My Stepfather Raised Five Children Who Weren’t His — After the Funeral, We Each Received a Letter Never Intended for the Others to Read

I wrapped my arms around her before she could pull away.

“I made a terrible mistake, Christie,” she sobbed into my shoulder.

The others caught up and formed a loose circle around us. Susan pulled Thomas’s letter from her pocket with trembling hands and held it toward me.

“You read it,” she whispered. “I can’t do it again.”

So I did.