[man] Can you find my son?

It would mean the world.

[woman] I miss my brother.

We just don't know where to turn.

Over the past decade, we've helped hundreds of people find long-lost relatives.

We've found him.

[crying] I don't want to let you go.

[both laugh] You've got five other siblings.

Five?!

-Hiya!

-Hello!

Oh, lovely to see you.

[all crying] Oh, my God!

But meeting is just the beginning.

I knew there was gonna be twists and turns.

I said it.

How easy is it to build a relationship after a lifetime apart?

[woman] Will they like me, and will I like them?

Yeah, I'm a bit worried.

[woman] Oh my God, can I do this?

I've never been anybody's sister.

[man] You always hope that it'll be like a fairytale, but, of course, it's not.

This is the series where we find out what happened next.

This week... All this detective work that we've been doing, I'm sure we can find something out.

...reunited siblings try to trace another sister... What's happened to her?

Is she still alive?

...a family can celebrate important milestones together, at last... People take family for granted.

if you don't have that, and then you're given it, it's the most amazing gift in the world.

...and a father/son relationship is tested.

You think you've got forever to make up with somebody, but you're always on borrowed time.

[music ends] Our first story is a family mystery where secrets are still being uncovered.

It all began with a woman determined to find her missing brother.

[woman] I had absolutely not a clue that I had another brother.

He was taken away, but he is part of my family.

And I need to tell him that.

Grandmother Barbara Jacobs was born in 1946, the youngest of three siblings.

Tragically, her mother, Bessie, died when she was only 3.

[woman] That's your last photo with her then?

Oh.

Sad, isn't it?

Barbara and her two older brothers were brought up by their father, Frank.

[Barbara] Dad, I think, had it extremely hard, and I think he did a really good job.

But when Barbara was in her late 20s, a family friend let out a shocking secret.

She told me, "You have another brother."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Barbara discovered that, during the Second World War, whilst her father, Frank, was away fighting, her mother, Bessie, had met another man.

Bessie had fallen pregnant and given birth to a baby who she named Geoffrey.

Mum's friends told me that she was very proud of Geoffrey.

But when Frank returned, he gave Bessie an ultimatum.

He said, "It's either us or Geoffrey."

She chose to stay with the family, and Geoffrey had to go.

That broke her heart.

Geoffrey went into care when he was 19 months old.

I want to tell him that his mum loved him, and that she didn't want to give him away.

I think he needs to know that.

[sirens] [Nicky] We took up the search for Geoffrey, and our specialist social workers found that he had eventually been adopted, and his surname had been changed.

He was now called Geoffrey Tonks.

A grandfather with a large family, Geoffrey was living in Staffordshire with his wife of 50 years, Wendy.

[doorbell ringing] -Hello!

-I'm Nicky.

-How are you?

-Very well.

-Nice to meet you.

Come on in.

-Geoffrey.

Thank you.

How much do you remember of your childhood?

Until I was 7, it was a blank.

I was in Barnardo's, but I can't remember anything until my adoptive parents took me at the age of 7.

Was a sort of family where there was never any hugs or emotions.

Who was the first person that showed you love in your life?

Wendy.

Yeah.

[tearful] You don't look back.

How does it feel to know that there's somebody else there who loves, you-- Barbara?

Good.

[Nicky] There she is.

[sniffs] Yeah.

Nice smile there, isn't it?

And is she Bessie?

Amazing, innit?

And that's the first time in 73 years I've seen me mum.

Hmm.

I'll treasure that.

So, I've got a picture of my Mum, and I've got a picture of Barbara there.

Can't wait to meet her.

Can't wait.

(kiss) [Davina] Back in Southampton, I was able to give Barbara the news she'd been waiting over 40 years to hear.

Hi, Barbara.

Davina!

How lovely to meet you.

-Come in.

-Thank you so much.

We've found him.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Oh.

And is he all right?

Yeah.

Do you want to see a picture?

Oh, I'd love to.

Oh, my word!

Oh... Oh, he's lovely.

Oh!

So, he was adopted when he was 7 years old.

Oh.

He did have a tough time, but he's happy now.

That makes me happy too.

