The And the My stepmother Maggie had always been kind of distant. From the moment she married my father I knew that there was

something kind of off about her. She was cold and calculating, always keeping her

distance from me and my siblings. I never understood why my father had married her but I tried to make the best of the situation.

As the years went on, my relationship with Maggie kind of deteriorated.

She became increasingly hostile towards me, blaming me for things that I had no control over,

and she would often say hurtful things to me, like how I had taken her son away from her and

how I wasn't good enough for my father.

Whenever I would bring this up to my dad he would tell me that I was the one being crazy.

To this day I still have no idea what she meant when she would yell at me for quote-unquote taking her son from her.

And despite her behavior I tried to be civil with her.

I didn't want to cause any trouble and I knew that my father loved her for some reason. Part of me thinks that she may have been

jealous since we all love my mom's new husband but didn't share the same love for Maggie.

As the years continued, our relationship was rocky at best. I went away to college after high school and then after I graduated I moved into my own place right away.

I didn't see my dad a lot which really sucked. I loved him and I knew he loved me, but Maggie

was enough of a deterrent that it just didn't happen a lot. I lived about 40 minutes away

from them, so it wasn't around the the corner but I would have made the trip at any time if my dad called.

A few years after graduation I ended my long-term relationship and lived alone for the first time in my entire life. I don't like

being alone in general, but it's especially hard after a breakup. Right around this time my

father and Maggie split up, which was just about the only good news in my life at this point.

I talked to my dad and we decided that when he came back from his business trip I would move back in with him.

I was so excited to be a part of my father's life again since we were basically

strangers at this time of my life. I asked about Maggie and he didn't really go into

...