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In some respects it worked out exactly as I planned. In others, I had no idea what I was about to unleash. Outward appearances would not have given a clue. Our family unit was not organized like that of Ward and June Cleaver but individually we could have been plugged into that scene and looked like we came out of central casting.
In a crowd I wouldn't have drawn a second look. I was of average height, average build and ran around in jeans and a t-shirt. I was in decent shape since I played baseball year round but nobody would ever mistake me for a steroid using pro. My step-sister was just over five feet tall and slight of build. She favored simple clothing as well. As such, she flew under the radar. If asked, folks would say she was attractive but it wasn't something that jumped out at you.
My step-mom was not quite forty and worked as a cashier in the local grocery store. Dad had been in the military but had been killed two years earlier in a training accident. I guess outwardly we reflected his disciplined and sober approach to life. We may have even clung to it more than usual because of the choices my birth mom had made. She'd had an affair while my dad was serving overseas and they wound up divorcing. I was only ten at the time and was pretty oblivious to what was going on.
It was just Dad and I for a couple years but he soon met and married my step-mom, Lisa. As I look back on it I realize it was probably more to give me a mom than him a wife. Lisa had moved into the area just a year earlier. She had taken a job doing office work for a college friend in her small law firm. Sadly her friend was killed in a car accident soon after Lisa started working there and the law firm closed shop. Lisa took a job at the local grocery store just to have some money coming in while she looked for something else.
That's where she and Dad met. Dad had never been much for desserts but he saw her working in the bakery and suddenly he developed a sweet tooth which compelled him to visit the bakery nearly every day. They had a brief courtship and were married in a simple ceremony by the justice of the peace. Jan, my new step-sister, and I were the only ones who attended the wedding. They were married less than a year when Dad died.
One thing that was different about us was our financial situation. One doesn't join the military to get rich but my grandfather had done very well in business and so Dad got a substantial inheritance when his father passed. You'd never know it though because, other than having a paid off home, we looked like we had no more money than anyone else. The one "luxury" we had was a swimming pool. That and the garden were the dominant features in our back yard.
My room was in the back corner of the house near the garden. Both my step-mom and Jan were very into the garden. They grew veggies out there and really enjoyed picking fresh squash, tomatoes and such to add to our dinners. We were practically vegetarians though, whenever I got something to eat outside the house, I tried to make up for it with plenty of meat.
I'd learned at the reading of Dad's will that the house was in a trust with some unique provisions. Technically the house was mine but Lisa had the right to live in it as long as she wished. If she ever moved out though that provision was over; the house would be mine outright. She received a good chunk of change of her own but the bulk of the money went to me in a trust to be paid out over time. Money was set aside for Jan's college.
There was money for my college along with a stipend for expenses and I would get one quarter of the trust assets upon getting my degree. I got another 25% at age 25 and the remaining balance would come to me at age thirty. Exclusive of the house, there was just over two million dollars in the trust.
We were still finding our way to a new normal since Dad had passed away. Dad and Lisa hadn't dated very long and Dad passed within a year of their wedding so even that family structure was pretty tenuous. Dad was very busy getting ready for deployment and already wasn't home much. He wasn't terribly demonstrative when it came to emotions so there weren't a lot of memories of Dad and Lisa as a couple. I liked Lisa well enough but she never was much of a "mom" figure for me. I was sixteen when they met so I didn't need much mothering.
Jan and I got along well though I can't say we were incredibly close. We had some classes together in high school but few friends in common. It was our senior year and we were both looking forward to graduation. Rather than resenting each other, we felt a kinship in that we each were thrust into a new family situation that neither of us signed up for.