Within days of hearing this news, Barbara traveled to meet her brother for the first time.

-Barbara.

-Geoffrey.

-How are you?

-Geoff.

Nice to meet you.

[both] A long time.

[Barbara] I just need you to know that our mum did love you very, very much.

And that it was the worst decision she had to make.

It's hard not to cry.

[exhaling] If my mother is up there looking down, I think she would be extremely happy.

I'd begun to think this was never gonna happen.

-It's a long time, innit?

-Yeah.

And if we've got another 70 years, we'll stick together.

[both laugh] [Davina] Sometimes when people are reunited with family, there's a domino effect-- a new hunger to find out about the past, with one revelation leading to another.

And that's exactly what's happened to Geoffrey since he discovered he had a sister.

[upbeat music playing] Today, Geoffrey and his wife Wendy are visiting Barbara.

-Hello.

-Hi, hi, hi!

How are you?

[Barbara] Come in.

Barbara has recently found something that Geoffrey's never seen.

That's you with your mum.

And that's Mum's handwriting.

It says: "Geoffrey, 9 months old."

Sitting on my Mum's lap.

You couldn't wish for anything better, could you?

Looking at the picture, I realized that she loved me at the time.

That means such a lot to me, because I never had any of that all the years that I was growing up.

That's a missing dream, isn't it?

Knowing that his mother cared for him has given Geoffrey a new appetite to find out everything he can about his past.

So this is all the file that we had from Barnardo's.

He has accessed his full adoption file for the first time, which contains a wealth of information about his first few years.

These are some of the photos of me that came from Barnardo's.

What I remember in my early childhood?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

The file from Barnardo's is a book on my life.

I've now got a story.

The file includes reports of Geoffrey's time in several foster homes.

[Barbara] "Neighbors have complained about the life Geoffrey had been having.

They think he's unloved, unwanted.

He had been left in the backyard in bitter weather -and not allowed in the house."

-Not been allowed in the house.

-It's awful, isn't it?

-Quite shocking to read.

[Geoffrey] It was so bad that Barnardo's removed me.

There are notes that the foster parents would never be allowed to, um, have children anymore there.

[Barbara] Reading the file, he was really badly treated.

It said he was tied up in the yard.

( Who'd do that to a small boy?

And there was no one there to comfort him.

Thank God he can't remember.

[crying] But Geoffrey has also made some happier discoveries about his birth father, the man that his mother had an affair with.

Before I got the file off Barnardo's, my father was a total mystery.

But it's now come to light.

He was a nice guy in a difficult situation.

Geoffrey's father was called George Holland.

It turns out he not only paid maintenance for his son, but also wrote many letters about him.

We've got one letter here from George Holland in 1944.

"I have grown to care for the child so very much.

He'd be much happier if he could eventually make his home with me.

Such a lovely kiddie."

Another letter from George, dated 1945: "I love him very dearly, and my future happiness also depends on having him with me.” He wanted to keep me.

And that affects you, because you're thinking, well that's your Dad, isn't it, that's your father.

And you wonder what went wrong.

I now want to find out as much as I can about my father.

What I would love most to see is a photo, because that is missing in the file.

What did the man look like?

All this detective work that we've been doing between us... -Yeah.

-...we are sure to find something out about Father, George, right?

Geoffrey and Barbara are traveling 130 miles to Plymouth to see where Geoffrey's father lived.

So we're gonna head for Westborne Road.

But the file reveals that George Holland's home life was complicated.

It says here: "Mr. Holland is married and has an excellent wife and a little girl of 10.

Until the war, they were very, very happy."

And as it says here, this is a very sad case.

[Barbara] George must have been beside himself, because there's a war going on.

This was a situation that he'd found himself in-- a wife, a daughter, a baby, a mistress.

I mean, what a mess!

And how was he gonna sort it out?

That little girl of 10 would be my sister.

Where would she be now?

[Barbara] Another sister.

Yeah.

Another sister.

Geoffrey Tonks is trying to find out as much as he can about his birth father, George Holland.

[Barbara] Do you think we're getting near?

[Geoffrey] I should think it's down here somewhere on the right.

He and his sister Barbara have come to the house that George shared with his wife.

