On our wedding night, as my husband and I lay together, the door opened and his mother burst into the room, panting and trembling. ‘STOP!’ – she shouted, her voice trembling with urgency.
I’ve never had a family.
I grew up in an orphanage, surrounded by children who, like me, were abandoned. Some had parents who didn’t want them. Others had parents who couldn’t support them. I never knew which of these things were true for me.
All I knew was that when I was very young, someone had left me on the doorstep of an orphanage. No note. No explanation. Just…gone.
For a long time, I told myself it didn’t matter.
I worked harder. I studied harder. I earned a scholarship to college. I was building a future with my own hands.
Then I met Daniel. He was two years younger, always smiling, always surrounded by people. I was used to keeping my distance, but Daniel had a knack for breaking through any walls I put up.
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One day in the library, he sat down across from me and grinned.
‘You always look so serious.’
I barely looked up. ‘I’m studying.’
‘Me too,’ he said, closing the book. ‘Studying you.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Wow. That was awful.’
He just laughed. And from that day on, he never left my side again.
Six months later, he proposed to me. I hesitated.
Marriage meant trusting someone completely. To depend on him. And I’d never depended on anyone before.
But when I looked into Daniel’s eyes, I saw something I’d never had before-a future with a man who would always stay.
And I said yes.
The wedding was like something out of a dream.
The church was beautiful – soft candlelight, white roses everywhere. The air smelled of vanilla and fresh flowers.
There was laughter, music, and dancing at the reception. Daniel’s father gave a toast, his deep voice full of pride. ‘To my son and his beautiful bride,’ he said, raising his glass. ‘May your love be strong, your home be warm, and your future be bright.’
I smiled, but more than anything I wanted to see Mrs Reynolds.
She was the closest person in my life, similar to my mother. She sat in the corner and looked at me with affectionate eyes.
‘You clean up good, kid,’ she said with a chuckle.
That night, Daniel and I arrived at our suite.
The room had golden lighting, a soft white bed, and a balcony overlooking the cityscape. But most of all it was quiet.
We were finally alone.
I collapsed onto the bed with a sigh.
Daniel lay down next to me, intertwining his fingers with mine. ‘So,’ he began. ‘What’s next?’
I smiled. ‘Sleep. Lots of sleep.’
He chuckled. ‘Not a honeymoon in Paris? Not a house full of kids?’
I turned my head to look at him. ‘Paris can wait.’
‘And the kids?’
I hesitated.
‘I’ve never thought about it before,’ I admitted. ‘I’ve never had parents, so I don’t know what kind of mother I’d be.’
Daniel propped himself up on an elbow, watching me. ‘You’d be amazing.’
I let out a small chuckle. ‘You don’t know that.’
‘I do,’ he said softly. ‘Because you have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.’
For a moment, I let myself imagine it. A home. A family. A life where I belonged to myself.
Then.
BANG.
The door rattled open.
I turned around sharply, my heart pounding in my chest.
Standing in the doorway was Margaret, Daniel’s mother. She was breathing in ragged gulps. Her hands clutched the doorframe, fingers trembling.
Daniel jumped up beside me. ‘Mum?’
Her eyes sank into mine. Wild. Frightened.
‘Stop!’ – She shouted.
I stared at her in confusion. ‘What?’
Margaret swallowed hard. ‘You can’t…you can’t have a baby.’
There was a heavy silence in the room.
Daniel and I exchanged glances.
‘Mum, what are you talking about?’ asked Daniel, his voice strained with confusion.
Margaret stepped forward. Her whole body trembled.
‘I need to tell you something,’ she said.
Her voice cracked.
‘You can be brother and sister.’
I felt like all the air had been pumped out of the room.
My chest constricted, my vision blurred, and my whole body went cold.
‘I just spent an hour talking to Mrs Reynolds.’
I flinched at that name. I trusted Mrs Reynolds. She’d been by my side my whole life. If she told Margaret something, it had to be true.
‘I’ve never told anyone about this before,’ Margaret continued, her voice trailing off. ‘Not my husband. Not to my son. But…twenty-two years ago, I left my newborn baby on the doorstep of an orphanage.’
I stopped breathing.
