I've always heard the stories about long-lost twins, separated at birth, and how they find each other and feel this immediate connection, like they always knew they had another half out there somewhere. I always thought the stories were just fillers on slow news days.

Well, Olivia and I aren't twins…but I'm still a believer. There was always this…something…inside me. I knew someone was missing. Actually, for a long time I wondered if my mom had a miscarriage or something and they never told me, afraid of scaring me or making me sad. I thought maybe I was adopted and I was missing my real family. For whatever reason, the one scenario that never crossed my mind was having a half-sibling out there somewhere.

I don't know why I never considered that to be a possibility. I mean, I knew my dad wasn't a saint…my mom wasn't the first person he had sex with. I just assumed, I guess, that if that was the case, they would have told me. I didn't see the stigma of a child outside of wedlock to be that dire or anything.

Little did I know…I mean, no wonder he never told me anything. He raped a woman, and she had Olivia.

Part of me still can't believe it. More than part of me, really. How is it possible to know someone your whole life and not see that…evil? I feel like you can't…so does that mean he didn't really rape her? What else could have happened? It's all so confusing. Olivia and I have such conflicting views of our father. I can't fully believe that he was a rapist, but she was told for her entire childhood that he was. She hasn't really told me anything about her mom, but why would a mother lie about that for so many years?

Whatever the truth behind it all is, when I found out who Olivia was, I finally felt whole. It was also somehow good to know that I wasn't crazy; that the feeling of incompleteness I've always had wasn't just in my head. There really was someone out there, connected to me. I could feel it.

It's amazing how fast we got into the brother-sister thing. It makes me think that maybe she could sense me when she was growing up too. I know that she didn't believe in my innocence for a while, and I can't blame her. The evidence was there. She's seen enough rape cases to put her trust in the forensics. What else could she do?

She seesawed a lot. One minute she was on my side and the next she was against me. All I can say is that she must be a really conflicted person. I don't know enough about her, I guess…but I can tell she's not happy. She's all alone.

I took advantage of that. I didn't do it maliciously…it's just that I needed help. I knew I was being framed, and who better than my cop sister to help me? I know she put her job on the line for me, which is pretty extreme considering how long we've known each other. But I needed my big sister.

I'm so happy that I was finally cleared. I couldn't stand the thought that Olivia had found me and I gained her trust only to have her hate me because I was like him. I had no idea someone who barely knows you can break your heart. I didn't want her to hate me because of him. I didn't want to prove to her that raping runs in families. I could tell that was her biggest fear when she told me to admit that I'm a rapist, just like my father. The way she said it…the look in her eyes…she was talking to herself as much as me. I realized she had been struggling with the thought of genetic violence for her whole life.

I don't know where we go from here. I mean, how do you make up for thirty years? I don't know much of anything about her life, and looking at yearbooks can only show you a little. Do we just sit down and start at day one? Or do we just start from where we are and forget about all the years we didn't know each other?

I waited my whole life for this to happen. I always wanted a sister, and now I have one, but it's way more complicated than I ever expected. I hate that the experience of meeting me will always be wrapped up in a rape case for her. Maybe she won't see a rapist when she looks at me, but she'll remember Julia, and the whole horrible situation. That's not the start to our relationship I would have chosen…but I guess it's what we're stuck with.

I don't think it will wreck what little we have, though. I waited my whole life for this and Olivia, in a different way, has too. I'm not letting go of my sister.