[Geoffrey] This is it.

This is where George, my father, lived.

Good old George.

It makes it real now, doesn't it?

According to Geoffrey's adoption file, Geoffrey also lived at his father's house for a short time before he went into care.

Well, he obviously brought me here, because this was where he was gonna bring me up.

That was his intention, wasn't it, when you see the letters.

And you just think then, don't you?

[Barbara] Yeah, it does make-- ...what could have been and what, uh, was.

Sadly, Geoffrey's time here didn't last.

The documents suggest that George's wife couldn't bring herself to raise another woman's child.

[Geoffrey] It's just unfortunate that, to solve the problem, I had to go.

"Your Dad wanted you.

But you've got to go."

But there was someone else living here that might have memories of Geoffrey's brief stay.

You would have stayed here with... My half-sister.

She might have been quite excited -to have you around.

-Yeah, suppose so.

She might have talked to you, played with you.

And then she would realize that I'd gone.

"Where's he gone?"

You were then taken away from her.

I'm quite sure that that would have had an effect on a 10-year-old girl.

-I'm really glad we came.

-Yes.

[Geoffrey] I have more of a feel now being here, of my father.

But I have lots of questions to ask about my 10-year-old sister.

I'd like to find out if she's still alive and to see if she remembers anything of what went on in the past.

I would like to find out if she knows I was her brother.

[Nicky] Geoffrey asked us to take up the search for his missing sister.

We scoured public records and found that she was called Doreen, but, tragically, she had passed away.

Okay, thanks.

We told Geoffrey the sad news off-camera.

But our search did not end there.

I'm going to meet Geoffrey at Barbara's house... to tell him what else we've discovered.

-[Nicky] Hi, Barbara.

-Hi, Nicky.

-How are you?

-Yeah, I'm good.

-I'm really good.

-Is your brother here?

There he is, yes.

Hello, how are you?

-Nice to see you.

-How are you?

Yeah, I'm champion.

-[Barbara] Cup of tea?

-[Geoffrey] Excellent.

[Barbara] And I'll leave you to it.

[Geoffrey] Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry we couldn't bring you better news about your sister Doreen.

Um, my condolences.

It would have been nice, wouldn't it?

It's a sad feeling.

She would be there in the house with me at the time.

She might have held me, played with me for a short time.

-You don't know, do you?

-She did.

Oh.

Doreen did remember you and remembers you being in the house, and loving you, and missing you when you were taken away.

And remembered you all her life.

How do you know that?

Doreen's four daughters told me.

Oh.

That's amazing.

And how did they feel?

Absolutely delighted.

Good.

I can't wait to, uh, meet them.

They want to meet you off camera, so they'll be able to tell you all about Doreen and tell you about their grandfather.

-Your father.

-That will be good.

But what I would most like to see is a photo of George.

Well, they've given it to me.

[Geoffrey] Ahh!

God, yeah.

[Geoffrey] George Holland.

Brilliant.

To me, he looks honorable.

[Nicky] Doreen's daughters say he was very clever, and he was very kind.

I could have grown up with him, right.

We could have had fun together, right, as father and sons do.

But that didn't happen.

Life's cruel really, innit?

Do you think?

But I can look back now and say to people, "That's my Dad."

That's my history.

And I'm proud of that now.

Brilliant!

Hi.

Look.

Look what I've got.

I've got a picture of me Dad.

-Isn't that good?

-Oh, look!

Wow!

[Geoffrey] That's exciting, isn't it?

[Wendy] At last.

Just what we wanted.

And-- Doreen had four daughters.

Oh, wow!

[Geoffrey] Four more girls to meet.

And you thought you were on your own!

I thought I was on my own.

And you're not.

Amazing.

Yes, amazing, isn't it?

[Davina] The next chapter for Geoffrey, meeting his nieces, will unfold privately.

But, at last, the story is complete.

It's often thought that the role of a father is to guide, protect, and provide.

But what happens if you don't meet your dad until you're long past the age of needing those things?

How easy is it to forge a father/son relationship then?

[man] The best thing about being a dad is when your kids tell you they love you.

