The food in my mouth turned to dust as I listened to Rosie talk about the sad ending to my mother’s life. I forced the rice down and took a drink. Rosie reached across the table and placed a hand over mine. It was quiet for several seconds as I absorbed everything. I could feel tears building on my lashes and fought to keep them from falling.

‘What about my grandfather, Frank? Is he still around?’ I asked quietly, fighting against the tight feeling in my throat.

Cris swallowed loudly and glanced at Rosie. He rose from the table, walked over to the glass doors and stared out into the backyard with his hands in his pockets.

Rosie watched him and then looked back at me. ‘Frank recently passed away. He was the death in the family that Cris told you about when he first messaged you. Frank’s cancer came back but they didn’t catch it until it was too late. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I wish you could have met him. He was such a character. Outgoing and funny. Frank never had a problem making friends, that’s for sure.’

Another blow, another part of my family lost to me. I felt each loss like a punch to the gut. Mother, gone. Grandmother, gone. Grandfather, gone. My immediate biological family members were falling like dominoes. How does a person deal with the death of so many family members at once? Family I hoped I’d just found were gone in an instant. Is it normal to grieve people I had never even met?

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.