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

That happened two years earlier, exactly one week after Susan’s eighteenth birthday dinner.

“I did what I had to do, guys.”

At the time, I asked Thomas, “What do you mean she’s gone?”

He handed me the note and stared out at the yard.

“I mean, she’s gone.”

“Why?”

“Not mine to tell, Christie.”

Later, when Susan finally answered one of my calls, I yelled first and listened second. I told her she had destroyed our father.

Susan only replied, “You don’t know Thomas the way I do.”