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'i am pretty sure that i know u'

By LANE DEGREGORY
Published August 27, 2006

[Family photo]

Christina Lynch with her brothers, at ages 3, 6 and 9, in Texas. She remembers climbing trees and watching Sesame Street with them.

[Family photo]

Josh Melancon, left, and Jake Melancon sandwich their sister, Christina Lynch, in a joyful hug. They had been separated in Texas when she was 4. Twelve years later, the found each other in Florida.

ST PETERSBURG

When Christina Lynch, 16, opened her MySpace page that Sunday, she found an e-mail from someone named Jake. She didn't know who Jake was. But he seemed to know a lot about her.

FROM JAKE, Aug. 13, 2006, 12:40 p.m.

out of curiosity are your adoptive parents named mary-ann and don? i know that is a weird question and this is kinda weird i will explain it when i get a response . . .

FROM CHRISTINA, Aug. 13, 2006, 2:17 p.m.

umm yea, who are you??

FROM JAKE, Aug. 13, 2006, 2:32 p.m.

i am pretty sure that i know u. do u know if you have any brothers or sisters. I might know them.

FROM CHRISTINA, Aug. 13, 2006 2:33 p.m.

are u my brother? i have a brother named jacob and he should be 19 this is kinda weird

FROM JAKE, Aug. 13, 2006, 2:34 p.m.

your birthday is january 26 1990 . . . my birthday is October 5 1986 are you my sister?

By now, Christina was shaking.

She hadn't seen either of her brothers in 12 years, not since all three of them were taken away from their parents, a lifetime ago, in Texas.

FROM CHRISTINA, Aug. 13, 2006, 2:36 p.m.

whats your previous last name?

FROM JAKE, Aug. 13, 2006 2:36 p.m.

earl

FROM CHRISTINA, Aug. 13, 2006 2:37 p.m.

oh my f------ god!! yea i think i am

Christina doesn't remember much about her childhood. But she remembers her brothers.

She shared a room with them in their parents' small house outside Dallas. Josh and Jake slept in a bunk bed. Christina slept in a crib long after she was old enough to climb out.

She remembers watching Sesame Street with her brothers, being tickled, swinging in a tire. She remembers Jake throwing a toy at the head of a big kid who was picking on her in preschool.

Christina remembers that her mom drank too much and moved out when they were small. After that, Christina, Jake and Josh lived with their dad.

The day Jake turned 6, they all gathered in the living room for birthday cake. Someone pounded on the door. Cops had surrounded the house. They took Dad away. "They had him on a warrant for something, drugs or burglary or something," Christina said. She was 3.

State workers took custody of the three children. It was hard to find a family willing to take in a toddler and two boys, ages 6 and 9. So Christina went to one house, and Jake and Josh went to a group home.

Every Wednesday, a therapist would get the children together. Sometimes, their parents would visit. Usually, they didn't show. Years later, Christina had managed to keep just one Polaroid of her dad, with her and her brothers. He's wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt.

He's not smiling.

When Christina was 4, a couple named Don Orgeron and MaryAnn Lynch took her into foster care, then Jake too. Josh had developed behavioral problems, so he remained in a group home. After a few months, Jake also seemed overly troubled. State workers took him back, and the couple adopted Christina.

"I remember crying my eyes out when they took Jake from me," Christina said.

"I remember going to visit my brothers later, when they were living in a community home. We met at Cici's Pizza. I remember asking them, 'Why are all your clothes in a bag?' "

* * *

Jake Melancon, 19, was supposed to be cleaning his room that Sunday. He was heading to college in Orlando the next week, and his mom had asked him to sort through stacks of stuff in their Sarasota home.

On the top shelf of his closet, Jake had found an old photo album.

The first snapshot in it was a Polaroid: a kindergarten-age Jake, along with his big brother, their dad and their little sister. She was smiling.

For 12 years, Jake had wondered about Christina. Was she okay? Where was she? She had been so small when he had last seen her. Would she even remember him?

He was 10 when Joseph Melancon and Belle Heneberger adopted him in Texas. Three years later, the couple adopted Josh too. The brothers grew up together. They talked about their little sister all the time. They wrote her birthday on a scrap of paper and taped it to the Polaroid, so they wouldn't forget it.

From the time they were teenagers, Jake and Josh had tried to track down Christina. Their adoptive mom even helped. They called counselors from the group home, child protection workers, Texas adoption agencies. They always got the same answer: We can't release any information until the girl turns 18.

That afternoon, staring at the faded photo, Jake decided he didn't need the state. He logged onto his laptop, called up MySpace. He had created his account just a week earlier. Josh convinced him he would need one to keep in touch while he was away at school.

He clicked on the search screen and typed "Christina." But what was her last name? The man and woman who adopted his sister didn't share the same last name. From Jake's brief time living with them, before he went back to the group home, he remembered that the woman's name was MaryAnn Lynch. The man was Don. . . . Don what? He stared at the screen, thinking.

Finally, he took a chance. After Christina he typed: Lynch.

Dozens of listings popped up, girls and women across the country. He thought his sister would still be in Texas, since that's where he had last seen her. He scrolled through screens of photos and bios, looking for a 16-year-old girl with a January birthday and blue, blue eyes.

On the second page, he found a girl with long auburn hair and eyes just like his. She lived in St. Petersburg, less than an hour away. Her profile gave some details about her:

Zodiac sign: aquarius

Occupation: chick'fil'a

Favorite activity: soccer

Do you have a big family: kinda

What's your heritage: i dunno, i'm adopted

Do you have any brothers or sisters: yes but i don't know them

Shaking, refusing to believe, Jake clicked onto the girl's "new friend request." He attached his photo, a link to his MySpace page. He couldn't just come right out and ask her. He didn't want to scare her, make her think he was a stalker. So he sent her an e-mail: out of curiosity are your adoptive parents . . .

