A man struggles to raise his triplets after his wife dies, believing them to be his own. But things soon take a turn for the worse when he meets a stranger at the cemetery and learns that the babies he’s worked so hard to raise aren’t really his.
Dried, rotting brown leaves crunched beneath Jordan Fox’s boots as he pushed his stroller through the ornate entrance to the Manhattan cemetery. Dried flowers and half-burned candles littered the lawn. A gust of wind blew through the row of eastern red cedars, shattering the cemetery’s silence as he walked to the grave of his late wife Kyra. It was the one-year anniversary of her death.
“We’re going to see Mommy…” he said to Alan, one of his triplets, who rested his big diapered bottom on his left hip. The other two, Eric and Stan, were lying in the stroller, looking up at the sky and babbling about dragonflies.
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As he arrived, Jordan’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the figure of a stranger, apparently in his fifties, standing by Kyra’s grave. The man adjusted his Irish cap and leaned down to touch the headstone, which bore the following epitaph: A spark in our eyes and hearts is now in the sky. – In memory of Kyra Fox.
Jordan tried to remember, but he couldn’t recognize this tall, sturdy man. “Who is he and what is he doing near my wife’s grave?” he wondered as he approached him…
“Amen!” the man said with a smirk as he finished the sign of the cross and turned grimly to greet Jordan. He smiled, impatience filling his eyes, he raised his hand for a handshake, but withdrew it as soon as his gaze fell on the babies.
Jordan’s eyebrows narrowed in surprise. He wanted to know who this man was and what he was doing at Kyra’s grave. As far as Jordan could remember, he had never seen this man before… Not even at Kyra’s funeral. “So who is he? And what is he doing here?” Jordan was puzzled.
“I’m offering you $100,000! I’m willing to give you more if you want. Take the money and give me the babies.”
“You must be Jordan Fox… It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Fox,” the guy said. “I knew you were coming here today and I was expecting you. I’m Denis… from Chicago… Kyra’s ‘old’ buddy.”
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Jordan was a little surprised, because Kyra never told him she had an older friend from Chicago named Denis.
“Nice to meet you, Denis. I’m not sure I know you… Have we met before? I’ve never been to Chicago.”
“Not really! I just got to Manhattan. I heard that…” Denis trailed off and swallowed as he looked back at the babies. “Can I see your babies… If you don’t mind?”
Jordan hesitated and pretended to ignore the man’s request, not ready to hand his toddlers over to a stranger. Denis took that as a no, but didn’t stop himself from moving forward and leaning over the stroller to check on the other two babies.
“They’re angels! Sweet little cinnamon rolls! They have my nose and eyes… and brown hair…” “And those big eyelashes… I had them when I was little,” Denis said. Then he looked up and said the unthinkable that Jordan wasn’t ready to hear.
“Mr. Fox, I know this may not make sense to you, but… I know you’re wondering who I am and why I’m here. I’m the boys’ REAL FATHER, and I came here to take them.”
“EXCUSE ME??” Jordan frowned and wanted to punch the man in the face for saying that. He spared him for his age and tried to force his way to him, thinking he was crazy.
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“Mr. Fox, believe me. I am the children’s father. A mistake I made in the past still haunts me. I want to correct it before it’s too late. Please give me the children. I even have an incredible offer for you.”
“Are you crazy, old man? Get out of my way before I call the police,” Jordan said, clutching the stroller and baby Alan and ignoring the man.
But Denis doesn’t give up and begins to reveal complex details about the deceased Kyra that surprise Jordan.
“Kyra, your wife… She loved disco and bikes… …. She was a brunette with a taste for art and French cuisine… Onion soup and crème brûlée were her favorites. She was allergic to peanuts and had a small burn scar on her right thigh… And she had this…”
“ENOUGH…STOP!” Jordan yelled. “I don’t want to hear about my wife anymore. Who are you, and how do you know all this? What do you want?”
