Dorothy took a DNA genetic assay as a joke to find distant ancestors and was told she had a daughter despite never being pregnant.
Before losing her husband aged 57, Dorothy Weaver never felt lonely. Dorothy and Thomas were human rights attorneys with an insatiable zeal for their mission.
After meeting at a college student demonstration, they fell in love at first sight. Over the next 35 years, they occasionally considered having children, but another reason would delay the baby project for another year.
The decades passed faster than Dorothy expected, making conceiving a kid impossible, but they might adopt. Tom and Dorothy had begun adoption when he died.
Dorothy was in the office reviewing a last-ditch effort to save a death row teen when the phone rang. She grabbed it up, annoyed by the interruption. “This had better be good!” she shouted.
“Mrs. Weaver?” Her neck hairs stood up at the quiet line voice. This is about your husband, Mr. Thomas Weaver.
Dorothy lost her nerve and dropped the phone, drowning out the sympathetic voice and fruitless justifications. Tom vanished. That huge, fearless heart failed. Dorothy muttered, “I’m alone, I’m all alone.”
Tom was reared by loving parents, while Dorothy was moved from foster home to foster home until she aged out, yet her sharp mind and perseverance got her to college and law school.
Something inside us always guides us to our destiny.
She returned home to find no Tom to drink wine with over takeaway pasta, no one to argue passionately about their causes, and no one to cuddle in that freezing bed.
After meeting Tom, she no longer felt sundered and less than a whole person, but now loneliness was dominating her life.
Dorothy worked more hours and took on more cases until she fainted during an intense closing argument in support of a young homeless mother who had slain the social worker who sought to take her kid. Dorothy, the steel woman, died.
After a long recovery, she assessed her life. At 60, she was too young to retire but too weak to practice law.
What could she do? Teach? She offered to teach a few hours a week at the top legal school she and Tom attended. That was special! She’d be productive and surrounded by smart kids!
After teaching, she sat alone in bed watching awful late-night TV! She later blamed the late-night talk show and its crazy guests.
A big black woman in a huge wig interviewed a thin white one with absolutely no hair around 2 am. Dorothy finally turned up the volume after their jaws opened and closed silently.
“My mother,” whispered the thin white woman wiping her rabbit-pink eyes. “I asked, but she didn’t know…”
The black hostess stared at the camera incredulously before gazing at her guest. Honey, your mama didn’t know her baby-daddy?
Thin woman reddened or broke out in unsightly red spots. “My mother had some godless years, Mavis, but she’s walking with the Lord now!”
Mavis exclaimed, “Amen!” and queried, “But how did she not know?”
“It was those Woodstock days, Mavis,” she remarked. People were sinning, following the devil’s ways, and indulging in their body.
“But you found your father,” Mavis broke in before the slender woman preached. “How did that happen?”
“My son sent my and my husband’s DNA for Christmas. I was furious, Mavis.Some secrets are God’s.
“Yes, yes,” Mavis responded anxiously. “We know that, but how did you find your dad?”
We received this report, Mavis, and it was bold as brass: Sturgis Lee Kersey. Seven more siblings’ names—brothers and sisters? You could have knocked me down with a feather…
When Mavis gestured, Dorothy observed a beautifully dressed girl bring in eight emaciated people, clearly the thin woman’s long-lost relatives. Dorothy exclaimed, “This is where I get off!” and turned off the TV.
But the tiny woman’s blotchy face kept appearing in front of her eyes, and her purple broken lips whispered, “I wanted to know where I come from, and how come he didn’t love me.”
Dorothy rose and walked to the restroom, turning on the lights and looking in the mirror. mother muttered, “I want to know where I come from, and how come she didn’t love me.” The next day, she researched her roots.
Dorothy chose a trustworthy company after extensive study. She mailed over the cheek swab for the DNA test.
A month later, she got the results. In one area of the report, she was overwhelmed with information about her ethnicity, but in another, she saw the words ‘49.96% match’ with the photo of her daughter, Michelle Simpson, 33.
“My daughter?” she whispered. I have no daughter. I have no kids!” Dorothy emailed the corporation, accusing it of incompetence and threatened legal action.
A few days later, the company called her. “Mrs. Weaver,” the smooth-voiced man said. “We consulted our technical team, and given your claim that you have never been pregnant or given birth, they suggest you have an identical twin.”
“An identical twin?” Dorothy exclaimed, shocked. “But…My God! I was reared in foster care.I had no idea…
Dorothy sent Michelle Simpson a personal note on the heritage website and received an ecstatic response with a phone number and a request to meet.
Dorothy agreed and entered a restaurant two days later, facing a slim redhead. Michelle struggled to stand but fell back into her chair, ghost-white.
“You…” she whispered. “You resemble mom. You look like her with your hairdo, clothes, and walking manner.
“Michelle?” asked Dorothy hesitantly. “Your mom was in foster care too?”
Michelle shook her red hair. “No! Mom was two when adopted. Without recollections of her mother, she struggled to adapt. My grandparents didn’t urge her to identify her biological relatives later.”
“Your mother…” Dorothy said. Twin of mine. Have you told her? Does she know?
Michelle nods. Yes, she knows. She’s afraid. Not doing this was her wish. She didn’t want to know why her mother left.”
Dorothy responded, “Abandoned us.” “She abandoned us and separated us.” Michelle took a picture of Dorothy using her phone. She rushed to type and send.
“Sit!” Michelle said. Tell me about yourself!
“I’m a lawyer,” Dorothy said. Also a widow. I submitted my DNA because I have no children or family. Michelle smiled broadly as she looked over Dorothy’s shoulder.
“Mom,” she wailed. Please meet Dorothy.”
Dorothy rose on shaking legs and faced herself!
She muttered, “Dorothy?” “I’m Susan.”
Dorothy was unthinking. She simply threw her arms around Susan. Her tears were acceptable since Susan and Michelle were crying too.
“I always felt there was something wrong with me, a part of me missing,” Susan sobbed.
“Me too!” Dorothy exclaimed. “I felt like only half my heart was working…”
“Now we are together!” cried Susan. They grinned identically at Michelle with sparkling expressions. They wore similar clothing and had comparable hair cuts.
Family law attorney Susan said she was married to Michelle’s father for nearly 15 years before they divorced. She and teenage Michelle left Florida to start fresh in Denver, Colorado, where Dorothy lived!
Michelle married and had four kids. “So you are a grandmother!” Dorothy envied. “Tom and I delayed having children, believing we had forever.I’m alone now because it was too late.”
“No you are not!” Susan raged. The group includes myself, Michelle, her husband, and her children. Never be lonely again!”
Dorothy had many grandchildren and nephews who looked like her. The sisters realized eerie similarities in their lives and likes as they got to know each other.
The sisters moved in together since they were alone, and Dorothy shamelessly treats Susan’s grandchildren.
What can this story teach us?
Contacting loved ones is never too late. Dorothy never anticipated having an identical twin who shared her DNA and gave her a large family.
Something inside us always guides us to our destiny. Susan moved to her twin’s city and found her through a mysterious link.