About two weeks ago my dad and stepmother received a call from the mother of my step-sister's ex-boyfriend at 1:30 in the morning. There was a message left on the answering machine that stated that my stepsister was unconcious and had been taken to the hospital and that it did not look good. My dad lives in Texas and my stepsister lives in California. No contact information was left and my dad and stepmother had no idea what hospital my step-sister had been taken to. The also did not know if she was alive or dead. They then began to frantically call hospitals in California trying to figure out where she had been taken. They found her, but the hospital would not give out any information over the phone. They found out later that my stepsister had taken a sleeping pill, had a few mixed drinks and forgot that she already taken a pill and took another one. That was the sanitized story anyway. Lord only knows what really happened. Anyway, my dad was driving my stepmother to the airport and she told him that she had a premonition that something would happen to my stepsister and that I would inherit everything. Keep in mind that my stepmother did not even know if her daughter was alive or dead when she said this to my dad. I can't believe that my stepmother would be thinking about money matters when she did not even know if her daughter was alive or dead. My stepmother has been waiting on my grandmother to pass away so that she can divorce my dad and make off like a bandit with a large chunk of change. She has always shown a great deal of favoritism to her daughter and complained bitterly when I needed help about ten years ago. She would always bring up my past history of substance abuse and portray me negatively to anyone who would listen. I made a lot of changes in my life and have a good job now. She has expressed resentment towards me at every turn. Now her daughter is the one with issues, but there is a double standard. Am I in the fog here or are my stepmother's comments way off in left field?

Your stepmother was in shock. I wouldn't spend time and energy analyzing what she said, nor her motives.

I doubt it was just shock - that doesn't explain why her first thought was financial. Before I started reading this and similar boards, as well as articles etc. on the subject, I always thought the evil stepmother stereotype was just that, a stereotype. I have been shocked to discover how often it has such a strong basis in reality. I am sure that people will start jumping in with stories about good stepmothers - I am sure they exist, but from everything I have read, they are certainly not the norm. Statistically, stepmothers are far less likely to physically or sexually assault their stepchildren than are stepfathers, but intense jealousy and often outright cruelty toward the father's children by his previous wife or wives is often the case.

I'm afraid it does, Nellie. When it shock, I've had the most inappropriate thoughts. Like thinking about wasting the dinner on the stove if I can't get home from the hospital. Or financial stuff.

That does not mean that she is NOT the wicked stepmother. Just doesn't prove she is.