by K M Morgan
“That’s what you say. By the looks of it, that woman might believe otherwise.”
“Clearly. Although, I just spoke with Trevor a few hours ago. I find it hard to believe that his boss would let him take his lunch break so early in his shift.”
“Maybe he told his manager that he had an emergency to take care of.”
“What if that so-called emergency is to do some damage control? I mean, after the way that I confronted Trevor, he knows that his secret is out. He probably realizes that it’s only a matter of time before I tell Samantha. So, perhaps he called his mistress over to this motel to discuss what their next step is.”
“That’s a possibility.”
“Or how about this theory?” Daisy said. “What if he called his mistress here to break things off for her?”
***
It turned out that Daisy’s theory didn’t hold weight for very long. The red-haired woman got out of her vehicle and then approached the door to room number four. She then knocked on the door.
A few seconds later, the door swung open. That was when Daisy spotted Trevor standing in the doorway. Trevor leaned forward and gave the red-haired woman a kiss. The redhead then joined Trevor inside the room. Trevor closed the door behind her.
Meanwhile, back in Gavin’s car, Daisy’s stomach began to turn.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Daisy said.
“I don’t feel so good either,” Gavin said.
Daisy’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared at the door to the motel room. “I can’t believe it.”
“How do you think I feel?” Gavin asked. “I mean, it’s the second time I’ve seen it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me.”
“This is so awful. I don’t even know what to say right now.”
“I’m at a loss as well.”
Daisy and Gavin both grimaced and fell silent for a moment.
Gavin then took a deep breath and turned to Daisy.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked.
Daisy’s eyes lit up with rage. “I’m going to give Trevor a piece of my mind.”
A look of confusion came to Gavin’s face. “Wait. What?”
“Trevor lied to my face earlier,” Daisy said. “Now, he has some serious explaining to do.”
Daisy got out of her husband’s car.
“Wait. You’re really just going to go up there and confront him?” Gavin asked.
“Watch me.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk this through first?”
Daisy shook her head. “No.”
Daisy started walking toward the motel room.
Gavin frantically opened his car door and joined Daisy.
“I’m going with you,” he said.
Chapter Thirteen
When Daisy reached the door to Trevor’s room, she started pounding on it.
Surprisingly, Trevor didn’t answer.
Daisy refused to be deterred. She pounded on the door again and yelled, “I know you’re in there. Come on out.”
A few seconds later, the door swung open.
Trevor then gave Daisy a blank stare.
“Miss, I believe you have the wrong room,” Trevor said.
Daisy couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Trevor had a lot of nerve, talking to her like that. Who did he think he was? She wasn’t going to put up with him acting like she was the one who had made a mistake. He was in the wrong. And she was going to let him have it.
“I can’t believe you,” Daisy snapped. “What do you think you’re doing, cheating on Samantha like this?”
Trevor threw out his arms and looked genuinely confused. “Who is Samantha?”
Daisy became even more outraged. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
The expression on Trevor’s face was one of outright bewilderment. “I’m serious. I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“You have a lot of nerve, saying something like that,” Daisy replied. “Samantha is your wife.”
Trevor replied with as cool of a head as he could. “Miss, please calm down.”
“I don’t care what you say. You’re not going to silence me. I’m going to tell Samantha about this. And you’re going to regret what you’ve done.”
“Miss, I’m begging you to hear me out,” Trevor said. “This is all just a big misunderstanding.”
“Trust me. I wish that was the case. But it’s not—”
Trevor interrupted her. “I can assure you. You have me mixed up with someone else.”
As Daisy looked into Trevor’s eyes, something stood out to her. He legitimately looked like he had no idea what she was talking about. In fact, he didn’t even seem to recognize her. It was almost as if he had amnesia or something. Daisy felt like she was talking to a completely different person than the Trevor she had spoken with a few hours earlier.
Even so, Daisy wasn’t going to take it easy on Trevor. Not after what he had done.
“Stop trying to fool me. Samantha is my best friend. And I’m going to tell her what you did, Trevor,” Daisy said.
Daisy then turned around and started to storm away.
Trevor held his arm out. “No. Please don’t leave.”
Daisy shook her head. “Don’t try to stop me.”
“Miss, my name isn’t Trevor. It’s Eric,” he said.
Daisy stopped dead in her tracks. She whirled around and looked at Trevor like he had two heads.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
The man pulled out his wallet and grabbed his driver’s license. As he showed the license to Daisy, she took note of the name on the card.
“My name is Eric Radford,” he said.
Daisy shook her head. “I don’t understand. This doesn’t make any sense. I mean, you look exactly like Trevor.”
“I know,” he said.
Daisy’s brow furrowed. “I’m so confused right now. How could you look exactly like Trevor, yet not be him?”
