after all of those years? all of those years, and there they are. what did that feel like? it felt great. i was hoping that would find my children before i died, it because i was getting old, and it was just like a miracle. jeri s story? that who shirley who took the girls, have been her friend, turned roommate, turned babysitter. she said, i will babysit for, you take care of her while you work. i said, that is great because i really thought that i was blessed. first it was renée she looked after, then rene and pepper. then two years later, little brother, raymond leonard smith junior wait, brother? it was not just the two girls. there was a younger brother that the girls never knew they had. the father was not around very much, jeri supported them all
Had grown up without knowing anything any blood relatives. all this ray smith knew was his mother s name. according to his versatile catholic it was, jeri. he was starting to sound a lot like our rig. asked if he would submit to a dna test. he agreed and there was no doubt, we d found him. we bought ray and his fiancée to los angeles hotel and showed him the story of his sisters. in a way, history to. i thought that the story itself was said. it sounds like they had a rough life. and it was really similar to mine. so it was, and it began the same way, to. when shirley took him from jeri. except ray was turned over to a woman name anna lee brown who named him jim. around the only name he knew grown-up. she told me she had adopted me. and i was also shipped around a lot. from home to home because she had a lot of health problems, from what i was told. he was neglected, he said. and often abused.
Most around for years. until anna brown shipped him off to a colorado couple when he was 14. and that s when he found his birth certificate. started calling himself ray smith and began puzzling over the apparently unanswerable questions of his life. why did anne name me jim brown if, my name is really ray. how can i never knew about jeri, things like that. and i wondered, you know, was i kidnapped? no answers from anna brown. who died soon after that. and as for life in colorado, by the time he was 16, things were getting a little rough. maybe because of my past, i wasn t a very easy kid. so i was put into foster care. and then, he graduated from
Pepper heard some stunning revelations. such as these were not her birth parents. she had been adopted. and the arrangement was mysterious. and now it was barber s turn to tell the story. shirley had been her friend, she said. had told her about a woman working in the sex trade named jeri smith, who didn t want her babies. and one day shirley showed up at barbara s house with a baby she called rhonda patricia smith. barbara could see it was a little iffy. but she wanted that baby so badly. and so, she said, she ignored the red flags. no, didn t care. did it really clear. she was going to see which she said, that rhonda was loved
Easy life, and for much of, it she has missed her children, and blamed herself for what happened. trusting shirley, and for not having those kids under your wing all of the time? that is right. tell me about that. to me, i feel like it was my fault because i put them in the hands of this monster. we are in a hotel room, in los angeles. jeri is eager, anxious, terrified. visibly shaking. and then, they come around the corner. their first meeting in 37 years. it s been a lifetime that we missed. oh my goodness, i feel like i am dreaming. i m really getting it. i can t even can i just stare at you for a minute?