I was too young to remember when Mom married Tom. She got pregnant with me when she was in high school, and the father wanted nothing to do with me. I’ve never even met my biological father. Tom treated me just like I was his own. He was kind, loving, gentle… all the things a father should be. We were just like any normal family – until my mother died of leukemia when I was sixteen. I even called him “Daddy” just like he was my real dad. I started having nightmares not long after Mom died. I’d wake up screaming and calling out her name. It was killing me to be without her. I was lucky I still had Tom in my life. I don’t know how I’d have made it through without him. The nightmares continued for two years. I was eighteen years old, and I still couldn’t stand living without her. She was always my rock, the one I turned to when things were bad. One night, I woke up in a cold sweat, screaming “Mom! Mom!” Tom came running into the room, flicked on my lamp, and sat down beside me, holding me close as he always did.
