Rosie continued, ‘After seeing Frank’s health deteriorate I convinced Cris to do the 23andMe kit. Now that they do genetic screening for things like prostate cancer and knowing Cris has it in his family history, not only Frank but also an uncle on his dad’s side, I was worried about losing him. The whole thing terrified me so I hounded Cris until he finally relented. I thought it was best to check and be prepared. But thankfully, Cris does not have the gene. We were so relieved! And connecting with you has been such a nice bonus, Liz.’

I barely registered what Rosie was saying, my mind still whirling around my lost relatives, tears lingering on my lashes. No matter how many times I swallowed, the lump in my throat refused to go away.

Andie set her fork down rather loudly on her plate and said, ‘So, tell us about you two. You mentioned a vet office?’

I gave Andie a grateful look. Cris turned and walked back to the table, sitting down and taking another bite of food.

‘Oh us? We’re about as boring as they come.’ Rosie laughed. ‘But yes, Cris has his own veterinary practice. I run the office, ordering products, scheduling and finances. That sort of thing. We never had kids, the doctors said it just wasn’t in the cards.’ She glanced nervously at Cris before continuing. He tensed at the overshare but said nothing. I gave her a smile tinged with a bit of sadness, thinking about how my parents had been in a similar situation. ‘But with all our connections from the business,’ Rosie continued, ‘we usually have a foster animal or two running around here. We’re in between them right now but they’ve always been like our children, keeping us busy, so we’ve been alright.’

‘You foster animals?’ I said, my tears drying up as I listened to Rosie tell us about their recent pets, like a dog who’d eaten Cris’s favorite pair of shoes and a cat who’d peed all over the downstairs carpet, leading them to tear it up and put in hard wood floors. ‘I love animals. We had cats growing up. My mom isn’t a fan of dog drool and said she couldn’t stand it if she had to vacuum up dog hair and eliminate that “wet dog” smell every time she had guests over,’ I remembered with a laugh and Rosie nodded her head understandingly, smiling at me. ‘So, there are no other Dominios? No other family I could get into contact with? What about my great-grandfather? Your dad? I know he’d be pretty old by now but is he still alive?’ I persisted, looking at Cris.

Cris didn’t say anything so Rosie covered for him again, ‘Rodrigo died about fifteen years ago. Heart attack. But we like to say he died of a broken heart after Cris’s mom passed.’ She paused and reached across to squeeze my hand again, a sad smile on her face. ‘They would have loved meeting you.’