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Grace adopts her late friend's newborn twins and raises them along with her baby. She tells the kids they were triplets, unprepared for the worst, when the truth comes to light 18 years later.
When Grace and Susan conceived around the same time, they were ecstatic. They were best friends from school and could not wait to see their children follow in their footsteps.
Susan's joy doubled when the scan revealed she was pregnant with twins. "Our three children should be inseparable friends for life!" Susan had told Grace a day before they both went into labor.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
The painful shrieks of the expecting mothers soon ended, and doctors and nurses heard three newborns crying their lungs out in two different wards.
Hours later, after regaining consciousness, Grace held her newborn son close and gently rubbed her nose against his soft button-like nose.
"Doctor, how is my friend Susan? Is she up? How are her babies?" she asked.
Soon, her smile disappeared, and tears rose in her eyes. The doctor told her that Susan had died during childbirth...
The revelation pained Grace. It felt like her heart was being plucked out and smashed. It hurt her so much.
She could hear Susan's newborn baby boys crying in hunger. They hadn't been nursed, and it had been two hours since they were born.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Hilton. We will never forget your help," the doctors sighed in relief when Grace offered to feed her late friend's babies. She just couldn't let them starve.
A mother is not the person who births you. It is the person who rears and loves you.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pixabay
A week following her discharge, Grace contacted Frank, Susan's husband, regarding the babies. Susan had told Grace how Frank had been impatiently waiting for his babies' birth. Following Susan's funeral, Grace carried the babies to their dad, but she was startled when he refused to take them in.
"But why would you not want to raise your babies? They are your children."
Frank frowned. "I'm sorry, but I cannot raise the children who killed my wife. I loved Susan so much, and these children will only remind me of her death. I'm moving to the city for my higher studies. I can't take care of them. I was planning on putting them up for adoption."
Frank's reply disheartened Grace. She was unwilling to abandon the babies, so she walked away with them.
After deep thought, Grace decided to raise the twins and her baby boy, Jacob, as triplets.
"That's insane!" Grace's husband, Charlie, first exclaimed. But he eventually approved of the idea after Grace convinced him. They adopted the twins shortly after.
It was easy for Grace to tell everyone that she had triplets, but she was worried. "What if the boys find out later?"
As Jacob and the twins, Josh and Shaun, turned five, Grace got down to making them believe they were triplets.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pixabay
Whenever she shopped for new clothes or toys for them, she would get them similar stuff. For instance, if Jacob wore a red and white striped sweater for Christmas, Josh and Shaun wore a replica of different colors. If Shaun got a toy truck, Josh and Jacob would get similar ones too.
Grace was certain her sons wouldn't suspect that one of them was not their blood brother. But for long would she lie like this?
When the brothers entered their teens, they started noticing visible differences between them.
"Mom, Shaun, and I have identical eye colors, but Jacob doesn't. How's that possible?" Josh once asked Grace. She was terrified and came up with a quick lie.
"That's because he has your dad's eyes, my dear!"
But Josh was unconvinced. "Mom, if so, then Shaun and I would have eye colors of either you or dad. But we don't."
Grace did not know how to escape those questions, so she pretended she had some work and walked away.
But she couldn't pretend for long.
By some twist of fate, 18-year-old Jacob needed an urgent liver transplant, and Josh and Shaun readily volunteered to help their brother.
To Grace's horror, it didn't take Josh and Shaun that long to find out they were not biologically related to Jacob. A simple blood test unraveled the long-hidden secret.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
"Mom, what the hell is going on?" Shaun came fuming to Grace.
"We tested for Jacob's liver transplant and found our blood groups don't match," Josh chimed in. "Ours is group O, and Jacob's is different."
The twins were furious with Grace and demanded answers. They concluded that Jacob was not their real brother and had been adopted.
The tense situation prompted Grace to confess the truth she had been hiding from her sons for eighteen years.
"Sons, it is not Jacob who was adopted," she began.
Josh and Shaun were startled, staring into her eyes. They were unprepared for what she was going to tell them next.
"Your dad and I adopted you two. You were born to my best friend, who died after giving birth to you."
"WHAT??" Josh and Shaun shrieked. "Why didn't you tell us? How could you hide it from us?"
Grace then told them about their father, Frank, who had neglected them.
Since they were 'universal donors' due to their blood type, Josh donated his liver to Jacob on humanitarian grounds. When Jacob recovered a few days later, he was equally angry and upset with his mother for hiding the truth about his siblings.
Meanwhile, Josh and Shaun tracked down their biological father from the hospital records and went to meet him, against Grace's wish.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
"You don't know your father well, sons. I'm afraid he might hurt you," Grace painfully warned Josh and Shaun. But they wouldn't listen and left to meet Frank.
"Why have you come to me?" Frank's reply startled Josh and Shaun, who arrived on his doorstep a few days later.
"But we are your sons. How could you leave us?" argued Shaun.
"It was not our fault that our mother died. We still had you. Why did you abandon us?" Josh added.
Frank frowned. He was not ready to argue.
"What is it, daddy? Who are they?" a young girl greeted from inside.
Josh and Shaun were shocked, realizing she was their dad's daughter from a second marriage. Frank had moved on from everything and everyone, including the sons he never loved or wanted.
"I don't know, sweetheart. They're STRANGERS. They have come to the wrong address."

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
As Frank wickedly stared into their eyes, the brothers understood he was not family. He never was.
"Shaun, let's go home," said Josh.
The brothers stepped away, turned their backs on Frank, and returned home to their adoptive parents. They cried on Grace's lap and apologized for walking out on her.
"We're sorry, mom. We got carried away with meeting our dad. But we realized that our real family is here, not there. We are blessed you and dad raised us. You are our parents and beyond. Please forgive us."
Grace and Charlie shed tears of joy as Josh and Shaun hugged Jacob and took him for a walk to their favorite beach.

For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
What can we learn from this story?
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A little boy fights hard to save his twin brother's life, with whom he shares a rare blood type. He reaches out for help and sees a dozen strangers run to his rescue. Click here to read the full story.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.

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