She was still our Mother
"You want do this, for her?" Danielle´s voice was raised with anger, something neither Marguerite nor Jacqueline had experienced for quite some time. It had been a few years since Marguerite had left the palaces laundry to take her new position of head of the de Conte Household. And in these years the three sisters had continued their regular meetings, even though Danielle´s growing responsibilities had kept her often away from them and so only the two de Ghent girls had met.
Time had been kind to them, especially Marguerite who had flourished in her new life and recovered some of her beauty, even though it was now more of a simple elegance not the bright fancy noble girl she had once been.
It had been during one of their meetings without Danielle that Jacqueline had first breached the topic of their mother. For Marguerite the abuse she had received from her mother during the first weeks in the palace laundry had made her turn her back on Rodmilla de Ghent and she had been glad when she had been transferred away. I was a pawn to her, nothing more. It had given her room to breathe, to try and eventually succeed at becoming her own person, at making peace with the other workers, allowing her to, for the first time in her life, experience actual friendship.
Even after having been promoted from the laundry to the de Conte household, she had never felt any interest at giving the woman who had given birth to her another thought. And she knew that both Jacqueline and Danielle felt the same resentment if not even more.
"She was still our mother," Marguerite said, slowly, looking up to her step sister.
"She claimed the same about me, once, yet I don´t owe her anything. You where there that day, heard what I said, I never wanted to hear her name again, never even think about her anymore."
Marguerite remembered the day very well. For a while it had been the worst of her life but now she knew that, as painful and humiliating as it had been the first step into her new self. She saw how Jacqueline looked at her feet. Marguerite knew that since they had reconciled her kind hearted sister sometimes felt a bit of guilt over her actions that day, specifically leaving Marguerite to share Rodmilla fate.
"We could have reconciled a lot sooner if I had just spoken for you that day," Jacqueline said.
"I doubt we would have," Marguerite had comforted her. "The girl I was back then, she would have taken advantage of your mercy and probably tried to kill you once you turned your back."
"Still I could have done something more."
The blonde had taken her hand, "Jacqueline, don´t think about what happened, cause it did and we can´t go back. And it needed to happen, for me to become who I am today, for us to reconcile. I don´t hold any ill will against you for it."
"Well, you intended the same for me didn´t you?" Marguerite said, as she looked at Danielle. "You wanted to cut me out of your life, and you had every right to it." A few years ago, not too long after leaving the laundry Marguerite had, from her first salary acquired a copy of Utopia and given it to Danielle. Her step sister had been touched by the gesture but Marguerite still felt some lingering guilt over the incident.
Danielle let out a sigh, "that´s something else. Well to be honest if Jacqueline had pestered me to no end I would probably still let you rot in the laundry..." she stopped herself, took a deep breath and started again. "Don´t get me wrong, I´m glad things turned out the way they did. You are my sister and I´m glad you are a part of my life again. But what you did to me doesn´t compare to what your mother did. You burned a book and said nasty things, she kept me as a serf for years, and later sold me into slavery."
Marguerite lowered her gaze, she had worried brining up the topic would bring back the dark memories to her step sisters mind, but at the same time...
"She is dead Danielle," Jacqueline said quietly. "Do you really want to carry on with your hatred for her even now?"
"I don´t want to think of her at all anymore." Danielle said firmly. "I certainly don´t want her buried here, close to my father."
That was it, the thing the two de Ghent sisters where asking of her, the thing she could never allow them to do.
After Jacqueline had first breached the topic of Rodmilla against she had spent a considerable time getting Marguerite to go along in looking for their mother. They had found out the former Baroness had been transferred through several noble households as a serf but with each she had sooner or later driven the nobles to a point where they refused to house and feed her any longer.
Rodmilla had never made an effort to adjust to her new life and instead stubbornly remained in her pride as a noblewoman, no matter how much abuse she had received from her fellow serfs. In the end depression and sickness had taken a toll on her and her daughters had only found her when she was already very sick.
Their mother had been delirious when they had met her. Sometimes talking to Marguerite and Jacqueline as if they were still little girls. Sometimes it had seemed as if she had talked to an non present Danielle. Then, in other moments she had screamed at Jacqueline and called her a traitor while ordering Marguerite to get to work.
As much as both sister now resented their mother, both of them had been shocked and saddened by the state she was now in. She had tried their best to reach out to her and Jacqueline had eventually taken pity on her. Having her transferred to a abbey were the nuns would take care of her as good as they could. The former Baronesses mental state had improved, at least a little bit, to the point that she had been able talk to her daughters almost normally again. It had relieved Rodmilla that Marguerite wasn´t a serf anymore, even though she had instantly begun to suggest her making advances towards the young Lord de Conte, and even seemed to have been softer on Jacqueline, glad that through her child's at least the family line continued. But her physical health had continued to worsen over these weeks.
"She has mentioned you, you know?" Marguerite told Danielle. "During those few lucid moments. What you said to her, that she would think of you every day for the rest of her life. It sure came to pass. I think, in a way, she even developed some respect for you. Like for an enemy smarter and stronger than herself."
Danielle´s face gave away her surprise.
Jacqueline put a hand on her shoulder," please. We know you don´t want her to rest next to your father. But they were married, for as short a time as it was. This place is my home now, and Marguerites lives nearby. We just... we don´t want our mother to rest in a paupers grave."
Rodmilla had died about a week ago, the nuns still preserved her body and prepared it for a burial but so far nobody knew where to place her.
"I... I know I shouldn´t judge her beyond her death." Danielle said, after a long silence. "Whatever she was, she was still your mother and I understand your desire to give her a decent burial. If... if you want to bury her here you have my blessing. But... keep her a bit distant from my father."
"We will," Marguerite assured her as she likewise approached her stepsister and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe now there can be once and for all be peace between our families."