“Keep away, you don’t belong here,” the girl muttered, turning her back.
“Eleanor, have you chosen your dress for the graduation ball yet?” asked Emily, spreading out catalogues from bridal shops across the table. “Perhaps we could go together and look?”
The fifteen-year-old stepdaughter lifted her eyes from her phone and cast a cold glance at her.
“Why should you care? I have a mother who will take me.”
“Of course, I only thought” Emily caught herself, treading once more on tender ground. “Perhaps the three of us could go? It might be more fun.”
“No need. Mum can manage on her own.”
Emily sighed and set the catalogues aside. Outside, a drizzle painted the world in melancholy. She glanced at the clocksoon, William would return from work, and the endless balancing act between wife and daughter would begin anew.
“Ellie, what would you like for supper? Should I make your favourite beef Wellington?”
“I dont care. I’m going to Mumsshe made stew.”
The girl stood, snatched her coat from the rack.
“Eleanor, wait,” Emily stepped toward her. “Let’s talk properly. Why do you dislike me so? What have I done wrong?”
Eleanor paused at the door and slowly turned. Her eyes burned with a fury too old for her years.
“Do you really not understand? Or are you pretending?”
“I dont. Truly.”
“You tore our family apart!” the girl burst out. “Because of you, Dad left Mum! And now you act like youre kind, like you care!”
The breath left Emilys lungs. She sank into a chair, unable to stand.
“Eleanor, that isnt true. When I met your father, he was already living apart from your mother. They divorced long before”
“Liar!” the girl shouted. “Mum told me everything! How you stole him, how you schemed!”
“What schemes? Eleanor, I worked at the same firm as your fatherwe simply spoke”
“Keep away. You dont belong here,” the girl repeated, turning back to the door.
The words struck harder than a slap. *A stranger.* After three years of marriage to William, after every effort to mend things with his daughtershe remained an outsider.
The door slammed. Emily sat alone in the empty flat. Tears she could no longer hold back streamed down her cheeks.
When William returned from work, he noticed his wifes reddened eyes at once.
“Whats happened?” He sat beside her on the sofa, an arm around her shoulders.
“Eleanor again,” Emily wiped her nose with a handkerchief. “Will, she *hates* me. Truly hates me.”
“What did she say this time?”
“That I ruined your family. That I stole you from her mother. Called me a stranger.”
William exhaled heavily, rubbing his brow.
“Em, love, how many times must we go over this? Shes still a childshe doesnt understand”
“A *child?* Will, shes fifteen! At her age, I was working after school to help my mother. Your daughter behaves like a spoiled princess!”
“Dont speak of her like that,” Williams voice hardened. “The divorce hurt herits a wound for any child.”
“The divorce was four years ago! *Four*, William! When does it end?”
“Emily, pleasejust be patient a little longer. Shell come round, see youre not the enemy.”
Emily rose, pacing the room.
“Patient, patientand how much longer must I endure it? Im human too! I have feelings! I tryGod knows I tryto love her, and she”
“And she what?”
“She *loathes* me! And you refuse to see it!”
William stood, moving toward her.
“Em, I know its hard. But Eleanor is my daughter. I cant abandon her.”
“But you can abandon *me?*” she asked softly.
“Whats that supposed to mean? Youre an adultyou understand.”
“Do I? So I must endure rudeness and scorn because Im grown?”
“Emily, dont exaggerate. She isnt rudeshes just”
“Not rude?” Emily laughed bitterly. “Will, did you hear what she said? *You dont belong here.* Is that not cruel?”
“She was upset”
“And Im not? It doesnt hurt *me?*”
They stood facing one another, and Emily realised thenher husband would never take her side. His daughter would always come first.
“You know what?” She walked to the bedroom, pulling a bag from the wardrobe. “While you sort out your priorities, Ill stay with my sister.”
“Em, dont be absurd! Where are you going?”
“To Charlottes. I need to think.”
“Over one quarrel, youd throw away our marriage?”
Emily paused in the doorway.
“Will, this isnt *one quarrel.* Its *every day.* Every single day, I feel unwelcome in my own home. And you do nothing to change it.”
“What would you have me do? Punish my daughter for loving her mother?”
“You could remind her you have a *wife.* That you chose me. That she must respect that.”
“Em”
“No, Will. Im tired of apologising for loving you. For marrying you.”
She packed what she needed and headed for the door. William followed.
“Stay. Well talkfind a way.”
“Talk?” She turned. “Will, weve talked for three years. Has anything changed? Eleanor despises me as much as ever. And you defend her as you always have.”
“Im not defendingIm trying to understand”
“Understand *what?* That your daughter may insult your wife? That she may behave as she pleases while I stay silent?”
She pulled on her coat, took her keys.
“I cant live like this anymore, Will. I wont beg for a place in my own home.”
