Man Meets Carbon Copy of His Late Ex-Wife’s Daughter
|Henry was surprised when he met Sandra and her mom and wanted to learn more about what was going on. Henry moved from Texas to Los Angeles when his daughter, Sophie, turned seven and was starting second grade.
“Here we are! Your new school, Sophie. Are you excited?” he asked as he dropped her off. “I think so…,” Sophie replied, nervously playing with her skirt. “What if no one likes me?”
“They will! Just be nice to everyone. If someone is mean, just walk away. No fighting, okay?” Henry added, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Sophie waved goodbye and went inside. She quickly found her classroom, but when she entered, all the kids stared at her in surprise.
Sophie stopped at the door, confused, as the other children looked back and forth between her and a girl sitting at the back. She spotted a girl with blonde hair and heard a boy shout, “It’s Sandra’s clone!” Sophie gasped when she realized the girl looked just like her!
Sandra stood up with her mouth open. “Wow! We look like twins!” she said, smiling widely. Sophie felt more relaxed and smiled back. “Yeah! But why do we look alike? I don’t have any sisters,” she said. “Me neither! It’s just my mom and me,” Sandra replied, jumping over to hold Sophie’s hand. “Come sit with me!”
They talked for a while, and other kids came over to join them. Then their teacher, Miss Carr, walked in.
“I believe we have a new student today, Sophie Douglas. Come say hello,” Miss Carr said, surprised. “Oh!” “Miss Carr, she’s just like Sandra!” a kid shouted as Sophie walked to the front. “Hi! My name is Sophie. I love books and going to the beach with my dad. We moved here from Texas, and I’m so excited to make new friends,” she said with a big smile. Miss Carr clapped, and the class followed.
“That’s great, Sophie! And it looks like you have a twin in our class! You can sit down now. Today, we’re going to learn about frogs…” Miss Carr started her lesson. Sophie and Sandra played with Sandra’s friends throughout the day. They became fast friends.
After school, Sophie told her dad all about Sandra and how they looked alike. After hearing about her new friend all week, Henry wanted to meet Sandra, so he called her mom to set up a playdate at McDonald’s a few days later.
When Sandra and her mom, Wendy, arrived, Henry couldn’t believe how much Sandra looked like Sophie. Wendy gasped when she saw Sophie. “Oh my God! Hi! You must be Sophie. Sandra has been talking about you all week. You really do look like twins!” she exclaimed with a big smile. The girls ran to the playground, and the adults sat down to talk.
“Hi, I’m Henry. Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking Wendy’s hand. They settled in at a booth to chat. “I can’t believe this. I’ve heard of lookalikes, but this is something else,” Wendy said while watching the girls play. “What do you mean?” Henry asked, curious.
“Well, Sandra doesn’t know this yet, but I adopted her. Is Sophie your biological daughter?” Wendy asked. “Yes. My ex-wife, Irene, had Sophie after we separated. We co-parented, but she passed away a year ago, so now I have full custody. I was worried about Sophie because she just lost her mom and we moved here for work. It’s a lot of change for her. But Sandra has helped so much. Sophie has been so happy talking about all they have in common,” Henry said.
“Where did you move from?” Wendy asked. “Texas, we lived in Dallas,” he replied. “Hmm…,” Wendy thought, resting her chin on her hand. “What?” Henry asked, confused.
“I believe Sandra was born in Texas too,” Wendy said, hesitating. “I’ll need to check her birth certificate, but is there any chance your late ex-wife had twins?” “I don’t know. I wasn’t with her for most of the pregnancy. But I met Sophie a week after she was born. There’s no way this could happen,” Henry said, blinking fast in shock.
“Were you and Irene in a good place at the time?” Wendy asked carefully. “What do you mean?” “If she felt alone, maybe she thought having two kids was too much,” Wendy suggested. “So, you think she might have given one up and kept the other?” Henry asked, still in disbelief.
“We weren’t good together, and that’s why we broke up. But this is just… I don’t know what to say.” “Is there any way we could find out?” Wendy asked again. “I could call the hospital and check things…” Henry mumbled, still shocked and running his fingers through his hair. Just then, the girls returned, saying they were hungry, so they would have to continue their conversation later.
A few days later, he took Sophie to Wendy’s house and went back to Texas. He talked to the hospital staff and asked questions until one kind nurse found out that Irene had given birth to two babies. Henry would never know why she made that difficult choice, but he suspected it was his fault. He wasn’t there during most of the pregnancy, so he thought maybe she knew she was having twins and didn’t tell him.
But he couldn’t change the past; he could only move forward and try to make things right. When he returned, he and Wendy got a DNA test for Sandra, which confirmed their suspicions. But Henry made it clear that Wendy was Sandra’s mom and he would never try to separate them.
The adults sat down with the girls and explained everything, telling Sandra she was adopted. The twins were thrilled, cheering and hugging each other, chanting, “We’re sisters! We’re sisters!” Henry and Wendy laughed, happy to see them so excited.
They worked together to navigate this new situation. Henry wanted to be a father to Sandra, but Wendy was unsure of her role in Sophie’s life. In the end, they decided to co-parent as if they were both the girls’ legal parents, and it worked out wonderfully.
The girls adjusted better than the adults did, and everything felt perfect. One night, Sophie surprised Henry by saying, “Dad, why don’t you marry Wendy? Then she could be my mom too.” “Oh honey, that’s complicated. Wendy and I are just good friends,” he replied. “I’ll never forget my mom, but I like her. I think she could be good for you too,” Sophie insisted. Henry smiled. “We’ll see.” It seemed like his daughter was right. Eventually, he and Wendy began dating and got married when the girls turned 12, with both of them as bridesmaids.