Our Step-Daddy was good for us for a while. I know one thing, he kept my Mother off of my back. She even acted "normal" for a lil while. I'm not sure but I think he was a drug dealer of some sort. His mom was loaded but he did his own lil thang on the side. They wore full length furs and rode in long cadillacs. Their friend's looked seedy as well. But he took care of us. I never saw anything illegal but they were hush-hush when they went into their large bedroom. We could never go in  there when they had their "meetings". There used to be stacks of money in their room. I  mean STACKS. He shopped for us and drove us everywhere. My Mother used to have this look on her face whenever people saw them together. It was one of those "yeah, I'm the one" looks. She seemed empowered to be walking around holding on to his arm. He also seemed happy to have her on his arm. People always stared at them. People seemed afraid of him too. I noticed that from the way they moved out of his way when he walked into a restaurant or grocery store.  My Mother fed off of that fear. It didn't seem like we wanted for anything. For a while. It would be a matter of time before my Mother would mess that up.