By the time I was thirteen, I was an orphan. My parents passed away within months of each other—first my father, then my mother. My eldest sister was already married and living her own life, so my younger sister and I were taken in by our grandparents. They lived in a modest house on the edge of town with a vegetable garden, a few fruit trees, and a small yard where they kept chickens and a single goat. While the garden helped put food on the table, raising two young girls was a heavy burden for two people in their …

One evening, her daughter sat her down, avoided her eyes, and spoke in a low, strained voice. – Look, Mom, maybe it’s best if you don’t come by for a while. I’m really grateful for everything, but we don’t need you to visit anymore. The words hit Ellen like a physical blow. She stood frozen for a moment before she began quietly packing her bag. For months, she’d felt like she finally had a place in their lives—babysitting little Leo every week while her daughter went to her Pilates classes. Now, this. Had she done something wrong? Had she fed …

Angie set aside her mending and walked into the hallway the moment she heard the click of the front door. Her husband was late again. As he stepped inside, she pointed silently at the wall clock. Mark put on a guilty face, gave a little shrug, and kissed her on the cheek. – Still up? I’m sorry, honey. I got tied up with some things. – Mark, what kind of “things” keep you out until this hour? – Angie asked, her voice heavy with exhaustion. – Angie, you know my hours aren’t set in stone. The boss asked me to …

Faith couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that they were gone. She stood over the fresh graves, the wind biting at her cheeks as she wept. Only yesterday, it seemed, her mother had been calling her into the kitchen for coffee, fussing over her, listening to her dreams. Her father would be sitting at the head of the table, filling the house with his booming laugh and effortless jokes. Now, the silence was deafening. Her father had been killed in a logging accident up in the timber woods. Her mother, whose health had been fragile ever since the lean …

My parents didn’t last long as a couple. I was barely a year old when they called it quits. My mother didn’t stay single for long, though; she met someone else pretty quickly and remarried. To his credit, my biological father never disappeared from my life, and I’ve always been grateful for that. But first, I have to talk about my stepfather. That second marriage wasn’t exactly a fairy tale for my mom. If she ran out of money before her next paycheck, she didn’t ask her husband for help—she asked him for a loan. She’d literally borrow money to …