Chapter 2: The Nobody At The Table
Dinner was served because Diana believed appearances mattered more than the dead.
The long table glittered with candles, crystal, and plates Emma had once washed by hand.
Thomas’s chair at the head remained empty, though Diana sat close enough to claim its shadow.
Emma sat near the end, with the watch hidden in her palm beneath the napkin.
Chloe poured wine for herself and ignored Emma’s glass.
No one mentioned the will at first.
They spoke about flowers, funeral guests, and how brave Diana had been all week.
Diana accepted every kind word with a lowered face and dry eyes.
Then she looked at Emma, and the room shifted again.
“You should begin thinking about practical arrangements,” Diana said.
Emma looked up. “What arrangements?”
“Your room.”
“My room?”
Chloe smiled into her glass. “Mum means you cannot stay here forever.”
Emma looked down the table.
Several relatives suddenly became fascinated by their food.
Diana folded her hands. “This house has to move forward.”
“You are twenty-six, Emma.”
“It is time you stopped living like a dependent child.”
Emma felt the watch press into her skin.
“I buried my father this morning,” she said.
Diana tilted her head. “And I buried my husband.”
The sentence sounded like a door closing.
Chloe stood and walked to the hallway with bright little steps.
A moment later, wheels bumped against the floor.
Emma turned and saw her suitcase rolling toward the dining room.
Chloe had packed it badly.
One sleeve hung out.
A book slipped from the side pocket and fell open on the rug.
Chloe pushed the suitcase until it stopped beside Emma’s chair.
“I put in what looked useful,” she said.
Emma stared at the suitcase.
That was when the room finally became honest.
The flowers, candles, and soft voices had only been decoration.
Diana had waited until Thomas was buried before removing the daughter he failed to protect.
“You packed my things?” Emma asked.
Chloe shrugged. “Someone had to.”
Diana’s voice lowered, smooth and sharp.
“Do not make this ugly.”
Emma looked at her. “You made it ugly before dessert.”
Chloe’s smile disappeared.
Diana stood slowly, letting every eye come back to her.
“Your father knew you were nobody without this family.”
The words landed in front of every relative.
Nobody.
Emma had been called quiet, difficult, plain, ungrateful, and sensitive.
But nobody was new.
Or maybe it was only the first time Diana had said it aloud.
Emma stood and picked up the fallen book.
Then she took two old photographs from the hall table.
One of Thomas holding her as a child.
One of her mother beside the front steps.
Diana said, “Leave the frames.”
Emma did not answer.
Her phone vibrated inside her coat.
A message from an unknown number lit the screen.
Do not sign anything. I will come tomorrow. —Samuel Reed.
Emma looked at the watch in her hand.
Then she picked up her suitcase and walked upstairs to wait.