She shrugged. "I was in a group home. It was survival of the fittest and a lot of manual labor for people who didn't give a shit. They'd lock us in the basement when we created problems for them. I ran away a bunch of times, and tried to report them, but I was always sent back or sent somewhere else. Finally, when I was seventeen, I found my sister again."

"I was a few weeks short of high school graduation when she showed up," my mom continued. "I hid her away for a couple of days and then talked my foster parents into not turning her in. Since I was moving out soon, they agreed. I had a scholarship to NYU, so we went to New York. I started school and my sister got a job as a nanny."

"One of my many jobs," Rachel said. "I couldn't settle into my life. I took classes at the community college, but I was a terrible student. I didn't have a talent for anything except getting into trouble, and the older we got, the more I envied my sister's life. Laura was doing exceptionally well. She had so much to brag about. It was probably the first time in our lives we were at odds. And that was on me. I felt like I was falling behind, and I was. I dropped out of school. I started looking for jobs that were more exciting, more money. Eventually I began waitressing at a bar in Brooklyn."

"We already know what happened there," I said. "You hooked up with Max and got swept up in his criminal activities. I know you ran away after he killed Kade's father, but I don't know what happened after you changed your identities. Where did you go?"

"We took a bus to Atlanta," Rachel said. "We became Kim and Megan Cooper. And eight months later, Kim Cooper had two little girls."

"And you were Kim Cooper?" I asked, even more confused. "But Mom's name was Kim."

"She had to become Kim because I went into the hospital as Kim. When I left her with you and your sister, we switched IDs, so hers would match the birth certificate."

"I can't keep track of all your names," I said in exasperation. "What should I even call you now?"

They exchanged a quick look and then my mom said, "You can call us Laura and Rachel if you want. That’s who we've been for the last twenty years."

"I still think of you as Mom," I murmured.

Laura's lips trembled and she blinked away tears. "I still think of you girls as my daughters. I always will."

"Why didn't you want us?" Dani asked, turning to Rachel. "Why did you give us to your sister to raise?"