George and Patricia visited the cemetery one day, only to find someone who looked exactly like their son there. They were surprised when the man did not recognize them at all.
George and Patricia started their family young. They were currently in their 50s, and they were pregnant with twin sons 27 years ago. During that time, Patricia had a healthy pregnancy. As she was expecting twins, she gave birth at 37 weeks to two beautiful and healthy young boys whom she named Roy and Patrick.
In the hospital during the birth was George, Patricia’s hospital roommate, Nancy, and Nancy’s OB-GYN husband, Dr. Arnold Fitzpatrick. He had delivered the two boys, and they were placed in the nursery while Patricia recovered in a separate room with Nancy.
While Patricia was able to see her twins, Nancy never left the room. It seemed strange to Patricia, but she thought nothing more of it as she was busy caring for her two boys.
Unfortunately, two days later, Dr. Fitzpatrick came into the room with bad news: “I’m sorry, Patricia, I’m sorry, George, but Patrick died of a rare contagious infection. We tried our best to resuscitate him, but he just wasn’t strong enough. He didn’t make it, I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said.
George and Patricia were in shock. Patricia had just held Patrick a couple of hours before his death, and he looked perfectly fine. “I don’t understand, I just held him a couple of hours ago. He was perfectly healthy,” she said, confused.
“You must be mistaken. How could he just die of a rare infection? How did we not know it was coming? Why wasn’t it prevented?” George asked. They had so many questions, but the doctor just couldn’t answer any of them. He only kept apologizing. “Where is he? I want to see him! I want to see my son!” Patricia pleaded, trying to get out of the hospital bed. Dr. Fitzpatrick asked the nurses to try and restrain her.
“Unfortunately, we are not allowed to expose you to him as the infection is contagious. It could also be fatal to you and to your other son, Roy. His remains are currently isolated at the morgue,” the doctor explained.
“No! This is impossible! I demand proof! My son can’t be dead, he was perfectly healthy!” Patricia said, sobbing as she yelled. George was in tears as well, trying his best to console his wife.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Dr. Fitzpatrick repeated. “His remains will be given to you as soon as they are released by the morgue,” he said.
While all of this was happening, Nancy quietly sat inside the same room. She, too, tried to console Patricia, and that prompted her to open up.
“I thought hospitals were supposed to save lives? How could they just let my poor baby die that way? It’s impossible that he was sick. He was perfectly healthy,” Patricia said, still crying.
“I’m sorry, Patricia. I know it must be difficult. Just know that your son is now at peace and free of pain. You need to stay strong for Roy,” she said.
That day, Nancy consoled Patricia who realized that while she’s never seen Nancy with her child, she must have empathized with her as they were both mothers.
When Patricia was discharged from the hospital after Patrick’s remains were released, she never saw Nancy ever again. She never got to see Nancy’s baby, and somewhat held a grudge against Dr. Fitzpatrick for what had happened to their son.
However, she didn’t act on that grudge because she wanted to properly care for Roy. Instead, she, George, and Roy held a quiet funeral for Patrick at home. As she always wanted to be close to him, they decided to keep his urn in their home.
27 years later, George and Patricia were living in Los Angeles with their son Roy. They lived together in a beautiful beach-front home and were an extremely tight-knit family.
Every other month, they would visit Patricia’s late mom, Stacey, at the cemetery. On that particular month, however, Roy had to beg off as he was urgently called on a business trip to New York.
After placing flowers on Stacey’s tomb that day, George and Patricia were surprised to see a man who looked exactly like Roy sitting by a nearby grave. “Roy! What are you doing here? I thought you had a business trip to New York?” Patricia asked, surprised.
The man looked at her, puzzled. “I’m sorry but who are you? My name is not Roy, it’s Steve,” he replied.
“It’s just… you look exactly like my son Roy, and he’s supposed to have a twin brother but he died shortly after birth. It’s so strange. I’m sorry for bothering you,” Patricia said, clutching onto George as she could feel her knees weaken. He and Roy look identical. How could this be? she thought to herself.
