "Where are you taking us?"
The driver shook his head as he peered into the mirror.
"Like I said. Just relax. All your questions will be answered soon enough."
Isotta was miffed. She was too miffed to be afraid, at least not yet. Just when she was going to press the driver for some information, more information, he reached out his hand and pressed the button, rolling up the soundproof divider between the front and back seats.
"What are we going to do?" Celestina asked.
She directed her question to her daughter, but Isotta wasn't responsive. Celestina stared at her. Typically, that was enough to get her daughter's attention, but not this time.
"Isotta, what are we going to do?" Celestina asked again, this time making physical contact with her child.
Isotta leaned further away, not looking in her mother's direction, not responding to her question.
Again, Celestina was befuddled by her daughter's lack of direct response.
"We have been kidnapped," Celestina commented, patting the tears from her cheeks. "And now you won't talk to me? In our time of need?"
Isotta fought against the reflex to snap at her mother. It wasn't the time. But she couldn't suppress all of her anger and feelings.
"Our time of need is different than my time of need. Is that what you meant, mother?" Isotta didn't look in her mother's direction. She continued to look out of the back passenger window at nothing in particular.
"No, Isotta. That's not what I meant," Celestina commented, blowing out as she spoke. She was so dismayed.
"I’m sure it’s not,” Isotta commented as the limo continued down a dirt road. Isotta pulled her eyes from the unknown road and finally faced her mother.
“Do you even know what you mean anymore, or are you so programmed by the Conti way of thinking that you don’t really have your own thoughts?”
That hit home on such a powerful level Celestina couldn’t even react. She couldn’t do anything but stare back into her daughters' eyes and face the fact that she had done so much wrong that maybe it was too late to correct it. The fear Celestina felt from being taken from her home faded against the foreground of the fear she felt from completely losing her daughter. She’d already lost her eldest child. She didn’t want to lose her baby girl. That was too much for any mother to take.
“Maybe I don’t have my own thoughts,” she started, finally pulling her eyes away from Isotta’s because it became too difficult to face her. “Maybe I have been playing the dutiful wife for so long that I don’t know how to play another part. Maybe I’ve given up hope that I can finally be my true self, my authentic self.” Although it was difficult, Celestina’s eyes reconnected with Isotta’s. She saw all the anger, hurt, pain, and anguish her daughter felt. Admittedly, it wasn’t the first time she’d seen those same emotions, but this time, Celestina didn’t immediately dismiss what she saw for the good of the family. She allowed herself to see and to feel.
“But the one thing I haven’t given up on is mending my relationship with you, Isotta. I haven’t given up, and I won't, no matter how much you try to push me away.”
“Don’t you get it, Mom? I’m not the one pushing you away. You’ve pushed me my whole life to adopt distance from you as the status quo. You’ve relegated me to a distant relationship with you that I kept trying to fight against to the point of exhaustion. Well, I’m tired, mom,” Isotta admitted.
She felt the well of tears pressing against the back of her eyes. She wouldn’t cry, though.
“I am exhausted and unwilling to force closeness between us because distance is what you prefer.”
“So, what do we do now? Isotta, we’re in trouble.” Celestina reasoned.
“I guess we sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.”
