Unfinished Business, Unresolved Feelings, chapter 16
"I want you to stop lying to me about the night that my parents died. Don't you think all the lying has done enough damage already", Lee yelled at his visibly stunned uncle.
"I've tried to be patient with you since you arrived but I won't tolerate your yelling at me when you are a guest in my home. I -"
"My staying here was your idea", Lee began to argue.
"That's beside the point. I didn't tolerate your disrespectful attitude when you were a child and I'm not going to tolerate it now."
"I didn't mean any disrespect", Lee conceded as he realized that their conversation had already gone off in an all too familiar direction. "All I want is for you to tell me the truth about that night."
"I don't know what you're so convinced that I've lied to you about. I have never lied to you about that night or anything else for that matter. Maybe we would have gotten along better if I'd been less honest in speaking my mind to you; but that isn't who I am. You should know that by now."
"I always trusted you in the past", Lee acknowledged quietly as he began to consider what his uncle was saying.
"What's changed that? Why would I lie to you about that night? I wasn't even in DC at the time; I was deployed in Europe. Word of the accident didn't reach me for two days. I barely made it back for their funeral. Your grandmother had to deal with everything alone, she was so upset, and I don't know how she got through it. I should have been there to handle all that for her", the colonel concluded guiltily.
"It wasn't your fault that Grandma had to deal with all that; it was their fault. She was a victim; just like we were", Lee stated bitterly.
"How dare you blame your parents for the aftermath of the accident that cost them their lives", the Colonel fired back at Lee. "They were innocent victims."
"It was no accident and they were far from innocent. They got themselves killed and we've been suffering the consequences of their actions ever since. If I hadn't discovered the truth I would've spent the rest of my life missing two people who never really existed."
"I won't listen to anymore of this nonsense. You were five years old, you couldn't possibly know what actually happened that night, and I'm not going to allow you to insult your parents' memories."
"I'm not five years old now and apparently I know a lot more about the life my parents were living than you do", Lee said sadly as he began to pace back and forth in the small kitchen. "I know that you must think that I've lost my mind but I haven't. I can prove that everything that I've said about them is true." Lee stopped pacing and looked sadly at his uncharacteristically silent uncle. "I've lived so much of my life based on who I thought my parents were and I blamed you for everything that I felt was missing from my life", Lee said while raking his hand through his hair. "I won't tell you that I'm not feeling hurt and confused by what I've found out about my parents but at least now I have a chance to leave the past where it belongs. I came here because I was certain that you'd kept the truth from me for all these years; I wanted to have it out with you once and for all. I didn't come here to destroy your good memories of them. My coming here was a huge mistake; I'll leave now, and let you get on with your life", Lee finished and began to leave the room.
"The hell you will", the Colonel shouted as he grabbed Lee's arm. "You can't come here and throw around a bunch of angry accusations about my brother and his wife and then turn tail and run because this confrontation didn't go the way you thought it would. I want and explanation of what you think you know and I want it now!"