Kevin thought that the hardest aspect of moving to Massachusetts with his daughter Lucy would be getting acclimated to the slower pace of life there compared to New York City.
He worked for a small architectural firm in Ashford, a pretty town with clapboard houses that swayed a little as they became older and church bells that rang on Sunday mornings.
Lucy was 7 years old, brilliant, curious, and always chatting. She got acclimated to it quickly, faster than he expected she would. Their new house was a little two-story building with peeling white paint and creaky floors, but to her, it was a castle compared to their small apartment in the city.
She ran from room to room on their first night, advising them where to put her books, which wall needed fairy lights, and how “definitely haunted but in a fun way” the attic was.
Kevin laughed because he was happy that she was so excited. He wanted her to be positive more than ever. The move was both a method to escape and an opportunity to start fresh. Sarah, Lucy’s mom, had left them years before, when Lucy was only a baby.
The official word was that she “wasn’t ready for family life.” Sarah actually left their lives without saying much, and Kevin has been taking care of Lucy by himself ever since.
He thought he had moved on from that time in his life. This changed when he saw the girl in the library.
It was a rainy Thursday afternoon, a week after they had moved in. Kevin took Lucy to the town library to get a library card. There was a smell of paper and polish throughout the building, and the big windows let in gray light. Lucy soon moved into the kids’ area, leaving him to read biographies next to the circulation desk.
Then he spotted her.
There was a girl walking down the aisle between the shelves who looked a lot like his daughter. She had the same dark hair that curled at the ends, the same huge gray eyes, and even the same small scar on her chin that seemed like it came from an old fall. For a moment, Kevin thought it was Lucy. He felt scared in his chest.
“Lucy?” he shouted.
The girl turned around.
Not Lucy. They were very similar, but this one was a little taller, had her arms crossed, and looked frightened. When she noticed him, her eyes got wider and she stopped moving. They looked at each other for a long time. After that, she turned around and ran to the back of the library without saying anything.
Kevin stumbled after her, his heart beating, but when he arrived to the parking lot door, she was gone.
He was scared and hurried back to the circulation desk. There, Lucy was holding up a stack of books that was taller than her arms. “Can I have all of these, Dad?” she said.
Kevin smiled, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
He sat at the kitchen table with a beer and thought about what had happened over and over again that night after Lucy went to bed. It must have been a coincidence. There were lookalikes in little locations, right?
The girl could have only had a few things in common with Lucy. That scar is still there, just where Lucy fell on the pavement and injured herself when she was four. What could be the cause of that?
He told himself to let it go. But he kept seeing the picture.
It happened again two days later.
They were in the farmer’s market in the city, walking between stalls full of fruits, jars of honey, and knitted scarves. Kevin observed Lucy standing beside the flower stand, talking to a woman about making fudge and carrying a bunch of daisies. The same girl.
He moved quickly this time. He went over and left Lucy with the owner of the candy business.
“Hey!” he yelled. “Please wait!”
She turned around, and her face looked worried. He thought for a moment that she would run away again, but instead she stayed there, holding the daisies like a shield. The likeness was a lot more disturbing when you got near. She might have been Lucy’s sister.
Kevin spoke softly, “I’m sorry,” knowing how worried she was. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I just want to know whether we know each other.
She shook her head quickly. “No.”
He asked, “What’s your name?”
She thought for a second. “Lila.”
Kevin’s mouth got dry. Lila. It seems like they wanted to call her something very close to Lucy.
Before he could ask any more inquiries, a woman came up to him. She was in her late thirties, had auburn hair in a bun, and looked fatigued, which made her sharp features look softer. She put her arm around the girl to protect her.
“Can I help you?” the woman responded in a calm manner.
Kevin stammered. “I thought I knew her.” She looks a lot like my daughter.
The woman quickly looked at Lucy, who was still at the fudge booth. Something crossed her face for a second: guilt? Are you scared? But then it was gone. “That’s a weird coincidence,” she said honestly. She turned Lila away before he could say anything more.
That night, Kevin couldn’t sleep. There was no possibility that chance could have caused the scar. There was no way that chance could have made the woman look the way she did.
