Time to BLOSSOM

Building bridges with her stepdaughter was a challenge Rosemary wouldn’t give up on

- Linda Lewis

Can we watch the film of the wedding?’ asked Sophie the second she stepped through the door.

‘I’m sorry, Sophie. We don’t have enough time. As soon as your dad gets back from walking Barnie, we’re going out to lunch.’

Rosemary couldn’t help noticing that, as usual, the teenager was wearing an awful lot of make-up.

It was a shame because as far as Rosemary was concerned, she didn’t need it. Sophie was so naturally pretty without all the added glitter and foundation, but Rosemary didn’t dare to say that. She was finding her role as stepmother to a 14-year-old much harder than she’d expected and her criticism would hardly help Sophie blossom into the kind, beautiful young woman that lay beneath the long silences and make-up.

‘You never let me do anything,’ complained Sophie bitterly. Then she dropped her case in the hall and marched into the living room.

Not for the first time, Rosemary counted to 10 and took a deep breath. She knew how hard it must have been when Sophie’s parents split up.

When her parents first got divorced, she’d had to spend every other weekend in her father’s tiny rented flat while her mother gadded about with her wealthy boyfriend. Now that her father had remarried, she had a room of her own, but it came with a brand new stepmother too.

Rosemary and Harry had been married a little over six months ago. She had hoped things would have started to get easier by now, but they hadn’t. If anything, Sophie seemed to be getting more awkward. All Rosemary could do was compromise. Again.