Chapter 4: The Father of Both Babies
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Victoria's words hung in the air like smoke.
The man who fathered your baby is the same man who fathered mine.
I looked at Daniel.
Then Ethan.
Then my sister.
There were only two identical twin brothers standing in front of me.
And suddenly, the possibility I had been trying desperately to avoid became impossible to ignore.
"You're saying Ethan is the father of both babies?""
Victoria nodded.
My mother covered her mouth.
Rachel grabbed my hand.
Daniel stared at the ground.
Ethan looked as though someone had punched him.
"No," he whispered.
"That's not possible.""
Victoria laughed bitterly.
"That's what everyone keeps saying. Apparently, nobody in this family knows how to accept the truth.""
Ethan snatched the white envelope from the table.
"Where did you get this?""
"From the laboratory.""
"Who gave it to you?""
"Does that matter?""
"Yes, Victoria! It matters!""
She folded her arms.
"You want names? Fine. I spoke to someone at the clinic three days ago. Someone who told me the original samples had been switched.""
Ethan pulled out the document.
His eyes moved quickly across the page.
Then he stopped.
"What?""
I stepped toward him.
"What does it say?""
He didn't answer.
I reached for the paper, but he held it tightly.
"Ethan.""
He finally looked at me.
"The original report says Daniel is not the father of your baby.""
I swallowed.
"And?""
He looked down again.
"The report identifies the father as me.""
A strange sound escaped my throat.
Victoria nodded.
"Exactly.""
Ethan shook his head.
"That's impossible. Claire and I never—"
"I know!"" I shouted.
Everyone turned toward me.
"I know what happened that night at the lake house. We talked. That's all. I remember everything.""
Ethan looked relieved that I believed him.
But Daniel suddenly laughed.
It wasn't a happy laugh.
It was the bitter sound of a man who had finally found a weapon.
"You two expect me to believe that?""
I turned toward him.
"Don't.""
"Don't what? Ask questions? My wife is pregnant with my brother's baby, and apparently my mistress is too.""
"Stop calling Victoria your mistress!""
He looked at me.
"Then what should I call her?""
"Someone who betrayed me.""
Victoria stepped between us.
"Don't pretend you're innocent, Daniel. You knew exactly what you were doing.""
Daniel pointed at her.
"You told me the baby was mine!""
"It is yours!""
Ethan looked up.
"Then why does the original report say otherwise?""
Victoria's expression changed.
For the first time, she seemed unable to find an answer.
I watched her carefully.
"Victoria, how far along are you?""
She blinked.
"What?""
"Your pregnancy. How many weeks?""
"Twenty-three.""
I looked at the ultrasound photograph still lying on the gift table.
Then at the date printed on the laboratory report.
Something wasn't adding up.
I had been pregnant for thirty-one weeks.
Victoria had been gone for eleven months.
And Daniel's affair with her had supposedly begun during the summer.
I turned toward Ethan.
"Did you ever have any contact with Victoria while she was gone?""
"No.""
Victoria scoffed.
"Don't lie.""
Ethan's expression hardened.
"I haven't seen you in almost a year.""
"Not in person.""
The words made everyone freeze.
Ethan stared at her.
"What are you talking about?""
Victoria pulled her phone from her purse.
"I have messages.""
She opened a conversation and held the screen toward him.
The name at the top read:
*E. Parker.*
I felt my heart sink.
Ethan took the phone.
His eyes widened.
"These aren't my messages.""
Victoria laughed.
"Of course you'd say that.""
He scrolled through them.
There were months of conversations.
Some were affectionate.
Some were intimate.
One message read:
*I still think about that night. I wish we could go back.*
Another said:
*When the baby comes, everything will finally be different.*
Ethan looked physically sick.
"I never sent these.""
Daniel stepped forward.
"Convenient.""
Ethan turned toward him.
"You're the one who has been sleeping with her!""
Daniel said nothing.
I looked at Victoria.
"Show me the number.""
She hesitated.
"Why?""
"Because I want to see the number.""
She handed me the phone.
I checked the conversation details.
The number was unfamiliar.
But the contact photograph wasn't.
It was a picture of Ethan standing beside Daniel at their father's birthday party.
I looked closer.
The photograph had been cropped.
Something about it bothered me.
Then I noticed the watch on his wrist.
Ethan wore a black leather watch.
The man in the photograph wore a silver one.
Daniel's watch.
I slowly looked up.
"Victoria, where did you get this picture?""
She snatched the phone back.
"Why does it matter?""
"Because that's not Ethan.""
Daniel's face changed.
Ethan leaned closer.
"Let me see.""
Victoria stepped backward.
"You're both being ridiculous.""
Ethan reached for the phone.
She pulled it away.
And suddenly I understood something.
My sister had not just been pretending to be me.
Someone else had been pretending to be Ethan.
But why?
Before I could ask, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
*Claire, leave the baby shower immediately. Do not trust either brother.*
I stared at the message.
A second message appeared.
*I know what happened at the lake house. I know who was really there.*
My hands went numb.
I looked at Ethan.
"Did you send this?""
He shook his head.
Daniel looked at my phone.
"Who is it?""
"I don't know.""
The phone vibrated again.
This time, there was a photograph.
It showed the lake house porch.
The same wooden chairs.
The same blanket.
The same evening I remembered sitting with Ethan.
But the photograph had been taken from inside the house.
And in the reflection of the glass door, I could see two people.
One was me.
The other looked like Ethan.
Except the man was wearing Daniel's silver watch.
I raised my eyes.
Daniel was staring at the photograph.
His face had turned ghostly white.
"Claire," he whispered.
I took a step away.
"What?""
He looked at Ethan.
Then Victoria.
Then me.
"There's something about that night I never told you.""
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Daniel, don't.""
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
"Your sister wasn't the only person who pretended to be you.""
My entire body went cold.
"What are you saying?""
He looked directly at me.
"That night at the lake house, the woman Ethan thought he was talking to wasn't you.""
I couldn't breathe.
Ethan slowly lowered the report.
May you like
And Victoria smiled.
Because apparently, she had been waiting eleven months for that confession.
