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Drizella practically leaped across the small table to slap her sister on the arm, knocking over a small jade dragon figurine in the process.
“Girls! Stop this at once! No one has a crush on anyone. And if you can’t stop acting like little monsters, then you will stay at home!” said Lady Tremaine, starting to lose patience with them.
Drizella put her hands in her lap again. “Why shouldn’t I have a crush on the young man Mama eventually wants me to marry?”
Though her daughter was right (Lady Tremaine and Lady Hackle did have plans for Stasia to marry Shrimpy and for Zella to marry Dicky), she felt Zella was far too young to be daydreaming about marriage.
“Well, I’m not going to marry anyone named Shrimpy!” Stasia wrinkled her nose, making her sister scoff.
“No one would want to marry you anyway!” cried Zella.
“Why would you want to marry someone named Dicky? That’s a stupid name, too!” Stasia taunted.
“Hush now, both of you.” Nanny Pinch was stern but calm. “Anastasia, you know perfectly well their names are Richard and Charles.”
Stasia laughed again. “Well, Shrimpy seems like a silly nickname for someone named Charles. It doesn’t make sense, and he’s actually rather quite tall, so how he ended up with such a name is beyond me!”
“Once again you lack the wit to get the joke,” Zella scoffed. “His name is Shrimpy because he is very tall. It’s like calling a portly man Slim, or calling you Belle!” she added with a wicked grin.
“Oh, you!” said Stasia, leaping out of her seat and pulling the bows out of her sister’s ringlets.
“That is enough! Both of you, stop this at once!” This time it wasn’t Nanny Pinch who intervened, it was Lady Tremaine. Neither of the girls had ever heard their mother raise her voice to them, and it caused them both to stop their antics at once and stare at her. “I think Nanny Pinch is right. I have decided it’s best if the two of you stay at home. How can I expect you to accompany me to the country if you can’t behave like ladies?”
Both of the girls burst into tears, wailing and pleading with their mother to let them go. “I’m sorry, girls, I have been far too indulgent with you, and it is time for you to grow up. It’s my fault really; I’ve spoiled you, but it’s time you learn that there are consequences to your actions.” Lady Tremaine thought she was doing what was best for her girls, who were far too used to getting their way. It was time she did something about it.
“Mother, please! Don’t leave us alone with Nanny Pinch! Please. We won’t see you for ages!” screamed Anastasia.
But Lady Tremaine was resolute. “No, my dear. I’ve made up my mind. I will be going on this trip without you. You will be in good hands with Nanny Pinch. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a trip to prepare for. I suggest you go up to the classroom and finish your studies,” said Lady Tremaine, trying her best to fool her girls into thinking she really intended to leave without them. The fact was, she was just trying to scare them into behaving.
“The classroom? But, Mother, what of our shopping trip? What about our new dresses?” screeched Drizella. Both of the girls were panicked.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this to us, Mama! I hate you!” said Anastasia, screwing up her face.
Lady Tremaine wasn’t used to taking this sort of line with her daughters, and she didn’t find it easy. In fact, she found it exhausting. It was causing her head to hurt, but she made her face passive and remote, and held her ground.
“I see no reason to buy you new dresses for a trip you will not be taking. And considering you hate me, I see no reason to bring you along.”
Drizella dashed out of her seat and grabbed her mother’s hands, pleading with her. “You really mean to leave us at home, Mama? This isn’t a trick? I can’t believe you would do this to us, your only daughters. The only things you have left of Papa. How do you think he would feel if he knew you were treating us so poorly? What would he think of you ruining my chances with the young Lord Hackle?”
Lady Tremaine took a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh. “I have ruined you. I gave you everything and this is how you treat me? You try to manipulate me by using the memory of your dear sweet father? You were so young when he died, you hardly knew him! He would find your behavior appalling. And he would be disappointed in me for raising you to become such terrible little beasts! I wanted this house to be a place of love, a place where people could show their emotions. I thought if I took a more active role in your lives you would love and respect me. That you wouldn’t grow up resenting me, but I find now that I resent you! I should have just let you be raised by the servants. I should have limited my time to an hour a day after teatime like all the other ladies I know.” She hated taking such a hard line with them, but she felt it was for their own good. “You’re right, Zella, I was trying to trick you, to scare you into thinking I wasn’t going to take you on this trip. I would have never dreamed of going anywhere without my precious girls, but at the moment I can’t stand the sight of you! Nanny Pinch, take them upstairs at once, and that is where they will stay. Do you understand?”
Drizella and Anastasia cried and reached out for their mother as Nanny Pinch took them both by the arms and tried to lead them out of the room. It broke Lady Tremaine’s heart to do this to her daughters, but she was at a loss. She had done it all wrong, and she worried she had ruined her daughters forever. She took another deep breath, pressed her fingers to her aching head, composed her emotions, and tried to sound stern.
“I will come up to say goodbye before I leave, girls. And, Nanny Pinch, please have Daisy sit with them. I want you to come back down so we can talk alone. Things are going to be very different around here from now on, and we have a lot to discuss before I leave for my trip.”
Lady Tremaine watched as Nanny Pinch silently took her daughters out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind them she broke down in tears. She had never been so harsh with her daughters before, but she didn’t know what else to do. They had become unruly. Nanny Pinch had tried to discuss it with her in the past, but she had refused to see her daughters clearly. She had refused to believe they weren’t the angels she had always seen them as. And she had to wonder what her husband would think of her now. He wouldn’t have approved of the way she was raising their daughters, and he certainly wouldn’t have approved of the casual manner in which she spoke with the servants. She had let things slip after he died.
Though he loved her and was always kind to her throughout their marriage, he had been a rigid man, always doing everything by the book, always proper and stoic, always on point. She loved him for it, and she didn’t understand why she had changed so much after he died. Why she allowed herself to become so soft, so familiar with the servants.
As she sat there, she realized time away in the country without her daughters was exactly what she needed. She needed time to think. Time with her friends, riding horses and hunting foxes, time to play silly games without having to worry if her daughters were going to embarrass her.
Time to become herself again.
Time in the English countryside was exactly what w
as in order. Lady Tremaine loved visiting these old estates. She always knew what to expect. There was a schedule to these gatherings, a protocol; it was orderly, and everything was just so. It was a nice reprieve from her chaotic life in London.
Before she left London she spoke at length with Nanny Pinch. The conversation made her miss the earlier train, but she needed to make clear what was expected. “I need you to be stern with my girls, Nanny Pinch. I won’t have any more of these insolent outbursts. You have my express permission to be as strict with them as you deem fit. I want to see a marked improvement in them by the time I come back.” Nanny Pinch was all too happy to comply. She had broached the subject on more than one occasion that something must be done about the girls. Lady Tremaine just hoped it wasn’t too late to turn her little hellions around.
