“When we were teenagers, our father drank away the heating money during a record-breaking blizzard,” the letter went on.

“Lucas took an old silver bracelet out of our mother’s jewelry drawer and tried to pawn it down by the harbor docks.”

“He didn’t take that heirloom for liquor, cigarettes, or gambling,” Mom wrote, her tears showing in the smeared ink.

“He took it so he could buy thick blankets and kerosene heaters because the pipes inside the house had frozen solid.”

“Our parents and Patrick never forgave him for that desperate act,” the letter said with raw bitterness.