Second Life, Second Chance
On my 50th wedding anniversary, I took my worn, crumbling marriage certificate to City Hall to renew it.
The clerk glanced at it—and froze.
“This certificate is fake. Our records show you’ve never been married.”
I stared.
“Impossible. I’ve been married to Damien Slater for fifty years.”
The clerk pulled up his file.
“Well…Yes, Mr. Slater is married—but his wife’s name is Vanessa Grant.”
Vanessa.
His widowed sister-in-law. A military doctor who’d spent decades living among the troops.
My hands shook as I returned home and confronted Damien.
He didn’t even try to deny it.
“I’ve treated you well all these years. Isn’t that enough? Vanessa is my true love. I only ever wanted her—our children, our life.”
My son counseled me and said, “To spare your feelings, my parents kept it a secret their whole lives. You’re getting old now. What more do you want?”
Only then did I learn the truth. The child I had raised with my own hands was never mine by blood.
Decades ago, Vanessa and I gave birth on the same day.
To ensure her child would grow up with intellect, privilege, and a future that I could provide, Damien switched our children.
My own son?
Damien drowned him in the pond the moment he drew breath.
And I—fool that I was—raised Vanessa’s boy as my own.
I even got him all the way to Claremont University.
The truth broke me, and I collapsed.
When I opened my eyes again—I was back.
Back to the day I went into labor.