she isn’t very close to her father’s wife, imelda.. since she still isn’t so happy about the affair that resulted in teresa. additionally, imelda has struggled the most with getting teresa to play her part as the ambassador’s daughter. she has grown so frustrated that she would often cruelly punish teresa, projecting her own emotions onto her for many years. imelda dies from disease when teresa is fourteen years old. she never was much of a mother figure. the servants were the closest thing teresa ever had to one.