Robert Lindsay lives with his wife, Lesley, their son, and his two children from a previous marriage.

He's coming.

Robert is a devoted dad, but he grew up without a father in his life.

[Robert] I couldn't imagine being away from my sons for a month, never mind a lifetime.

How often has he thought about me?

What has he thought about me?

Robert's mother, Mary, moved to London when she was 18 and had a relationship with a young Eastern European named Mladen Durdevic.

But when Mary fell pregnant, she returned to Scotland and the support of her parents, leaving Mladen behind.

The only contact I know that they had after that was a letter that my dad wrote to my mum.

"Dear Mary, today is exactly the third week that you left London.

I don't know exactly what has happened with you, whose fault.

Soon, I'll be going to my home.

It means to leave London, and I wish you good luck for your future."

I don't really know why it went wrong, but my dad signed the letter "Fool Boy!"

Maybe 'cause he felt like a fool for not being able to make it work.

Robert was raised by his mother and grandparents.

It was a happy childhood, but he always dreamed of finding his father.

It's almost like having read a story about your parent, as if they're like a work of fiction.

I'm aware that he's missed my whole life.

Where do you start?

[Nicky] When Robert approached us, he knew his father came from a city in the former Yugoslavia.

We enlisted researchers on the ground who eventually tracked down Mladen Durdevic, still living in the old town of Split.

[speaking Croatian] Now aged 71, he was divorced and had no other children.

-Hello.

-[Nicky speaking Croatian] [Mladen speaking Croatian] Mr. Nick, how are you?

Okay?

-[Nicky] Thank you.

-Nice to see you.

[Nicky] Mr. Mladen.

[Mladen] Oh, just come in, please.

Have a nice seat.

So, Mladen, what was it like when you heard that Robert was looking for you?

Do you think Mary didn't want to see you?

I have a photograph of Robert when he was a toddler with Mary.

Sad.

I have a picture of Robert, what he looks like now.

[Mladen] Oh, look at him.

Oh.

Are you looking forward to meeting him?

[Davina] 2,000 miles away in Scotland... [Davina] How are you doing?

-Yeah, I'm fine, how are you?

-Yeah, good, thanks.

...I was able to give Robert the news.

We've found him.

Right.

Wow!

I don't even know where to start.

How is he?

Is he okay?

He's good.

But he's very sad he hasn't been part of your life.

Okay.

[Davina] That's your dad.

He does look like an older version of me.

[Davina] He does!

I feel as if my life has changed in two minutes.

[Davina laughs] -Hello.

-Hi.

I've found my Dad.

Oh... Oh, my God!

[crying] Oh, he looks lovely.

Four days later, Robert flew to Croatia to meet his father.

Ohh!

-Hi, Robert.

-Hi.

Nice to see you after such a long time.

Okay.

How you feel?

Okay?

-I'm good.

How are you?

-Thanks very much.

Have a seat.

Thank you.

So...

So, how are you?

Okay?

I'm good.

Did you ever think this would happen?

Well, a lot of who I am is because of you.

Do you know who's excited as well?

The boys-- Sam, Jamie and Daniel.

Yeah.

[Davina] It's now four and a half years since Robert and Mladen first met.

So, have they been able to grow close whilst living so far apart?

[Robert] See who can find the coolest stone.

As he watches his own children grow up, Robert has enjoyed finally finding himself in the role of son.

[Robert] Meeting my Dad was very significant.

Outside getting married and having children, probably the most significant thing in my life.

To have that light bulb moment, where, there you go, you've got a dad.

Go on, run, run, run, run!

Run.

He's chasing us, quick, he's got mud on his hands!

[Robert] I think it was very important for my dad to meet his grandkids.

So, a few months after meeting him, I decided to take the family to Croatia.

And I could see the happiness the kids brought him.

And every time we went somewhere, he'd say, "This is my son.

This is my son."

And he was clearly very proud to tell people that he had a son.

And... it felt nice, it felt really nice.

[Lesley] Can you write "Daniel" there?

[child] Da...

But once the family resumed their normal life back in Scotland... [Lesley] It's very good.

...things began to change.

[Robert] I think, without a doubt, the biggest challenge was the distance.

