Sam used to be inseparable from his mom, Candice, until something changed.

He began avoiding her hugs and kisses, leaving me, Robert, puzzled. “Have you noticed anything strange about Sam lately?” I asked Candice one evening. Dismissing it as a “phase of independence,” she didn’t see my concern.

Unable to let it go, I asked Sam directly. His answer stunned me: “Mom has changed. She has a secret. She cries a lot.” He’d caught her crying with a photo of a man she kept in a hidden green box.

Driven by curiosity, I found the box and uncovered the photo. The man bore a striking resemblance to Candice. That evening, I confronted her. “Who is this?” I demanded. Her trembling reply unraveled a shocking truth: the man was her twin brother, separated at birth.

Candice revealed that her mother, after an affair, gave one twin to the lover, Billy, and lied to her husband about the baby’s death. Her grandma only disclosed the truth on her deathbed. “I want to find him,” Candice sobbed, “but it could destroy my parents’ marriage.”

I reassured her, “You deserve to know your brother.

We’ll face this together.” For the first time in weeks, she smiled—a sign we were on the path to healing.