I expected my father’s funeral to be a day of quiet mourning, a time to honor the man who had held our family together.

What I didn’t expect was my stepmom turning it into her personal drama — until a letter from my dad revealed secrets that left her and her kids humiliated in front of everyone.

The day of my dad’s funeral was already one of the hardest days of my life. I’d barely managed to keep myself from breaking down that morning, knowing I was about to say goodbye to the man who had held our family together.

He’d been sick for a long time, and while we all saw this day coming, nothing prepared me for the suffocating weight of it when it finally arrived. And then they showed up.

Vivian, my stepmom, waltzed in like she was on a runway, her four adult kids trailing behind her, all dressed in white. Stark, glaring white — like they’d gotten lost on the way to a fancy yacht party.