“And what of our plans? The child we wanted?”
Her hand froze on the doorknob.
“What child, Will? In a house where your daughter hates me? Where Im a *stranger?* Can you imagine how shed treat our baby?”
“Shed adjust, in time”
“Adjust to *what?* That Im staying? She doesnt *want* that! She dreams of you returning to her mother!”
William bowed his head.
“Em, I dont know what to do. I love you both.”
“You cant love us the same. One is your daughterthe other, your wife. Its a different love. And if you dont see that, we have no future.”
She opened the door, but William caught her wrist.
“Wait. Lets speak to Eleanor together. Explain”
“Explain *what?* That she must love me? Love isnt reasoned into being, Will. Its earned. And how can I earn the love of someone who blames me for every sorrow?”
“Emily, please”
“I need time, Will. To decide if I can live this way.”
She left him standing in the doorway. Outside, the drizzle clung to her coat as she walked to the bus stop.
On the ride to her sisters, she watched the grey streets of London pass, thinking how everything had changed. When shed first met William, he had seemed perfectclever, kind, a devoted father. She had been ready to welcome his daughter as her own.
But Eleanor had made it clear from the startshe would never accept a stepmother. Coldness turned to distance, then to open hostility. And the worst of it? William never saw. Or chose not to.
The bus halted near Charlottes. Emily climbed the stairs to the third floor and rang the bell.
“Em?” Charlotte blinked in surprise. “Whats wrong? Youre soaked.”
“Char, might I stay the night? Perhaps longer.”
“Of coursecome in. Has something happened with Will?”
Emily stepped inside, shedding her coat, sinking onto the sofa.
“Worse. Ive realised my marriage was a mistake.”
“Dont be absurd. You love each other.”
“We do. But its not enough when theres a third who resents me.”
“Eleanor again?”
“Always. Char, I cant bear it. Today she called me a stranger. And the terrible part? Shes right. I *dont* belong in that house.”
Charlotte sat beside her, an arm around her shoulders.
“Have you spoken to her mother? Perhaps she might reason with her?”
“You jest? Her mothers the one poisoning her against me! Telling her Im the thief who stole her father.”
“And the truth?”
Emily rose, moving to the window.
“William was honest when we metsaid hed been separated for half a year, that the divorce was settled. I believed him. Then I learned his wife had hoped for reconciliation.”
“But he didnt return?”
“No. He divorced hermarried me. But Eleanor believes if not for me, her parents would be together.”
“And might they have?”
Emily whirled on her sister.
“You think this is *my* fault too?”
“Of course not. But a child sees divorce as catastropheespecially when a stepmother appears.”
“I *tried!* For three years, Ive bought her gifts, cooked her favourite meals, helped with her studiesand in return? Only scorn!”
“Perhaps she needed more time?”
“How much more? Three years? Five? Ten? Char, I want a familychildren of my own. But how can I bring a child into a house where Im despised?”
Charlotte sighed.
“What does Will say?”
“Begs for patience. Says shell come round. But she only grows colder.”
“Have you spoken to her alone? Without Will?”
“Ive tried. Its uselessshe wont even listen.”
Then Emilys phone rang. *William.*
“Dont answer,” Charlotte urged. “Take time to think.”
But Emily already had.
“Hello?”
“Em, where are you? Im worried.”
“With Char. I need time, Will.”
“How much?”
“I dont know. A day, a week. I must decide if I can live this way.”
“What do I tell Eleanor?”
“The truth. That your wife wont be disrespected.”
“Em”
“Dont plead with me now. I need to think.”
“I love you.”
“I know. And I love you. But love isnt enough without peace.”
She ended the call, meeting her sisters gaze.
“Do you know what hurts most? I truly wanted to be a mother to her. Not to replace hersjust to care for her. But she never let me.”
“Perhaps shes afraid?”
“Afraid of what?”
“That loving you would betray her mother. Children think that way sometimes.”
Emily considered it. Was Eleanors hostility a shield?
“But what can I do if she wont even speak to me?”
“I dont know, Em. Its a hard thing.”
They talked late into the night, Charlotte speaking of friends whod faced similar trials in blended families.
“My friend Margaret married a man with two children,” she said. “The first years were misery. The children rejected her, her husband torn between them. But it mended in time.”
“What changed?”
“She had a child of her own. Then the older ones saw she was staying. They stopped hoping their parents would reunite.”
“And if that doesnt work?”
“Then you chooseaccept things as they are, or walk away.”
Emily slept on Charlottes sofa, though sleep came fitfully. Memories spun through her mindmeeting William, falling in love, dreaming of a happy home.
Now that home was fracturing, all because of one unyielding heart.
Morning brought a call from an unknown number.
“Emily? Its Eleanors mother. Might we meet?”
