Dear Prudence,
I have a cousin who was very close to our family—like a brother to me. When he was 10, his family borrowed $30,000 from my mother to save their failing business. We weren’t wealthy: The money came from a settlement after my father’s death that was meant to care for us children. Our parents drew up the loan together and set up a payment plan. Then my aunt and uncle vanished from our lives and never paid my mother back. I recently found my cousin on Facebook. We are catching up, but he believes we abandoned him without cause in his childhood. He has no idea what actually happened. I hate the anger he feels toward my mother, as my mother was heartbroken when his parents disappeared. Do I tell him what happened?
—Cousin Thinks We Abandoned Him