And being a working parent and having three kids, it wasn't easy just to say, "Well, I'm just popping off to Croatia for five days."

But you can't really get to know somebody through phone calls.

And as time went on, the phone calls became fewer and fewer.

There was just a period of silence after that, probably for-- probably for nearly a year.

It's that whole situation people, I suppose, get into all the time, where they think, "Well, he should come to me," and the other person's thinking, "Well, he should come to me."

[Lesley] Do you want this hoodie?

Yeah.

Just in case it's cold.

Now, just over four years since Robert last saw his father... he's preparing to make the trip back to Croatia.

It does feel weird being back, doesn't it?

[Lesley] Yeah.

Four and a half years since they first met, Robert Lindsay has traveled back to his father's hometown to do something he feels is very important.

It feels strange to be back.

I remember being down the seafront the day I met my dad and talking.

And it was a warm, sunny day, and, um, it seemed as if this was the start of something.

This is my Dad's house here.

It still looks small, doesn't it?

[Lesley] Gosh, it's tiny.

Sadly, this time, Robert won't get to see his father.

In 2017, Mladen passed away suddenly.

Emotionally, I think I was just more shocked.

It turned out he'd been not well for a while, but he never told me.

[Lesley] Hi.

Looking for some flowers for the cemetery.

Um, what about these ones?

[Lesley] Aye, those ones.

[Robert] Nice.

Okay.

Thank you.

[Robert] And then, I think as time has gone on, I've got more emotional about it to think that I won't see him again.

You think you've got forever to make up with somebody, but we're always on borrowed time.

[Lesley] [Robert] Mm-hmm.

[Robert] I just feel sad.

It's been important for me paying my final respects.

I regret that things weren't different.

I definitely feel more at peace, uh, having come here, despite the fact it's obviously been a sad ending.

Overall, I'm just so happy that I got to know him before-- before he passed.

My dad was an honorable, good person, and did the right thing with meeting me at the beginning and I think-- I feel as if I've done the right thing at the end as a son.

[bell ringing] [soft music playing] [Davina] It takes a lot of courage to look for missing family.

Fear of rejection prevents many people from making the first move.

But, as our next searcher discovered, sometimes the loved ones you're hoping to find are holding back for all the same reasons.

[all singing] Happy birthday to you [corks pop, cheering] Fifty-year-old grandfather Nicholas Rhoades originally came to us searching for his birth mother.

[Nicholas] Fiftieth is quite a big birthday, innit?

Anyone's existence.

And still, I don't know where I come from or who I am.

Nicholas was adopted as a baby and had a happy childhood.

But when he was 18, his adoptive mum passed away, and in his grief, Nicholas began to wonder about his birth mother.

It felt like it was the end of my family.

My birth mother, she was all I had.

Nicholas's birth certificate stated his mother's name-- Jacqueline Groom-- and, crucially, the address where she'd been living when he was born.

[Nicholas] It weren't like a planned expedition to try and find her.

We was literally driving down the M11 and just, "We'll have a go, we'll see if we can find it."

There was one of the most beautiful double rainbows you've ever seen in your life, and it seemed to be just-- just guiding me-- guiding me like, you know, "Destiny's this way, follow the light, follow the light!"

So, I did.

That's the house.

Sort of sat here for about half hour, looking at the door, contemplating it, you know, should I-- shouldn't I-- go and knock?

Then I thought that, you know, you can't just barge in on somebody else's life like that.

So, we didn't, and decided the best idea would be to go home.

But when we took up the search, we discovered there was someone behind that door who was desperate for Nicholas to knock.

[woman] I've waited for my brother over 30 years now.

I thought if I stayed here, he'd know where to come.

Cayley Cox has spent her whole life in the same place.

That's my house just there.

I've lived here 52 years.

The estate agent that's never moved.

[laughs] Cayley was brought up by her grandmother Beatrice, after her mum left when she was 7.

Mum met an American serviceman, um, moved to America with him.

Cayley's mum Jacqueline went on to get married, have two more children, and settle in America.

So, Cayley rarely saw her.

[Cayley] It was hard.

I felt very lonely sometimes.

