In the restaurant, she spotted Damon in a corner, their eyes locking as she approached. “Emily!” Damon greeted her, rising from his chair.

Their initial exchange was warm and comforting, and Emily was thrilled to meet him finally. They joked about Emily’s wig and settled into easy conversation, feeling a natural connection.

Eventually, their conversation drifted to their sons, and Damon showed Emily a photo of his son with an abstract painting. Emily was shocked; the boy resembled her son Bradley.”Is this some kind of joke?” she asked, confused.

Damon pulled back his phone. “What do you mean? My son likes to paint, and he’s very good at it, too.”

“But… I don’t understand. You never mentioned it, but did you also adopt your child?” Emily asked.

“I didn’t.” Damon frowned. “You’re saying some very strange things, Emily. Is everything okay?”

Emily grabbed her phone and showed Damon a photo of Bradley in his soccer uniform. Both adults were now perplexed.

“Our boys are mirror images of each other, like long-lost twins! But how can that be possible?” Emily said, shocked. “Wait, my son’s 14, and yours?””14. When’s your son’s birthday?” Damon asked.

“April 16,” Emily responded.

“Same as Jordan,” Damon said, deep in thought. “It can’t be… she never mentioned twins.”

“Do you know something about this, Damon?” Emily pressed, sensing his distress.

“No, but my ex-wife might. She’s the only one who would know if we had twins. I’m sorry, but I have to go,” Damon explained, hurriedly leaving to find answers.

Left alone, Emily reflected on Bradley’s adoption, which was handled by her late husband, Jack. She wondered if Jack knew about a twin.

Jack had gotten the call that a baby was available for them to adopt shortly before Emily was released from the center where she’d been recovering from knee surgery.

When Emily finally arrived home, she was greeted at the door by Jack and a baby boy swaddled in a dinosaur blanket. Her husband had been grinning from ear to ear, and the baby in his arms was the most beautiful human being she’d ever seen in her life.

At home, Emily greeted Bradley, who noticed her unease.

“What’s wrong, Mom? Did that Damon guy do something to hurt you? If he did—”

“Everything’s fine, honey,” she replied, forcing a smile, and hurried to her bedroom.

There, Emily searched for Bradley’s adoption papers but found nothing. Realizing she had never seen them as she’d believed Jack had handled everything well, her sense of unease grew.

She changed into her home clothes and went to the attic, determined to uncover the truth. In the dusty attic, she approached a chest of Jack’s belongings, hoping to find answers in the fading light of her flashlight.

Jack’s sudden passing had left Emily reeling. One day, they were planning a family holiday; the next day, she received a call from the police.

A fatal brain aneurysm he’d suffered while driving home resulted in Jack’s car veering off the highway, leading to an accident and his death.Struggling with his loss and motherhood, Emily enlisted her brother’s help to pack Jack’s belongings into the attic. Now, seeking answers about her son’s adoption, she discovered an envelope in Jack’s handwriting in his box of things.

‘Dear Emily,’ Jack had written in the letter inside, ‘I’ve been lying to you for almost a year…’

Meanwhile, Damon revisited the facility where his ex-wife, Naomi, resided, a place he hadn’t seen in three years. The atmosphere was heavy with unease, marked by silent orderlies and patients lost in their own worlds.

“I told you not to come back here, Damon,” Naomi greeted him coldly.”I know, but this is important. Can you tell me what happened the night Jordan was born?”

Naomi frowned and lowered her head. Her gaze darted from side to side. “I already told you, Damon. The tall man told me I needed to leave, so I did. I don’t remember anything else!”

Damon and Naomi, who met in college, were initially happy together. Their joy grew when Naomi fell pregnant shortly after Damon joined a prestigious firm. However, their happiness turned to worry when Naomi developed preeclampsia, a health complication characterized by severe headaches and blurry vision.

Naomi’s reaction to her diagnosis was extreme. She quit her job and her doctor, choosing to stay home and rest. But her condition worsened, and she grew increasingly paranoid, often speaking of a threat to their baby. This paranoia escalated, and one day, while they were shopping, she claimed a tall man warned her of danger, although no such man approached them.Unfortunately,

Naomi’s mental health continued to deteriorate, leading Damon to convince her to see a psychologist. The psychologist diagnosed Naomi with stress-induced schizophrenia, revealing a family history of the condition that Naomi had kept from Damon. This revelation explained her erratic behavior, but it also compounded the challenges they faced, as treating her schizophrenia was complicated by her preeclampsia.

As Naomi’s due date approached, Damon’s anticipation of their child’s birth was overshadowed by his fear and concern for his wife. Tragically, with just over a month left in her pregnancy, Naomi disappeared, leaving no trace behind. Damon reported her missing, but she seemed to have vanished without a trace.

