Note: This is just a little ficlit about Vera before Audrina was born. Kind of short and pointless. I think Vera's 3-3 1/2 years older than Audrina. It's been a while since I've read the book so I don't remember for sure.
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Intense dark eyes peered out from thick apricot bangs cut slightly too long. Vera Adare glared at the woman giving her the shot. She had said don't be scared; it wouldn't hurt. Liar. It hurt anyway. But she wouldn't let the woman know that. She would sit there and pretend it didn't hurt. And then Papa would be proud.
Then the shot was over and she got a bandaid. The lady smiled at her and told her what a big girl she was and handed her a lollipop. But Vera didn't care. She wanted to see if Papa was proud of her.
He smiled at her, lifting her into his arms and smothering her face with kisses. She laughed. "Am I a big girl, Papa?"
He kissed her again on the cheek. "Yes you are, honey. I think you deserve some ice cream."
She beamed. "Chocolate?" she asked.
"Anything you want, Vera."
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She sat on the couch swinging her legs as the woman who was her aunt played the piano. Her aunt was not only her Momma's sister, but her Papa's wife. And her aunt had a name it seemed only Momma could pronounce. So Vera called her Lucky like Papa did.
Vera was bored. Oh, Lucky played the piano beautifully, but she could only sit still listening to it for so long before her mind started to wonder. Papa was at work and she was alone with only Momma and Lucky for company. Life was usually pretty boring until Papa came home; Momma and Lucky didn't say much to each other. They usually just said things to Vera hoping the other would overhear. Vera realized this even at the age of three.
Usually while listening to Lucky play she would think about what she wanted for desert, or what she would ask Papa to get her next, or what she might play when she went outside. But today she thought about none of those things. Today she thought about Lucky's belly and the baby Papa said would be coming soon. The baby that would be like a little brother or sister to her. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.
Her mother slapped her leg lightly. "Don't slouch." Vera straightened her back and again pretended to listen to Lucky's playing.
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Papa tickled her and swung her over his shoulder as he brought her upstairs.
"But…I…don't…wanna…go…to…bed!" she got out between fits of laughter.
"That's not for you to decide, is it darling?"
She brushed her teeth and got into her pajamas and jumped into her bed. Papa pulled the blanket over her and tucked it in beneath her. "Snug as a bug in a rug," he said as he kissed her forehead goodnight.
"Tell me a story, Papa."
He stroked her hair gently. "I'm not very good at telling stories."
"Tell me one anyway."
"All right. What about?"
She smiled. "A princess!" she exclaimed. "A princess named Vera."
"A princess named Vera…" he trailed off. "Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a beautiful princess named Vera. She had long blond hair and deep dark eyes, and everyone loved her."
"And she had lots of servants that cleaned her room."
He nodded. "She'd need lots of servants to clean her room. Look at this place." He gestured to the mess on the floor. "I'm going to speak to your mother about having you keep this place cleaner."
Vera gazed up at him, digging her fingernails into her blanket. "I'll clean it for you, Papa."
"You do that, honey. I expect it to be clean by the time I get home tomorrow." He kissed her once again on the forehead and rose to leave."
Vera called after him. "But you didn't finish the story."
"We'll finish it tomorrow night. I love you."
She smiled sweetly at him. "I love you, too, Papa."
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Vera sat on her bed, Lucky behind her brushing her hair. "You have beautiful hair, Vera," she said.
Vera pursed her lips into a pout. "Not as pretty as yours." Lucky's hair was a dazzling array of color that had fascinated her as long as she could remember. Witchy hair. Momma's hair was dull and brown. Poo-poo hair.
Lucky tied off the end of the braid and turned Vera around, kissing her on her head. "All done."
Vera tugged on it, then turned her attention to Lucky's swollen middle. "Why's your belly so big?"
"Because of the baby. Papa told you all about it, remember?"
"Yeah."
"You're going to be a big sister."
Vera didn't like that idea very much.
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Her room was pretty. Lots of toys, especially dolls. A little table that she always had set for tea where three of her dolls sat around. She loved her room. Especially the big bed with the pink canopy her Papa had bought just for her. She wasn't all that fond of pink—white was a prettier color in her opinion—but Papa had bought it for her, and she would cherish it.
Momma didn't like her room at all. She seldom came into it. She said it was more fluff and foolishness than a little girl needed. Then Lucky would say something to Vera like "She just says that because she didn't have a room nearly as nice as yours, and I did." Then Lucky would flash Momma a smile and take Vera's hand and lead her somewhere fun to play, like in the garden.
Vera liked Lucky much better than Momma. She wished Lucky were Momma and Momma were Lucky.
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Lucky started being very annoying. Vera didn't like her so much anymore. She lay around the house all day complaining. Vera wanted to tell her to shut up. But she knew Papa wouldn't like that. So she would go into another room and play with her dolls. She liked taking their clothes off and then putting them back on the most.
"Vera, darling, come in here," Lucky called.
Vera stifled a moan and set her dolls down. "Yeah?"
Lucky was laying on her chaise lounge skimming through one of those novels with a muscular man with big muscles and tight pants on the cover. Vera thought Papa was much more handsome. "Come here."
Lucky took Vera's hand and pressed it to her stomach. Vera felt something moving around inside and looked up at Lucky's face.
"That's your little brother or sister in there. It'll be here soon."
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Papa lifted Vera so she could see. "There she is," he told her. "On the end." He pointed her out.
She was a little moving doll, sucking on a pacifier. "
She's beautiful, isn't she?" he crooned. "My sweet Audrina."
Vera didn't see anything special about her. She was just as ugly as the rest of the babies in the nursery.
"What do you think, Vera?" Papa asked.
"She's…cute…" Vera said, wanting to please Papa. "She's not coming home with us, is she?"
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Vera was not happy. First of all, Papa had taken her room and made it into a nursery for his sweet Audrina. Then they brought the baby home and all the brat ever did was cry. Vera was not happy.
She stood in the room that was supposed to be hers and stared down at the bratty infant. What was so special about her? She was ugly and she cried and she smelled.
Even Momma seemed to like her. And Momma didn't like anybody. Not even her.
"I hate you. I wish you would die and go away." She poked the baby. And Audrina started to cry. "You're not sweet at all."
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fin