Eric pointed inside his room. “Why don’t you two come inside for a moment and take a seat? I think I can explain everything.”
Chapter Fourteen
As Daisy took a seat on the bed, her head was practically spinning. She had no clue how Eric was going to make sense of this. He did his best.
“This might sound crazy, but Trevor and I are identical twins,” Eric said.
“You’re right. It does sound nuts. I’ve known Trevor for years, and he has never mentioned that he has a brother, much less an identical twin,” Daisy said.
“That’s because he doesn’t know that I exist.”
Daisy folded her arms. “Just when I thought your story couldn’t get any wilder.”
“How do you think I feel? Up until a few months ago, I thought I was an only child,” Eric said.
“If that’s the case, then how did you find out that you had a twin brother?” Daisy asked.
Eric pointed at the red-haired woman. “Kristin bought me one of those DNA tests for my birthday. Originally, I didn’t want to take it. I was afraid of what I might find out.”
“There’s a lot of that going around.”
“Eventually, Kristin convinced me to take the test. That’s when I found out some surprising information. The kind of details that spurred me to meet my birth mother.”
“What sort of info?”
“It turned out that my genetic history was completely different than I thought it was. In addition, in terms of nationality, I grew up believing I was Irish. Instead, I’m actually Italian.”
“Wow. That is some eye-opening information.”
“Exactly,” Eric said. “Anyway, I have known for decades that I was adopted, but for the longest time, I didn’t have much interest in meeting my birth mother. My adoptive parents were so good to me that I just wasn’t interested. But with this DNA test, I decided to track down my birth mother.”
“And I’m assuming you found her.”
Eric nodded. “I did. I actually met her
about a month ago.”
“How did it go?”
“Honestly, it was pretty weird.”
“Stranger than this discussion?” Daisy asked.
Eric shook his head. “No.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Let’s get back to my birth mother for a second,” Eric said. “As we got to talking, she explained the events leading up to me being put up for adoption. According to her, she got pregnant at an early age. As a nineteen-year-old, she wasn’t prepared to raise one kid, much less twins. Now, imagine my shock when I heard her say the word twins.”
“That would be a pretty incredible thing to hear.”
“Especially since I thought I was an only child. But the moment I found out that I had a brother, I asked my mom why my twin and I weren’t adopted into the same home.”
“What did she say?”
“That the adoption agency tried their best to place us in the same home. But a lot of people don’t want to take on the task of raising two children at once. So, the agency decided to separate us. It turns out that plan worked. Shortly after the agency put their new plan into action, my brother and I were adopted into separate homes.”
Daisy squinted. “I’m confused, though. When your adoptive mother revealed the truth to you about how you came into her life, didn’t she tell you about your twin brother?”
Eric shook his head. “No.”
“That’s strange.”
“I’m sure she would have, but she didn’t know that I had a twin. Apparently, the agency never told her.”
Daisy’s jaw dropped. “Wow. That’s a pretty big detail to keep from a prospective parent.”
“It sure is. But there’s nothing that can be done about it now.”
“There certainly isn’t.”
“Anyway, after doing some digging, I managed to track Trevor down. Kristin and I then made the drive here from Vancouver. I was planning on introducing myself to him later in the week. I just haven’t quite worked up the nerve yet.”
“That is one amazing story.”
“It’s not just a story. It’s the truth. So, you can see that this whole cheating business was just a misunderstanding.”
Daisy nodded. “I realize that now.”
“I’m glad we’ve cleared that up,” Eric said.
Daisy raised her hand. “Speaking of Trevor, when are you planning on introducing yourself to him exactly?”
Eric began to fidget nervously. “I’m still working on that part.”
“How about today?” Daisy asked.
Eric’s eyebrows rose. “Are you serious?”
Daisy nodded. “I can help you,” she said. “To make the introduction easier.”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course. Besides, after barging in on you like this, I feel like I need to make it up to you,” Daisy replied.
Eric became quiet and stared off into the distance.
“So, what do you say?” Daisy asked. “Are you ready to meet your twin brother?”
Chapter Fifteen
Daisy, Gavin, Kristin, and Eric all headed over to Trevor’s house to reveal the big news to him. It was safe to say that everyone was a little nervous. Eric, in particular, was having difficulty keeping himself together.
But when they all arrived at Trevor’s house, Eric mustered up the courage to knock on the front door. A few seconds later, the door swung open. That was when things got really interesting.
When Trevor saw Eric on his front step, his jaw nearly dropped. With good reason. Trevor had no idea who was knocking at his door. But judging by the expression on his face, he certainly didn’t expect a stranger who looked exactly like him to be standing before him.
Truthfully, Trevor didn’t even seem to believe what he was seeing. He had so many questions, but no answers.
That’s where Daisy came in. She stepped forward and suggested that everyone go inside. Once the group was standing inside Trevor’s living room, they were joined by Trevor’s wife, Samantha.