Damon’s nights were consumed by a desperate search for Naomi. He checked every familiar place, but she remained elusive. His search ended with a call from the police; Naomi had been found in an alley, in labor, and rushed to the hospital.Damon, overwhelmed by a flood of emotions, rushed to the hospital, where Naomi, recovering and holding their newborn son, Jordan, dropped a bombshell. “I’m divorcing you,” she declared, “and giving up my parental rights.”

Now, years later, sitting across from Naomi, Damon sought answers about their past. “Naomi, did you give birth to twins?” he asked.

“No, there were no twins,” Naomi replied, her mind clouded by her condition. “There was Jordan and a parasite. The tall man helped me… he took it away.”

Meanwhile, Emily, grappling with her own crisis, read Jack’s letter. He confessed that he knew about his inoperable cerebral aneurysm but had hidden it from her because he didn’t want to worry her. He also confessed to rescuing a newborn from an alley and falsifying adoption papers for their son, Bradley.”…I took the baby and called the police. I was going to hand the child over to the police, but when I looked down at his little face, I knew he would be perfect for you. I brought him home and convinced Michael to falsify the details on the adoption papers inside this envelope. They should pass a cursory inspection, but you should know that they won’t stand up in court.

I’m sorry I couldn’t do better for you, my darling Emily.”

Emily clutched the letter to her chest and sobbed. She contemplated telling Damon the possibility that Bradley could be his biological son. While she hesitated to call, Damon’s call came through.

“Hello?” Emily answered nervously.

“I’ve just spoken to my ex-wife, Naomi,” Damon sighed, climbing into his car. “She has schizophrenia and mentioned something bizarre about the night of Jordan’s birth. It’s important, Emily.””Come over, Damon. I’ve found something, too,” she replied.

At Emily’s home, Damon spilled Naomi’s story. “She thought she was carrying twins…believed one was a parasite. She might have put the baby in a dumpster.”

“Actually, I don’t think the baby was in a dumpster,” Emily said, handing him Jack’s letter.

“So, Jack saved my son?” Damon realized as he read the document.

“Please, don’t take Bradley away,” Emily pleaded. “I know you have the right. But don’t. Please.”

“Nobody’s taking me!” Bradley burst into the room, holding Jack’s hunting rifle. “I’m not going anywhere with you!””I’m not here to take you, Bradley,” Damon raised his hands. “You’re Emily’s son. I won’t change that.”

Emily was holding it all in until this very moment. She threw her arms around Damon’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder. Damon rubbed her back as she muttered ‘thank you’s against him. After a few minutes, she broke away with a grateful smile and rose to confront her son.

“Please, put the rifle down, Bradley,” Emily said. “I hate that you overheard so much of this conversation, but there’s nothing we can do to change that, so I need you to sit down so Damon and I can explain.”

“Damon?” Bradley’s eyebrows arched in shock, and he set the gun down against the wall. “The same Damon you went on a date with earlier?”
“Yes, but we need to explain something else,” Emily said. Bradley finally sat down, and Emily and Damon explained the truth to the young boy.

“So, he’s my father, and I have a twin brother?” Bradley asked.

“We think so,” Emily nodded. “A DNA test can confirm it.”

“Why me? Why did she give me up and not my brother?” Bradley asked Damon, his voice tinged with pain.

“Naomi was very sick, suffering from schizophrenia,” Damon explained gently. “She was confused and thought only one child lived. She asked Jack to take you.”

Bradley, trying to hold back tears, nodded, accepting the explanation.

“What happens now?” Bradley asked.

“We do a DNA test, then figure out how to move forward. If it confirms everything, we’re a family,” Damon said, squeezing Emily’s hand.

“This has turned out to be one heck of a first date, right?” Damon glanced at Emily with a slight smile.

Emily laughed, but it was a high-pitched, nervous laugh. “You can say that again!”

“I know this is a lot to take in, Bradley,” Damon said, turning his attention to the young man. “We’ll handle this together, as a family. Emily and I both want what’s best for you, and we’re here to support you through all of this.”

Bradley nodded slowly, still processing the information. “I just… I need some time to think, you know?”

“Of course,” Emily replied, her eyes filled with concern. “Take all the time you need, sweetheart. We’re not rushing anything. This is going to be a journey that we’ll all need to walk together.”

As Bradley excused himself and headed upstairs, Emily turned to Damon, her expression a mix of gratitude and uncertainty.

“What do we do next, Damon? How do we navigate all of this?”

Damon sighed, running a hand over his hair. “First, I’ll need to tell Jordan, but that can wait until morning. Then, we should get that DNA test done. It will provide the clarity we need. Once we have the results, we can decide how to approach the future together.” He met Emily’s gaze, a reassuring glint in his eyes. “No matter what, we face it as a family.”

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