After My Father Passed When I Was 6, My Stepmom Raised Me — Years Later, I Discovered a Letter He Had Written

I was 20 years old when I found out my stepmother had been lying to me about my father’s death. For fourteen years, the story had never changed.

“It was a car accident,” Meredith would say gently whenever I asked. “It was raining. The roads were slick. It was random. Nothing anyone could have done.”

I believed her. For most of …