After medical tests revealed something strange about his blood type, Harry returned home to face his wife, Nancy, only to discover that the life they had built during the last 12 years was a lie. But would he let this revelation ruin his family?
Harry watched his children laughing at something and smiled silently at them. Although they were twins, Josh had severe anemia, which they had only discovered after noticing strange symptoms for weeks. Luckily, his brother, Andrew, seemed to be perfectly healthy.
Their family doctor decided to do more tests and asked Harry to do a blood test in case they needed a transfusion. The three were now in their office of a children’s hospital, waiting to know the results and treatment.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Finally the door opened and the doctor entered without looking up. All his concentration was directed to the papers he had in his hands, and Harry got up nervously.
“Mr. Campbell, hello,” he greeted with an excited voice and shook Harry’s hand.
“Hello, Dr. Dennison,” Harry added, telling the boys to say hello to the doctor. “We hope there will be news on how to proceed.”
“Yes,” the doctor clicked his lips as he circled them to go to the chair at his desk. “Actually, Mr. Dennison, I would like to talk to you. Can the boys wait outside?”
Harry opened his eyes wide, but quickly recovered. “Of course,” he nodded. “Guys, leave us a moment, please.”
The twins, who had been in a light mood despite being in the doctor’s office, became serious, but Josh grabbed Andrew by the arms and they went out.
“Okay, go ahead, doctor. I’m ready for anything. Our family can survive this,” Harry breathed, sitting in the chair in front of Dr. Dennison and leaning closer to his desk. “What’s wrong with Josh? What do we do now?”
“Calm down, Mr. Campbell,” the doctor sighed and stepped back. “Right now, I’m not very worried about Josh. It has iron deficiency, but we will start with supplements, possibly intravenously. We usually test parents and other family members as a precaution. But I wanted to talk to him about something else.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Pexels
Harry touched his chest, relieved that the doctor was not worried about his son. It had to mean that his condition was not so serious. “Very good. What’s going on?”
Dr. Dennison pursed his lips. “Mr. Campbell, did you adopt those boys?”
“No,” Harry shook his head. “My wife and I got married pregnant and in a hurry, in fact.”
That answer only made the doctor sigh and close his eyes. “This is a little delicate, but his blood type is incompatible with that of the boys.”
“Well, that happens often. Right? I mean, some parents can’t donate blood to their children because they are a mixture of two people,” Harry shrugged.
“No, sir. Yes, some biological parents cannot donate. But what I mean is that you can’t donate because it’s impossible for you to be the biological father of those boys,” Dr. Dennison slowly revealed, but spoke faster when he saw Harry’s face. “Blood type is not the definitive factor in parenthood, but your twins are both of blood group A. You and your wife are both B.”
Harry opened and closed his mouth. “But that’s impossible,” he murmured, his hands trembling as he covered his mouth.
“I’m very sorry, sir. I saw these results a couple of days ago, so I took the liberty of also doing a DNA test on his blood samples,” the doctor continued darkly, pushing some papers towards Harry. “I understand that this is hard to hear. But there’s more.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Harry looked at the doctor, uncovering his open mouth and taking the papers. “What else can there be?” he asked, perplexed. His eyes read many medical terms that he could not understand and went further. But Harry turned his gaze to the doctor after seeing something even more surprising.
The doctor had a compassionate face. “That’s not a mistake, Mr. Campbell,” he began. “Josh and Andrew are technically his half-siblings.”
Harry was numb after the doctor’s revelations, but he was sure he would have more questions. However, he asked Dr. Dennison about Josh’s treatments and left with the boys. He took them to get some burgers because Josh needed to eat eagerly and wanted to spend some time with them.
They were good guys and had the best relationship in the world. They liked all the same things: baseball, movies, music and much more. Josh loved to quote scenes from the movie “The Godfather” because it always made Harry laugh.
But the results didn’t lie. The twins he had raised for the last 12 years – their babies, his world and his future – were not his. The worst of all is that they were their father’s children, which meant that… Nancy had been with him.
It didn’t make sense. She was already pregnant when she was introduced to her parents. Maybe, I should ask Dr. Dennison to do more tests.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
When the boys finished eating, he took them home. Nancy had not gone with them to the doctor’s appointment because she had to let in a contractor who would remodel their bathrooms. While parking in the garage, Harry tried to find the right questions to ask him about the results of the blood test and DNA.
It took him a long time to get out of the vehicle and, when he heard his children shout: “Grandpa, what a joy to see you!”
Harry turned red and closed his fists so tightly that he didn’t realize that the car keys had broken his skin until the pain was too intense. The rage and pain that he had repressed in Dr. Dennison’s office ran through his body like a tsunami.