The room swirled around me. I clenched the sheet in my fists, trying to stay on my feet.
No. No, no, no, no.
Margaret continued to speak, but her words were barely audible in my head.
‘I was young, I was scared,’ she said, looking at me with eyes glassy with tears. ‘My then boyfriend convinced me that we were too poor to raise a child. I didn’t know what else to do.’
She sighed heavily. ‘I…I walked over to the local orphanage, put her on the doorstep, knocked, and ran away. And then…I never looked back.’
My heart thumped against my ribs. The same orphanage where I grew up. The same orphanage where I’d been found as a baby.
Margaret shook her head. ‘I never told anyone. I married another man. I had Daniel. And I buried him. I thought I could move on with my life.’
She let out a dry, hollow laugh. ‘But then I met you, Emma. And tonight Mrs Reynolds told me the truth. She told me about the girl who was found that night, all alone, on the doorstep of the orphanage. And I…’ She interrupted, her voice choked. ‘I started counting. Years. Time. And I realised… it was you.’
I felt my body separate from my mind.
It wasn’t.
Margaret turned to Daniel, tears streaming down her face. ‘I never wanted to tell you this. But I had to stop you before…’ She covered her face, her body shaking.
I suddenly felt suffocating. The walls of the hotel room seemed too tight and the air too thick. I jumped off the bed, my legs shaking.
Daniel reached for me, but I pulled away.
‘I need air,’ I gasped.
I didn’t wait for an answer. I just ran.
I barely remembered how I got to the hotel balcony.
The cold night air touched my skin, but it didn’t help. My stomach twisted, my head splitting. This couldn’t be happening.
I gripped the railing, squeezing my eyes shut. I’d spent my whole life wondering where I’d come from. And now that I had finally decided I had found a family, it had turned into a nightmare.
I heard the balcony door open behind me.
Daniel’s voice was soft. Cautious. ‘Emma…’
I turned to him. He looked as lost as I did.
‘What if it’s true?’ I whispered.
Daniel swallowed hard. ‘We don’t know that yet.’
I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to catch my breath from panic.
‘How do we fix this?’ My voice cracked.
Daniel didn’t answer. We both knew that if we really were siblings, there was no way to fix it.
The night passed like a blur. I didn’t sleep, and neither did Margaret. She sat in the corner of the hotel room with her arms wrapped around herself, staring into the void.
At one point I heard her whisper: ‘I’m so sorry.’
Daniel didn’t say a word. By dawn, the answer was clear.
‘We need to do a DNA test,’ I said.
Margaret nodded immediately. ‘First thing this morning.’
I exhaled heavily. The truth was coming.
The scariest part was the waiting. Sitting in this sterile clinic, unspoken fears in the air, I could barely breathe. Every second felt like an eternity.
Daniel sat next to me, his leg bouncing restlessly. Margaret sat across from us, kneading her hands. Neither of us spoke.
Then the door opened. The doctor walked in, holding a thin manila folder. My stomach cramped.
‘The results are in,’ he said.
I clenched my fists. My heart was pounding so loudly I could barely hear anything. The doctor opened the folder, scanning the pages. Then finally looked up.
‘You’re not related.’
For a moment, no one moved. Then the air rushed back into my lungs. I felt slightly dizzy, as if I’d been holding my breath for hours.
Daniel exhaled with difficulty, his shoulders slumping in relief.
Margaret burst into tears. ‘Oh my God,’ she sobbed, pressing her hands to her face. ‘I’m so sorry. I…I thought…’
She couldn’t finish.
I reached for Daniel’s hand and squeezed it tightly. He squeezed it back.
The nightmare was over. But the truth still remained.
Somewhere out there, Margaret had a daughter. A girl who had been abandoned, just like me. A girl who didn’t even realise her mother had spent the last 24 hours tearing herself apart for her.
And now we had to find her.
Margaret wiped her face and squared her shoulders. ‘I have to do this,’ she said firmly. ‘I have to find her.’
Daniel nodded. ‘We’ll help you.’
I squeezed his hand, my heart steady now. ‘All of us will help.’
Margaret had already lost her daughter once. She wasn’t going to lose her again.
