Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Town 17
Paul seemed to be mumbling to himself. From where he stood, Owen could only see his lips moving-he couldn’t hear a word.
Then Paul raised his hand and dragged his knuckle across Elsie’s photo.
Owen sighed. “I guess losing Elsie really hit Paul hard. He did care for her.”
Lily wiped her tears again, then glanced toward the car where Peggy was waiting. Without her daughter around, how was she supposed to hold her place in this house?
Paul turned away from Elsie’s portrait. Not a single tear had fallen from his eyes.
Lily approached him with a heavy heart. “Paul, for the sake of what you had with Elsie, our families should stay in touch. You should come by the Saunders residence more often-it’s full of memories of you and her.”
Paul gave a lazy nod, clearly not interested.
Once Paul’s luxury car pulled away, Owen opened the door and weakly asked Peggy to switch seats with him.
He wasn’t in the mood to drive.
Peggy got behind the wheel and glanced at Owen cradling the urn.
“Owen, the bridal boutique called a couple days ago to schedule a fitting… And the venue reached out too. I told them the wedding is still on…”
Owen’s expression darkened. “Elsie just passed away, and you’re still thinking about a wedding? Cancel it. No celebrations for the Saunders family for the next three years.”
As soon as he said it, the car jerked forward. Owen hadn’t buckled up-he nearly dropped the urn.
Peggy had slammed the brakes.
After the shock passed, Owen yelled, “Can’t you drive properly?”
He frantically checked the urn, terrified it had been damaged.
Peggy glanced at him coldly, arms crossed. “We’re getting married whether you like it or not. I’m not waiting three years.”
“You live in my house. What difference does it make?” Owen snapped. “If someone in your family had just died, would you be throwing a party right after?”
Peggy huffed, “I’ll give you one month. That’s it.”
“Elsie wasn’t a celebrity. No one will remember when she died. My wedding is what matters!”
Owen didn’t bother arguing anymore. He’d drag it out however long he could.
Once they were home, Peggy called Yunice.
“Can you talk to the venue manager? See if they can push my banquet back one month?”
On the other end of the call, Yunice sounded conflicted. “Peggy, you know how hard it is to book Ocea Silverburgh. I only got you that spot by pulling a lot of strings. If you change the date now, everyone’s schedule shifts – and you’ll get blacklisted by the manager.”
Peggy complained, “Elsie just died! Owen refuses to let the wedding happen…”
Yunice said flatly, “Then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll book you for a few years later.”
“What?” Peggy nearly shrieked. “I can’t wait that long!”
Yunice chuckled. “Ocean Silverburgh is a business. Even if it’s family-run, we serve paying clients. I can’t just kick someone out to make room for you.”
“Three years is out of the question!” Peggy barked.
Yunice said smoothly, “Then maybe think it over.”
Peggy hung up and looked upstairs. Owen’s bedroom door was locked. He always kept her out, guarding his room like a vault. Her eyes drifted to the room next door – Elsie’s.
“What’s the point of keeping a dead girl’s room? Might as well give it to someone who needs it.”
She stepped into Elsie’s room and spotted the urn sitting on the lavender bedspread. Her face twisted. “Freak. Is he turning the house into a mausoleum?”
She picked up the urn. “What a waste. Even your dad didn’t get this treatment.” She scanned the room and spotted a jar of collagen powder. Then she looked back at the urn.
Meanwhile, Owen had been scrolling through hateful comments online, growing more and more furious. After a while, he noticed something strange – the house was too quiet. Normally, if he locked her out, Peggy would be banging on the door nonstop. Then he remembered the urn next door. He bolted out of his room and flung open the door – to find Peggy in Elsie’s room.
He stormed in and yanked her around. “Who said you could be in here?!” But then he paused.
Peggy was holding a trowel, digging in the potted plant’s soil. There were pale grey flecks mixed in – some kind of fertilizer.
