Andie reluctantly continued. ‘I’m sorry, Liz. I knew what my mom told me about the photo was a lie, that you were three years older than Millie. You used to call her your little sister. I confronted my parents at dinner one night and told them that I knew Mom had lied about the photo. The conversation didn’t go well. My mom came up with all these excuses and alternate explanations and I kept poking holes in everything she told me. Finally, my dad got angry and told me to stop questioning my mother. That I should stay out of it because it had nothing to do with me. It was one of the only times my dad ever yelled at me. It shook me to the core because you know my dad never gets angry. He told me not to say anything to anyone about the photo, that I didn’t understand what I was talking about, and if I repeated it to you or Uncle Gary and Aunt C, there would be big trouble.’

My face hardened. ‘You still should have told me, Andie. We tell each other everything. And you know how much it kills me to be in the dark about anything, especially something this major. Even if it would have upset me or our parents, I still deserved to know.’

Andie spread her hands out, trying to find the right words to justify her betrayal. ‘I point blank asked my parents if you were adopted and they vehemently said no. I’m not like you, Lizzie. I don’t need to know everything. Especially if it might hurt people I love. And honestly, maybe I didn’t want to know. If I accepted it, then I’d have to tell you something that would cause you pain and that was the last thing I wanted. My dad said the photo didn’t mean what I thought it did, and as a kid I wouldn’t be able to understand it so I should just let it go. I begged them to tell me what it meant. But Dad slammed his fist down on the table and told me to drop it. I’d never seen him that angry before.’

‘Andie, you still should have told me! If not then, especially now when the DNA kit and everything came up over the last few weeks. You were awful quick to figure out how different our 23andMe results were. Why didn’t you just tell me?’ I jumped up and went to the kitchen. I yanked items out of the bags and threw the refrigerator door open, angrily putting my groceries away. Andie followed me and leaned against the butcher block table. ‘How could you sit there pretending you were so surprised about my adoption? It was just another lie.’