“I told you I was the father of her children. Mr. Fox, I know it’s weird, and I can’t get custody of my children. I know that, okay? But I’m sure you wouldn’t want to waste your youth on them and would appreciate my help in raising them. You’re young and charming and you have your whole life ahead of you. But look at me. I’m old and I have no one but these babies. I want them back. Please, hand them over to me and move on.”
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. And what I do for a living is none of your business, okay? Are you out of your mind, old man? You look crazy… Go find something else to do. I don’t know you and I think you’ve mistaken me for someone… Back off. And stay away from my kids.”
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“Mr. Fox, the children are mine, that’s the truth… And I’ll do anything to take them with me. But I don’t want to ruin it for you, since you’ve raised them for so long. So, let’s agree, I’ll offer you $100,000! I’ll give you more if you want. Take the money and give me the babies.”
“I know more about your wife Kyra than you do about her. Take your time and come back to me, okay? Here’s my card.”
Tears of shock and sorrow welled up in Jordan’s eyes. He couldn’t believe that Denis knew so much about Kyra. For a moment, he wanted to believe that it was a lie and that an older man was playing a prank on him. Alas, Jordan couldn’t forget that Denis had mentioned the burn mark on Kyra’s right thigh.
“This is not a bribe, Mr. Fox. I want to thank you for raising my babies, okay? And you don’t have to worry. I’m fifty-seven years old and have enough experience raising children. You must be happy to entrust them to good, trustworthy hands. I know how you’ll feel. But don’t worry. Take some time to think about it and come back. Call me at this number, okay? I’ll be waiting for you. Denis Roberts doesn’t like negative answers, so….”
Denis slipped a business card into Jordan’s hand and hurried away, leaving him with more than just shock and heartbreak.
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The flickering flame and smoke from the candle on Kyra’s headstone brought Jordan back to the present moment. He placed the bouquet on the grave and, after a minute of silence, hurried out of the cemetery with his babies. For a moment, he was haunted by everything Denis had told him.
Jordan couldn’t concentrate on the road. He stopped his car at random intervals on the side of the road, trying to concentrate, but to no avail.
“Was everything she told me a lie? How could she do this to me?” he cried, imagining Kyra sitting next to him in the passenger seat. Jordan needed answers to many questions and didn’t want to believe Denis’ words.
But the part about the burn scar on her right thigh? He couldn’t help but suspect her, given the circumstances in which he met her two years ago.
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It was the spring of 2016. Jordan was mixing cocktails behind the bar counter when his eyes fell on a young and beautiful Kyra. She was with her friends and was the loudest of the group. Jordan found her pretty and wanted to go out with such a gorgeous woman, but he never found the way or the time to do so. As the days went by, Kyra began to frequent the bar and Jordan was more than happy to take care of her every time she came.
“Another Margarita on the rocks, please,” she would often tell him with a bright smile on her face. Kyra never looked at Jordan “differently” and only treated him like a young, kind bartender. But he had already fallen in love with her. Every day he left for the night shift, rehearsing his smile and adjusting his hair, black bow tie, and gray shirt at least a dozen times, convinced that he was impressing Kyra.
One night, Jordan broke down after seeing her kissing another man in the pub. Reality hit him hard when he realized that Kyra was just treating him like a bartender and was nothing special. Heartbroken, Jordan began to distance himself from her, knowing she would never be his. However, one night, he couldn’t help himself when he saw Kyra crying bitterly, alone in the lounge.
“Miss, are you okay?” he asked and saw her boyfriend, Shawn, dancing with another girl. Jordan’s heart melted and he partially guessed what had hurt Kyra. Her eyes were swollen and covered in redness. Hot tears were running down her cheeks, leaving faded smudges of eyeliner on her makeup.
“I want to go somewhere… Can you take me, please? I want to die,” she said, burying her face and crying into her palms. She was crying her eyes out in front of a stranger, but Jordan didn’t treat her like one. She meant more to him than anything, so he was willing to do anything to calm her down.
He took an hour break and offered to walk her home, as she was too drunk to go alone.
