ZUBA: Eugenia - Draft in progress (past)

The light Blancwood winter snow bowed with a series of crunches under the limousine's tires like a line of docile servants bending down for it to ride over. Slowly, deliberately it followed the girl trudging along in her rumpled school uniform until she became self-conscious enough to stop and wait for the car to pull up to her. The tinted window closest to the end rolled down, taking its time, as if it knew all the world would wait for it.

After her customary imperial glance around at her surroundings, Eugenia Valentia's eyes finally came to a rest on the young schoolgirl's timid face. This girl was afraid of her, and she knew it. Too afraid to open her mouth and deny anything that Eugenia wished to tell her to do. She would listen now.

"Dear, may I speak with you a moment?"

The question was merely a formality. The girl wouldn't dare refuse.

"...Si, Signora Valentia, I'm coming..." she stepped obediently up to the window, hefting her pile of books in her arms and attempting to look as though the prospect of standing around even longer with those heavy textbooks wasn't going to bother her immensely.

"Por favor, dear, we know one other quite well by now, do we not? Then you know you may call me Eugenia. Dona Eugenia, if you insist on a title."

"...Si, Dona Eugenia."

"Well, do not just stand out there, chiquita, it's like a freezer. Come, come, sit in the car with me."

At her command, her driver got out and came along to open the side door. Cadenza refrained from commenting on this--she'd never understood why Eugenia couldn't just reach her arm out a foot, if it was even that much, and nudge open the door herself. It seemed wrong to make the driver have to do it.

But, it wasn't her place to speak. Not when the woman concerned was Paris' stepmother, at least. She checked her watch, made peace with the realization that she would, most definitely, miss her bus and that Eugenia was not likely to give her a ride all the way to Santa Mariela, and got in with only the slightest bit of a sigh. This was not going to be pleasant, she could feel it.

"I do hope your shoes aren't too muddy. I was going to request that you wipe them off, but now whatever damage is already done, I suppose..." she gave Cadenza a look that suggested this was the greatest of transgressions and that she was being almost saintly in allowing it to be forgiven. When the girl didn't respond, she smiled a little. Of course, there was nothing to say. An "I didn't know" was never going to pass with Eugenia.

"But yes, onto other matters... Cadenza, I stopped you for this little chat because I wished to speak to you about my Paris..."

"My" Paris, yes, it was hard not to notice the emphasis there. It was going to be another one of those conversations. The girl sighed inwardly again and prepared herself for the worst. The only good things about this by the end were going to be that the seat was comfortable and the limo warm--she settled in for the long haul.

"Dear, I heard the other day that Paris was ditching class because of you... this is very unacceptable..."

"We... we didn't miss class... we were just late... he was showing me the snow. I'd never seen it before..."

"Yes, well, I believe he's getting far too serious about this relationship of yours far too fast. He's been speaking of marrying someday, even. Marriage, Cadenza. And children! And what do you have to offer him? Your beauty? Purity? Those things will be lost someday, dear, and you'll just be living off him, leeching off our family's money. The Valentias are expected to marry a certain kind of person."

Cadenza found herself sinking lower and lower in the limo's plush leather seats. Never mind that you were a waitress at some dive diner before Rogerio met you... you just picked him up after Claudia died and he was lonely... but now, you've completely turned around, and you're looking down on people who were just like you... how can you...

"...I... I have a dowry, ma'am," she tried.

Eugenia almost chuckled. "Oh yes, honey, I'm aware. A gold necklace and some earrings, is it? I have at least six times your little dowry in one drawer of one of my many jewelry boxes, dear."

"The... the necklace is made of rose gold..."

"Cadenza, please. Three of the six rings on my fingers just right this moment are rose gold."

The woman stretched out a hand adorned with the superb jewelry, gleaming a rich blush color. The light coming off them was so brilliant it would almost be blinding were it not for the tinted windows. There was, again, no reply that could be made. Eugenia went on.

"Also... you know, dear, that people say your father is... not quite mentally stable. And your poor, dear mother has that drug problem... there's also talk of your eldest sister being involved with a felon...? Obviously these are not people we could have associated with our family."