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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My hands stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
He answered quickly.<\/p>\n
Too quickly.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t argue.<\/p>\n
I simply stepped into the bathroom, closed the door, and stared at myself in the mirror while a question I didn\u2019t want to ask began forming in my mind.<\/p>\n
What if the man I had mourned for three years had never truly been gone?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re marrying me because I remind you of my brother, then we shouldn\u2019t do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were the last serious words Sebastian Morales said to me before our wedding.<\/p>\n
My name is Mariana Lopez.<\/p>\n
I was thirty-five years old and teaching English at a high school in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n
Three years earlier, I had lost my husband, Santiago, in a serious car accident.<\/p>\n
Afterward, I told myself I would never marry again.<\/p>\n
Then life surprised me.<\/p>\n
I fell in love with Sebastian.<\/p>\n
Santiago\u2019s identical twin brother.<\/p>\n
The two men looked almost exactly alike.<\/p>\n
Same dark eyes.<\/p>\n
Same height.<\/p>\n
Nearly the same voice.<\/p>\n
But their personalities had always been different.<\/p>\n
Santiago was outgoing and playful.<\/p>\n
He could walk into a room and have everyone laughing within minutes.<\/p>\n
Sebastian was quieter.<\/p>\n
More patient.<\/p>\n
More thoughtful.<\/p>\n
During all the years Santiago and I were married, Sebastian had always respected our marriage.<\/p>\n
After Santiago\u2019s accident, Sebastian stayed close to the family.<\/p>\n
He never pressured me.<\/p>\n
He simply helped.<\/p>\n
He repaired things around the house.<\/p>\n
Brought food from his mother.<\/p>\n
Picked up groceries when I needed them.<\/p>\n
And slowly became an important person in my daughter Camila\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Camila trusted him long before I did.<\/p>\n
When Sebastian eventually admitted he had feelings for me, I immediately pulled away.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I look at you,\u201d I told him, \u201cI worry I\u2019m seeing Santiago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sebastian didn\u2019t get angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen don\u2019t marry me,\u201d he said softly. \u201cI want you to choose me for who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
We spent several months apart.<\/p>\n
During that time, I realized I truly missed him.<\/p>\n
Or at least, I believed I missed Sebastian.<\/p>\n
Our wedding was small.<\/p>\n
Family.<\/p>\n
Close friends.<\/p>\n
Simple food.<\/p>\n
A quiet ceremony.<\/p>\n
Before it began, my mother-in-law Teresa held my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople may have opinions,\u201d she told me. \u201cBut you have to live your own life.\u201d<\/p>\n
That evening, Camila stayed with her grandparents.<\/p>\n
For the first time, Sebastian and I were alone as husband and wife.<\/p>\n
He removed his jacket.<\/p>\n
Then his shirt.<\/p>\n
And that was when I noticed the scar.<\/p>\n
A curved mark near his left hip.<\/p>\n
I knew it immediately.<\/p>\n
Years earlier, Santiago had received an injury in that exact place after an accident at home.<\/p>\n
I had cared for him while it healed.<\/p>\n
I remembered the shape.<\/p>\n
I remembered where it was.<\/p>\n
Sebastian, as far as I knew, had never had a scar there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He glanced down.<\/p>\n
\u201cA motorcycle accident years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a moment, I couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n
Sebastian had never owned a motorcycle.<\/p>\n
I walked into the bathroom and closed the door.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, small things from the previous three years began returning to me.<\/p>\n
He sometimes called Camila \u201cmy ladybug.\u201d<\/p>\n
That had been Santiago\u2019s favorite nickname for her.<\/p>\n
He remembered tiny details about our old house.<\/p>\n
He knew where Santiago used to hide little presents for Camila.<\/p>\n
I had always assumed twins simply shared more memories than most siblings.<\/p>\n
Now I wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n
When I returned to the bedroom, I told Sebastian I had a headache.<\/p>\n
We went to sleep quietly.<\/p>\n
But I stayed awake for hours.<\/p>\n
One question kept circling through my mind.<\/p>\n
If Sebastian had Santiago\u2019s scar, then who had we actually lost three years earlier?<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t accuse him.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
I needed to know whether my fear had any basis in reality.<\/p>\n
So over the next several days, I began asking small questions.<\/p>\n
One evening, I casually mentioned a bed-and-breakfast Santiago and I had visited.<\/p>\n
On my wedding night, I noticed a small curved scar near my new husband\u2019s hip. My hands stopped. \u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d He answered quickly. Too quickly. I didn\u2019t argue. I simply stepped...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n