Twins Lacy and Mary Claudio had the same Caucasian father and the same half-Jamaican mother, but they looked nothing alike.
They grew up facing many questions about their reliability, and they told those people the same lie the hospital had been telling their parents over the last 20 years.
The Day Of
One day on their way home, Mary and Lacy decided to visit a new coffee shop.
Lacy needed to urgently use the bathroom, so she raced ahead of her sister. But when Mary entered the cafe, she saw Lacy with an apron on counting the money behind the till.
Confused
Lacy greeted her sister with a smile and asked what she could get for her. "What do you mean?" Mary laughed. "Since when do you work here?"
"What do you mean? Do we know each other?" the girl asked Mary. That's when Mary noticed a small mole below the girl's lip. She wasn't her sister.
A Startling Discovery
A few seconds later, Lacy came out of the bathroom and joined her sister at the table. "Who are you looking at?" she asked Mary as she stared at the girl behind the till.
"This girl at the till looks exactly like you..."Mary responded. Lacy then approached the girl and asked for a photo together to show her parents.
Something Was Wrong
The sisters showed their mother the photo, and her face went pale. They knew something was wrong.
Lacy and Mary noticed right away that their mother had changed since she saw the photo of Lacy and the cashier. Then, a few days later, they heard her sobbing in the kitchen.
A Terrible Mistake
She was talking to someone from the hospital. "I can't believe you did this to my family!" she cried.
“If my daughter hadn’t found her and taken the picture, I would have never known! We would have never known! How could you make such a mistake?”
A Real Twin Sister
Lacy and Mary finally understood what was happening.
They cried in each other's arms as they listened to their mother's phone conversation. It turns out that the girl they met at the coffee shop that day was Lacy's real twin sister.
Contacting The Hospital
When their mother saw the picture of Lacy and the coffee shop employee, she called the hospital where she had given birth 20 years ago and demanded an explanation.
She sent them the photo of Lacy and the cashier and asked them to check the medical records for any other coinciding birth of another set of expecting twins.
Confirmation
The hospital called her back and explained that there was another set of twins, but their birth mother had put them up for adoption.
Lacy's real twin didn't recognize Mary because she didn't grow up with her twin sister.
Furious
The hospital apologized several times for the terrible mistake, but Lacy and Mary's parents were still furious.
How could such a terrible mistake have been made in the first place? So what did the family decide to do?
A Settlement
It was clear that the hospital just wanted to make it all go away. They offered the family a settlement, but the number was insulting.
To make matters even worse, only one staff member that had been there the night of the twins' birth still worked at the hospital.
No Evidence
The hospital said it “couldn’t find anything that proved that person was the one to blame.”
The twins cried in each other's arms, promising that nothing would change between them, no matter what. They were sisters, and their bond wasn't just about blood.
Loving Home
The hospital promised they would track down Mary's twin, too. Meanwhile, the girls contacted Jessica and invited her to coffee at the same coffee shop where they met for the first time.
They laughed and shared stories of their past. Fortunately, Jessica had been adopted by a loving family who had always been supportive of her.
Waiting
Months passed after their coffee shop reunion, and Mary was waiting to get the results of the lawyer's battle.
She wanted to know if her twin also liked the same music, food, and places as her. Finally, one morning, the phone rang, and Mary got the news she had been waiting for.
Lily
Her twin's name was Lily, and she was living in a different state.
As soon as she heard the news, she got into her car and drove to meet her biological twin sister. She couldn't wait to get her moment.