From there, Daisy let Eric explain everything to Trevor. Daisy watched Trevor closely as Eric went into detail about the DNA test, tracking down their birth mother, and discovering he had a brother.
Not surprisingly, when Eric finished speaking, Trevor remained silent for a few seconds as he processed all of the news. But when Trevor stayed quiet for over ten seconds, things started to get a little awkward.
Daisy certainly understood why Trevor was having trouble untying his tongue. If Daisy was in his shoes, she would do the same.
Finally, after about twenty seconds of silence, Trevor spoke up.
By then, Eric looked as nervous as could be.
“I can't believe I have an identical twin,” Trevor said.
“Imagine how shocked I was when I found out,” Eric said.
“Did your face look exactly like this?” Trevor joked.
Eric nodded. “It certainly did.”
“I don’t blame you for being so out of sorts. It’s a big adjustment for me too, and I’ve known the truth for a whole month.”
“Let’s be honest. It’s probably going to take a while for all of this to really sink in. And why wouldn’t it? This is a lot to digest.”
“It sure is.”
“It’s also pretty crazy when you think about it. I mean, all these years you’ve been out there, a couple hundred miles down the road.”
“When you put it that way, it’s actually surprising to think that we never ran into each other.”
“I guess our paths just never crossed.”
“Not in person. Or online. That’s pretty astonishing, considering that we’re living in the age of social media.”
“The important thing is that we’ve finally met now,” Eric said.
“I couldn’t agree more. What wonderful news,” Trevor said. “I have to admit, this is the biggest surprise of my entire life.”
“At least it’s a good one. There are plenty enough bad surprises in life.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Trevor stared at his brother. “There’s so many questions that I want to ask you that I’m not even sure where to start.”
“I’ll bet. After all, I feel the same way.”
“We could start with the basics.”
“That’s probably a good call.”
Trevor got quiet again and stared out into the distance.
“What are you thinking right now?” Eric asked.
“That we have a lot of lost time to make up for.”
“We certainly do.”
“Also, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’ve been out there all this time. That I’ve lived so many years, believing I was an only child. Only now to find out that the opposite is true.”
“It is a jaw-dropping thing to find out.”
Trevor nodded. “It also makes me think about all of the missed opportunities there were over the years. I mean, when I was growing up, I always wished I had a brother. To play sports with. To hang out with. To talk to.”
“Go figure. It turns out you did have a brother. You just didn’t realize it.”
“If only we could go back and do it over again.”
“I’m right there with you. But here’s the thing. There’s nothing we can do about that now. So, why don’t we look forward?” Eric asked.
“That’s a good idea,” Trevor said. “On that note, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
Chapter Sixteen
Trevor and Eric talked for a couple hours. They told stories about their lives. Got acquainted. Shared some laughs. Asked plenty of questions. And got emotional a few times.
When there was finally a lull in the conversation, Samantha figured it would be a good idea to order some pizza for everyone. At the same time, Eric and Kristin got up from the sofa and stretched a little. Meanwhile, Gavin headed off to the bathroom.
With the rest of the group was busy doing random things for a few moments, Daisy figured it would be a good time
to pull Trevor aside. She needed to talk to him about something really important.
Once they were out of earshot of everyone else, Daisy gave Trevor a contrite look.
“I owe you an apology,” Daisy said.
“It’s okay,” Trevor replied.
“That’s nice of you to say, but I’m really sorry for accusing you of cheating. It turns out I was dead wrong.”
“I can’t argue with that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get something quite so wrong before.”
“That’s because I haven’t. This was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”
“I have to admit. It’s pretty shocking to see an accomplished sleuth like you messing things up like this.”
“If I’m being brutally honest, it has been a pretty shocking day all around.”
“True,” he replied. “Honestly, I’m not sure that the most skilled detective in the entire world could have predicted this.”
“You might be right. I guess we’ll never know.”
Trevor stared out into the distance. “Life really is full of surprises, isn’t it?”
Daisy nodded. “I am reminded of that fact every day.”
“Just when you think you’re starting to figure life out, the universe reminds you that it still has some tricks up its sleeve.”
“If life has taught me anything over the years, it is that you can never truly figure everything out.”
“I will keep that in mind for the future.”
Daisy looked deep into Trevor’s eyes.
“You know, you’re really taking all of this surprisingly well,” Daisy said.
He shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? I just got some good news.”
“I meant, the misunderstanding between you and I. You don’t seem to have any hard feelings at all.”
“That’s because I understand that you were just looking out for Samantha. I would have done the same if I were in your position.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. The fact is, Samantha is lucky to have a friend like you.”
“The way I see it, I’m the lucky one. Samantha is a great person.”
“I know,” he said. “I also realize how fortunate I am to get to spend the rest of my life with her.”