But when Cayley was 22, out of the blue, a family friend told her she had another brother.

I came home, and Nan was here, and I asked her outright, and it was the first time I ever saw her cry.

[tearful] But she said it was true.

Cayley learned that her brother Nicholas had been adopted.

She broached an adoption charity, who told her she could write a letter that would be held on file should Nicholas ever come looking for her.

I tried to write the letter so many times, and I just-- I could never seem to find the right words to start it.

So there's this one, this one, this one, this one, this one... a couple of lines there!

This one; again, this one.

If I'd got that letter wrong, he may not have wanted to meet us.

I couldn't do it.

So, instead, Cayley decided to wait for her brother to come to her.

I made the decision that I was gonna stay here.

So, hopefully, if Nicholas ever came looking, he could find me.

Sorry.

[Nicky] Nicholas Rhoades had spent decades hoping to find his birth mother, Jacqueline.

Last year we found his sister Cayley living at his birth mother's old address, and Cayley put us in touch with their mother in America.

-Nicky!

-Jacqueline.

How are you?

Nice to see you.

Come on in.

When you found out that Nicholas was looking for you, what was your reaction?

Stunned.

Shocked.

I'd always wondered if he would look for me.

I dreamed of him a lot.

Is he married?

Does he have kids?

What does he look like?

You've got a picture of him?

Wow.

That's my baby.

That means everything to me.

Thank you.

It's a lot.

There was now so much to tell Nicholas about his birth family... -Hey, Nick.

-Hello, Davina.

-How are you doing?

-I'm fine.

-You all right?

-Lovely to see you.

...more than he could ever have expected.

-We've found your mum.

-Oh, don't!

[exhaling loudly] Where is she?

Is she-- She's in America.

My good God!

Really?

Yeah.

There's your mum.

Oh, my good God!

Wow!

Do you remember when you went to Haverhill... Yeah... ...and you were sat outside the house... Don't tell me she was there?

Well, she wasn't.

But we found somebody there who told us where your mother was.

And that is your half-sister.

No!

Wow!

Ha, ha!

Joking.

Ha!

I was sat outside my sister's house?

Yeah.

She's called Cayley, and she's known about you for 30 years.

Oh my God!

She wanted to stay in that house so that if you wanted to come home, you'd know...

There's a turn up.

It's just absolutely done me, this has.

This is your big sis.

Hello, gorgeous!

My God!

Finally, I can look at someone and say, that's where that bloody nose comes from then!

[Davina laughs] Before mother and son were reunited, Nicholas traveled to Haverhill to meet his sister for the first time.

Oh, my God!

Hello, sis.

[Nicholas] Oh my God!

[Cayley crying] [Nicholas] Oh my God!

[Cayley] Oh, this has been a long time coming.

I've got a big sister.

I've got a big sister.

I've got a little brother.

Listen, I want to say thank you, because you're so much braver than me!

Thank you so much for not-- not moving.

I was there.

And there was more to come.

One month later, Jacqueline made the journey from Chicago to meet her son after half a century apart.

[Jacqueline] Fifty years.

Fifty years!

[Nicholas] Ooohhhhh... [sighing] [Jacqueline] I never thought I'd see you again.

Truly never thought that I would actually find everything.

My Mum, my sister.

Hello, Mum.

Today is a huge day for our family.

Mum's got so much to be proud of.

And so have we.

[Jacqueline] This is the best day of my life.

Thank you.

It's been just under a year since Nick, Cayley, and Jacqueline met, and in that short time as a family, they have already experienced an enormous amount together.

[Cayley] Nick gave me this bracelet, so I had to wear this today.

Today, Cayley is going to share one of the biggest moments in her brother's life.

I'm getting ready to go to Nick's eldest daughter's wedding.

We've missed so many years, but this is the first of the really major life events that we're gonna have together.

It's the fairy tale ending, it really is.

[Nicholas] To walk my daughter down the aisle, it's the most emotional thing I'll have done in my life.

And to have me sister here right in the middle of all of it... Cayley's like the icing on the cake, innit, do you know what I mean?

I am delighted to announce you are now husband and wife.

Congratulations.

[applause] [Cayley] It was really, really special.

