“Mind your own businessyou’re nothing to me,” the girl muttered, turning away.
“Emma, have you picked a dress for the prom yet?” asked Alice, spreading out bridal catalogues on the table. “Maybe we could go shopping together? Have a look around?”
Fifteen-year-old Emma glanced up from her phone and fixed her stepmother with an icy stare.
“Why do you care? Ive got my mum to take me.”
“Of course, I just thought” Alice bit her tongue, realisingyet againshe was treading on thin ice. “Maybe all three of us could go? Make it fun?”
“No thanks. Mums got it covered.”
Alice sighed and pushed the catalogues aside. Outside, rain drizzled, matching the dreary mood. She checked the clocksoon, Michael would be home from work, and the endless tightrope walk between husband and stepdaughter would begin again.
“Emma, what do you want for dinner? Maybe your favouriteshepherds pie?”
“Doesnt matter. Im going to Mumsshes making roast.”
The girl stood, grabbed her coat.
“Emma, wait” Alice reached for her. “Lets talk properly. Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?”
Emma paused at the door and slowly turned. Her eyes burned with something far too old for her years.
“You really dont get it? Or are you just pretending?”
“I dont. Honestly.”
“You ruined my family!” the girl blurted. “Dad left Mum because of you! And now youre acting all sweet and caring?”
Alices breath caught. She sank onto a chair, legs suddenly weak.
“Emma, thats not true. When I met your dad, he was already living apart from your mum. They divorced *years* before”
“Liar!” Emma snapped. “Mum told me everything! How you stole him, how you schemed!”
“*Schemed?* Emma, I worked at the same office as your dadwe just talked”
“Stay out of ityoure nothing to me!” The girl turned sharply and left.
Those words stung worse than a slap. *Nothing.* Three years married to Michael, three years tryingand she was still an outsider.
The door slammed. Alone in the empty flat, Alice finally let the tears fall.
When Michael came home, he took one look at her red-rimmed eyes.
“What happened?” He sat beside her, arm around her shoulders.
“Emma again” Alice wiped her nose. “Mike, she *hates* me. Properly hates me.”
“What did she say this time?”
“That I ruined your family. That I stole you from her mum. Called me an *outsider*.”
Michael rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“Alice, love weve been over this. Shes *fifteen*she doesnt understand”
“Fifteen? Mike, at her age I was working part-time after school to help my mum! Your daughter acts like a spoiled princess!”
“Dont talk about her like that,” he said sharply. “Divorce is hard on kids.”
“That was *four years ago*, Michael! *Four!* When does it stop?”
“Just give it time. Shell come roundrealise youre not the enemy.”
Alice stood, pacing.
“Time? *How much time?* Im only humanIve got feelings too! Ive tried so hard to love her, and she”
“And she what?”
“She *despises* me! And you dont see itor wont!”
Michael moved closer.
“Alice, I know its hard. But Emmas my *daughter*. I cant just”
“But you *can* with me?” she whispered.
“Thats not fair. Youre an adultyou *understand*.”
“So I just take the insults because Im grown up?”
“Dont twist it. Emmas not *mean*, shes just”
“Not mean?” Alice laughed bitterly. “Did you *hear* her? Youre nothing to me!thats not mean?”
“She was upset”
“*And Im not?!*”
They faced each other, and suddenly, Alice knewhed never pick her side. His daughter would always come first.
“Right.” She marched to the bedroom, yanked a bag from the wardrobe. “While you sort out your priorities, Ill stay at Lauras.”
“Alice, dont be daft! Where are you going?”
“To think. Decide if I can live like this.”
“Over *one* row?”
She stopped in the doorway.
“Not *one* row, Mike. *Every day.* Every single day, I feel unwelcome in my own *home*. And you do *nothing*.”
“What am I meant to do? Punish her for loving her mum?”
“Make her understand *Im your wife.* That you *chose* me. That *she* has to respect that.”
“Alice”
“No. Im done apologising for loving you. For *marrying* you.”
She stuffed in essentials and headed out. Michael followed.
“Stay. Well talkfigure it out.”
“*Talk?* Weve been talking for *three years*, Mike. Whats changed? Emma still hates me. You still defend her.”
“Im not *defending*”
“Then *what*? She gets to treat me like dirt, and Im meant to take it?”
Alice shoved on her coat, grabbed her keys.
“I cant live like thisbegging for a place in my own home.”
“What about *our* plans? The baby we wanted?”
Her hand froze on the door handle.
“A *baby*? In a house where your daughter *hates* me? Where Im *nothing*? How dyou think shed treat our child?”
