Constancy

Constance Ridleck looked rather like a young Greer Garson. This was noticed almost immediately by fans of classic movies, and never by anybody else. At eighteen, she had grown into an unusually unpretentious woman with high, full cheekbones, rather merry robin's egg blue eyes, copper colored hair that fell in a thick, naturally curling mass to her shoulders, and an attitude of detached amusement about almost everything around her, despite that fact that, as her mother often pointed out, she was seriously stubborn.

Constance put the last box of her belongings into her car, a late 1980s fugitive on the lam from the scrap heap, while her mother kept busy refusing to watch. Her mother had mixed feelings on her daughter's leaving home: on the one hand, there was frustration that this stubborn girl of hers was so foolish as to throw her life away, and on the other hand, relief that the constant failure this daughter had represented to Tina Ridleck would be out of her realm of her responsibility now, and Tina could devote her extraordinary energy to her younger daughter, Brianna. There was always a silver lining, Tina believed.

Tina was good at looking at the bright side of things, she knew it, and needed this gift when so many things did not go her way. Her husband, Eddie, was not exactly a go-getter, as she was wont to remind everyone thereby sealing her martyrdom, and she had to prod and push him more than once. However, at least his weaker personality did not let him interfere with her hard work on turning their life around. That was the bright side of it. As long as it did not involve him, he was all for it. With any major decision or crisis, he went fishing. That included the purchase of their home, subsequent re-financings of their home, and the births of his three children.