Letters to Isabella

twenty three.

Laura's POV

I handed my mom a warm cup of tea and helped her to sit down at the dining table. She'd been having some problems with her arthritis as she'd aged and although she'd never admit it to neither Vanessa or myself we both knew that she needed our help from time to time.

"Oh, thank you honey." She murmured, stirring her teaspoon slowly around her tea with a satisfied smile on her face. "You haven't got anything sweet to eat have you?" She asked with a bite of her lip.

I shook my head in response. "No mom, I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh loud enough for me to hear. "You never do. I'm not sure why I asked." She then carefully picked up her cup of tea and placed it to her lips before taking a quick and cautious sip. Within seconds she began to wrinkle her nose and eventually pointed to her cup, glancing at me like I'd just murdered someone. "Laura, did you even add sugar to this?"

"Yes mom." I sarcastically muttered. "I put two teaspoons in for you."

She grimaced at me. "Two? I always have at least three and half sugars in my tea sweetheart, you know this." She scrunched up her face again as she attempted to take another sip. "No wonder it tastes so bland."

I sighed and stood up on the heels of my feet, reaching frantically into the back of our cupboard to try and find the sugar bag that I'd carelessly thrown back in earlier, not thinking for one second that my mother would politely tell me that she hated the tea that I'd made for her.

"If you really don't believe that there's even a single speck of sugar in that cup of tea that I made for you then I will happily add to the amount of sugar that's already dissolving at the bottom of your cup as we speak." I spat, finally managing to grab the bag of sugar from the back of the cupboard.

I reached into our utensils drawer and pulled out yet another teaspoon. I handed both the bag of sugar and teaspoon to my mom with an exhausted sigh. "Here, you do it." I muttered. I turned away from her and went back to my seat beside the window.

I liked watching the world pass by and how the clouds in the sky above me would change every ten seconds or so into something more beautiful than the first time I saw them. It also gave me a good excuse to avoid any awkward or demeaning conversations with my mother whilst Vanessa was gone.

"It tastes much better now." Mom murmured quietly from behind me, a smile forming across her lips. "Why did you send Vanessa to pick up the children anyway?" She asked, sipping slowly from her now fantastic cup of tea.

I turned and frowned at her, an awkward chuckle escaping from my lips as I did so. "Why wouldn't I?" I asked curiously. "She's my sister and she's Bailey and Bella's Auntie. Besides, she doesn't mind. It's a one off."

Mom bit her lip and nodded slowly. "So, you trust her?"

I laughed again and stared in confusion at her. "Of course I do!" I stood up from my chair and threw the remains of my now cold tea down the sink before turning back to her with my hands on either side of my hips. "Mom, she's my sister. She's not some deranged serial killer."

"Laura." Mom said firmly. Her facial expression was blank and lifeless. I couldn't tell if she was joking around with me or if she was being deadly serious. The worrying thing was that with my mom you couldn't tell — there was no in between. "Don't you remember that little stunt that she pulled when Isabella was practically a baby?"