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“Shawn and I have known each other for six months,” Kyra snapped, her breath reeking of alcohol. “That pervert! He dumped me for that stupid Lily… What does she have that I don’t? Jerk! He said he didn’t want to continue with me. What…”
“I’m really sorry for you. Be strong, Miss. It happens… And life has to go on. Maybe he doesn’t deserve you at all. It’s his loss… Please don’t cry. I’m always here as a friend when you need me, okay?”
Kyra nodded, her gaze fixed on Jordan before she passed out on the seat. He woke her up when he arrived in front of her house and helped her out.
“Thanks, Jordan!” Kyra smiled through the foggy car window. “See you soon!”
After that, their meetings had become a ritual. Jordan and Kyra fell in love and started dating. They danced, circled the streets of Manhattan lit up by the night and kissed before saying “I love you”! He asked her to promise to stop drinking, which she accepted. She asked him to promise not to leave her like her ex-boyfriend, which he assured her.
It had only been two weeks since their romance blossomed when Kyra had told Jordan she was pregnant with his triplets and persuaded him to marry her. He was shocked because it had happened too quickly. He wasn’t prepared for it, but he was thrilled to become a father.
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The couple soon married in a private ceremony, and it was strange that no one from Kyra’s family attended the wedding. Jordan didn’t know anything about her parents, and when he asked her, she told him that they were dead. That was all he knew, and he didn’t bother her anymore because he didn’t want to hurt her. At that time, nothing mattered more to him than starting his life with her, and he trusted her blindly.
It all seemed like a bad joke now. Jordan stared at the wedding ring he still wore after Kyra’s death and realized that she had kept him in a web of lies all along.
“I was an IDIOT! Everything she told me was a lie… Her love was a game… She married me because she needed a man to raise someone else’s children.”
“I should have known the babies weren’t mine when she told me she was only two weeks pregnant. I was so stupid! She cheated on me… With an old man. It’s disgusting!” he sniffled, tears streaming down his eyes.
The babies suddenly woke up and started crying in the back seat. Jordan was very upset and distraught, and he wanted to run somewhere where he wouldn’t be able to hear the crying anymore. But at the same time, he couldn’t start hating his babies just because someone told him they weren’t his. He wasn’t sure if Denis’s claims were true, so he went home immediately, still skeptical about what to do next.
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Jordan decided to forget about the encounter with the stranger and got to work. He put the babies in the crib, picking them up one by one to remove their diapers. First Alan, then Eric, and finally Stan. He bathed his babies and changed their diapers. He sang a lullaby, trying his best not to sound like a hungry bear growling in the woods.
After dinner, Jordan began to wash the dishes after the three children were in their cribs, but before he could finish, he smelled something burning. “Oh, darn, spaghetti!” he cried, nearly burning his fingers trying to get the pot off the stove. He then remembered the laundry and ran upstairs to a bathroom overflowing with suds. Jordan had used too much detergent because of stress. It felt like nothing but trouble was raining down on his life that day.
He saw that it was almost time to hurry to the bar for the night shift, so he called Mrs. Wills, his elderly neighbor, to come and babysit.
“Thank you, Mrs. Wills… I’ll stay here until you get here,” he told her, before going to check on his babies. They were fast asleep in their cribs. Jordan was tormented by the sight of them and couldn’t be at peace. Before, he had felt like he had the energy and the spirit to do anything for his children. But now, everything seemed so different and so bitter, and Denis’ words kept echoing in his head.
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“Why did you do this to me, Kyra? I never lied to you or cheated on you… How could you do this? You’ve always lied to me about everything, and I can’t figure out what’s true and what’s not… Even the day you died, you told me you were at the party. I still don’t know where you went that night,” Jordan moaned, tears streaming down his face as he remembered that dark day that still haunted him.
It was a rainy night, and Jordan was restless, constantly looking out the window to see if Kyra had come. His phone was starting to heat up from the constant calls he made to all of Kyra’s friends asking if she was with them. Kyra had told him she was at a friend’s party, but no one had seen her. His phone was off, probably from a dead battery, and Jordan began to panic as it was almost midnight. His newborns began to cry. They were hungry and he didn’t know how to calm them.