“Shed come round”
“To *what*? That Im staying? She *doesnt want* that, Mike! She wants you *back with her mum*!”
Michaels shoulders slumped.
“I dont know what to do. I love you *both*.”
“You cant love a daughter and wife the *same way*. If you dont see the difference weve got no future.”
She opened the doorbut he caught her wrist.
“Wait. Lets talk to Emma *together*”
“Talk *how*? You *must* love Alice? Love isnt *ordered*, Mike. Its *earned*. And how can I earn it from someone who blames me for *everything*?”
“Alice, *please*”
“I need time. To decide if I can live like this.”
She stepped into the rain, leaving him in the doorway. On the bus, watching Londons grey streets blur past, Alice thought of how wrong itd all gone. When shed met Michaelkind, clever, a devoted dadshed dreamed of a happy family.
But Emma had made it clear from day one: no stepmother would *ever* be welcome. The coldness, the bitterness, then open hostility. And the worst part? Michael *let it happen*.
At her sisters flat, Laura opened the door, frowning.
“Alice? Youre soakedwhats wrong?”
“Can I stay? Maybe a while.”
“Of course. Was it Mike?”
Alice slumped onto the sofa.
“Worse. Our marriage *is* the mistake.”
“Dont be daft! You *love* each other.”
“Loves not enough when theres a third wheel.”
“*Emma* again?”
“Always. Laura, I *cant* anymore. Today she saidyoure nothing to me. And the worst part? Shes *right*.”
Laura hugged her.
“Have you tried talking to her *mum*? Maybe shed help?”
“You *joking*? Her mums the one poisoning her against me! Telling her I stole Mike!”
“And did you?”
Alice whipped round.
“You think this is *my fault*?”
“No! But kids see divorce as *their* faultespecially with a stepmum in the picture.”
“I *tried*! Three years of gifts, her favourite meals, helping with homeworkand all I get is *spite*!”
“Maybe she needs *more* time?”
“*How much?* Five years? Ten? Laura, I want a *family*but how can I raise kids where Im *hated*?”
Laura sighed.
“What does Mike say?”
“Be patient. Shell adjust. But shes only getting *worse*.”
“Have you talked to her *alone*? Without Mike?”
“Pointless. She wont even *listen*.”
Thenher phone rang. *Michael*.
“Dont answer,” Laura said. “Think first.”
But Alice already had.
“Mike?”
“Where *are* you? Im worried.”
“Lauras. I need space.”
“How long?”
“Dunno. A day? A week? I need to decide if I can live like this.”
“What do I tell Emma?”
“The *truth*. That your wife wont be disrespected.”
“Alice”
“Not now, Mike. I need to think.”
“I love you.”
“I know. And I love *you*. But loves not enough without peace.”
She hung up. Laura squeezed her hand.
“You *wanted* to be her mum, didnt you?”
“Not *instead* of her mumjust *there*. But she never let me.”
“Maybe shes *scared*?”
“Of what?”
“That loving you betrays her mum. Kids think like that.”
Alice paused. Was that it? Was Emmas hate just fear?
“But how do I fix it if she wont even *talk* to me?”
“Dunno, love. Its messy.”
They talked late into the nightabout stepfamilies, about Lauras friend whose stepkids thawed only *after* she had her own baby.
“Either you accept it or walk away,” Laura said finally.
Alice barely slept. Memories swirledmeeting Michael, falling in love, dreaming of a happy home. Now? That dream was crumbling because of one girls unforgiving heart.
At dawn, her phone rang. Unknown number.
“Alice? Its SarahEmmas mum. We need to talk. Alice hesitated, then answered. Sarahs voice was quiet, weary. “I heard about last night. Emma called me, hysterical. She thinks shes lost her dad forever because of how she treated you.” A pause. “Ive been angry for so long and I let that poison her. I thought I was protecting her. But I wasnt. I was just making it worse.”
Alice sat very still, the phone trembling in her hand.
“I told her the truth,” Sarah continued. “About the divorce. About how you didnt steal anything. How Michael and I were done long before he met you. Shes sobbing her heart out, refusing to speak to me. But I think I *know* she needs to talk to *you*.”
Tears welled in Alices eyes.
“I dont know if I can,” she whispered.
“Maybe not today. But please dont give up on her. On *them*. Because she loves youshe just doesnt know how to say it without feeling like shes losing her mum all over again.”
Alice looked out the window. Dawn broke, pale and fragile, over the city.
“Ill think about it,” she said softly.
And for the first time in years, that felt like a beginning.
