My hand fitted over the curved door handle. From behind the door, I heard the easy laughter shared between my mother and Analiese leak through the wooden barrier.

I twisted my head to block out the sound of their soft laughter.

Turning my cheek, my eyes spied long, honey blonde hair as it spilled across Olive's shoulders and down her back. Her fingers played with the straight tresses, mindlessly twirling and twisting them around and around. She stood across from me, some twenty feet away, with her back leaning against the wall. She hoisted the laundry basket higher on her hip as she smiled up at the tall figure hovering over her.

He bent down, crinkling the pristine cream of his uniform with deep creases, and whispered something into her ear. She laughed as her fingers swirled thick strands in fast circles.

The door swung open. I whipped my head around in surprise. Analiese folded her arms across her chest as she took me in. "You're late," she said.

She edged the door open wider, but I stayed where I was, my feet toeing the entrance as I leaned in to peer over my sister's shoulder into my mother's apartment. "How is she?"

"Fine, I think, but you never know." Her finger played with the gold chain of her locket. The heavy metal dipped low on her chest, jangling a bit as her hand drew the chain up and down through the clasp of the smooth jewelry. Shaped in a circle, the locket held her portrait and my mother's, side by side. Both haughty with raised chins and slightly arched brows over slanted eyes, the two appeared to be twins, and the twenty-two years between them seemed to vanish as like met like.

I lifted my hand to my own chest, where no locket hung from my neck. When my mother gifted Analiese with the necklace, she conveniently forgot to make me one.

Analiese dropped the chain to fiddle with the locket. Her thumb swept across the smooth surface as she said, "You didn't change."

I bit my lip as I stroked the edge of the collar of my dress. It reached mid-thigh and was loose, barely skimming my skin. The snug flats on my feet now felt too soft and uncomfortable as I compared them to the sleek fit of Analiese's heels.

"Will she care?"

Analiese pursed her lips. "I don't know, but it would have helped."

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it now." I breathed in a deep breath and just hoped my mother was in a good mood as I stepped inside.

Analiese strode ahead of me as we walked through Mother's apartment and into the dressing room, her heels tapping against the hard floor. She reached the doors before me. Her hands grasped the handles of the adjoining doors where they met in the middle and thrust them open.

The curtains draping over the tall windows on the back wall billowed as a gust of air swept through the room. The breeze brought the faint scent of hazelnut to my nose, and I held a finger to my nostrils to stifle the urge to sneeze.

She languished on her cream-flavored chaise, her body laid out in one curving line as her hips and thin shoulders jutted out into the air. Bedazzled heels poked out from her lavender robe.

At our appearance, her fingers stilled on a page of her magazine, and she met our gaze. Analiese and I dipped into the standard bow.

"Good afternoon, Mother," I said.

"You missed morning, Celeste. Why?"

My heart dropped. I stilled my features, ignoring the presence of my sister and her accusations of this morning. "I overslept."

"You didn't greet me when you woke up."

"I didn't think you'd miss me."

Her eyes fell to her magazine, and she began flipping through the pages. "So you decided to run away...to Cookie." Her lips curled around the name so harshly, almost as if it hurt her to say.

I risked a glance at Analiese. She didn't see me. Her focus was on her shoes, and her hands were safely clasped behind her back.

I returned my eyes to my mother only to find her staring at me, tracking my movements. I bit my lip, and then released it.

"I-I'm...sorry?"

She raised her eyebrows at my weak apology then at my appearance and casual attire. Her eyes flickered over my outfit, judgement oozing from each glance. Her nose wrinkled once before her face cleared as she shifted her gaze from me to Analiese. Swinging her legs from the chaise to the floor, her full lips broadened into a wide smile, and she held her arms out, palms up to receive her eldest child.

Analiese strode forward, accepting Mother's hands and letting them guide her to Mother's side on the chaise.

"I have news for you girls." She tightened her hold on Analiese as she said, "Your father will be back in three days."

"But he said he wouldn't be back for another two weeks."

"Plans change, Celeste."

Analiese pulled away from Mother. "Do you know why he is returning so early?"

I frowned. "Did something happen? Why..."

Mother closed her eyes as a trembling hand rose to massage her forehead. Joining the first, her right hand kneaded her temple. "Am I his keeper?"

She staggered to her feet, lifting herself up on unsteady limbs and stumbling to her vanity, where she slumped onto the velvet cushion. Rummaging through the drawers, arms knocking small bottles of nail polish and perfume and rouge, she muttered under her breath. "Questions. Always bothering me with questions—"

Analiese and I shared a glance, never moving from our positions.

Her hands found a lighter. She gripped the metal box tightly, rubbing it against her cheek. Hands shaking, she seized a cigarette from the counter and slid the wavering stick into her mouth, letting her full lips close over the small end. Her fingers slipped on the wheel of the lighter. Her skin cut on the blunt ridge. A small flame danced on the wick. Cigarette in mouth, she gravitated towards the lighter, igniting the tip with the hot fire of the flame and puffing fiercely until the cigarette lit red, and she had her own personal circle of hell.

She took in a long, heavy drag. Her head bent back slowly. A sluggish, sleepy smile overtook her face. A dark cloud of smoke blew past her lips.

The breeze of earlier picked up as a light wind passed through the small crack of the window, bringing another bout of hazelnut to my nostrils.

Mother chuckled, a deep-throated sound as she said, "Go on girls. Mommy needs to rest."