But he couldn’t break into the house and face his wife and father. The boys were there.
Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, and Harry forced a smile as he entered. “What are you doing here, Dad?” he asked tensely.
His father smiled. “You told me the contractor would come today. I didn’t know you had an appointment with the doctor, but thank goodness I came because I think…”.
“Guys, weren’t you going to go to Bobby’s house for a video game sleepover?” Harry asked the twins, cutting off his father, who could talk about anything if someone didn’t stop him.
“Good! Let’s go!” Andrew said. They picked up their controls and ran away. His friend was only a few houses away, and it was the perfect opportunity for Harry to comment on what Dr. Dennison had said.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Harry, is there a problem? What happened to Josh?” his wife Nancy asked him. She could see something wrong in his expression.
Harry closed his eyes. “I know the truth, Nancy. Did you sleep together?” he asked, not wanting to delay this conversation any longer.
Nancy’s jaw opened to the ground and she looked at Robert immediately.
“It’s not what you think, son,” Robert intervened, shaking his head.
“What is it then? DNA doesn’t lie,” he asked, looking between the two… but neither of them could give him a complete answer.
Thirteen years earlier, in Las Vegas…
Nancy enjoyed the rhythm of the music while moving around the dance floor to reach the bar area. She and her friend were in a famous hotel in Las Vegas, and the club was crowded. It had been their dream since they met in the first year of college. After graduating, they began to save and finally took a weekend to spend it in the city of vices.
It was all they wanted, but Nancy needed another round of drinks. They weren’t drunk enough.
“Eh! Five shots of tequila, please. Can you give us more lemons?” he shouted at the waiter over the music and saw him nod. He turned to see the bodies spinning on the dance floor, moving while waiting for the drinks when, suddenly, a puff of expensive male perfume reached his nostrils.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
To her left, Nancy saw a man with a head full of gray hair and a beard who smiled at her. “Hello, beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?”
She felt flattered by the attention. “I’m already buying something for my friends,” she replied, her cheeks flushed. The man must have been twice his age, but he was robust, seductive and had an expression of security in himself that was very attractive. “You probably don’t want the boys to bother you, do you?”
It could have been the man’s alcohol or perfume, but suddenly she didn’t want to go back to her friends. “It’s a girls’ trip, but we come in search of adventures. Anything can happen,” she replied, looking down and up through her thick false eyelashes.
When the waiter brought her the shots, Nancy didn’t even notice. He was laughing, runging his hair and having a great time. The handsome older man had brought her closer with a hand on his waist, and she almost fainted in his arms.
“Would you like to continue with this in my room?” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded, almost hypnotized, while a tingling ran through her. “Let me bring these drinks to my girls and let them know,” Nancy replied, licking her lips and swallowing thickly. The girls cheered when Nancy told them that she was leaving with a man, and she followed him to the exit.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
They didn’t even get to their room, since the chemistry between them sizzled in the elevator…
“Last night was wonderful,” Robert told Nancy, kissing her cheek slowly.
“Yes,” she nodded, feeling dizzy.
They had woken up, ordered breakfast and talked for an hour before Robert said he had to leave. They shooks hands as they walked to the hotel’s taxi area and said goodbye.
Nancy knew she would never see him again, and she was fine with it. His night had been adventurous and passionate, exactly what a trip to Las Vegas should be. She quickly got into her own taxi, excited to tell her friends everything about her night with the mysterious and sexy older man.
“This can’t be happening,” Nancy told her gynecologist. “Please tell me it’s a joke.”
“Look, a home analysis can fail sometimes, but this one is real,” he informed Nancy with a patient smile. “Blood tests don’t lie.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“So it wasn’t a planned pregnancy,” her gynecologist said. “Do you want to talk about your options?”
“Abort, she says?” Nancy asked, frowning.
“That’s either give it up for adoption or keep the baby. Whatever,” he nodded. “It’s your choice, in any case.”
https://syndicatedsearch.goog/afs/ads?psid=5134551505&channel=AutoRsVariant&cx=r-48d8490a21ce9105f&fexp=31093430%2C95362656%2C95365700%2C95365880%2C95366019%2C95366348%2C95366850%2C95359265%2C95366363%2C0%2C21404%2C17301431%2C17301432%2C17301436%2C17301548%2C17301266%2C72717108&client=pub-1791625224968723&r=m&hl=en&rpbu=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com&rpqp=q&type=3&rs_tt=c&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&format=r5&nocache=1061752956259523&num=0&output=afd_ads&domain_name=news-n1.com&v=3&bsl=10&pac=0&u_his=1&u_tz=-420&dt=1752956259528&u_w=1366&u_h=768&biw=1351&bih=641&psw=1351&psh=18285&frm=0&uio=-&cont=autors-container-0&drt=0&jsid=csa&nfp=1&jsv=782917150&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-n1.com%2Ffather-discovers-that-his-twin-children-are-actually-his-brothers-story-of-the-day%2F&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fl.facebook.com%2F
“I’ve heard that abortions can be risky… What if something fails and then I have a problem getting pregnant?” Nancy stammered.