* * *

FROM: JAKE, Aug. 13, 2006 2:38 p.m.

call my cell phone he included the number i think we need to talk this is f---ing crazy

Christina's hands were trembling when she dialed. In 20 minutes, she had gone from confused to excited to overwhelmed. Tears pooled in her glasses, streamed past her smile.

"Oh my God!" she shouted when she heard Jake's voice. "Oh my God!"

"Wow! This is crazy!" Jake cried.

"Oh my God!"

"This is crazy!"

After 12 years apart, where do you start?

They knew, then. Both of them were sure. But they quizzed each other on more details: Yes, in Texas. Uh-huh, to that group home on the hill.

Christina wanted to know what ever happened to Josh.

Jake told her their big brother was in an apartment in Sarasota. He asked what she was doing for dinner.

* * *

It was after 2:40 p.m. that Sunday when Josh Melancon got the call. "You've got to come over!" Jake told his brother. He wouldn't say why.

Josh had never heard Jake sound so excited. He raced to his brother's house. Jake tackled him at the door. "I found her!" Jake cried. He didn't have to say who. "She's right here."

The brothers held each other, sobbing.

As a child, Josh had had the hardest time. He was the oldest, so he remembered things better. On the day the cops took his dad, he stood shaking his fist, promising, "I'll be back here one day. I'll come back to this house in a Porsche!" Even at 9, he knew he would someday want to show his father he had made it - with or without him.

Christina and Jake found new families, but Josh floundered in a dozen different foster homes. He kept running away. He spent years in group homes. "For a long time," he said, "the only parents I had were the night workers at the centers."

Sometimes, therapists took him to see his brother and sister, always in a neutral place. He wasn't allowed to know where they lived.

"The last time I saw Christina, we were at a park in Texas. Therapists had gotten us together to draw masks and make T-shirts and stuff. We were all laughing, having a good time," Josh said. "Then she was gone."

Months, then years went by. Every January, on her birthday, he tried to picture his little sister. What did she look like at 8? 10? 13?

Jake's parents adopted Josh when he was 15. Right away, he started searching for Christina. He even wrote Oprah, asking for her help.

"I always knew we'd find her," Josh told his brother that afternoon. "I just never thought it would be so soon."

* * *

They didn't want to let go. They stood on the porch, holding each other in a long group hug.

Christina was sandwiched between her big brothers, laughing and crying in their arms. She kept looking up at their faces, seeing herself.

She had wanted this for so long - all her life, it seemed.

Josh and Jake had driven to St. Petersburg right away. Seven hours after Jake saw Christina's Web page, 12 years after they lost each other, they were all hugging at Christina's dad's house. Her adoptive parents had gotten divorced. Christina's dad and Jake and Josh's parents snapped photos. The embrace went on and on.

They kept talking about how they all looked so much alike. Their round faces, thin lips and broad smiles, and those blue, blue eyes. Christina had dyed her dirty-blond hair; otherwise that would have matched too.

It would have been amazing enough, they kept saying, if Jake had found Christina and she was in California, or even Texas. But here she was, right here all along, so close.

She moved to St. Petersburg in 1995. Her brothers landed in Sarasota six years later.

They talked for hours, sharing memories, counting losses. Christina had always longed for her big brothers to defend her. Jake, who grew up the youngest, had wanted someone to pick on. Josh had wished for a little sister to "talk to about girls, relationship stuff." It wasn't too late.

All three of them were going to community college. Christina, who had left high school and was going to get her GED that same week, was already taking classes in St. Petersburg to become a nurse. Jake was heading to Orlando in a few days to study architecture at Valencia Community College. Josh was in Sarasota, working to become a P.E. teacher. Christina promised to visit Jake as soon as she got her driver's license. Jake said he would be at her graduation. Josh invited them both to hang out at his apartment. They made plans to go to Busch Gardens, and to a go-cart track.

The more they talked, the more they discovered they shared. They all love Mexican food, country music and soccer. Their adoptive dads are both Cajun, from Louisiana.

Later that night, when they went out for ice cream, they all ordered the same flavor: mint chocolate chip.

* * *

Christina's brothers hadn't even gotten home when she logged onto her computer. She uploaded six digital photos of the group hug and started remaking her MySpace page. She changed the answers on her survey. That day, everything had changed.

Have you ever smiled for no reason: i do that a lot now that i've found my brothers

Who was the last person to tell you I love you: my brother jake!

Who was the last person to tell you 'bye: my brother josh!

Who was the last person to text message you: my brother jake

What's the last time you laughed: today

What's the last time you cried: today

What's the last number you dialed: my brother jake

Finish the line "my heart is . . ." so happy right now!! i finally found my brothers!

Christina even changed her screen name to: "i couldnt ask for more."

The first person she e-mailed was Jake.

* * *

FROM: I COULDNT ASK FOR MORE, Aug. 13, 2006 9:55 p.m.

hey big bro. lol. it was so nice to see you, i had so much fun!! i can't wait to see you again!! this was one of the happiest days of my life and im glad it was spent with you and josh!! i found a piece of me that was missing for so long and i can't tell u how happy i am!!! but anyhow i just wanted to say goodnight. love, ur lil sis, christina

[Last modified August 25, 2006, 09:20:17]