The phone was ringing as Angela got in from her walk. She groaned when she saw who it was. She’d not heard from her cousin for quite some time and the last time they spoke they’d had a bit of a falling out after a discussion about Brexit, of all things. Angela picked up the phone. “Hello Pam, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine thanks Angie. I thought I’d give you a ring to see how YOU are.”
“Why? Why now? We haven’t spoken to each other in years. Why now?” Angela asked, curiously.
“Well… didn’t you see the photo on Cornwall Live Facebook page this morning?”
“Oh I stopped looking at Cornwall Live postings ages ago. They just post things to wind people up. Clickbait.”
“I’ll send you the link to it. I really think you need to see it.” Pam sounded a bit agitated.
“Oh well. if you insist… But can’t you just send me the picture, not the link. I really don’t want to give them the satisfaction of clicking on their article.” Angela was curious even so.
“No. You need to read the article as well… There you are, I’ve emailed the link to you. Don’t shoot the messenger when you’ve read it though. I’ve got to go now but give me a ring if you need to talk after you’ve read it. Bye for now.”
“Bye Pam.”
Angie was even more curious now. She opened up Pam’s email and begrudgingly clicked on the link to the Cornwall Live article. She stared at the photo in horror. There was her husband with his arm around another woman, holding a baby.
The headline read “Man delivers his wife’s baby whilst out in his motor boat.” Aghast she read the article. The couple were on holiday in Cornwall and had gone out on their motor boat the day before. The baby apparently wasn’t due for another three weeks but while they were out at sea the mother’s waters broke and it wasn’t long before the baby started to make its way into the world. There was nothing for it but to race back to the shore, but as the boat had pulled into the harbour it was obvious that there was no way the mother would be able to climb out of the boat. A few minutes later the baby had arrived with the help of the father.
Horrified Angela reread the article. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her husband, with a fake name, had sired a baby with another woman. Not only that but he had married the other woman. She was flabbergasted. No wonder he spent so many weeks away, supposedly on business.
Angela wiped away her tears as she heard the key in the lock. John, her husband, was home… after a week away in Chester, he’d said.
“Hello darling,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.
“Don’t you “darling” me!” shouted Angela, “I know what you’ve been up to… Robert!” She flung the door open and stormed upstairs.
John quickly followed her. *I haven’t got a clue what you are on about,” he said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. “And why did you call me Robert?”
“It’s all over Facebook, what you did yesterday,” Angela wailed, thrusting her mobile phone into his hand. “Look!… You and that woman!” She pulled away from him and ran into the bathroom in tears.
John looked at the article, amazed. There was no doubt about it. The picture was of him. Well, it looked like him… or did it? John zoomed the photo a bit. No. The person in the photo didn’t have the tiny scar above his eyebrow that John had.
“Look darling. It’s not a picture of me. There’s no scar above his eyebrow.” John stood outside the bathroom door holding the phone to let Angela see it through the crack in the door as she opened it. Angela opened the door wider and looked at the photo again, and then looked at John, and back at the photo. “Well if it’s not you then who is it?”
“That’s what I would like to know,” replied John. “And believe me, I’m going to find out.”
That evening John went to see his mother. She was equally amazed when John showed her the picture. Then she looked embarrassed. “I think I had better tell you something, John. Something I should have told you long ago, but I was too ashamed.”
John was intrigued. “You’re not going to tell me that I had a twin brother that you gave away. are you?” he joked.
John’s mother looked very sheepish. “I’m afraid I am,” she replied. “You’ve got to understand that things were very hard for me when you were born. I was very young, unmarried, and couldn’t cope. I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Your real dad was a waste of space and didn’t want anything to do with his babies. It was agreed that his parents would adopt one of our babies. You were the older twin, so I kept you. I didn’t know your adopted dad then. I only met him a year later.
“I was never allowed to see Robert again, and his father and grandparents moved away, without letting me know where they lived. I suppose I should have tried to find him again when you were older, but I didn’t want to stir up old wounds…” John’s mother started to cry.
Having comforted his mother, John returned home. He related the whole incredible story to Angela. “And now, I am going to find my twin brother,” he said as he started to type out an email to Cornwall Live.
Words of Wisdom 