“It’s very unlikely. Abortions are pretty safe today, but don’t make a decision based on that,” the doctor added, patting Nancy’s shoulder.
Nancy sighed and left the medical office without knowing where to go or what to do.
“Damn,” Anna exclaimed, shaking her head and drinking a drink. Nancy had made plans with her to go for drinks, which she obviously couldn’t do now.
“Seh,” he snapped his lips.
“The father is that man from Las Vegas, isn’t he?” her friend continued.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Do you have any way to find it?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Nancy replied, biting her lip. “I guess I’m going to have this baby.”
“And, I don’t know, I guess.”
“You’re crazy,” her friend whispered and rubbed her forehead.
“Actually, no. I mean…”.
A male voice interrupted their serious conversation.
Nancy and Anna saw two men who smiled shyly at them.
“My friend and I saw them too serious here, and we thought we should get closer to cheer them up,” the same man continued.
Anna looked at Nancy to see if she wanted to scare the men away, but she was too kind.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Of course. We could use a little distraction,” Nancy told them.
“Fantastic. I’m Oliver, and this is Harry,” they introduced themselves, and Nancy and Anna did the same. They chatted for half an hour before Oliver took Anna out to dance and left.
“I’ve noticed that you don’t drink,” Harry said, rubbing his neck nervously.
“Yes. I have a…”, Nancy paused for a second. “A fit of heartburn, I don’t feel quite well. I came for Anna, who needed a night of fun.”
“Oh, what a shame. You should be resting.”
“No, it’s okay. I also needed to leave the house. Being alone with your thoughts is not pleasant, sometimes,” Nancy continued. “Then, tell me about yourself. We let Oliver and Anna dominate the conversation.”
“Yes, we did. Well, I’m a manager of…”.
They talked while Oliver and Anna remained on the dance floor for what seemed like hours. But finally, her friend approached and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go to the ladies’ bathroom,” he insisted.
“Okay, I guess I have to go,” Nancy apologized to Harry.
“Bed with him,” Anna said as soon as they entered the bathroom.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Do it with him tonight,” her friend continued, almost demanding. “You haven’t been pregnant for a long time. The Las Vegas thing was only three weeks ago. Sleep with him. Say that he has made you pregnant and have the baby with him.”
“Are you crazy?” Nancy was about to scream, but she held back.
“No, you’re crazy to think that you have the means to be a single mother,” Anna continued. “Do it. He seems like a good guy. Handsome. A little clumsy and too solicitous, but it will be fine, you’ll see.”
“Anna, it wouldn’t be ethical to do that,” Nancy continued, horrified.
“Oh, it doesn’t matter. Men take advantage of women all the time,” her friend insisted. “I’m telling you that having this baby alone will be terrible. I have a friend from high school. She was the smartest in the class, except when she got pregnant and the man ran away. All his dreams, all his ambitions went through the door when he decided to have it.”
“Anna, I have a degree and a job. I can raise this baby, I’m not like that friend of yours,” Nancy sighed, exasperated. But inwardly, Anna’s suggestion was not a completely horrible plan. Maybe it would be better to give your child a father than to face motherhood alone. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”
“Yes! You’ll see, I have a feeling that you’re going to marry this one!” Anna smiled.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Ah, shut up,” Nancy denied again with her head, and they came out again.
Her friend and Oliver went back to the dance floor, and Nancy sat with Harry. They talked a little more, and all the time, she thought about Anna’s words. At one point, he swore he wouldn’t do something so low. Harry, for his part, continued talking while she had her internal debate. At some point, she had to make a decision and thought about her son asking about his father in the future or not being able to date or stagnate in his career because single mothers didn’t have time. Anna’s story sounded in his head again and, finally, he dared.
“Would you like to get out of here?” Nancy asked, showing him her most flirtatious smile so that there was no doubt about her intentions. Harry was puzzled for a second but nodded quickly. Anna gestured with her thumb as they left.
“They’re going to love you,” Harry said as they climbed the three steps of Harry’s parents’ house.
