Subject: My Feelings For My Uncle
Dear Steve and Shirley,
I’m in my late 30s. I have always had love and admiration for my uncle but it developed. My uncle was in prison for 30 years and during that time he was always a mentor to me. We would exchange letters and he helped me through a difficult childhood which included an attempted suicide after a rape of my stepfather at the age of fourteen. He helped me get through this difficult period and many others. Not once in the letters that he wrote was he ever out of line with me. When he was released it turned into something else and we became lovers. I have told him that we can only be uncle and niece but he insist that he loves me and as much as I deny it, I know that I love him too. The only thing that keeps us apart is the fact that it hurts my mother and I am so ashamed of the fact that I was with her brother. How do I hide these feelings that I have for him and try to continue a “normal” relationship with him or is it best that I just try and leave well enough alone? Please help we live in the same town and I see him often.