Jordan had managed to get his babies to sleep. He picked up his phone to see if Kyra had called and got a call from the station instead.
“Yes, Jordan Fox speaking.”
“Mr. Fox, we’re calling from the police station. Could you come to the morgue? We need help identifying a woman’s body.”
Jordan began sweating as he rushed to the hospital after leaving his babies with his neighbor. He was called to identify the body of a young woman found in a car accident that night.
He slowed and nearly froze as the thin white sheet covering the body was lifted for identification. Jordan’s heart sank and tears welled in his eyes. Kyra’s lifeless body lay motionless, and it was later revealed that she had overdosed on illicit drugs at the time of the accident.
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Jordan’s world changed after that. He felt numb, weak, and scared of raising his babies alone. He felt guilty for being the one alive, and at some point his tears stopped flowing out of anger. Jordan couldn’t forgive Kyra for leaving him with such a responsibility on his shoulders. He couldn’t accept his loss and move on, but he forced himself to do so after seeing his children.
They were the only reason he kept going. He vowed to do whatever it took to make sure his kids had a good life. Jordan didn’t date any other women after that because he still loved Kyra. He still wore their wedding ring and believed she hadn’t gone anywhere.
He took on the role of both mother and father to his three little boys and devoted his entire life to them. Jordan was commuting between work and his babies and had little time for himself. He had forgotten what a night’s rest looked like. He stopped seeing his friends and began living a life more centered on his babies than on himself.
But now, after learning that he wasn’t their real father, he began to doubt whether he could ever see them the same way again and whether he would truly want to devote his time and energy to raising them.
“I can’t do this anymore… I can’t,” Jordan stammered as he pushed his chair away, its legs scraping against the wooden floor, waking his babies. A strange thought crossed his mind as he slammed the door and left without even saying his usual “Thank you and have a nice day” to his neighbor Mrs. Wills when she came to babysit.
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Jordan couldn’t be quiet all night at the pub. He came home after his shift, but he went straight to his room to find Denis’ card. He didn’t even stop to look at his babies or cuddle them like he usually did.
Jordan came out of his room a few minutes later, his gaze falling on the three little ones who were gesturing and babbling “Da-Da” in their baby talk, asking him to hold them.
Jordan’s heart broke. “How could I… How could I think of leaving you? I can’t live without you… You’re everything to me… My God, how could I think of leaving them?” he cried, his eyes fixed on the call already connected to Denis.
“Hello? Hello… Is anyone there?” The older man’s faint voice filtered through the phone.
“Mr. Roberts, it’s me, Jordan.”
“I’ve been waiting for your call, Mr. Fox. I’m so glad you called… Finally! So, what have you decided? When should I meet you with the check and pick up the babies?”
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“I’m sorry, Mr. Roberts, but I can’t accept your offer. A father is one who raises his children, not necessarily the one who fathered them. I may not be their real father, but they are my children. I can’t imagine a life without them,” Jordan said sternly and politely.
“Mr. Fox… Wait a minute… Please. Listen, we can talk about this again, okay? You don’t understand… I want my babies. I can’t live without them.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Roberts. Even I can’t live without them. They’re my world. And I don’t want your money. You can’t trade love for money.”
“I’ll tell the kids about you when they grow up. It’s up to them who they choose. But I can’t send them to you, because I love them and I’m THEIR FATHER! Goodbye!”
Denis was discouraged. “Okay, if that’s your decision. But can we meet tomorrow at the cafe… Or maybe at your place? It’s up to you.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Roberts, but I’m busy tomorrow. I don’t think I can…”
“You don’t want to know the whole truth, Mr. Fox? I’ve only told you part of it. There’s still something you don’t know yet.”
Jordan nodded and took a breath, surprised by the strangeness of Denis’ question. He took a night off the next evening and waited impatiently for the man to join him at his place.
