Sunflower, with her frying pan raised above her head, stared at the man standing in front of her. When she'd said she didn't know Rapunzel, he looked so sad she didn't know what to do. She lowered her frying pan, and wondered how this man knew her mother.
She couldn't just let him stand there with that heartbreaking look on his face. So she asked, "Who are you, anyway?"
The man looked up at her. "The name's F-" He stopped talking, and Sunflower wondered why. Then he said, "Eugene. Eugene Fitzherbert."
"Who is Rapunzel?" asked Sunflower.
Eugene said, "She is my wife."
Sunflower nearly dropped her frying pan. She tried to hide her shock. Eugene couldn't know that she'd even heard the name Rapunzel before.
He went on, "She went missing about eighteen years ago. I've been trying to find her ever since, but I have no idea what happened to her."
Sunflower nodded, her mind in shock from what she had just learned. But she shook her head. Mother had told her that sometimes people don't tell the truth. Maybe this Eugene was lying. But she had to admit, it was a good reason for her mother's behavior, better than any reason that she had ever thought up. But why would her mother run away from this man? He seemed like a nice person.
Eugene broke her out of her thoughts. "Why.. Why did you shake your head?" he asked.
Sunflower said quickly, "I've never heard of her, that's all."
But then a thought ran through her, one that made her nearly gasp in shock. If what he was saying was true, then that meant...
She looked at him. He had brown eyes, just like her. But maybe brown eyes were common. But with the story that he told...
"I hope you find her," said Sunflower. "If you do..." She mustered up the strength to ask him what she wanted to ask. "If you do, come back here and tell me."