People take family for granted all the time, and you really shouldn't.

If you don't have that, and then you're given it, it's the most amazing gift in the world.

My sister, my big sister.

And you've just squashed my face right in the flowers.

-Oh, sorry!

-[laughs] [Nicholas] My relationship with Cayley is absolutely perfect in my eyes.

[Nicholas] Look at the photographer.

Just one more please.

All right, lovely.

My family's whole.

[all cheering] But it's hard for their family to feel complete, as their mother, Jacqueline, lives so far away and was unable to come to the wedding.

[Nicholas] Things with my mum, yeah, they've been good, but I think if mum was in England, I would be a lot closer to her by now.

Jacqueline has helped Nick make more exciting new connections with his two half-siblings from Chicago-- JJ... Little brother, look at him.

...and Antoinette.

[Nicholas] Look, she looks beautiful there.

When Jacqueline was still in the UK, Nick spoke to his American siblings on the phone for the first time.

I need to get to know all of you.

[JJ] Oh, yeah, definitely.

For Cayley, this marked the start of a new chapter with her American family.

[Nicholas] Prior to the reunion with Nick, I hadn't had any contact with any of them in the States for a while, but my relationship with Mum is much stronger than it was before.

And I've got Antoinette and Jay back as well.

We love you very much, all right?

And you're stuck with us two now.

[Nick laughs] [Cayley] Nick has given me back my whole family.

And I won't let any of them go now.

But, sadly, just as the family were coming together, they were struck by tragedy.

I've come to meet Nick and Cayley to find out how they've been coping.

-Hello, Davina.

-Hey.

Oh, it's so nice to see you again.

Aww.

-Come and meet my sister.

-Yes.

I'd love to.

-Come.

-Thank you.

Um, Cayley, it's so lovely to meet you.

-[Cayley] And you.

-I'm just...

I'm sorry it's not under happier circumstances.

What happened?

We had a message that our little sister Antoinette had been taken really ill. Um, she's had two massive strokes and a series of, um, smaller strokes going on from there.

Sorry.

I'm gonna cry again.

Great.

Come on.

-Come on.

Come on.

-Oh, God, Nick, it ain't fair!

I know, babe.

Come on.

Sorry.

Um, she's not able to-- to move.

Um, she can't speak.

She can't feed herself.

I think it's, you know, pretty much a miracle if she ends up coming back to being how she was.

-[Davina] Normal life.

-Yeah.

It must be hard on you.

Yeah.

I was just getting her back.

[Davina] Mm.

So, yeah.

The doctors have advised Mum to sign a "do not resuscitate" order.

-Um, so, Mum asked for... -Us two.

...us two to help make that decision, which I got quite upset about.

[Nick] I couldn't do it.

I didn't feel that I had any right to, you know, say my piece.

I know that she's my sister, but you know, I'd never met-- I've only spoke to her five times on the phone, so what gives me the right to turn round and say whether or not she should-- you should turn the machine off, you know?

You're so conflicted.

Like, you're sad that she's gone, and yet you didn't know her, so you don't know how you feel.

-I mean, it's so difficult.

-Yeah.

This year has been such an emotional rollercoaster, from the joy of meeting my sister, meeting Mum, and then it feels like someone went: "You can't have the complete fairytale, son."

Having been through such a lot together in a short space of time, Nick and Cayley are discovering what it really means to be brother and sister.

[Nick] Nearly the end of the first year, it's been a mental one.

[Cayley] It has.

Unfortunately, with families, you get good times and bad times.

[crying] You have amazing highs-- new babies, weddings, all of that, which is just the most amazing parts of life, and then you have real sadness and real loss.

If I hadn't have had Nick, this would have been so much harder to deal with.

[Nick] I will always be there to support her, and I know that she will always be there to support me.

Cayley stayed in my Nan's house on the thought that I'd come back.

Well, I've come back.

I ain't going nowhere.

No way on this Earth.

No, I wouldn't turn my back on her.

You couldn't pay me enough money.

There ain't enough money on this planet.

[Cayley] So, all in all, we have got a lot to be thankful for, Nick.

[Nick] Oh, yeah.

[peaceful music playing]