“Oh, God. They’re going to get angry and they’re going to be shocked,” Nancy said, rubbing her belly that she could finally see.
“No, they’re going to be grandparents. They will be delighted,” his fiancé insisted, and rang the bell.
“Harry!” greeted them with a thunderous voice, opening his arms wide. But Nancy didn’t see the man’s face first. She smelled something… that intoxicating perfume that had gotten her into trouble.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Dad, this is my fiancée,” Harry said as he turned away from his father only to reveal… Robert
They stared at each other for a second that lasted a lifetime, and the older man looked down at his arm on his belly. He started coughing.
“Promised?” Robert finally asked after recovering.
“I know it’s a surprise. But as you can see, there is another surprise saved,” Harry continued, pulling Nancy next to him when they entered the house.
Harry’s mother, Miriam, was enchanted, and attracted Nancy with force to hug her, aware of her belly. They sat down and explained the situation better, including how they had met, how they found out about the pregnancy and their plans to get married as soon as possible.
Nancy just went with the flow, not knowing what to say. He tried to stay calm but he could feel Robert’s intense gaze, although he intentionally avoided his eyes.
“Harry, come help me look for the baby’s album. Nancy should see your baby photos. Your son will be beautiful,” Miriam told him, and Harry smiled.
“Actually, mom. We just found out that we are going to have twins. Children.”
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“AAAH!” Miriam exclaimed, hugging her son and her future daughter-in-law tightly. She and Harry ended up leaving in search of the baby’s album, leaving Nancy and Robert alone.
Nancy’s eyes turned away, trying to find something to talk about, but he cleared his throat. “Nancy, are they…?”
“No. They are Harry’s,” Nancy interrupted, pointing. “I had no idea he was your son. Hell, I didn’t know you were married. But these babies are yours, and we’re not going to discuss that anymore. Let’s do what they say: ‘What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas’.”
“Okay. We have a pact of silence,” she nodded, and Nancy was relieved.
“Tell me, Dad!” Harry continued. “How is it that our pediatrician of several years had to tell me that MY CHILDREN are not mine? But even worse, they are my brothers! How could this happen?”
“Stop whining,” the older man insisted and got closer, which only made Harry angrier.
“Don’t touch her,” he warned, his eyes burning. “What happened? Because it’s clear that you’ve deceived mom. But how did it happen? When did they meet? Why did they lie to me?”
“It was in Las Vegas,” Robert revealed, defeated.
“Las Vegas,” Harry whispered to Nancy. “The trip you took with Anna and your friends a few weeks before you met me and slept together.”
Nancy couldn’t speak, but she nodded.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“Did you know you were already pregnant?” Harry continued, with his voice still low.
“Yes,” she confessed, lowering her head. “I’m so sorry, Harry. It was not my intention. It’s just that… I didn’t know what else to do.”
Harry pulled his hair, nervous. “I got stuck with a pregnancy, but not even with my own babies.”
“I’m sorry,” Nancy lamented a little more.
“Son, I’m sorry too,” Robert added. “Although, in my defense, she told me they were yours.”
“Imbecile!” he stopped complaining to get angry with his father-in-law. “You knew it! You can’t blame me all the time!”
They began to argue and, suddenly, Harry had a vision of other times when they were not so angry. They laughed at outdoor meals, always associated for board game nights, and Nancy always said that she liked Robert’s perfume. Now he had been speechless, thinking about the signs he should have seen, especially after his mother died when the children were five years old.
The children… their children… who had brown eyes like their father, although Harry and Nancy had blue eyes. He didn’t question it at the time, but he should have done it.
“As you wish, Nancy! Whether I knew it or not, it doesn’t matter. We have to plan what to do now,” he recorded his father’s voice again.
“Nothing! We won’t do anything. They will never know that you are their real father!” Nancy shouted at him, and Harry rubbed his neck, thinking a lot. But they were interrupted.
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
Image for illustrative purposes | Photo: Unsplash
“That grandfather is our father?” Josh asked. Everyone turned horrified to the door, where the two twins and their friend Bobby were.
“Dad?” Andrew turned to Harry, who tried to smile but couldn’t. The poker face he had kept after the meeting with Dr. Dennison somehow didn’t come out, and his children saw the truth in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the twins, with no more energy for anything else.
What can we learn from this story?
The truth will always end up coming to light. Nancy should have been honest with everyone from the beginning to save everyone a mountain of pain years later.
Lying to someone for your benefit is always wrong. Nancy’s situation was difficult, but she shouldn’t have gone ahead with Anna’s plan or kept lying even in her desperation.
