THE TWINS WERE MINE
I slammed on the brakes.
My fiancée grabbed the dashboard.
“What are you doing?”
I couldn’t answer.
I was staring at Nadine.
She looked nothing like the woman I had divorced.
Her clothes were worn.
Her hair was tied back messily.
Her face was thinner.
But her eyes were exactly the same.
Then one of the babies opened his eyes.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Dark hair.
The same deep brown eyes I saw every morning in my own reflection.
The other baby looked at me too.
My fiancée whispered, “They look like you.”
I got out of the car.
“Nadine?”
She froze.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then she pulled the babies closer.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Her voice was exhausted.
“I have nowhere else to go.”
I looked at the babies.
“How old are they?”
Nadine hesitated.
“Ten months.”
My heart started pounding.
Ten months.
The timing was impossible to ignore.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She gave me a bitter smile.
“I tried.”
“What do you mean?”
“I called you.”
“I never received any calls.”
“You didn’t answer.”
I shook my head.
“Nadine, I never saw anything.”
She stared at me.
Then something changed in her expression.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
She looked toward my fiancée.
Then back at me.
“Your stepfather made sure you would never hear from me.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you talking about?”
Nadine carefully adjusted one of the babies.
“Those photos he showed you were fake.”
I couldn’t speak.
“The bank records were altered. The messages were taken out of context.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Why would he do that?”
Nadine looked directly into my eyes.
“Because he wanted you divorced.”
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because your father left something for you.”
I stared at her.
“My father died years ago.”
“I know.”
She reached into her worn bag.
Then pulled out a small envelope.
My name was written across the front.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My father’s.
My hands began to shake.
“How did you get this?”
“Your father gave it to me before he died.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single handwritten page.
I read the first line.
If you’re reading this, then your stepfather succeeded.
My blood ran cold.
I looked at Nadine.
“What did he succeed in doing?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Taking control of everything your father left you.”
Then she whispered something that made me look back toward the road.
“He didn’t just want your marriage to end.”
She paused.
“He wanted you completely alone.”
And suddenly I understood why my stepfather had been so eager to convince me that Nadine had betrayed me.
But there was one question I still couldn’t answer.
If my stepfather wanted my inheritance…
Why had he been keeping Nadine and my children alive all this time?
Then my fiancée suddenly spoke.
“There’s something you’re not being told.”
I turned toward her.
She was holding another photograph.
And the man standing beside my stepfather in that picture…
Was someone I had believed was dead.