Rachel drew in a quick breath as Dani went on the offensive. "I had problems with depression and anxiety, issues that got worse during my teen years. But I also think there was post-partum depression, too. I didn't really know what it was, I just knew I felt bad, and I couldn't be a good mother. You deserved better. There was no one better than my sister, no one I would trust with my kids."

"How did you feel about that?" I asked Laura.

"I was furious when Rachel left. I thought she'd come back, but she didn't, and she made it clear that I was to be your mother." She gave me an emotional smile. "I loved you both from the first minute you were born. It was an honor and a blessing to be your mother. You and Dani gave me so much love, joy, and purpose. I felt like it was a new start. And I hoped that Rachel would find happiness, too."

"Did you love our father?" Dani asked. "I'm not talking about Max Davino; I'm talking about Ross Landry."

"I did love him," my mom said. "Ross was so good to me and to you girls. He was solid and kind and caring. He'd lost his family, and he was happy to take on a woman with two little babies. He wanted you to be his daughters. That's why we never told you that you were adopted. When I had to leave you, I knew you would be all right with your dad. I wasn't leaving you in a bad situation. I was giving you a chance to have a normal, happy, and safe life."

Her words hung in the air for a long moment. I didn’t want to say our dad hadn't been the hands-on father she remembered. In fact, I didn't want to talk about him at all right now.

"What happened in New Orleans?" I asked. "Did you leave knowing you were going to fake your death? Or did something happen there?"

"Something happened," my mom said.

"Because of me," Rachel added. "I'd been living in New Orleans, working at a café, trying to stay out of trouble when I made friends with a woman in my yoga class. I thought she was a travel agent, but it turned out that she and her boyfriend were helping to set up a smuggling pipeline of drugs and guns from the Gulf Coast up to New York."

"And that tied into Max's family?" I asked.

"Yes. My friend never said exactly what she was doing, but her boyfriend drank too much one night, and he had a whole lot to say about his friends in New York, which gave me an idea."

I could see by the gleam in Rachel's eyes that it wasn't a good idea.