My stepdad raised me as his own after my mom passed away when I was 4 — at his funeral, an older man came up to me and said, "Check the bottom drawer in your stepfather's garage if you want the truth about what really happened to your mom."

My stepdad raised me as his own after my mom passed away when I was 4 — at his funeral, an older man came up to me and said, "Check the bottom drawer in your stepfather's garage if you want the truth about what really happened to your mom."
My biological father left before I was even born. He walked away while my mom was still pregnant and never looked back.
Michael came into our lives when I was two. He married my mom quietly, without making a big deal out of it. I don't remember a time before him. As far back as my memory goes, he was just… there.
Then my mom passed away when I was four.
That's the sentence I've lived with my whole life.
Michael always said it was a car accident. A rainy night. A truck that ran a red light. Quick. Nothing she could've done.