Dad deserved love after everything we’d been through. When he proposed to Carol after six months of dating, I even helped him pick out the ring.

“Are you okay with this, sweetheart?” he asked me that night. “I know it’s fast, but Carol makes me feel alive again. And she really wants to be a good stepmother to you.”

“If she makes you happy, Dad, then I’m happy,” I said. And I meant it.

The wedding was small. Just us, Carol’s sister, and a few family friends.

Carol looked beautiful in her white dress, and Dad couldn’t stop smiling. During her vows, she even turned to me.

“Jocelyn, I promise to love you like my own daughter. We’re going to be a real family.”

I cried happy tears that day. Finally, things were looking up.