Chapter 20

We found Mom's Uncle Tim in the same house he'd always lived in. When he opened the door, he knew who we were immediately. He said he'd been wondering when we were going to come looking for him. He knew we wanted answers and he was more than willing to give them. He thought he owed us that much after what had happened.

We'd been staying at Mike's place for nearly a month before he stepped in and took Laura and me from dad. He tried to get dad to give him the boys too, but dad wasn't going for it. They all thought dad was losing his mind. The more time went on, the more they were convinced of that.

Tim and his wife tried for a week to get dad to go see a shrink, but he always refused. At the end of that week, they decided to take him to court and take us away, all 4 of us. They were trying to do it quietly, without dad knowing. They were afraid of what he would do if he found out.

The night dad came for us, the police had called Tim shortly before dad got to the house and told Tim they wanted to talk to dad as a murder suspect. Tim figured that dad had found out was going on. Julie had been in on the whole thing. Tim thought dad had killed her because he wanted to take off and Julie wouldn't let him have the boys. Tim also decided that dad wasn't going to get Laura and me no matter what.

When dad showed up a few minutes later, Tim was ready for him. He asked dad where the boys were and dad's only answer was that they were safe. When dad told him that he was there to pick up Laura and me, Tim pulled a gun on him. Dad was unarmed and completely taken by surprise.

Tim asked dad why he'd killed Julie and dad kept saying he didn't. That he'd found Julie dead and just grabbed the boys. He'd come to Tim's to make sure they were ok and to take Laura and me out of Lawrence. They started to argue because Tim would not let dad past him.

Tim's wife, Gina, heard all the shouting and came downstairs to find them in the kitchen. Tim was blocking the back stairs so dad couldn't get to Laura and me. Tim said he's not really sure how Gina did it, but she convinced dad to leave us there. That's when dad walked out and Laura screamed. You already know the rest.

Two days later, Gina was diagnosed with cancer. There was nothing the doctor's could do for her. Tim knew he couldn't take care of Gina and us girls, so he called mom's brother to come and get us. Tim told them he would call once a week to make sure we were ok.

When he tried to do exactly that a week later. The number was disconnected. They had taken us and disappeared. Tim thought it was to protect us from our dad. When he found out the truth a few years later, he tried to get the state of Kansas to give us back to him. He was told that wouldn't be possible because he was the one that put us into that situation in the first place.

Just when we thought that was the end of the story. Tim said there was more. Dad called Tim every Sunday to ask how we were. Tim always lied to him. He didn't want dad to know where we were. He thought he was protecting us.

When Gina died a few months later, dad came back to get us. Tim was still convinced that dad would hurt us, so he told dad that he'd hidden us away someplace where dad would never find us. Dad tried to tell him that he would never hurt any of his kids, but Tim wouldn't listen. He was even more convinced dad had hurt the boys when he showed up without them.

After Tim was done talking, Laura got mad. She told Tim that we had seen the boys and they were both just fine. If he had never interfered with our family, none of the things we went through would have happened. She just kept going on and on at him. I just stayed silent.

One thing kept running through my mind. Dad had tried to come back for us. He hadn't just thrown us away, he'd been lied to. After everything that had happened, I just couldn't really wrap my mind around it. I blamed dad for everything and none of it was his fault.

I snapped myself back into reality just in time to keep Laura from punching Tim's lights out. I got her to sit down and asked him if he was gonna turn us in to the state. It wasn't until I told him that we were in town to go to college that he promised he wouldn't. I knew by the look on his face that he'd keep that promise. He blamed himself for what had happened to us more than Laura could imagine to.

I thanked him for telling us the truth and pushed my sister out the door. We never saw him again. He died a few days later. He killed himself. I guess the only thing that stopped him from doing so long before we found him was that he really wanted us to know the whole story.