The Three Cousins

The Three Cousins
Chapter One: Great Friends
Florence glided along the hard marble floor of her boudoir, the heels of her shoes making loud noises with every nervous step she took. She read the letter in her hands over and over again, pacing back and forth, her mind racing.
It was two weeks before her fourteenth birthday. She knew that at her birthday celebration she would meet her soon-to-be husband Charles Van Barker, apparently a prince from a few kingdoms over, although personally she had never heard of him and honestly she hated the taste of his name. "Van Barker." She had thought to herself when her father told her of the boy. "Florence Van Barker." The name sounded all wrong to her and left her with a facial expression like she had just been drinking lemon juice.
But for now she had other things to worry about. For example the letter she had in her hands, which read:
Florence. Would you be kind enough to join your Aunt Anastasia and I for tea? We have great things to speak of.
Love, your mother.

She had always known Auntie Anastasia, always. If you had asked Florence, she would have told you that Anastasia was a sweet hard working, good tempered woman with an honest to goodness love for children. Florence had grown up with Anastasia's daughter Harriet. Harriet was a very smart girl of her age, and when Florence had her proper princess lessons Harriet was always by her side, making the whole evening more bearable. So when her mother had asked to tea, in such a formal way no less, it worried Florence. What would her mother, Aunt Anastasia and she have to talk about that sounded so formal? Was it something awful? Would Harriet be there? What could it possibly be?
A few moments later there was a small knock at the door. At once she stopped her pacing and looked up from the letter. "Come in." She told the person.
Without hesitation a petite woman with a white dress and apron on walked in and curtsied. "It's tea time m'lady. I was told to come fetch you and bring you out to the garden?" She told Florence to which Florence set the letter down on her desk and accompanied the maid to where she knew her mother would be.
Within moments she was sitting down across from her mother and Aunt, both of whom looked pretty worried.
At first everyone was silent for a few moments, Florence growing more and more frustrated by the second. "Was there something you wanted to speak to me about mother?" Florence asked in her chime like voice.
Cinderella sighed before looking her daughter in the eye. "Yes, you've always been a smart child, knowing which subjects were taboo and which were not. But it's time you know of how your father and I met."
Florence had never known her mother's past. So naturally she had never known the abuse her mother had endured from her grandmother, she had never known how cruel and unusual her Aunt had been to her mother. And above all else she had never known she had another Aunt, which was the cause for Cinderella telling her all of this now.
"So you see….Drizella, her husband and their children will be attending you birthday celebration." Cinderella finally included.
"But mother….why would you allow them? You are the queen, simply refuse them entrance." Florence told her bravely.
Cinderella shook her head. "It's not that simple my darling. She is my sister and you're Aunt, just as Anastasia is my sister and your aunt. Her children are your cousins, and you have a right to know them just as they have a right to know you." Cinderella nearly pleaded with her daughter. "I have asked Anastasia to be here during this to remind you that people can change. And Drizella claims she has."
Florence made a face but her mother wouldn't hear another word of argument and instantly started to tell her about Drizella's children.
Apparently Drizella had two children, and older boy around the age of sixteen named Benjamin, and a younger daughter of fourteen named Evelynn.
Florence disliked this in many ways; for one she was already jealous of Harriet for having a younger sister, now she had to be jealous of Evelynn for having an older brother. And the worst part of this is that they lived out of the kingdom, meaning that they would have to stay here until the party which Florence considered an outrage, she simply hated it when people stayed there, she had to be on her toes at all times, "prim and proper is a well-mannered princess" She had always been told and she hated it too. She was very jealous of Harriet in this way as well, because Harriet could be herself more often than not.
Florence looked at herself in the mirror as one her of maids brushed through her thick, long chocolate brown hair and wondered what her cousins looked like. As a child Cinderella would comment on how much Florence looked like herself but after a while those comments stopped because as she grew older she looks more and more alike her father. Her slightly plump round face, dreamy bedroom eyes, long dark eyelashes and slightly tanned skin looked more alike her father then her mother. Even her figure didn't look like her mothers, while Cinderella was the very image of what one would call petite, after all she had to be to be able to dance in glass slippers! But Florence on the other hand already at thirteen had a very obvious hourglass figure, which she absolutely despised, it made wearing corsets a real pain, and she was already nearly as tall as her mother. The only thing about the young woman that looked even remotely like her mother was the color of her misty blue eyes, and even that Florence would swear didn't have the same elegance of Cinderella's.
"Did you ever meet my Aunt Drizella?" Florence asked the maid randomly.
"I believe I seen her once, the same night your father met you mother. But so many women came that night that I don't really recall m'lady." Florence nodded slowly.
And before Florence could ask another question there was a rap at the door.
"M'lady, I have been sent by the Queen to tell you to come down straight away. Count and Countess Bennett have arrived."
Florence walked down the flight of stairs with extreme caution as her stomach did turns. Below she could see her father and mother greeting some people. Besides her mother and father there were two men and two women. The other man had dark hair and dark sunken eyes, his face chiseled and defined his skin a perfect pale color. She guessed he was Count William Bennett. The woman standing next to him looked a great deal alike Anastasia, enough to be her twin; she had beautiful olive shaped green eyes, a small mouth with red red lips, and next to Cinderella she looked very tall. She knew this must be Drizella. Florence didn't take much interest in the boy and looked straight at the other girl, the one with raven black hair, pale silky skin, olive green eyes (not unlike Drizella's) and blood red lips. Florence had seen beauty before, she had seen the graceful elegance of her mother, the natural sweet look of her Aunt but this was a different type of beauty, one that almost seemed to scare her and when the young girl looked up and straight into her eyes Florence stopped dead.
"Ah here is our princess now." The girl spoke in a confident smirk.
"Ah, Florence darling, come meet your Aunt, Uncle and cousins." Her father spoke, forcing the girl down the stairs the rest of the way to stand next to her parents.
Snapping out of her trance Florence quickly grabbed her dress lightly and curtsied. "Welcome,"
"Why thank you." Drizella spoke in the same confidence as her daughter, smiling wide.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Florence, I am Count William Bennett." He told the girl, his voice deep and full of knowladge. "This is Countess Drizella Bennett." He spoke again, motioning to the woman next to him with the sort of air that made Florence feel this was a very special title for Drizella to have. "And this is my son Benjamin Arthur Bennett, and my daughter Evelynn Marie Bennett."
"It is a pleasure to meet you all." Florence said in the sweetest most charming voice she could master, her insides burning with the uncomfortably of the family. She couldn't put her finger on it but for some reason something didn't feel right about how nice they were being.
"Well I am extremely exhausted from that trip!" Drizella said, looking at Cinderella dead in the eyes.
"Right! Of course!" Cinderella stuttered out. "Let us retire for some tea and brunch shall we not?" She asked quickly.
As the adults started to wander off Evelynn stopped and turned in front of Florence to get her attention. "Come along. You don't really want to go have tea with them do you?" She asked Florence. "How about you show me to my room and tell me all about the celebration plans? I heard your betrothed will be coming! Just which prince is it?" Evelynn commanded, to which Florence was so shocked by how straight forward she was she had simply no other reaction then to tell the truth.
"Prince Charles Van Barker." She told her as the two ladies walked up the stairs, Florence leading the way.
"Oh I've heard of him! Very charming young man. Well done Florence, well done." She told her, sounding slightly bored now. "I have a feeling we're going to be great friends." She smirked, making Florence feel extremely uneasy.