Who is Julie McDuck?!

The Question

After dinner, I followed the boys and Webby upstairs when Louie tugged on my sleeve. 

"Can we, uh, talk?" 

"Sure, kid," I answered, sitting down on his bottom bunk. "What is it?"

"Well, it's something ALL of us want to talk to you about," Huey noted anxiously, coming down from his top bunk. 

"First off, we found this in the archives today," Dewey said, handing me a book entitled The Life and Times of Matilda McDuck.

"Wow, you found something about my grandmother?"

"Webby checked it out for now. We just thought there was a passage you'd want to see," Dewey replied, pointing to a paragraph. I began to read:

"Matilda McDuck laid an egg in her early 30s that would soon hatch to be her son: Samuel McDuck. Not much is known about Samuel, other than the last place he was seen was at his wedding, where he eloped with a young woman named Hannah Garcia, much to the dismay of his family. He was then only referred to as 'The Unnamed McDuck.'"

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you actually found something! I've been searching the mansion for years, and the whole time it was right under my beak!" I hugged Huey and Dewey close. "Thank you guys so much!"

I was interrupted by Louie sniffling. "Louie, are you okay, bud?!" I asked.

"No, I'm not!" he cried. "U-Uncle Scrooge's directors want to get rid of you!"

"Wait, what?! What do you mean, Lou?"

"T-today at the Money Bin, Scrooge's director said he found some information about your parents and t-that Uncle Scrooge isn't your closest living relative! Y-your stepdad wants to take you away from us!" Louie sobbed into my shirt.

"What inform-?"

Before I could get the words out, there was a knock at the door. I kicked the book under Louie's bed.

Uncle Scrooge poked his head in. "Julie, could I have a word with you?"

"Yeah, of course," I said, looking back at Louie. 

"Alone."

"Oh, um, guys? Could you give us the room for a moment?"

Huey, Dewey, and Louie nodded and left their bedroom, but I'm pretty sure they were listening from the other side of the door.

Uncle Scrooge sat down next to me on the bottom bunk. "So, Louie told ya what happened today, huh?"

"Partially, yeah," I said, rubbing my arm. "Something about you not being my closest living relative?"

"Yes; I knew my directors weren't too fond of ya, but Ae never thought they'd try to split our family up!" My uncle sighed and handed me some papers. "They gave me these papers; it's all a bunch of legal stuff, but...I don't want to keep ya from yer family any longer."

I flipped through the papers. "It says...my parents divorced after I was born. My mom married someone else after my dad left."

"Aye, lass; I'm so sorry."

"But it says: "Name of legal guardian- Nathan Hernandez. Relation-stepfather. But...you're my guardian!"

Uncle Scrooge sighed. "I'm sorry, Julie; I took you in, but my directors were right. I never did legally take custody. That's why I wanted to ask ye something."

My chest tightened as he pulled out a paper.

It was a custody form.

"The only way to keep you here is if I legally take custody of ye or adopt ya. Then I'd be your legal guardian, not Nathan."

"But-wouldn't you have to go to court?"

"No, your stepfather wasn't there to watch you grow up, but I was. Lass," he tucked my hair back behind my ear, "I just want you to be happy. And whether that means going with yer stepfather or staying here, I'll respect that."

My eyes misted over. "You-you want to take custody of me?"

He smiled and nodded.

I exhaled. "Okay," I said, nudging his shoulder. "Guess you're my father, now."

He chuckled. "Lass, I'm taking custody of you, not adopting ya! Yer still my great-niece!" he exclaimed, hugging me close.

His foot hit against something.

"What's this?" Oh, crap.

He looked at the book, then at me. "Lass, did ye steal this?"

"No, I checked it out from your archives; Ms. Quackfaster let me," I lied quickly. I know I said that lying is wrong, but...I made a promise to my cousin.

And I intended to keep it.

My uncle was silent for a moment as he flipped through the book.

"Julie, if you wanted to know more about yer family, why didn't ye just ask me?"

I sighed. "Because I...I wanted to know more about my parents! And nobody knows! I don't even know!" I curled into myself, making my frame smaller. "I just want to know why they gave me up, you know?"

"Lass, going behind my back isn't the way to find answers," he said, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I know...it's just frustrating!" I buried my face into my uncle's chest. "There's so much I wanna know, and so little information about it! I thought I knew who I was, but now I'm not even sure!" I sniffled, taking the papers Scrooge had given me. "Wait a minute...my brother's freakin' MARRIED?"

"What?!" Uncle Scrooge looked over my shoulder to see where I was pointing.

"Yeah, look! Name-Joshua McDuck. Relation-brother. Name-Diane McDuck. Relation-sister-in-law. Address: 123 Elm Street." My jaw dropped. I gave my uncle my best puppy-dog eyes.

"Ack, stop it, lassie; ya know I can't stand it when ya look at me like that."

"Can I talk to them, pleeassee? Or maybe go visit them?"

Uncle Scrooge rolled his eyes. "Dang it, lass. You always knew how to get me."

"And I always will," I giggled.