Lori Temple was unapologetically sentimental about her thoughts on family. She longed for it all: the husband, the children, the puppies sleeping by the fireplace, curling up next to her grandchildren someday and reading them a bedtime story as they fell asleep. Most of all, though, she longed for a sister. Someone to confide her deepest, darkest desires and wishes to, someone who would be a part of the same branch in the family tree, who she could cling to without embarrassment and lean on when the winds got too rough to weather alone.

     One Christmas, when she was seven, she remembered still believing in Santa and asking him to bring her one gift: a stork carrying a baby, a sister, a companion for life—to share the journey of simply living. She envisioned taking care of her sister,...

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