He quickly looked at the urn. It was still on the bed, untouched. His temper cooled a bit. “From now on, stay out of this room.”
Peggy tossed the trowel aside and snapped. “Why? I’m the woman of this house! Half of this property is mine!”
She added, “What, you want to turn this room into a shrine? Keep her ashes in here forever? Well, I won’t allow it. You put that urn here, I’ll toss it out myself.”
Owen seethed. “You-“
Peggy cut him off. “I’ve been way too patient with you! I want this wedding in three days. Not a day later. Or I’ll ruin you. I’ll drag your whole family into the tabloids!”
He raised his hand.
Peggy smirked, lifting her phone – already dialing the press. Her eyes dared him to strike.
Owen’s hand dropped. His face darkened.
Peggy smiled, victorious. “You don’t want me in your room? Fine. This one’s mine now.”
She added, “There’s a place for the living and a place for the dead. If you don’t put her ashes where they belong, I will.”
She walked past him, whistling, and started banging on Lily’s door, ordering her to make dinner. Owen shut his eyes, suffocating under the pressure.
That night, Yunice and Elianna showed up at the Saunders residence. Wyatt had been swamped lately, always coming home in the dead of night. Elianna, bored out of her mind, begged to tag along when she heard Yunice was going out.
She didn’t know the family well. When they arrived, Owen slammed his fork down and stood up. “What are you doing here? You’re not welcome in this house!”
Meanwhile, Peggy was all smiles, rushing over to pull out a chair for Yunice and eyeing Elianna with curiosity and calculation.
Elianna glanced at the table. Only Peggy had meat and vegetables in her bowl. Everyone else had a mess of rice and broth – barely more than scraps. She wrinkled her nose. What kind of house was this? Even dinner felt nasty and mean.
What Lily didn’t know was that life in the Saunders household was just as miserable for her and Owen. Peggy was lazy and definitely unwilling to cook or care for the whole family. She didn’t want to hire anyone either-afraid their family’s dirty laundry would be aired out, and even more unwilling to spend the money. So she made use of what she had and put Lily to work around the house. But she was also afraid Lily would poison her like Elsie supposedly did. That’s why, every time they ate, Peggy would scoop her food into Lily and Owen’s bowls, pouring the sauce from every dish into their portions and mixing it all up. If there was poison, at least they’d all go down together.
Lily found it disgusting. Whenever she refused to eat, Peggy would force-feed her with a spoon. Owen and Lily were both miserable, but they had no way to fight back. Seeing the two of them suffering actually made Yunice feel pretty pleased.
She said leisurely, “Before Elsie passed, what did she say to you?”
Lily’s eyes were cold as she shot Yunice a sidelong glance. “She’s already gone, and you still won’t let it go.”
Yunice replied, “Elsie may be dead, but my brother is still alive.” She hadn’t come for Lily or Owen-she came for Oscar. Her eyes swept over the attic of the Saunders home, and she said softly, “This place is barely recognizable anymore. It doesn’t even look a bit like it used to. When I walked in just now, I couldn’t even tell what happened to the swing in the yard. And you, Lily-you must’ve forgotten, haven’t you? Over twenty years ago, you were sitting on that swing, and my brother was behind you, pushing.”
A faint shadow of time passed over Lily and Owen’s faces. It was true-if she hadn’t been reminded, who would’ve remembered something from over twenty years ago? It felt so far away that Lily had nearly forgotten it herself. Her heart, hardened for two decades, suddenly softened with a pang of sourness at the memory of those warm days in the Saunders home. Compared to then… life now was unbearably hard.
Yunice seemed to read her mind and sneered. “Is it harder than back in the mountains?”
Lily was startled and looked at Yunice with a complicated expression.
Yunice scoffed. “Some people reflect on the past with gratitude. Others don’t know how good they had it. The difference between people really is something.” If Lily had returned to the Saunders family and managed things fairly-guided the kids to get along properly-things wouldn’t have turned out like this.