Chapter 50

• Adorned in an alluring summer dress of olive hue, a belt accentuating her slender waist, Martha appeared both comfortable and chic. The fashionable outfit cast an air of confidence on its wearer. It was regrettable, however, that she was too insecure to acknowledge it. Many of her issues could have been mitigated, or perhaps would not have arisen at all, if she could only recognize her own value.
• Christine had always acknowledged Martha’s beauty, yet her own mother had infiltrated her thoughts so deeply, manipulating her as if she were a puppet.
• The stepsisters shared fleeting moments in the distant past when they got along rather well. They could have been friends, if not for the poisonous influence of a covetous, spiteful woman named Elenora who disrupted what might have become a genuine bond.