I felt like there was no way out of the situation I found myself in.\n\n\n\n
My stepmom would always praise her daughters for their straight A\u2019s, while my report cards would sit forgotten on the kitchen counter, collecting dust and ignorance.\n\n\n\n Doing my best to fit in, I would sometimes offer help with Amanda\u2019s and Becca\u2019s homework, but they would always refuse it, crushing every attempt I made to make any sort of connection.\n\n\n\n Whenever Linda and dad planned a holiday, it was her daughters who would pick the destination. I remember asking my stepmother once why everything revolved around my step-sisters, but she just glanced at me coldly and said, \u201cCarol, please stop acting like a victim.\u201d Her words haunted me long, but when I finally turned 18 and enrolled college, I left my old life behind.\n\n\n\n Eventually, I got married to my boyfriend Darren, and we welcomed a son. During the entire time, I had not once contacted my stepmother or her daughters, and they hadn\u2019t tried to get in touch with me either.\n\n\n\n Years passed by, and one day, I received a call from someone who introduced themselves as Linda\u2019s lawyer. Honestly, I didn\u2019t feel anything at that moment, I just wondered why I was the one to be receiving that call.\n\n\n\n \u201cShe left you the mansion that she inherited from your late father,\u201d the lawyer said.\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat!?\u201d I asked in disbelief. \u201cAre you sure? Maybe you got everything wrong,\u201d I said. \u201cNo, Mrs. Carol, the $2.5 million mansion now belongs to you.\u201d\n\n\n\n I needed time to process the lawyer\u2019s words. Why would Linda leave me that mansion?\n\n\n\n The moment I ended the conversation, I received a bunch of messages from Amanda and Becca. They accused me of stealing, demanding I give the mansion to them. They even took to their social media, writing about family members backstabbing them, but I didn\u2019t care. I was just intrigued by my stepmother\u2019s decision. I couldn\u2019t help but wonder what made her do such a thing.\n\n\n\n Eventually, I decided to seek answers so I went to the mansion, my father\u2019s favorite place.\n\n\n\n Once inside, I recalled all the beautiful moments shared with my father and my mother there. As I walked through the hallway, I noticed an envelope on the table of my dad\u2019s home office. It was as though the door to the room was left open intentionally.\n\n\n\n The letter was addressed to me. It was sealed with a precision that was typical of Linda.\n\n\n\n As I tried to open it, my hands trembled.\n\n\n\n Linda said that leaving me my father\u2019s mansion was an attempt to get rid of the weight of her mistakes for years. She wrote that in the attempt to protect her daughters, she became blind of the harm she caused me. Over the years, she realized her daughters turned into entitles women who only cared about money and status, and I on the other hand never asked anything from her or my father.\n\n\n\n Linda regretted treating me as though I didn\u2019t exist. She was mad at herself for failing me, repeatedly and profoundly.\n\n\n\n Leaving me the mansion was her way of saying sorry.\n\n\n\n Honestly, at that moment, I didn\u2019t know what to feel. I read that letter many times, letting those words sink in. Linda knew she made me wrong, but she didn\u2019t have the courage to apologize while she was still alive, and this was her way of seeking redemption.\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t know if I could forgive my stepmother. But I didn\u2019t feel guilty for having the mansion while my stepsisters only received $5,000 each. I wasn\u2019t the thief they blamed me to be. I only got what was mine all along.\n\n\n\n Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook. Love and Peace\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When my father married my stepmother Linda following my mom\u2019s passing, I hoped for the best. She had two daughters, Amanda and Becca, and the […]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7234,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233\/revisions\/7234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runeecho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n\n\n\nI was surprised. The person from the other side on the phone said, \u201cLinda, your stepmother, passed away.\u201d\n\n\n\n
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The words I went though changed everything.\n\n\n\n
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