He began to think about Sarah again. What she did when she left them and where she went. He had heard that she had lived in Massachusetts for a while. Could it be?
It was too much to take in.
He tried to focus on work and Lucy and get adjusted to their new life the next week. He looked for Lila everywhere he went, though. They were both at school until the end of September, and he didn’t see her again until then.
One day after Lucy joined the art group, Kevin went to get her. He stood outside the door while a group of kids came out of the building and giggled. Lila was one of them.
Kevin ceased breathing. She wore a smock that was covered in paint and had her hair in the same messy ponytail that Lucy preferred. He believed he was seeing double for a second. Lucy and Lila were walking next to each other, and they looked exactly the same, even down to the smallest things.
He couldn’t take it anymore. That night, after Lucy went to bed, he called Sarah, which he hadn’t done in years.
Her phone number still worked. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Kevin?” She spoke carefully, as if she were tired.
He said, “I need to ask you something,” without any preamble. “Do we know that Lucy has a brother or sister I don’t know about?”
No noise.
Sarah eventually let out a breath. “I was afraid of this.”
Kevin’s heart raced. “Is it really true?”
She said in a low voice, “There was another child.” “A twin.” I never said anything.
He grabbed the phone so tightly that his knuckles became white. “Two?” Do you mean that Lucy has a sister? Could you please tell me why I wasn’t told that information?
“I freaked out,” Sarah stated in a quiet voice. “We weren’t ready, Kevin.” I wasn’t ready. I kept one and let the other go. I had to make the hardest choice of my life.
He was furious and couldn’t believe it. “You left her! You kept this from me for seven years!
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” Sarah said, her voice shaking. “The adoption was done.” You were never supposed to know. But if you’ve seen her, fate has other plans for you.
Kevin hung up because he couldn’t handle it anymore.
The next day, he went to school and told the principal he wanted to meet him. He said very cautiously that there seemed to be a student that looked a lot like his daughter, and he wanted to make sure. The principal finally admitted that a girl named Lila had been adopted at birth and that her papers indicated she was a twin. She was trapped between wanting to keep things to herself and being scared.
Kevin was surprised and silent.
He told Lucy the truth that night. He set her at the kitchen table and shook his hands. “Sweetheart, I need to tell you something really important. You have a sister. A twin.
Lucy opened her eyes very wide. “A sister? “Like, Lila? I knew she looked like me!”
He nodded, and tears came to his eyes. “Yes.” You couldn’t remember it before your mom made the choice. She thought she was making the right choice, but it wasn’t fair to you or Lila.
Lucy’s face lit up instead of growing mad. She added in a quiet, amazed voice, “I have a sister.” “Dad, I have a sister!”
In the weeks that followed, Kevin went to see Lila’s new mother, the woman with red hair who worked at the market. Her name was Joanna. At first, she didn’t want to, was cautious, and wanted to keep her safe. But in the end, she agreed to meet with him.
Joanna told me over coffee at a quiet café that she had always known this day may come. “Lila asked questions,” she said in a low voice. “I never told her a lie. I informed her she wasn’t my kid. But I didn’t know that she would see her sister at school.
Kevin nodded, his throat full with feelings. “I don’t want to ruin your life. I just want them to get to know each other. They deserve that much.
Joanna stared at him for a long time before finally sighing. “You could be right.”
The park was the first place where Lucy and Lila officially met. They sat next to each other on the swings and laughed like they had known each other for a long time. Kevin and Joanna sat in a chair and watched, silent witnesses to something that was bigger than both of them.
The mystery that had turned Kevin’s life upside down became a strange kind of gift. Yes, he no longer trusted Sarah. He felt the anguish of being let down. But he had gotten something amazing: a kid he didn’t know about and the excitement of watching Lucy’s world bloom in ways he never thought possible.
It was hard. There were problems with the law, feelings of confusion, jealousy, and being lost. But they slowly got used to each other. The girls hung out on weekends, holidays, and their birthdays. Every night before bed, they called each other. Kevin, on the other hand, was able to find peace in the present, even if he was still angry about the past.
Life had given him two daughters, not just one, in the end.
That changed everything.
