My father threw me out on my eighteenth birthday, stole the $3,000 I’d saved from working after school, and used it for my stepbrother. Nine days later, while I was digging through a restaurant dumpster for something to eat, a stranger in an expensive suit called my name and told me my supposedly dead grandfather had left me everything. But there was one condition nobody had warned me about.

I need you to understand that none of what happened between your grandfather and me was your fault.

I left home because I was angry and afraid. Your grandfather had discovered that Thomas had borrowed money from the orchard and had confronted him. Thomas told me he had done it to support us, but he had not told me the debt was growing.

When I learned the truth, I felt betrayed by both of them.

Your grandfather wanted me to stay. Thomas wanted me to leave with him. I chose Thomas because I believed marriage meant standing beside the person who needed me.

I was young. I thought loyalty could repair everything.

It could not.

The letter continued.

When I became ill, I wanted to tell your grandfather. I wanted you to know him. But Thomas said your grandfather would use my illness to take you away. I believed him because I was frightened.