"Perhaps she is," Gen agreed with a laugh of her own. "And..lofty, yes, but...well, you are the pretty one, Penny. Men flock to you, and they enjoy your company. There's no reason that you couldn't have your pick of any gentleman who offered himself to you." There was no malice or jealousy in her town, just simple statement of fact.
She bit her lower lip at the slight change in Penny's expression, and the question that followed. "Sometimes, but...I don't know. Perhaps it is cynical of me, but..she wouldn't be our mother if she was any different from she is now. I mean- I suppose I just have a difficult time imagining her any differently. I wish she did, yes, but...How different would it be? How different would we be?"