When a new family moved in next door, the uncanny resemblance between their daughter and my own made me suspicious. Could my husband be having an affair? I had to confront him, but the truth turned out to be much darker than I could have imagined. There they were, Emma and Lily, twirling around in our backyard like twin sunflowers chasing the light.
Their laughter rang out in perfect harmony, which should have warmed my heart. I squinted, trying to find the difference — any difference — between my daughter and our new neighbour’s child. But it was like looking at two copies of the same photograph. The same golden curls catching the sunlight, the same button nose and the same mischievous sparkle in their eyes. The only obvious way to tell Emma apart from Lily was the few inches difference in their height. ‘Heather?’ Jack’s voice snapped me out of my trance.
‘Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’ I forced a smile, looking back at my husband. ‘Just thinking.’ I didn’t add that our perfect little world might be built on quicksand. Jack gave me a puzzled look, but then Emma ran up and grabbed his hand. ‘Daddy, come swing Lily and me on the swings!’ she shouted. ‘Of course, sweetheart.’
A smile never left his eyes as he let Emma lead him to the swing, where Lily was already waiting. ‘Can I go first, please?’ Lily asked. ‘Okay, but then it’ll be Emma’s turn,’ Jack replied. As he helped Lily climb onto the swing, I couldn’t help but notice how natural they looked together. Like father and daughter. The thought made my stomach rumble. Later that evening, after putting Emma to bed, I started looking through old photo albums. I flipped through the pages of Emma’s childhood photos, looking for something that would scream, ‘Jack’s genes.’ ‘What are you doing?’ Jack’s voice made me jump.
He stood in the doorway, confusion written all over his face. I snapped the album shut. ‘Nothing. Just… reminiscing.’ ‘Reminiscing…’ he repeated, frowning slightly as he looked over my shoulder at the photo album lying on my lap. I could see the questions in his eyes. Questions he didn’t ask. Just as I didn’t ask about the growing distance between us or why he always changed the subject when I mentioned our new neighbours. Days turned into weeks, and my suspicions grew like weeds in a neglected garden.
Every shared laugh between Jack and Lily, every nervous glance when I mentioned the neighbours. It all fuelled my gnawing doubts. One sleepless night, I couldn’t take it anymore. I rolled over in bed, facing Jack. ‘Is Lily your daughter?’ I said. The words hung in the air like smoke, acrid and suffocating. Jack’s body tensed. ‘What?’ He turned slowly, his face frozen in shock.
‘Heather, what are you talking about? Where did this come from?’ “Don’t play dumb, Jack. The girls look alike. And you’ve been acting strange ever since Lily and her family moved in with us.‘ My voice broke. ’Just tell me the truth. Did you have an affair?‘ Jack sat down, running his hand through his hair. ’This is crazy. Of course I didn’t have an affair! I made a promise to you before God. How could you think I would break it?‘ ’Then why won’t you talk about them?
Why do you shut down every time I mention Lily?” He hung his head. His silence spoke volumes. I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head, weighing the truth against the lie. ‘I can’t… I can’t talk about it right now,’ he finally muttered, swinging his legs off the bed. ‘Jack, don’t you dare leave me!’ But he was already out the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts and fears. The next morning, I woke up in an empty bed with a note on the bedside table. ‘Left early for work. Talk tonight.’
Classic Jack, avoiding confrontation. I spent the whole day in a daze, going about my usual business, while my thoughts raced ahead. By midday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed answers, and I knew where to get them. ‘Emma, sweetie,’ I called. ‘Why don’t you go play with Lily for a while?’ Emma eagerly ran out the door. I waited an hour before following her, my heart pounding.
I knocked on the neighbour’s door, putting on my best ‘neighbour mum’ smile. Lily’s father answered, and his slight smirk faltered a little when he saw me. “Hi, you’re Heather, right? I’m so glad to finally meet you! Please come in. I’m Ryan. Emma’s in the backyard with Lily, if that’s who you’re looking for.‘ ’Yes… could you call her, please?” As soon as Ryan turned away, I started searching his living room. There were lots of framed photos of Ryan and Lily with people who generally shared Ryan’s dark hair and olive skin tone.