“Well, you must have confused me with someone else because I’m visiting my recently deceased mother,” he replied.
“Is that her?” Patricia asked, pointing to the photo he was clutching in his arms. He nodded and showed her the full photo.
Patricia was surprised to see such a familiar face. She last saw Nancy 27 years ago at the hospital, but she knew it was her. So many thoughts suddenly rushed inside her head at that moment that she couldn’t help but gasp. How could Steve look exactly like Roy if he was Nancy’s son? Why didn’t I ever see Nancy with her son at the hospital? Why is it that suddenly her husband told me that my son had died?
She turned to look at George, before looking at Steve with a horrified look on her face. “That’s… that’s my hospital roommate, Nancy. I last saw her at the hospital when I gave birth to my sons 27 years ago…” she said, shaking. “George, it can’t be…” she clutched onto him even harder.
At that moment, George wanted to know what was going on as well. As he could tell Steve was getting bothered, he decided to hand him his calling card. “Would you like to come to our house one of these days? It’s just… I don’t mean to freak you out, but there are some coincidences we just discovered that give us a strange feeling in our gut that you’re actually our son, as strange as it sounds,” he said.
Steve suddenly looked at Patricia and George. He realized some similarities between himself and the both of them that he couldn’t quite remove from his mind now that he was looking at them. Wanting answers himself, he took the card from George. He and Patricia took that as a cue to leave Steve alone and go back home.
A couple of days later, Steve came to their house, eager to know the truth. He had also done some research himself and started putting the puzzle pieces together. “When I was 13, I accidentally found out that my parents were not actually my real parents. Mom ended up admitting that I was adopted. I’m 27 now,” he said.
“Well, Steve, I gave birth to twin boys 27 years ago. Here are the documents, the birth certificates, and the photos of my son Roy and his twin brother. We named him Patrick,” she explained, laying out all the papers on the table.
“I never got the truth from my parents because they never wanted to tell me. My father died when I was 12, and well, my mother died a couple of weeks ago. All I knew was that my mom gave birth to a stillborn child,” Steve explained.
“The woman in the photo you were holding, my hospital roommate Nancy, I never saw her with her child in the three days that I was confined at the hospital. Not once did she leave the room to feed her baby or to even see her baby,” Patricia started. “You look exactly like Roy. Nancy was my hospital roommate and is your adoptive mom, and you are also 27…”
When they started to piece everything together, they all fell silent. They understood everything well. Nancy had suffered a miscarriage, which is why she was at the hospital. She and her husband, Dr. Fitzpatrick, decided to steal one of Patricia and George’s babies to raise as their own, and the ashes they gave Patricia and George were that of their stillborn child.
Steve was heartbroken. He felt as if his whole life was a lie. “I grew up feeling loved by Nancy, but I didn’t think she could betray me that way. I always felt as if a part of me was missing, and now I know why,” he sobbed.
He then hugged Patricia and George, who were also in tears. They have longed to hold their son in their arms again, and they couldn’t believe that he was actually with them at home.
“I would love to get to know you. My real family,” Steve said as they pulled apart from the hug.
“Of course, sweetheart. We want nothing more than that as well,” Patricia said, in tears. She pulled Steve in for another hug and stayed that way for a couple of seconds.
When Roy arrived home from his business trip, they all decided to get a DNA test as a family. All tests came back 100% positive, and it was confirmed that Steve was a part of their family. He decided to change his legal name to Steven Patrick, to merge the names given by his adoptive parents and Patricia and George when he was born.
Roy and Steve got along really well as if they’ve known each other all their lives. The happy family lived together and spent most of their time smiling, enjoying trips, and sharing stories with one another.
What can we learn from this story?
It’s never too late to start over. Steve never thought he would meet his biological parents, but a chance encounter allowed him to meet them and start anew with them.
The truth will always prevail. While Nancy and Arnold got away with their crime, Steve eventually found his way back to his real family.
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