I nervously stood up as Dr. Dennison entered the office. I had brought my twin boys, Josh and Andrew, for a checkup. Josh had severe anemia, and the doctor had run tests on all of us to see if I could provide a blood transfusion.
“Mr. Campbell. Please have a seat,” the doctor said. “I wanted to talk to you in private. The boys can wait outside.” My heart raced, but I tried to stay calm. “Do we have a final plan?” I asked once the door closed.
“Right now, my concern isn’t Josh’s anemia,” the doctor replied. “I wanted to ask… did you adopt the boys?” Chills ran down my spine. I explained they were biological. “Well,” he sighed, “your blood type is incompatible with theirs. You and your wife are both B. Both your twins are type A. Blood type isn’t the ultimate factor, but I took the liberty of running a DNA test. Mr. Campbell, Andrew and Josh are technically your half-siblings, not your sons.”
The world tilted. The kids I had raised for 12 years weren’t mine—they were my father’s. That meant Nancy had been with him. But how? She was already pregnant when I first introduced her to my parents.
I drove home in a trance. When we arrived, I saw my father’s car. I heard the boys yell, “Grandpa! We missed you!” I balled my fists. I couldn’t explode in front of the kids, so I forced a grin and sent them to a friend’s house for game night. As soon as they left, I turned on Nancy. “Did you sleep with my father?”
Nancy turned pale. My father, Robert, tried to interject. “Son, it’s not what you think.”
“DNA doesn’t lie!” I shouted. “I want the truth!”
Nancy broke down and recounted a night 13 years ago in Las Vegas. She had met a charming man twice her age named Robert. They had a one-night stand. Three weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. Panicked and wanting a father for her child, she met me shortly after. We slept together, and she let me believe the babies were mine.
When I finally took her home to meet my parents, the door opened and there was Robert. He was my father. Nancy and Robert realized the truth that day but made a pact: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” They decided to keep the secret forever to protect our family.
“The pediatrician had to tell me my sons are my brothers?” I whispered, my voice trembling. “Vegas… the trip you took right before you met me?”
Nancy nodded, sobbing. “You baby-trapped me with my own father’s children!” I screamed.
“Son, I’m sorry,” my father said. “In my defense, she told me they were yours.”
“You’re a monster!” Nancy yelled at him. They started bickering, but my mind went to the boys. I realized now why they had my father’s brown eyes instead of our blue ones.
“Grandpa is our father?”
We froze. Josh and Andrew were standing in the doorway with their friend Bobby. They had heard everything. I tried to look at them, to find a way to maintain the lie, but the truth was written all over my face.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to my boys. I had no energy left. The family I had spent over a decade building was gone, replaced by a reality I could never have imagined.