His family, I guessed. But why weren’t there any photos of Lily’s mother? Come to think of it, why had I never seen Lily’s mother? I glanced into the hallway. And then my attention was drawn to a large photograph of a fair-haired woman hanging on the wall above. Without thinking, I hurried up the stairs. ‘What are you doing?’ I turned and saw Ryan looking at me grimly. A million excuses flashed through my mind, but they all stuck in my throat. I had to know the truth. ‘Is that Lily’s mother? Where is she?’ Ryan flinched. “Yes… that’s Mary.
She’s no longer with us.‘ ’Because of Jack?‘ I trotted down the stairs. ’They had an affair, didn’t they? And that’s why Lily and Emma look so alike, isn’t it?‘ Ryan’s eyes widened in horror and he shook his head. ’God, no. Didn’t Jack tell you anything?” ‘No! He didn’t,’ I exclaimed. ‘But you seem to know exactly what’s going on here, so please just tell me!’ ‘Mummy?’ Lily and Emma stood at the end of the hallway with worried expressions on their almost identical faces. ‘It’s okay, girls.’
Ryan smiled at them. ‘Heather and I are going to talk for a bit, so why don’t you go back outside and continue playing?’ I nodded to Emma. ‘I’ll call you in a little while.’ The girls exchanged wary glances but didn’t argue. ‘Come in, sit down.’ Ryan called me as he walked into the living room.
‘I’ll tell you everything, Heather.’ ‘First of all, Jack and Mary weren’t having an affair,’ Ryan said when we sat down across from each other. ‘The reason Lily and Emma look alike is because they both look like their grandmother. My Mary was Jack’s sister.’ ‘Sister?’ I shook my head. ‘Jack never mentioned that he had a sister.’
‘Mary was a troubled child. The family disowned her. They didn’t even come to our wedding. Jack was the only one who even took the time to send a message saying he wouldn’t be attending.’ Jack had a sister I never knew about. A sister who was Lily’s mother. ‘Where is she now?’
‘She died last year,’ Ryan muttered. ‘That’s why we moved here. I wanted Lily to have some connection to her mother’s family.’ I buried my face in my hands. Everything I thought I knew about my life, about Jack, was crumbling around me. ‘I’m so sorry,’ Ryan continued. ‘I thought you knew. Jack… he’s having a hard time with this. He feels guilty for not reconnecting with Mary before she died.’
I nodded in shock, my mind reeling. Jack came from a conservative family, and I knew they had had arguments in the past, but nothing like this! A familiar sound caught my attention. I looked up and saw Jack’s car pulling into our neighbouring garage. ‘I… I need to go. Please, can you keep Emma here for a little while longer?’ Ryan followed my gaze, but now nodded. “Of course. You and Jack have a lot to talk about.
She can stay here as long as you need.” The walk home seemed shorter. By the time I reached the front door, my anger had cooled, replaced by emptiness. Jack was in the kitchen, looking out the window at the girls playing in Ryan’s backyard. Heather, I have something to tell you… I raised my hand to stop him. ‘I know, Jack. About Mary. About Lily.’ His face crumpled. ‘I’m so sorry. I should have told you.’ ‘Why didn’t you?’ The question sounded softer than I expected.
Jack sank into a chair: “I was ashamed. My family… they like to think they’re good people, but the way they treated Mary… I couldn’t live with that. I couldn’t admit that I abandoned my sister.‘ I sat down opposite him and reached for his hand. ’But why did you hide it from me?” “I thought I could protect you from that part of my life.
Protect Emma. He laughed bitterly. ‘Instead, I almost ruined everything.’ We talked for several hours, and Jack finally revealed his long-held family secrets and shame. With each revelation, I felt the distance between us shrink. As the sun began to set, Emma and Lily’s laughter drifted in through the open window. Jack and I moved to watch them: two golden heads swaying in the fading light of the sunflowers.
I leaned against him, feeling the steady beat of his heart. The girls still looked like two copies of the same photograph, but now I understood that their similarity hid a deeper truth. The girls’ almost identical appearance was not a sign of betrayal, but of healing: a second chance for a broken family. Emma and Lily’s laughter rang out again as they twirled around in the backyard, and it sounded like a promise of new beginnings. And this time, the sound did not chill me. On the contrary, it warmed my heart.