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Denis showed up a few hours later with several boxes. “Just a few new sweaters, diapers, and blankets for the babies,” he said with a laugh, hanging his coat on the hanger and making himself comfortable. Denis’s gaze fell on the empty crib, and he knew Jordan had kept his children somewhere, out of his sight and control.
Jordan hated the silence that surrounded him. He was eager to know the ‘truth’ the man had bragged about, and after a few seconds of staring at each other, he broke the silence.
“So… What’s up? You said I still needed to know something.”
Denis smiled grimly before opening his blazer and pulling out an old photo. He kept staring at it, and Jordan found it weird.
“Mr. Roberts… What’s wrong? Look, I don’t have time, and I’d appreciate it if you could hurry.”
Suddenly, tears began to flow down Denis’ face. He couldn’t hold them back as his gaze was still fixed on the photo.
“Mr. Fox, the babies with you are not yours… They are not mine either. In fact, I am their GRANDFATHER!”
Denis then handed Jordan the picture of him with Kyra and stood up, walking tearfully to the window.
“Oh my God… Where have you been all these days… Kyra told me her parents were DEAD… She never told me about you. What happened to you? Why didn’t you come to her funeral?”
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“I’ve been such a bad father, Mr. Fox,” Denis cried. “I’ve done something no father would do to his child.”
“After my wife died, I raised my daughter alone. I gave her everything… love, money, and an education. I wanted her to live the life I had imagined, but she lost track and got lost in her addiction issues.”
“I wanted to send Kyra to rehab and even threatened to disinherit her. But she refused, and things got worse after that. She started coming home late, and I would see some random boy walking her home every night. My name and reputation were starting to get tarnished, so I kicked her out. She was furious and before she left, she told me I was the worst father and asked me not to look for her. I thought she would come back once her money ran out, but she never did. I can’t forgive myself for not trying to help my child. I abandoned her, and now she’s gone forever.”
“But how did you find me? And how do you know the babies aren’t mine?” Jordan interrupted Denis, curious to piece together the puzzle.
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“I didn’t even know my daughter was married, had kids and died until I recently met Amy, her best friend in Chicago… She told me about you and the babies, so I flew out to meet you right away,” Denis said.
“When she was pregnant, Kyra met her friend and confided her fears. She told Amy she was afraid you would leave her if you found out the babies weren’t yours.”
“Oh my God… These are her ex-boyfriend Shawn’s kids, then?” Jordan was surprised.
“I’m not sure because my daughter told Amy that she had dated and broken up with three other men around the time she married you. Kyra herself wasn’t sure who the father was. We still don’t know the real father, and we don’t want to know,” Denis cried.
“All I can say is that I am glad my grandsons are with a man they can call ‘daddy’. Mr. Fox, only you can love them and raise them right. I am sorry that I lied to you and told you that I was their father. I don’t know what went through my mind. I was afraid that you wouldn’t allow me to raise them, and I knew that I would never get custody of them unless you gave them up. That is why I offered you money. I am sorry. I am guilty and I have no more tears to shed. I am getting old and I just want to be a part of my grandchildren’s lives. I have not been a good father, but I want to be a good grandfather.”
Jordan said nothing more and took Denis in his arms. It was the least he could do to comfort the grieving elderly man who could not forgive himself for leaving his daughter when she needed him the most.
Over time, Denis began to visit Jordan and the children often, and at one point he even decided to move in with them. He treated Jordan like a son and was happy to participate in raising his grandchildren.
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What can we learn from this story?
- A real parent is not only the one who gives life, but the one who raises his children with love and care. When Jordan learned that he was not the biological father of his triplets, he decided to set the record straight by giving them to Denis, who claimed to be their biological father. But Jordan changed his mind and told Denis that a real father is the one who raises his children and not just the one who fathers them.
- Don’t make a rash decision that you might regret for the rest of your life. When Denis couldn’t cope with his daughter’s addiction issues, he asked her to go to rehab. When she refused, he threw her out, knowing full well that he would never see her again.
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